Wagner-Modified Houts Questionnaire

The Wagner-Modified Houts Questionnaire
	Wagner, C. P. (1995). Finding your spiritual gifts Wagner-modified Houts questionnaire. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light

Scores among all of the gifts listed ranged from 0-13. Teaching and Wisdom were suggested as my top two gifts with scores of 13 each. Knowledge and Pastor were the second runner up with scores of 12 each. Gifts that fell into the third runner up category with scores of 10 each were Discerning, Giving, Leadership, Administration, and Prophecy. All other gifts in the inventory had scores of 8 or below.

I've always known that I had a gift of Teaching in that I've found it effortless, for the most part, to communicate information to the health and ministry of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn.
See Acts 18:24-28 • Acts 20:20, 21 • Rom 12:7 • I Cor 12:28 • Eph 4:11-14

Wisdom is always something I've prayed for. It is a special ability that God gives to us to know the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive insight into how given knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising in the Body of Christ. It is the right and legitimate use of knowledge.
See Acts 6:3, 10 • I cor 2:1-13, 12:8 • Jas 1:5, 6 • II Pet 3: 15, 16

Knowledge is the special ability given by God to discover, accumulate, analyze and clarify information and ideas which are pertinent to the well-being of the Body, and a skill that I've had all of my life. Even as a child I was referred to as the Professor.
See Acts 5:1-11 • I Cor 2:14, 12:8 • II Cor 11:6 • Col 2:2, 3

Pastoring is a gift that I had no idea that I had. I've never aspired to be a pastor due to my poor social skills and difficulty dealing with problems of other people in the counseling arena. However, working from the definition in the instrument, a long-term personal responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers, there is no doubt that I have this gift as well.
See John 10:1-18 • Ephesians 4:11-14 • I Timothy 3:1-7 • I Pet 5:1-3

The gift of Discerning of Spirits, that ability to know with assurance whether certain behavior purported to be of God is in reality divine, human, or Satanic, has been something I've had all my life as well. I tend not to have problems "seeing through" a situation accurately assessing the truth of the matter. My pastor has noted that this gift has manifested itself in what he describes as "words of knowledge" or "words of wisdom" about individuals and situations. Generally, I keep my thoughts about these insights to myself, which has proven to be a good thing as I have drawn the wrong conclusion about people and situations from time to time. It is best to wait for clear direction from God before addressing a situation.
See Mat 12:41-44 • Rom 12:8 • II Cor 8:1-7 • II Cor 9:2-8

Giving is another gift that I was unaware that I had. This is largely due to the fact that although I find it easy and enjoyable contributing my material resources to the work of the Lord with liberality and cheerfulness, my cheerfulness dies on the vine when I am treated with contempt or there is no indication of gratefulness from those receiving the gift. I don't care to receive public credit for what I gave, but it would be nice if those receiving the gift were grateful and treated me kindly. Some would argue that this expectation is out of line due to the fact that I'm giving to the Lord. I'm not sure that I agree with that statement.
See Mark 12:41 • Rom 12:8 • II Cor 8:1-7, 8:2-8

Leadership was another gift that I didn't think I had because I always thought that leadership required that a person have a special ability to draw people to themselves, which I don't have. However, the instrument defines it as the ability to set goals in accordance with God's purpose for the future and to communicate these goals to others in such a way that they voluntarily and harmoniously work together to accomplish those goals for the glory of God. There is no question that when given the opportunity to express my vision, folks are quick to jump on the band-wagon hoping to help out.
See Luke 9:51 • Acts 7:10, 15:7-11 • Rom 12:8 • I Tim 5:17 • Heb 13:17

Administration is the ability to understand clearly the immediate and long-range goals of a particular unit of the Body of Christ and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals. In many instances this is true of my life. However, in many instances I find myself in administrative positions wondering what on earth am I going to do. Yet, God equips me to get through the issues.
See Luke 14:28-30 • Acts 6:1-7, 27:11 • I cor 12:28 • Tit 1:5

Prophecy is described as the special ability to receive and communicate an immediate message of God to His people through a divinely anointed utterance. It is important to realize that such an utterance is seldom related to revelation of the future such as "Joe, you're going to get a new car next week." Rather is often involves the obvious, such as, "Joe, God has moved me to tell you that if continue steeling money from you boss, God will strip you of your job." If you look at all of the Prophets, more often than not, they operated in the mode aforementioned. This has happened to me from time to time and it has always been a one-on-one situation. That is, I've never stood up in a congregation and said, "thus says the Lord..." Paul wrote that it is the one to be desired the most, but, I have never desired this gift because history recordes that those who were Prophets often went through a great deal of pain.
See Luke 7:26 • Acts 15:32, 21:9-11 • Rom 12:6 • I Cor 12:10, 28 • Eph 4:11-14