Strengths

We are all gifted by God with certain strengths that are part of our nature. Making us in his own image means creating us with some of HIS strengths. Kelly Davidson, director of Aggies for Christ at Texas A&M University, is visiting with us, and he led our team through an exercise of finding our strengths and how they relate to one another. The assessment was done from a business point of view, so it doesn't portray a person's whole life. The reasons we do street ministry - compassion and love and understanding that God wants love and help given to the poorest of the poor and faith -- are not covered in this. But we found it very instructive and helpful in understanding one another.

The 5 top reported strengths that I have are called "Strategic," "Learner," "Responsibility," "Belief," and "Relator." Darlene's are "Communication," "Belief," "Positivity," "Developer," and "Responsibility." After hearing stories about the beginning and growth of Made in the Streets, Kelly said, "It is unlikely that Made in the Streets would have gotten off the ground without the certain strengths that Charles and Darlene have.

One of the best parts of the workshop was that all of us were struck with the idea, "That's how God made him/her." We had better recognition of why we are as we are. All of us felt better about each other. We also began to see ways that we could assist one another because of our particular strengths. Moses Gicharu said at the end, "I have been having some trouble understanding why some of the Team acts as they do. I have even been a little discouraged. But now I see, now I can feel better about all our work together."

We saw that Francis Mbuvi has a wonderful set of strengths for being our leader at MITS. And the Team at Eastleigh working on the streets all share the strength of "connectedness." This means they see the connections that exist between people and events, that they have a moral urgency to keep up those connections and to help everyone in their relationships. How important is that for working on the streets with demoralized kids?

On Thursday we will have a Team meeting, while the Aggies for Christ take care of our kids, and go over our strengths and how we can benefit one another and the whole ministry with our strengths. What a blessing!