Is your innovation getting lost in between generations?

So let me share with you two situations that I have found all too common. Both of them lead to the stifling of innovation . . . but for different reasons.

Situation 1
A young person full of energy has been up most of the night talking with a friend or two. During that conversation an idea was born. Now that this young person has had some sleep and is properly caffeinated, they go into work and share the idea with an older boss/co-worker/mentor/etc. They excitedly share the 5 minute version of the long discussion and then wait for input. Their eye's dull quickly as the other person shares how they tried something like that 10 years ago with no success and how it would no better work today.

Situation 2
An older person and a younger person are in a meeting at church, a non-profit, a business or any other inter-generational setting. The older person throws some input from their experience into the situation with a desire to see the group learn from their experience. The younger people listen politely and then go on with the discussion without seriously considering the other's idea.

This happens all the time. I didn't use actual years because 1) I would immediately get in trouble for what I consider "old" :) and 2) young and old can vary dramatically in the situations I shared above.

The biggest concern I have related to Kingdom Innovation is that both the energy of young innovators and the wisdom of older innovators are being ignored. In the end amazing ideas are thrown out, not improved on or at least discouraged.

It seems silly that this happens. Both generations know the other has a lot to offer. One is seen as the authority and the other is seen as the future leaders. But for many reasons we do not take advantage of the new thinking of one and the wealth of experience in the other. We also can't imagine a world where the older generation might have the new thinking and the younger generation might have more experience.

So I want to bravely offer these tips as you innovate across generations:
1. Look for a mentor and look to mentor another - no matter what age you are!
2. Take every idea seriously and ask God to show you which ones need to be pursued.
3. Hang out with people in different generations and learn . . . always be learning.
4. Study history because we know no idea is truly new.
5. Look to the future because we know that God has new things for us to do each day.

So how will you use the inter-generational environments you find yourself in to be a better Kingdom worker and innovator?

Innovators own a piece of the conversation

If you look at the research about social media from Forrester in the book Groundswell, you see that most people are content to watch the conversation of others. I'm sure there are many reasons for that. Some are worried about saying the wrong things and others don't want to invest the time. I understand those reasons, BUT I'm here to tell you that if you want to be an innovator YOU don't have that option.

What do I mean? If you want to be an innovator in Kingdom work, you have to own your part of the conversation. That means you have to identify the cause you care about and the area your innovation will focus on and speak into it. In other words, you need to be generous with the area you are studying, working and living in. Only as you own that piece of the conversation, engage others with your ideas and connect with other thinkers will you have the right to present your innovation.

Gone are the days when you went into your garage one day and came out 2 years later with the perfect widget. Today, you have to speak your idea into the community of people who care and work with them to refine and develop it. That might mean that you blog, or that you have a group on facebook or that you even have a group of associates/friends in real life that you brainstorm with. Whatever that looks like for you, it is essential.

But many people will be thinking, "I don't have any avenues for engaging my sphere of influence on the Kingdom innovations that I am working on!" That is a problem. But today I have one option that I want to challenge each of you to consider.

I hope most of you have heard about Lausanne's Third World Congress happening in Cape Town, South Africa this year. This is one of the most significant events to catalyze innovation and thought for global evangelism. I believe that the conversations that are happening right now in their Global Conversation site are key to many new ministry innovations that will launch in the coming years.

At the request of the Lausanne team and as I prayed about how I might help this movement, I am coordinating the Lausanne Bloggers Network. This select group of 50-100 bloggers from around the world will have access to content and speakers and will get the chance to engage their audiences with the ideas coming out of the movement's Global Conversation. This is an amazing platform for you to own a piece of the conversation.

I would love to see 5 or 6 people from our Innovation in Mission team be a part of this network. Please read more about it HERE and contact me through this blog or through the Lausanne link in this sentence to find out more and see if you are a fit for the network.

