Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community (Hardcover)

by Albert L. Winseman (Author), Donald O. Clifton (Author), Curt Liesveld (Author) "To understand how churches often fail to tap the natural abilities of their congregants, consider the story of Liz and Rick..." (more)
Key Phrases: spiritual gifts, five more talents, Signature Themes, New Testament, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This is the religious spinoff of Clifton's first coauthored bestseller, Now, Discover Your Strengths, which was aimed more squarely at the business world. The principles in both books are the same: individuals will be happier and more successful if they build on their strengths, rather than focusing on overcoming their weaknesses. The authors call for a "strengths revolution" in churches that will allow more congregants to feel they contribute by doing what they do best. If congregational leaders can identify members' strengths and assign tasks in harmony with those traits, they will enjoy a greater sense of connection to and satisfaction with their religious communities—something the authors suggest is in short supply. It is a simple message fleshed out by an inventory of 34 possible "signature themes." Readers can determine their own top five signature themes by using an ID code (unique to each book copy) to take an online personality test developed by the Gallup Organization. The authors' "theology of strengths" refers to Paul's sermon on "the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians) and Christ's parable of the talents, among other biblical passages. This is an action-oriented book, and taking the test will give readers a personal hook. It should appeal to religious book groups as well as individuals and church leaders.
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Product Description
<div>While millions of people in the U.S. are actively involved in some sort of religious organization, many people feel disengaged from their faith communities. More than half report that they really don't get the opportunity in their congregation to do what they do best. The problem is this: too many people's talents are going unappreciated. But it doesn't have to be this way. Living Your Strengths shows readers how to use their innate gifts to enrich their faith communities. The book shows people how to identify and affirm their talents, and how to use them for growth and service. Most importantly, Living Your Strengths helps people discover their true callings. The book includes an ID code that gives readers access to StrengthsFinder.com, a personality assessment that reveals the user's top five talents.</div>

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Gallup Press; 2nd edition (October 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595620028
• ISBN-13: 978-1595620026
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for Potential, February 20, 2006

By	Learner "Yiasou" (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

We have just begun to use this text and accompanying workbook and video at our church for a seven-week study to determine our God given talents and calling. Apparently this material is also used in business for the same purpose. The initial process is to go online and take a strength finder assessment (approx. 30-40) minutes. This assessment then provides the user with a ranking of their top five strengths. Note: Each book has a unique code that can be used only once to take the assessment. The results from that assessment is then the basis for the remainder of the study, e.g., six weeks in the workbook. I have not read through the entire book. Most of the content is concerned with describing the thirty-four "themes" (e.g., strenghts). I would not recommend purchasing the book without the accompanying "Journey" workbook - and I would think that doing this on your own (with the book and workbook) would be valuable but not as vaulable as doing it in a small group.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bulk of the book is strength descriptions, March 23, 2007

By	B. M. Masters (Memphis, Tn) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was very excited to receive this book, as I had recently been to a workshop at a conference singing the praises of the Gallup-developed strength finder system. I was able to use the code in the book jacket with no problem and it was great to get the results, but I was a little disappointed with the rest of the book from that point. The bulk of the book is just descriptions of the strengths, so of the 30-some-odd most folks will only need to read their five. The rest of the book was pretty much five-point checklists with some ways to be in ministry, which, while nice for the layperson, wasn't the meaty stuff I was hoping for since I am in a church vocation. I am interested in perhaps getting the original (Now, Discover Your Strengths) hoping that it will go into greater detail about how to use the strengths, not just identify them. I'll probably flip through it at a bookstore first, just to be sure. I found the online survey very enlightening and want many folks I know and work closely with to take it! That part was very satisfying.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are You On Track?, June 26, 2008

By	Thomas M. Loarie (Danville, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Are you on the right track? Do you wonder about why you love doing certain things and dislike others? Do you wonder why you react in certain ways? Are you looking for a better way to make right decisions, enjoy peace of mind, and live in harmony with others. This may be the book for you.

"Living Your Strengths" is an extension of "strengths" research begun more than forty years ago by Dr. Donald Clifton of the Gallup Organization. Clifton researched the natural patterns of thought, feeling, and action of two million people in more than 25 countries. The result is the Clifton "StrengthsFinder," a tool that reveals a person's top five themes of talent - one's "Signature Themes."

A "Strength" is the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a given activity. This ability is a powerful, productive combination of talent, skill, and knowledge. Talents are naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. Unlike skills and knowledge, talents exist within you and cannot be acquired. We must first need to identify, affirm, and apply our unique mix of talents then apply them.

Clifton's research highlights folly of the widely used "weakness prevention" model - to be successful, we must "fix" our weaknesses. This thinking is wrong. Building a life around one's greatest natural abilities rather than trying to repair weaknesses is the path to success.

The book is organized around the use of the StrengthsFinder (provided with the purchase of the book) to identify, assess and affirm our Signature Themes (talents), and how to apply them for growth and life success. There are thirty four identified talents ranging from achiever, maximizer, ideation, individualization, and significance to woo.

The Signature Themes are unique to the individual. According to Gallup, the chance of finding someone with your Signature Themes, in the same order, is 1 in 33 million and the chance of finding someone with your top ten themes of talent is 1 in 3 trillion. Finding one's themes and understanding their uniqueness should help one to gain a better appreciation of how special they are and how special the people around them are - deeper self-respect, deeper mutual respect.

Most of us generally are not harnessing the power of our innate gifts. We are not fulfilling our purpose...we do not even know it! "Living Your Strengths" provides a tool so we can assess our talents and harness them in the betterment of ourselves, our families, and the various communities we participate in.