My final talent, once again, doesn't sound like something you'd think of as a talent, but, again, it blends in very well with my other talents in that I'm a learner. It doesn't matter if it's formal or informal, I love to learn, which is why, more often than not, I'm in the midst of multiple books on a variety of topics that, more often than not, apply to some specific project that I'm a part of.

The key advantage I see in all of this is that, when going through the process of seeing the system, coming to understand all of the connections, envisioning a future, and determining how to get there, there's bound to be something I don't know enough about and it demands that I learn more in order to accomplish the goal at hand.

So, given how all of my talents link together, I'm forced to ask how I can use them in a way that they are strengths in ministry. Given that so much of what I'm good at is conceptual, the obvious answer is that I need to focus on projects that are either very conceptual, or projects that involve a number of other people who need someone like me to provide an overall direction so they can make it a reality.

Given this, right now, Genesis certainly doesn't play to my strengths because I've never had a core of people to help make the ideas become reality (this was made really clear when I started helping out at Christ). With the fshbwl, our current structure of me needing to track multiple authors and make sure they're turning in content is something I'm horrible at, which is why I default to writing more and more of the content, even in areas where I'm not strong. Of course, some changes we're going to make at the 'bwl will fix this in the near future. the elemental life is great with my strengths ... although the marketing side of it is an area where I'm seriously lacking.

How about you? How do you play to your strengths? Or are you struggling as you seek to work in areas of weakness?

My cerebral talents continue with the fourth on the list, futuristic. I'm one of those people that's always looking towards tomorrow and coming up with ideas for what could or should be.

Once again, I can see how this links into my other talents, and how each one up to this point weaves together in a way that allows me to look at what is, understand it, look at where things are heading, and help others see how we can get there. In a sense, I think blending this gift with others is truly a blessing in that, without the others, I'd envision a future that ignores the past and is ignorant of the present. This is part of why I'm not a fan of typical approaches to strategic planning, but think that the Church Unique approach offers a very healthy alternative.

But once again, the problem is, if I don't have people working with me in order to get us there, then it will never happen. I can see it all day long, but I struggle to step into the everyday and bring things to fruition, a reality characterized by my answer to the question, "If you had a mulligan for the past three years, what would it be?" My answer was quick and clear, "Before doing anything with Genesis, I'd have spent however long it took to develop a solid core team of missional Christians who were going to move into the city with me."

The other struggle with this is characterized by a question my life coach asked me the Friday before the fshbwl launched, "What's next?" It's far to easy for me to get something going, see the launch as the end of the journey, and then move onto something else. I'm horrible at maintenance. I think that's why the opening blog on the fshbwl site was as much for me as it was for everybody else.

I'm curious, does anybody else who's taken the strengths finder see all of their top talents weaving together the way mine do, or is that just a product of my connectedness?

I don't know about you, but between my duties at home, with the fshbwl, Genesis, and the eLife, I have a slew of different project areas in my life and I'm constantly trying to keep myself organized and up to date on what needs to be done. Then of course, because I work from home, my office, and my laptop, I need access to my task list from a number of locations. Moreover, I'm not particularly good at mental notes, so, if something is going to make it into my task list, it needs to get there immediately.

So, what's my solution? Remember the Milk. Remember the Milk (RTM) is, at the most basic level, an online task list that allows you to categorize and tag your to-do items, but, the real beauty is the way RTM mashes up with other applications.

For example, when I'm sitting in a meeting and am reminded that there is something I need to do, I can text Twitter with a "d rtm" command and my task will be added to my task list. Or say, when I'm in the car and I recall something that needs to be done. Using my bluetooth I can speed dial Jott, identify it as a message for RTM, and use their voice recognition software to add a task to my list.

Then of course there is the integration with gMail (or a google aps mail account) through a Firefox extension. The result is that my task list sits right next to my inbox and, I can easily add messages that I need to follow up on later to my to do list (which then allows me to tag and archive the message and keep my inbox empty).

As if that wasn't enough, I'm also able to share specific task lists with other RTM users so, Anita and I have some shared items and, if there' something she wants me to get done around the house, she just drops the item in our shared list and I get the hint (sometimes).

Of course, because I'm not always online, RTM also works with Google Gears so, on my laptop, I always have the latest version of my task list and, if I change anything offline, the next time I log on, everything will sync. This will get even better when I get an iPhone and can use the RTM page specifically designed for the iPhone.

RTM is a wonderful tool that I'm sure will only get better over time.

In the Spring of 2006, a guy from Genesis suggested that I write a book about the basics of the Christian faith and how Christians view the world around us. It seemed like a good enough of an idea, and now, a couple of years later, the elemental life is in print. Here's the book description:

Life, the decisions and challenges we face concerning work, recreation, money, relationships, and the future can become complex and overwhelming. But they don't have to be.

The elemental life uses the four ancient elements of earth, water, fire, and wind to take a fresh look at historic biblical Christianity. In the process, the elemental life offers a different way of looking at the world around you ... a way that provides clarity in the midst of chaos, speaks words of forgiveness when confronted by failure, makes the most of the struggles of life, and gives meaning to the mundane moments of your everyday experience.

It's not easy, but it is elemental. Find a friend and talk, challenge, encourage, and discover together. Get back to the elemental life.

Because the whole thing was written with the goal of getting people to ask questions and explore deeper, I've also developed a website to go with the site where readers can ask questions and I'll dig deeper into the ideas behind the book through the eLife podcast.

If you take a look at my "submit comment" form now, you'll notice the sudden disappearance of the little question to determine if you're human or not. That's thanks to Mollom, a very cool new deal from the guy behind Drupal. Basically, when you submit a comment, my site now submits it to Mollom, it determines if you're a human or not, and, if it can't tell, it will give you one of those test questions. It's over 99% accurate on identifying spam and has been awesome both on the fshbwl and Genesis pages, so that should take care of any issues with commenting once and for all.

Another very cool new deal that I'll hopefully be getting a beta invite to in the next few days is Soocial. Basically, it will take contacts from my Address Book, LinkenIn, Facebook, Gmail, Google Apps accounts, and my phone and keep them all synced. How incredibly cool is that?