Episode 40

EP40: What If the Thing That Drains You Is Someone Else’s Gift? Discovering Working Genius

September 14th, 2026

31 mins 41 secs

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About this Episode

About this Episode

Why does one part of ministry leave you energized while another part seems to drain you completely? And what if the answer isn’t simply about personality, but about the way God has gifted you to contribute to a team?

In this episode of The YDisciple Podcast, Pete Burds and Annie Grandell dive into Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius framework and explore how it can give ministry leaders language for understanding the way they naturally approach their work. Rather than simply categorizing personalities, Working Genius looks at how ideas move from a question or need all the way through implementation and completion.

Pete and Annie walk through the six working geniuses—Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity—and discuss how each contributes something unique to a healthy team. They explore the difference between the work that naturally energizes us, the work we can competently accomplish, and the work that tends to frustrate or drain us.

The conversation also explores what this looks like in real ministry settings—from parish teams and volunteers to mission staff and small group mentors. If the ministry is going to be bigger than any one person, we need to recognize the gifts already present in the people around us and create opportunities for those gifts to serve the mission.

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Reflection for This Week

Ask yourself:

  • What areas of ministry naturally give me energy, and what areas tend to drain me?
  • Where might I be using my strengths—or my frustrations—as an excuse instead of an opportunity for growth?
  • Who are the people God has placed around me whose gifts could complement my own and help make the ministry bigger than myself?