S.H.A.P.E. Assessment Results

Thank you Joseph Tolonen for taking the SHAPE Assessment. We encourage you to meet with a Church Leader that you respect, to go over your results, so that they can help you discover a place to serve in the church and/or community, and also to help you fine-tune your 5 Main Focuses/Priorities listed at the bottom of this email under the ‘Wrapping it up’ section. May God Bless You!

[S]piritual Gifts

Here is how your spiritual gifts scored:

53%

96%

81%

43%

40%

84%

81%

40%

96%

To see descriptions on the Spiritual Gifts and how you can use them to further Christ’s Kingdom on earth, visit this link.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
While I enjoy sharing my personal testimony and the Good News of the Gospel, I also aim to persuade. It is not just about sharing or speaking to a person, but listening to what they are saying and wanting people to experience fullness of freedom from sin and death that living a life in surrender to God affords. I do not want to just talk at a person, but want to talk to a person and show them the love God has for all His children. Not quite sure where to specifically put this, but speaking to groups of people and stirring up inside people a fire for God and the Truth of His Word gives me life. (Public Speaking)

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
Teaching is something I have always been passionate about, ever since I was a kid. Before I got into music, it was all I wanted to do (in fact). I abandoned it for music, but have come back to it recently and have found how much I enjoy stirring people up and instructing them in something.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
This one is newer, and one I am trying to press into. From what I clean Biblically, it seems as if it is just not about being able to foretell the future through prediction or vision, but is also about declaring forth Truth that something can or will happen. I do get revved up in anticipation that God will move in places, whether or not for a specific reason, and like to declaim during prayer what God can do.

[H]eart

1. Worship. Hands-down. I get so revved up Thursday nights and Sunday mornings for Worship. Run through a couple of worship sets and I have enough energy to fuel the City of Cleveland. Even when I am on my own, there is something about connecting with God through worship and listening for His word that brings such joy, fulfillment, and life to me.

2. Speaking to friends and family, and not just in a “let’s catch up” type of way, but listening to what they have to say and then encouraging them, sometimes through Scripture. Correcting false interpretations of Scripture or breaking falsehoods and lies is also something I enjoy doing. There is nothing like studying Scripture, and then being able to use it in the real world. At the end of the day, though, it is all to build others up. I could meet with friends all day and just speak life and encouragement and I would be able to call it a great day.

3. While it was already talked about a little, I love studying Scripture, watching messages, and reading books about the Bible itself, or topics contained therein. It is such an amazing book, and every time I come back there is always something new. There are so many connections that start to appear once I really dive in and pursue connection points. I can never get enough. (I would gladly spend a day studying the Bible and do nothing else. Unfortunately, that is not possible in reality.)

Age-wise, I think I work best with people my age or high school. Since that is a part of my life in which I now know things I wish someone would have told me, I think I find it particularly important to reach out to people in that age bracket so and show them the freedom they can have in life when they find their identity in Christ. I particularly like working with people who do not have an identity firmly rooted in Christ or who are struggling with addictions or mental strongholds/barriers.

Issues/Possible Needs:
Identity problems, particularly with same-sex desires.
Addiction.

Ministries:
Freedom and deliverance ministry.
Worship.

Alcoholism
Compulsive behavior
Spiritual laziness

[A]bilities

Not quite sure how to answer this question. Currently in music, but making a shift to ministry.

Most of my part-time jobs throughout my life have been in some sort of “customer” service.

Music primarily. I have had a knack for it as long as I can remember. I also enjoy writing, and has been something that I have been getting into more recently.

I have led a couple of talks at small group before, mostly on identity and connecting with God through writing and worship.

I am not quite sure, to be honest. I have never really thought about this before. I am aware of some talents, giftings, and skills I am good at, but I have never really considered what I feel to be my most valuable asset.

[P]ersonality

50-50 Extrovert/Reserved

50-50 High/Low Risk

Peace Maker

50-50 People/Project Driven

50-50 Follower/Leader

Team

Routine

Your Primary was ‘The Beaver’, with your Secondary coming in as ‘The Lion’, and here are the descriptions of your Personalities, and how they can be used for God

Beaver- Organized. Beavers think that there is a right way to do everything and they want to do it exactly that way. Beaver personalities are very creative. They desire to solve everything. Desire to take their time and do it right. Beavers do not like sudden changes. They need reassurance.

