What's unique about this book?
Pastor Unique was born when we set out to answer a question: "Why are some pastors gifted at leading church turnarounds but most are not?"
We also decided to follow a more scientifically rigorous method than the typical case-study approach.
We identified a statistically representative group of pastors and asked them to first fill out a Pastoral Leadership Survey. The Survey gathered data about the previous five years of their ministry. We sorted the subjects into two categories. "Turnaround Pastors" were those whose churches had experienced a minimum of 2.5% annual growth per year for five consecutive years. "Nonturnaround Pastors" were those whose churches saw less than the 2.5% per year growth.
We then administered The Birkman Method™ profile to each subject.
A scientifically developed, multi-dimensional assessment, The Birkman Method™, provides personality and occupational data to help understand individuals’ unique behavior and work satisfaction across different situations and industries. The Birkman Method™ reaches further into personality than any other assessment, allowing for individuals to truly understand not only who they are, but why.
We submitted the list of subjects to a psychometric statistician who examined the data to identify statistically significant differences between the two categories of pastors.
The analysis indicated that there were 7 scales where the high (turnaround pastors) and low (nonturnaround pastors) groups differed. These were statistically significant differences at p < .05. In principle, this means that the differences between the two groups are results that cannot attributed to chance.
These seven statistically significant differences are causal; they are not mere correlation (e.g., every male subject who went ice fishing at least weekly during the season ended up dying). In other words, these differences pin point why turnaround pastors are, well, turnaround pastors and why the rest aren't.
Pastor Unique explains these findings in plain language. It also identifies the "best practices" that naturally flow from the research, with examples of how any pastor can employ them in their daily ministry.