About E-Church Essentials, LLC & AssessME.org

About AssessME.org, its Mission and its People

AssessME.org’s mission statement includes:

To equip churches to make-disciples (see: NextSteps)
To help churches mobilize volunteers into effective ministry service (see: Volunteer Mobilization).

We provide the disciple-making systems and mobilization processes that are likely lacking within most churches. Our systems include five essentials assessments:

In addition, AssessME.org also offers support resources for your church designed to help every volunteer mature spiritually and serve effectively.

AssessME.org Support Blog

David A. Posthuma offers training & essential information through his blog. Please subscribe.

AssessME.org Client Map

Is your church on our map? Locate our thousands of U.S. client ministries. We also support client churches within 36 countries.

Our Corporate Website

E-Church Essentials, LLC is the parent company of AssessME.org. Select the title to learn more.

Our specialization

Spiritual Gifts Test
Spiritual Gifts Test by AssessME.org

Our spiritual gifts test is a classic spiritual gifts assessment tool. However, what makes our test superior, is that it filters the final gift results through personality distinctives. We call, theses personality-filtered results, “Gift Expressions”.
Personality Assessment
Personality Assessment by AssessME.org

Our personality test is designed exclusively for volunteer-mobilization. This assessment helps your people better understand why God made them as He did, and for what ministry purpose.
Leadership Style Assessment
Leadership Style Assessment by AssessME.org

The Leadership Style Assessment is designed to help church leaders position the right people, into the appropriate team-member position. This assessment also helps with succession-planning and leadership development strategies.
Skills Tracking Program
Skills Tracking by AssessME.org

Skills tracking is a component of our Volunteer-Mobilization program. It includes micro-resume comments for each skill category.
NextSteps Discipleship Assessment & Tracking Program
NextSteps Discipleship Program by AssessME.org

The NextSteps Discipleship Assessment and Tracking Program is more than an assessment. It enables ministry leadership to assess, track, and equip their people for spiritual maturity. This program is 100% editable…every question, title, and report…so that you can make the program better reflect your discipleship culture.
The Essential Training Book: Made for a Mission

The book Made for a Mission is the primary AssessME.org training resource. It is an essential read for pastors, church staff, and lay leaders.
Book: eShift, The Rise of the Internet Influenced Church

eShift – Change never comes easy. Yet, change is exactly what eShift is about. As you read this book, you will learn the very real difference between the established television-influenced church culture, and the emerging internet-influenced culture. This cultural transition will have a profound impact upon the local church and how it does its ministry. eShift will show you how this culture gap may be bridged for there are two things that remains unchanged: Christ’s mission in this world and the power of His Spirit.

The eShift Trailer…

Meet Our Key Leadership Team

Our dedicated ministry professionals are committed to helping your church disciple your people in Christ, and mobilize them to serve Christ.

David A Posthuma

President, Systems Designer, & Author

David A Posthuma is the author and designer of AssessME.org and its assessments. Additionally, David has authored the Pastoral Resource books entitled: "Made for a Mission" and "eShift". David has also written dozens of published ministry resource magazine articles. David excels at systems design, new ministry development, team building, and church consutlation.

He graduated from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI with a B.A. in Education & Religion; Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL with an M.Div.; and earned Clinical Certifications from Mac Neal Hospital, Chicago.

David has planted two churches, revitalized a dying Chicago church and a declining church in Holland Michigan. David also launched a large-church College and Career ministry, and managed a church merger. He serves regularly as a church consultant.

Tamara Posthuma

Editor & Communications

Tamara is a graduate of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI with a degree in English Education & Communications. She also holds a Master’s degree in Communications from the University of South Florida. Tamara has served several Fortune 500 companies as a Business Curriculum Developer and Communications Management Professional.

Tamara supports AssessME.org as our primary Editor of our websites, our assessments, and the books and magazine articles. Additionally, Tamara also serves as our voice-over talent for all software video tours.

Skip Nagelvoort

Business Management & Sales

Skip is a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and the University of Michigan. Additional educational experiences include: Investment Strategies and Theory at the Tuck School at Dartmouth University, and Far East Asian Business Studies from the Institute at Harvard University.