Strength: High standards, order, respect
Weakness: Unrealistic expectations of self & others, too perfect.
Limitation: Seeing the optimistic side of things, expressing flexibility

Lion- This personality likes to lead. The lion is good at making decisions and is very goal-oriented. They enjoy challenges, difficult assignments, and opportunity for advancement. Because lions are thinking of the goal, they can step on people to reach it. Lions can be very aggressive and competitive. Lions must learn not to be too bossy or to take charge in other’s affairs.

Strength: Goal-oriented, strong, direct
Weakness: Argumentative, too dictatorial
Limitation: Doesn’t understand that directness can hurt others, hard time expressing grace

[E]xperience

(I will try and make this *brief*).

I grew up in Church, but it was always my family’s faith. I never made it my won and internalized a highly legalistic approach to my relationship with God, and because of that, I never got a firm rooting in my identity in Christ. The atmosphere at my Church growing up started to feel dead, and I went away from Church completely for a couple of years (except for Christmas and Easter, of course) and eventually lived two years openly gay, deciding that it was who I was and it was how I was going to live my life. Any morals I had growing up were thrown out the window. I was a heavy drinker during this time. I had been addicted to pornography for about eight years by this time. I was having sex with a new guy every couple of weeks.

Looking back, it was awful, but I was so blinded by the wool over my eyes and so bound to my sin and desires that I did not know any better. I have always had a knack for knowing the Truth, and by that, I mean that if something is not right, I know it. It is why I struggled why my identity for six or seven years before coming out, because I had to know it was the right thing to do Biblically, and that God would be okay with it. I twisted a Scripture and convinced myself what I thought was true, and then did not surround myself with people who would tell me otherwise.

But all at once my life fell apart. It started off slow, but things picked up, and after feeling a nudge to go to Church, I thought I might as well. It took me six or seven months before I finally decided to fully follow Christ, and accept Him as my Lord and Savior, and make the decision to make my faith my own. It only took one question, though, from one person to completely wreck the logic I had convinced myself of that being gay was alright with God.

For me, the simple message of the Gospel is Romans 6:2, “We [already] died to sin.” Since then, it has been a huge lesson in freedom and grace. In putting off the old self and putting on the new self, and realizing that I can have a personal relationship with God, that He does love me, that He declares me not guilty and sees me as righteous, and that if I could just see myself as God sees me, then I would not have to worry about going to bed a sinner, because I am now a child of God and I no longer have Adam’s seed in me, but the power of the living God breathing inside me. Christ now lives in me. Jesus said, “It is finished.” It was not “kind of” finished. No – He completely overcame sin and death, and I do not have to live one second more believing that I am part of that old life that is dead in the grave.

So far, I have only served at Journey on the Worship Team. (As a long-term commitment, that is.)

Mentors and friends who have come alongside to help support and encourage me. Small group was a massive help when I came back to Christ, particularly because I did not know a lot of people at Journey and was starting to drift away from people at school.

Being on worship team has also made a huge impact with me. It has been an amazing experience to lead and be in fellowship with others serving, but I have also enjoyed learning to connect with God more clearly and viscerally through worship.

Being back with my family and a call to ministry have also been positive experiences. For the first time in my life, I feel as though I have a direction and purpose, one that is not made just by myself but guided by God.

My years struggling with my identity. It depleted and wasted years of my life not living in the love of God. But now it has given me a passion to reach out to others and declare the message of freedom that is found through Jesus Christ.

Alcoholism. Again, a waste of time, but it has taught me a valuable lesson in guarding myself. It has taught me how to guard what I drink, eat, watch, and listen to. (“Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.”)

Pornography. I spent years watching what was never meant to be, nor would never be real. But struggling with these addictions has also taught me the healing power that is God, and the very real freedom that is found through Jesus Christ, and which allows us to literally take off our old self and never go back to it again, as well as never fearing going back or being bound by it coming back. (“Symptoms are not a reality.” God is my reality.)

Wrapping It Up

The Challenge: Based upon your S.H.A.P.E. Assessment above (the way God wired you), If you knew you couldn’t fail … and ‘lack of money, or time’ was not an obstacle… list your Top 3 Things you would ‘Focus’ your Life on, next to #1 Loving God & #2 Loving Your Neighbor (these would be your ‘3 God-Sized Dreams’ for your life)?

1. My Relationship with GOD

2. My Relationship with Others

• Putting Your Spouse First
• Your Kids Second
• Everyone Else After those

3. Play regularly on a worship band.

4. If lack of time was not an obstacle, meet with all sorts of friends and family and others throughout the week. There is never enough time, it seems, to “get to everyone.”

5. Writing songs (worship music), particularly with an emphasis on the electronic aspect. (Build a music studio).