Don
Don, a church denomination executive was responsible for his denomination’s church growth and church plants. He contacted IDAK asking if we could help with their church plant assessment. He stated that there existed a 70% failure of new church plants after five years. Could we help improve that low success statistic? Also, the denomination was loosing millions of dollars on these failed starts in addition to the emotional trauma for each pastor and wife along with the congregation. We recommended a training program which would equip each of the 35 church districts with a proven interview process which would identify future church planters. We began with a pilot training session for twelve hand picked district superintendents. The training included actual assessments of church plant candidates viewed live on close circuit TV. The twelve hand picked superintendents succeeded in applying the instruction. After twenty years of continued training for all district superintendents, IDAK was informed that a recent survey reported that 70% of the denomination’s church plants were successful. This was quite a success story as it demonstrated IDAK’s ability to teach its assessment principles to non assessment professionals with positive measurable results.
Denny
Denny had been appointed as national president of a Youth Ministry Organization. He had established key goals for the future of the ministry and wanted to initiate some major organizational changes. In order to launch his plan, he needed a clear perspective as to the future potential of his present department heads. Could these seasoned men and women perform just as well, or better, in the new job descriptions he was planning for them? IDAK was contacted to assist with this organizational transition challenge. After meeting with the president to learn about his organizational development goals, a schedule of executive team and department head group assessment sessions were planned. These were followed up with individual sessions. Each individual was provided with guidelines on how to meet with the president and to explain the match of their strengths with their future job description. For those who did not feel there was a match, they were assisted in proposing alternative possibilities within the national ministry. If there were no possible fits, the president contracted IDAK to provide outplacement assistance. IDAK assisted this ministry in providing an honorable way to re-direct its seasoned leaders to new positions of service both within and woutside of the organization.
Neil
Neil had over 20 years of ministry leadership with a national campus ministry. In his years of service, he had advanced to the position of regional director. He felt that he wanted to start his own consulting firm, primarily focusing on leadership development. Neil contacted IDAK to learn about our talent assessment systems. After completing the training and achieving certification, he directed the majority of his work to empower men and women to maximize their strengths in ministry leadership positions. Much of Neil’s work was with his former ministry organization, providing job performance conflict resolution, ministry assessment for new hires and ministry re-direction for mid-term leaders. IDAK’s training and assessment tools provided Neil a way that he could serve men and women to pursue the full potential of their God given talents.
Large Church
A large church located in a major Southwestern city wanted to develop a ministry outreach to its community’s business professionals. The heart of the proposed program was to be a career assessment center which would empower business professionals with the coaching they needed to identify optimum jobs. The church contacted IDAK and requested training for the new center director they had hired. The new director had several years of previous career assessment experience, but lacked talent assessment knowledge gained from the IDAK Career match system and the IDAK Autobiographical Interview. Equipped with these two assessment tools, the new director was ready to reach out to high level business professionals who would not necessarily seek to visit a church. The new ministry proved successful and provided a creative way for the church to get involved in serving the needs of its community leaders.
Staff Counselors
An international mission agency was struggling with returning overseas staff who needed re-direction into a different ministry or marketplace job. The human resource office contacted IDAK and requested training for two of the agency’s member care counselors at their home office. Following training with IDAK these two counselors were able to assist returning missionaries with more than well wishes. They were equipped to provide tangible hope for a new future in a new field of service. The IDAK Career Match and training provided the in-depth assessment to match each missionary’s hopes and dreams along with their God given talents to several credible new options. After feeling like failures each couple were given hope that their desire to serve God could be fulfilled in several alternative options rather than just one position overseas. These two counselors trained by IDAK were making a major difference in the lives of missionaries.
International Missions Organization
An international mission organization was receiving conflicting reports from the field regarding the job performance of one of their staff. The home office was not sure who to believe. When they talked to the missionary couple, they received one story. When they talked to the field director, they heard another perspective. The human resource office contacted IDAK and requested a Ministry Leadership Assessment of the couple to try and determine some information which would assist in making the right decision for the field office as well as the individual staffers. The IDAK assessment found that the couple were indeed well suited for the work they were expected to do. This provided substantial hope for the couple and also equipped the home office with a starting point for further discussions. The new assessment information assisted the home office in making some adjustments in the field leadership personnel thereby allowing the couple to return to the field to continue their ministry. Over ten years later, the couple was still on the job, out in the bush serving the native people.
Denomination Regional Office
A church denomination regional office contacted IDAK requesting assistance with a job performance conflict. One of the churches was experiencing a serious disagreement between the senior pastor and the youth pastor. In addition to the conflict over job performance issues, the youth pastor was an African American and was accusing the senior pastor of racial discrimination. IDAK was contacted to help resolve this conflict. We proceeded with our Ministry Leader Assessment. The findings of the assessment revealed that the youth pastor had an entrepreneurial strength which was threatening the senior pastor. Every time the junior proposed a new program, the senior would find excuses to deny the initiative. Over time this built up to a heated dispute. An additional trait identified in the Youth pastor was drama-acting. He had incorporated this as part of this youth ministry. When IDAK facilitated the discussion about its findings, the regional office was able to find an African American youth ministry within its denomination located in Washington DC. The youth pastor accepted the opportunity to make a transfer. IDAK empowered the regional office with the insight to make a very difficult call to salvage a church as well as a dedicated young couple.