Skip’s work experience includes 30 years working in New York City for Faulkner, Dawkins and Sullivan as well as Goldman Sachs and Nagelvoort & Co. He later spent time in Athens, Georgia associated with the Center for International Trade and Security and other various business interests.

James Wiersma

Lead Programmer

James has partnered with E-Church Essentials, LLC and AssessME.org since its founding in 2002. James is responsible for developing our software systems. He is a graduate of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI. In addition to his formal education, James is Microsoft Certified, as well as certified in many additional programming languages.

James also serves Salem Media Group’s Web Division, as their Director of Development. He oversees a team of 25+ programmers who develop and manage sites such as Christianity.com, OnePlace.com, Crosswalk.com, BibleStudyTools.com, LightSource.com, and more.

What Clients Say About AssessME.org

Ruth Ott, Community Bible Church, San Antonio, Texas

(Top-40 Largest U.S. Churches)

Our Experience

“We have partnered with AssessME.org since 2010. AssessME.org has been very useful to help our people better understand how they have been uniquely designed by God.

Integration Into Our Church Culture

Based upon AssessME data, we have developed a total church volunteer book, as well as a website where people may select from over 80 different volunteer positions. We also have linked our data with Fellowship One™ and are able to give each member who completes the assessments a list of the top five ministries that would best fit their personality and spiritual gifts.

Our Success

To date, we have assessed more than 10,000 people for ministry fit. By using the AssessMe.org selection process we have been able to consistently identify leaders to teach classes each semester. If you are looking for a process to equip your members in one easy format, I would recommend AssessME.org.”

Ruth OttConnections Pastor, Community Bible Church – Community Bible Church

Fair Haven Ministries, One of the Largest RCA Churches

To Our Partners in Ministry:

Our Experience

At Fair Haven Ministries, we have been using AssessMe.org for a year now, and it’s been wonderful. As we build an equipping ministry, knowing the combination of Leadership Style, Giftedness, Personality, and Skills is highly valuable. It’s so easy for ministry leaders to search in for people whom God has already uniquely designed to fit the areas in which our ministry needs them. How true it is that God provides the people where he leads in ministry – and AssessMe helps to make the connection. The AssessMe staff have also been very helpful to us in working with our church management software….

How People Have Responded

Many of our people…who have taken the assessments have been encouraged, and valued them greatly. One couple found confirmation for a call to move their whole family to Texas for a new church plant. Small Groups have used the assessments to grow deeper in discipleship and service. Ministry Leaders are helping their volunteers to better understand themselves and to help them get involved in areas which are better suited to the way God has uniquely designed them. Fair Haven Ministries even used the assessments with our youth in an intensive discipleship ministry.

Integration Into Our Church Culture

Our ministry now uses AssessMe.org as a required part of our discipleship process for new members and new leaders. We have also done a whole church series of sermons that revolved around the uniqueness of each member of the body that God uses to change the world, and we used AssessMe as a key piece of that series. If you haven’t used it, and particularly if you’re still doing data entry or fiddling with endless paper and binders, I suggest trying it out.

Fair Haven MinistriesPastor Tom Elenbaas – Fair Haven Ministries

Cincinnati Vineyard, 5,000 Member Church

The AssessME Team,

Our Experience

Thank you for the time, resources and energy you have put into developing the AssessME. It fills a void left open by many of the popular personality assessments and spiritual gifts tests out there. They can be helpful to a degree, but lack an overall picture of a person and how they will function in a ministry setting.

Integration Into Our Church Culture

In our use of the AssessME to date, with well over a thousand in our congregation having taken advantage of the tool, the benefits have been three-fold. First, it ties a person’s personality, leadership styles, and gifts into a “real-world” scenario of how this person will function in ministry. Secondly, it provides groundwork for meaningful discipleship conversations, especially during volunteer placement and leadership development scenarios. Thirdly, it is helping us build smarter teams, as we strive to fill each ministry team with a mix of leadership styles that more accurately reflects a holistic, Body of Christ approach.

