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

Thank you Rick Pleggenkuhle 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 (in alphabetical order):

40%

68%

68%

71%

56%

46%

50%

68%

78%

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:
If it pertains to topics that I have studied, have an interest, and feel confident in; I do okay at teaching. If it is a topic that I haven’t studied or teach to large groups, then I don’t do well.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I have always enjoyed giving what I have in terms of time and resources. My family background has a lot to do with it. We always gave even though we didn’t have much.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I have done a lot of reading and learning over the last 12 years that has helped my faith grow tremendously.

[H]eart

1. Spending time with my family.

2. Anything outdoors that involes God’s creation: hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, biking, traveling, horticulture, etc…

3. Apologetics: science and history.

Any ages from middle school and up (if Sandy isn’t helping). I relate well to my generation and older.

Missions, apologetics, physically serving, and mentoring.

Abortion/sanctity of Life
Parenting
Policy/politics

[A]bilities

hardware store manager

Over 20 years working in horticulture as a plant buyer for a large wholesale nursery, a landscape designer for a retail nursery, and also teach horticulture related classes for ISU Extension.
Grew up on a farm and currently work at a coop.

Anything outdoor. Science, history, and plants.

I have in the past and still do today give horticulture related classes for Iowa State University Extension & Outreach.

Compassion, listening, willingness to help (although, asking someone else this may be beneficial).

[P]ersonality

Reserved

Low Risk

Challenger

50-50 People/Project Driven

50-50 Follower/Leader

Variety

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 grew up going to a Baptist/Brethren church nearly every Sunday, except during planting and harvest seasons. Baptized as a believer at age 12 or 13. I didn’t attend church very often while going to college and early in our marriage. We started regularly attending a Baptist church around 2000-2001 after our daughter was born, but before our son was born. I started to read the Bible regularly in my early 40’s . Having degrees in Wildlife Biology and Natural History, what I thought I knew about evolution and the deep age of our planet and universe held me back in my faith journey. Then I came across a video on YouTube where an unknown Creationist (Frank Turek) was debating a world known atheist (Christopher Hitchens). I was absolutely amazed at how much science and historical evidence there is to back up what we read in Genesis (and other Old Testament books) as well as Biblical history. Then I read his book “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” where I learned that most scientific data over the last 30 years actually goes again macro evolution and deep time. None of these scientific facts that refute evolution and confirm creation were ever brought even ONCE up in my four years at college. Everything finally made sense to me, and my faith has grown drastically over the 12 years.

First Baptist Church, Charles City. Served several terms as a Trustee, one term as a Deacon (Elder), and regularly attended and participated in Advisory Council meetings. Was Treasurer for one year. I resigned mostly due to the wholesale nursery that I worked for closed. I ended up finding employment out of town for four years where I worked a lot of evenings and weekends. Was on a Pastor hiring committee. Chairperson for the Constitution Committee formed to redo the churches constitution. Taught Faith and Reason class once. After two years of trying to make minor suggestions from the inside (while not trying to completely disrupt the church) we finally resigned from all of our positions in June of 2022. We did meet with the Pastor and Head Deacon (Elder) to discuss the 4 or 5 major Biblical issues that we saw with the church. It was one of the hardest, but also best, decisions that I’ve made in my life thus far. My daughter and son-in-law actually played an important role in leaving First Baptist and finding a more Biblical church.

I am definitely blessed to have met Sandy in college and to have been married to her for 30 years. Her soft demeanor has helped me change over the years.

Growing up on a farm with a big, loving family. We didn’t have much, yet we had everything that we needed and more.

Growing up as a poor 80’s farm kid, with a large family, during the farm crisis taught me to work hard and be conservative with our finances. I have compassion for kids whose families may also have little.

The college debt that Sandy and I had after graduating from UNI took nearly 10 years to overcome. It was hard back then struggling to pay the bills while living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Cedar Falls for seven years, but we did it. Looking back, I would not have done it any other way.

Losing a job that I loved as a plant buyer due to another company purchasing the business, then closing it. It helped me to not try and control my circumstances as much and live more day to day.

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. Regularly go on mission trips.

4. Mentor kids or young couples. More opportunities to teach apologetics, especially to high school and college aged kids.

5. Find a way to financially support my wife and I in a Christian-based job or ministry.