I believe that this opportunity is going to launch some exciting new voices and help other voices to engage their audiences in the cause of global evangelism.

So here is my question: Is this a platform that God might use as you strive to innovate for Him?

A Crisis of Context

One of the greatest challenges to innovation in mission today is our crisis of context. What does that mean you say? Very simple...almost all of the ideas and thinking that circulate today are in snippets.

Think about it:

1. A quote on twitter is just 140 characters of a larger thought.
2. A song on itunes is just one piece of the artist's album
3. A Bible verse taken without those around it share an incomplete truth

And on and on...

Innovation desperately needs context. It is the side stories and the small details around the big idea that inform the new and innovative things. We settle for the soundbites but really what we need are those full body ideas with all of the nuance and the perspectives.

But nuance and perspective take time, consideration and thought. We are short on those things today and thus our innovation suffers.

Here is my challenge to you today:

Pick a key idea that you want to learn about and study it in full...read the whole article...look at a few perspectives...ask a few people what they think.
Your next innovation will be much more significant if you have the context that surrounds it!

Misunderstanding the Moment

"Father, give me eyes to see and a heart to respond to all which will come to me this day. Forbid that I should miss its graces by looking ahead to some tomorrow. Let me accept the newness each moment brings with awareness and gratitude. In the name of the one who makes all things new I pray. Amen" (Disciplines of the inner life)

This prayer really hit me today. I usually miss the graces God has for me on a daily basis. Why do I miss them? Let me contend that I miss them because I misunderstand the moment. In Mark 9:2-8 Peter misunderstood the moment as Jesus stood there transfigured before him. He thought it was a moment to build homes and to establish power when it was really a moment of new understanding and new realization for Peter, James and John.

In our work as innovators we often misunderstand the moment. Even today we will think that we are to aggressively pursue our dream when He wants us to humbly wait. We might think that today is the day when inspiration will hit and miss that inspiration because we were too busy to talk to our neighbor. We might be tired and hope that today will bring no new action when God wants to use this day as a milestone in our journey.

Being in tune with what God will do with each moment of our day is a tremendous challenge. However, it is the challenge of the Kingdom Innovator. Only when we are aware of how God is using the moments in our day will we be available to be part of the innovations that God wants to use to show His glory in this world.

Glimpses of the Kingdom

Would it be too radical to believe that God would utilize the innovation you are working on to communicate to those around you? I would like to contend that many times our innovations provide new and creative glimpses into the Kingdom. Who knows maybe the only interest God has in your innovation is the example it provides.

We are pretty utilitarian so this is hard for us to imagine. But after all. Our God is the one who paid his tax by having his disciple pull the money from a fish! That sure wasn't the most practical way to go about it. But it did teach those who experienced this amazing tax payment some powerful lessons.

What lessons does God want to teach you and others through your innovation?

I was in Sunday School this week at Fellowship Bible Church in Colorado Springs and I came up with one such example that was such an encouragement to me. We all know at least a little about GPS technology. It has revolutionized so much of our mapping software and other key digital tools. We were talking about God's guidance in our lives and it occurred to me that God's Holy Spirit is a lot like a GPS unit in your car. When you begin your relationship with Christ you insert the directions for Heaven. From that point on the Holy Spirit is guiding and directing you towards God and away from the things that might interest us. Even if we get off track in our car, the GPS recomputes how to get to the location and starts us back in the right direction.

What an amazing example of God's faithful and persistent love and guidance in our lives!

What innovations are you working on or interacting with?

How might God use that innovation to point people towards Him?

Highlighting an Innovation in Print on Demand

There are some Kingdom innovations that are game changers. The advances in print on demand definitely fit that category.

Here is why...

1. You can now deliver ministry resources without any piles of books in your garage or in that back cubicle of the office.
2. You can now customize books for events and strategic ministry opportunities.
3. You can take resources that have been inaccessible for a long time and bring them to your key audiences.

