Hiring the right church planter for the environment is a key factor to the success of a church plant, according to Paul Williams in his short book Wired to Plant: The DISC as a predictor of church planting success. The DiSC Personal Profile System identifies 15 different personality types, and the key to church planter success involves ensuring that the church plant type matches the personality of the planter. The book describes the results of a study on the use of DiSC as a predictor of church planter success.
After discussing the biblical foundations of church planter selection and the history of the DiSC test, the book moves on to a discussion of the study results. The DiSC assessment measures the relative strengths of four personality traits: Dominance, Influence, Conscientiousness and Steadiness. The majority of church planter candidates were found to match the Inspirational pattern (high D and I). According to the author, this suggests that other suitable personality types are probably being filtered out.
The sample size is fairly small, so it is difficult to reach any definitive conclusions. I was unsure of the author’s basis for asserting that different personality types would be effective church leaders in different contexts. Also, the book does not give a clear description of the 15 different personality types, so it is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the DiSC assessment. Nonetheless, it provides interesting reading.
The book is available for free download: http://blog.exponential.org/2012/09/wired-to-plant-the-impact-of-disc-on-the-church-planter-2-2/