Again, thank you for the investment you have made to the Kingdom and to our church as you have walked alongside us in the implementation of this valuable resource.

Cincinnati Vineyard ChurchKande Wilson, Director of Connections – Cincinnati Vineyard Church

Susan Ketcham, Denominational Client: RCA Church Multiplication Division

Dear AssessME.org:

In my position, a major responsibility is to provide dependable assessments for potential church planters for the Reformed Church in America. This assessment tool has become a standard part of our assessment process for two years now. I have found it to be very effective as it helps to paint a picture of the individual and how God has already been at work in their lives, equipping them for the work He has for them to do. I recommend it all the time! Thanks for your fine work. What a blessing to the church!

Susan KetchamRCA Church Multiplication – Reformed Church in America

Leonard Sweet, Para-Church Leader, Speaker, Author, & Seminary Professor

REGARDING E-CHURCH ESSENTIALS, LLC –

“Ever wonder what it was like to have been on the ground floor with Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com or Pierre Omidyar of eBay.com? Wonder no longer. Join Dave Posthuma of E-Church Essentials and hold on –- the future of the church is forming right before your eyes and under your feet.”

REGARDING THE BOOK eSHIFT –

“I expect this book to stir controversy, but of the best sort: Eye-opening and mind-altering perspectives on what it might mean for the church to embrace the internet today as the primary delivery system for learning and faith development as our Protestant ancestors adopted the book as their primary delivery system in the Reformation Church.”

Leonard Sweet, best-selling author and professor (Drew University, George Fox University), and chief contributor to sermons.com

Leonard SweetChurch Futurist, Author, Teacher & Speaker – LeonardSweet.com

Dan Webster, Para-Church Leader, Speaker, Author, Willow Creek Pastor, Crystal Cathedral Pastor

REGARDING E-CHURCH ESSENTIALS, LLC –

“Dave Posthuma and E-Church Essentials share my passion to train and inspire leaders to live authentic lives of great impact. Rarely do you meet someone as passionate about the church with the technological genius of Dave. I love how he is helping churches by leading them into the technological future. Pay attention to what he is doing and access his outrageous resource. It will help you as you both grow and organize your church.”

REGARDING THE BOOK eSHIFT –

“The church has been choking for decades on the naive assumption that the world hasn’t changed. eShift provides the necessary Heimlich Maneuver to clear her throat so that the fresh air of life and relevance can return. If you are over 40 this writing will be a wake-up call. If you are under 25 you will shout Hallelujah that someone has finally stated things as they truly are. Either way, eShift is a gift to the church. Let’s hope it’s one that is opened and applied, not ignored.”

Dan WebsterAuthentic Leadership, Willow Creek, Crystal Cathedral – Authentic Leadership Inc.

AssessME.org protects the privacy of our client churches and parachurch ministries. Select the button to the right to read our policy statement.

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About E-Church Essentials, LLC & AssessME.org

About AssessME.org, its Mission and its People

Our specialization

The eShift Trailer…

Meet Our Key Leadership Team

Our dedicated ministry professionals are committed to helping your church disciple your people in Christ, and mobilize them to serve Christ.

David A Posthuma

Tamara Posthuma

Skip Nagelvoort

James Wiersma

What Clients Say About AssessME.org

Ruth Ott, Community Bible Church, San Antonio, Texas

Our Experience

Integration Into Our Church Culture

Our Success

Fair Haven Ministries, One of the Largest RCA Churches

Our Experience

How People Have Responded

Integration Into Our Church Culture

Cincinnati Vineyard, 5,000 Member Church

Our Experience

Integration Into Our Church Culture

Susan Ketcham, Denominational Client: RCA Church Multiplication Division

Leonard Sweet, Para-Church Leader, Speaker, Author, & Seminary Professor

REGARDING E-CHURCH ESSENTIALS, LLC –

REGARDING THE BOOK eSHIFT –

Dan Webster, Para-Church Leader, Speaker, Author, Willow Creek Pastor, Crystal Cathedral Pastor

REGARDING E-CHURCH ESSENTIALS, LLC –

REGARDING THE BOOK eSHIFT –

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