Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 179:713 (Jan 2022)
Article: The Table Briefing: Giftedness
Author: Darrell L. Bock

BSac 179:713 (January-March 2022) p. 83

The Table Briefing:
Giftedness

Darrell L. Bock

and

Kymberli M. Cook

Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor in New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Kymberli M. Cook is Assistant Director of the Hendricks Center and a PhD student in theological studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.

“What should I do with my life?” is a question many young adults struggle to answer. Perhaps more haunting, older people often find themselves asking, “What should I have done with my life?” or “How do I use the time I have left?” Bill Hendricks, the Hendricks Center’s Executive Director for Christian Leadership, has long engaged these life questions as an author and vocational practitioner. He is one among many who utilize the System for Identifying Motivated Abilities, which attempts to capitalize on a particular phenomenon of success and satisfaction occurring at the unique intersection of an individual’s motivations and abilities. Springboarding off that system, Bill has developed a more accessible approach that he simply calls “giftedness discovery.” The Center regularly offers workshops that help individuals identify their personal giftedness, but it has also engaged the topic from a variety of perspectives on The Table podcast. This is one of the transformative processes the Center has developed to help people in their pursuit of leadership and flourishing. Here are some conversations that show what this involves.

Spiritual Gifts And Giftedness

Many people ask if this “giftedness” is another way of discussing spiritual gifts or attempt to clarify a distinction. Here, Darrell Bock and Bill Hendricks address that relationship:

BSac 179:713 (January-March 2022) p. 84

Bock: Our topic is giftedness, and most people will think that might mean we’re going to talk about spiritual gifts and 1 Corinthians. My guess is that’s sort of right and sort of not right. Sort us out.

Hendricks: Let’s just start with the fact that whatever gifts we have are always from God, and I personally wince when I hear people talk about spiritual gifts and natural gifts because that somehow creates a hierarchy in people’s minds. At the end of the day, I think we’re talking about all the same stuff. God has endowed human beings with actual abilities and strengths and motivations to accomplish things that he wants done. Every single person in the world has their own unique form of giftedness. But it would be fair to say that when we talk about giftedness we may be in a broader array of categories than people tend to think about ...