One of the innovation leaders in this effort is a company called Snowfall Press. They partner with a nonprofit group called Virtual Storehouse. This nonprofit helps ministries to upload their Scripture/ministry products and offer them for sale online with a direct connection to the print on demand site.

But it is important for you to see why this is innovative. You can upload a print ready pdf of your book, offer it for sale through an online store, which is then custom printed and sent to the address they provide . . . all automated.

I really believe that print on demand innovations like Virtual Storehouse and Snowfall Press are key to streamlining our distribution of Scripture to the people who need them the most. The 20th Century was about mass production, mass distribution and mass marketing. This new century will see a new model. Now it isn't about printing 20,000 Bibles, it is about printing 1 Bible in just the right language, format and context to do effective ministry. Organizations that make this transition away from mass production to customized production will thrive in a world redefined by customization and the global recession.

Take a minute to check them out and see how you might be able to use this innovative service to leverage your Scripture resources for ministry audiences.

Stopping to Celebrate

Well, I'm in a celebratory mood. Probably because it is my birthday this week. But since I'm feeling this way, I want to share with you about the topic of celebration. It is a very important one and one at which we preform very poorly.

"Poorly???" you say...

Yes, we in the innovation business are good at many things. We are good at vision - almost on a daily basis we have a new idea that will change the world. We are good at work ethic - we put in far more hours than we should to see our vision come to reality. We are good at creativity - we see things that everyone else sees in the same old way through a whole set of new eyes.

But when it comes to celebrating we stink. We usually hit the milestone and then look right on past it to the next one. But that is a destination mentality instead of a journey mentality. I hope you know what I mean. We innovators tend to focus on the destination at the expense of the journey. We miss so many of the precious moments of learning, growth and, yes, celebration.

So in light of this fact, I would like to share with you five ways that you can celebrate on the way to seeing your next innovative idea come to fruition.

1. Launch your project right. Bring your prayer partners and ministry partners together for dinner or just a desert and challenge them to be praying and to seek God for how to proceed.
2. Pick a random milestone that you meet and bring bagels and coffee for your whole team.
3. When you get a breakthrough in your innovation, send out an email, facebook status or tweet telling your sphere of influence about what happened. Remember to ask for prayer as you move forward.
4. Make a list of all the amazing examples of God's faithfulness in your project and share it with those who are involved.
5. Finally, when the project is done, get all the people that helped you see it through together, thank God for His goodness and PARTY!

Innovation in Suffering

The suffering in Haiti is truly heart wrenching. My family and I are working through it in prayer, action and mobilization, but the facts don't go away. To learn from the event seems predatory and to ignore it seems heartless. But I have been asking myself what a Generous Mind would do and I come back to this--we are called to obey God fully and without reservation where we are with what we have.

So with that in mind I share some innovation thoughts. As I have been thinking and praying about tragedy and suffering I have seen two things in relation to innovation. Both of them have to do with innovation in mobile technology.

The first is that in a time of tragedy and disaster people innovate and create solutions that change the game and bring hope and options to those who are suffering. One amazing example is the way cell phones are being used. It is hard to believe that cell phones even work after such a tragedy, but they have been used in countless ways. One system we should all know about is what Thomson Reuters Foundation used for the first time. The Emergency Information Service (EIS) is providing messages to the countless people who have cell phones (although not much else). These messages give direction for healthcare and provide other informational services at no charge. This is the first time this system has been used and is a major step forward in using mobile technology to respond to a tragedy. We can only imagine the hope it is providing and the lives it will save.

Another amazing innovation in technology for those fortunate enough to have an iPhone when the earthquake hit are the applications that show users how to treat wounds. Compassion's Dan Woolley used an app like this while waiting to be rescued. I am sure we will see many more people step up with new ideas and creative solutions as Haiti is rebuilt.

