Last night I took a career interests inventory that is aimed at determining an "Entrepreneurial Attributes Scale" (EAS) score. I was asked to take it as a part of the preparation for the church planting bootcamp that Michelle and I are going to with Acts29. I did some graduate work in psychology, so I'm pretty familiar with these inventories, and they're usually really interesting to me.

The results of the inventory confirmed what I have always said about myself. My EAS score was 30. What's that mean? Well, it means I rank in the 2nd percentile for being similar to business professionals with entrepeneurial attributes. People have often asked me if I ever wanted to be a Sr. Pastor in a church, and I've always told them, "I don't think I'm entrepeneurial enough to be a Sr. Pastor."

So what the heck am I doing thinking about church planting??? There are a few possible answers to that. One is that maybe I shouldn't be thinking about it! Another is that I may be in a better position to plant a church because I'm not entrepeneurial enough for it - first, because I don't want it to ever be said that a church succeeded or failed because of my abilities - God has to be the driving force and energy behind everything, not me; and second, because the community I want to be a part of is about the community itself, and not simply the dynamic attributes (or lack thereof) of its pastor. That's actually one of my bigger beefs with what the church has become in North America - it's too much like a business in the way it operates structurally, financially, in its marketing, and its vision.

Another answer is that maybe I don't need to be the lead pastor of a church plant. I would be happy to join others in their journey in such a way that it also becomes my (and our) journey.

I understand why these assessments are helpful tools for church planting processes, so I'm glad to submit to them, but it'll be interesting to see how these inventories are incorporated into the bootcamp.