Earlier this year, I wrote about coming to my own self-realization that I am an insecure extrovert here. Well, I just met my match or perhaps my exact opposite.

Over the weekend, I was talking with a friend who is a gifted evangelist. Backstory here, this friend would spend all day talking to non-believers about the Gospel and even confront them about their own choices in ways that I would find challenging. As a pastor whose job is ministering to people, I have to admit I am jealous of his gifts in this area because I’m more comfortable with a relational style of evangelism. Early in my Christian walk, I discounted my own style and wished I could overcome my wiring to be more like this guy. Over the last couple of years though, God has given me peace about who He designed me to be. I now recognize how both styles will bring people to salvation as long as we’re both praying and working that direction.

Anyway, as we were talking, he admitted that he was extremely tired. We had come out of a significant ministry event that had taken lots of preparation so tired was understandable. Yet, internally, I felt pumped. Why the difference?

And then it hit me. As I wrote in my earlier post, my new understanding on introvert/extrovert is that it’s not where you are comfortable, but about how you get refreshed and refueled. For me, three hours in a crowd connecting with hundreds of people was rejuvenating. For him, it wore him out and all he wanted to do was go take a nap. I realized the opposite implication would apply to him, if he was an introvert, he would need regular times of refreshing to be alone, in between the times he’s engaged in the ministry of evangelism that God has called him to.

Prior to this realization, I would have assumed all evangelists were extroverted. Of course, if that were true, then who would reach the introverts?

Have you determined whether you’re an introvert or extrovert? It can be a valuable revelation.