One of the things we like to do in Church World is to figure out if people have the gift of “Administration.”

I feel like people in ministry are very eager to do this because very few people in ministry are administrative. In fact, I think that the gift of Administration is about as rare as the gift of Teaching is (and just as valuable).

Anyhow. I’m almost positive I have it. I know some other people who do. I have friends who are not (but that’s ok).

How can you know if you’re administrative? I made this quick 9-question quiz:

1. My phone/iPod/laptop is..
a. Always charged. I plug it in every night.
b. Always running out of battery. And I can’t find the charger.

2. I am generally…
a. 5-15 minutes early to my appointments. I like to be there a little early just in case.
b. 5-15 (or more) minutes late to my appointments. They aren’t going to start until I get there anyhow…

3. My car’s gas tank is…
a. Always above a quarter of a tank. As soon as I hear the ding I get some gas.
b. Constantly running on empty. I figure I can coast into a gas station.

4. My wallet…
a. Has a specific order for the credit cards and other items.
b. I’m not even sure where my wallet is.

5. My email inbox…
a. Has about 30-50 folders for different emails. As soon as I’m done with an email, it gets filed away.
b. Has about 30-50 unread emails in them. I’ll get back to them eventually.

6. When I get an email I…
a. Read it, file it, and respond to it within 12 hours if it needs a response.
b. Generally ignore it until. If it’s important they’ll find me and tell me to read it.

7. I answer my phone…
a. Most of the time. If I miss it I generally return the call within an hour or two.
b. Almost never. In fact, where is my phone?

8. I know…
a. Pretty much what I’ll be doing each day this week. If I do something random it’s in the time I scheduled to be random.
b. Nothing beyond what I’m doing for the next 10 minutes. You want to do something in a half hour?

9. I noticed…
a. That this quiz only has 9 questions. 10 would be a much more even number and would just make a lot more sense.
b. That I need to charge my phone, that I’m late for a meeting, that my gas is almost empty, and I’ve got 10 unread emails and 2 voicemails.

Go ahead and add up how many times you answered “A” and “B” … If you have more “A”s than “B”s, there is a good chance you in fact have the gift of Administration! If you’ve got more “B”s, just be sure to hire one of us to keep you in order.

Thoughts? What was your score?