Jeff
Jeff was a newly appointed church district superintendent. As he assumed office he was informed that approx 70% of the 100+ churches in his district had plateaued or were declining in membership. Some churches were barely maintaining 35 regulars at Sunday worship. Jeff contacted IDAK asking for some way to help his pastors gain hope and adjust their job description to fit their strengths. IDAK scheduled its Maximizing Leadership Strengths seminar for the next annual district conference. In addition, as a preparation for the conference, IDAK provided a six week small group leadership study to assist each church’s leadership team with tools to understand their pastor’s strengths and to be sure that the job was affirming that leader. At the conference, each pastor completed the IDAK on-line Talent Discovery Guide and was instructed how to apply this to his job performance expectations. Different paradigms were provided to demonstrate different approaches to pastoring dependant upon a person’s strengths. Jeff and his office team were trained how to meet with each pastor to review the seminar information and to provide a an IDAK Validation Interview to help resolve any conflicts or misunderstandings. Several months after the annual conference, Jeff reported that his team was making significant progress in empowering pastors to do the job according to their strengths rather than trying to imitate a hypothetical, ideal pastor model. Many churches and pastors were salvaged by the hard work of Jeff and his team.
Leonard
Leonard had been serving as a senior pastor for twenty four years in three different churches. He and his wife came to IDAK on the verge of throwing in the towel. Apparently, in each of his three churches, Bill and his wife’s ministry had gone well, then after 6 years, something began to happen which turned sour and resulted in Bill leaving for another assignment. Bill was seeking some type of help to objectively evaluate his call to pastoral ministry and also some type of evaluation as to the cause of his eight year cycle. We recommended our Leadership Assessment service which was completed in a short two weeks. The findings were very encouraging. The assessment revealed that serving as a church leader did fit Leonard’s strengths. However, his pulpit communication aptitude was not as strong as other communication aptitudes. So, the eight year cycle was more due to his lack of performance in the pulpit, rather than some mystical hidden leadership weakness. IDAK recommended that Leonard consider a role as an executive or administrative pastor for a large church. Within a few months, Leonard had found an opportunity in the leading church within his denomination. This church was experiencing internal conflict and the current senior pastor needed a competent administrator to shore up his poor office and operational management skills. Because Leonard was a respected pastor in his district he quickly was able to gain the confidence of the church staff, bring healing and lead the church to a new level of prosperity. Ten years later, Leonard was at the same church, he had broken the eight year cycle. His wife in tears said thank you to IDAK for salvaging their role in church ministry leadership.
Mark
Mark came to IDAK with a dilemma. At 55 years of age, he desperately wanted to transition from his engineering job to a position in the mission field. Mark had tried many times to contact agencies to offer his years of experience and passion for service, but he was continually denied a position. After completing a Mid-Career Assessment, we found out the cause of his dilemma. Mark had a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He approached mission agencies with his resume assuming that they would figure out where he could fit. After all, someone with a Ph.D. should be good for something, he reasoned. Unfortunately, the mission agencies could only see as far as the doctorate in a field that didn’t fit any of their current projects. The agencies did not have the expertise to assess Mark’s innate talent strengths to determine where he might fit best. IDAK’s assessment gave Mark a top ten best match of mission organization categories which fit his passion for service. In addition, for each organization, Mark’s IDAK report identified job titles which matched his innate talents. IDAK gave Mark a new approach for contacting mission agencies. Rather than forwarding a resume asking for a best fit, Mark should contact specific individuals in agencies whose jobs matched his strengths. This approach empowered Mark to set aside his doctoral, mechanical engineering image and present his talents as the basis for evaluation. Mark’s IDAK assessment equipped him to find his dream ministry position.
Jim
Jim had just returned from the mission field. He was discouraged because his six year church planting effort with three others in Africa had not been successful. Jim was seeking a new vision for service in ministry leadership. After completing a Mid-Career Assessment, we gained insight as to the probable cause of Jim’s failure as a cross cultural church planter. Jim’s relational strength appeared to require significant time to build a trust bond with new acquaintances. He was a great friend, however, it took him several years to build trust. Additionally, Jim appeared to lack key cross cultural aptitudes which hindered his ability to blend into a native village culture. On the positive side, Jim was a graduate of veterinary school. However, he had not adapted his church plant leadership role to maximize his talent strengths and veterinary medicine degree. Some one in his graduate school years had led him to believe that his degree was not spiritual, that he needed to pursue a higher calling. IDAK proposed to Jim a new approach to his former passion. Why not approach the African village as a veterinarian who was interested in serving the needs of the cattle herdsmen? After a few years of veterinary service, it was reasonable to assume that he would have gained the trust and respect of the tribal village. At that point, Jim could invite his church planting colleagues to come to the village and begin to build a church. Jim’s strengths and professional degree could provide the focal point for a successful new church.
John
John was an education/recovery program director for a street mission agency. His mission had received national recognition for its recovery program, yet John wanted to take it to the next level and provide a higher quality career assessment and placement service for the residents. After completing Level I, II and III training, John requested a 10 week internship with IDAK to learn the job placement process. During his training individual residents were evaluated and specific coaching instructions given to help John guide each person. Part of John’s education program included on site work-learn training for the qualified residents. John successfully improved that field education so that each resident could experience employment experience in a job which truly fit their God given strengths and passion. IDAK helped John provide new hope for individuals who wanted to turn their lives around.