The second observation about innovation is that tragedies create momentum to take an idea that has already been in existence and propel it into the mainstream. A very good example of this is mobile donations. Before the earthquake giving via your mobile phone was starting to gain ground, but this tragedy has propelled this innovation to a new level. According to mgive the Red Cross has raised 24 million dollars from nearly 2.5 million people via mobile phones. Each person sent a text that gave $10 to the Red Cross's response efforts for Haiti. The Red Cross says that mobile donations are now 25% of total donations for their work in Haiti! These are amazing numbers that happen as a result of a tragedy that mobilizes people to action.

So what do we learn from these two observations? Here is my take-away -- a innovation moves from new idea to a useful and powerful tool when there is a clear and present need. Don't hear me saying that we should pray for tragedies so that our ideas will take off...that is not the point.

But what we can learn is that if we are faithful with what God has put on our heart, even when no one around seems to care or need it, then there may be a moment in time when God chooses to use our life's work to respond to a tragic event. We don't know when our innovation will be needed. But that is not necessarily for us to know. If God has told you to do something, then obedience is in order and He will provide the context for it to glorify Him.

I wonder how long people worked on the technology, platforms and partnerships that would allow the Emergency Information Service or mobile giving to be a reality? Did they know that an earthquake would strike Haiti? Did they understand the significance of their work on those hard days when nothing went right and when the obstacles seemed unreal?

No, but today they can look at their work and say, "God used the work of these hands!" Will you be able to say that someday?

Prayer for Haiti

We are all overwhelmed with the needs in Haiti, but where do we start. We believe firmly that we start with prayer. That is what we are doing in our church and in our family and we would ask you to join us in that. Jon has created a 30 Day Prayer Guide for Haiti with Eric Foley as part of their work with .W (doers of the Word - www.dotheword.org). Take a minute to visit Eric's blog and download the prayer guide. And please be sure to share here how you and your family are responding.

An Audacious Approach

Sorry, I couldn't help it. For those of you who don't know I love alliteration. But that is neither here nor there.

Today I want to talk about creating an environment of innovation. I hope you are starting to notice that I spend a lot more time talking about the context than the examples. Examples of innovation are good and I love to highlight cool new things, but the stumbling block to innovation is not a lack of information or ideas. The main stumbling block is creating the right relationships with God, others and our environment to foster missional innovation.

So in that vein, I was at the Panera yesterday with some of the team from Development Associates International (DAI). We were discussing fundraising and technology when Paul Berry shared a personal goal that I just had to share with all of you. So with his permission, I'm sharing his new years resolution.

Usually I role my eyes at resolutions because we all know where they go an the lack of impact they usually have. However, this one had context and a richness of experience that was refreshing. So what was it?

Paul resolved to do something audacious every month this year. He shared how this first month he is building an iphone app. Next month it is learning Greek words and after that who knows. What it is really is not the point at all. The amazing thing about this resolution is that it puts Paul into a posture of learning, risk and creativity that is not normal.

Usually we are stuck in mediocrity of a life that is saturated with the normal. We eat it, drink it and swim in it. No wonder we aren't creative or innovative. We are surrounded by "can't" "don't" or "won't". Somehow if we are going to free our minds to be vessels for God's glory, we have to escape the traps that the world tries to bind us in.

Paul's resolution does that. It puts him in a position where every month he will experience something new, understand something in a different way and meet new people who are struggling through the same thing.

So here is what I want us to do. We have been having some great discussions about innovation and mission over the past days. In the spirit of Paul's resolution, I am asking 12 of you to share one audacious thing that you want to accomplish in the first three months of this year.

12 people and 12 things.

And if you are one of those people, you are agreeing to report back by the end of March with the results of your audacious activity and we will do a blog post with the results of each of your efforts. So who is up for the challenge?

A Friend's Review of Urbana 09

A friend of ours - Paul Borthwick - who wrote the intro to our latest book, Through the River, just shared key observations about this Urbana. Here is his facebook post reprinted with his permission:

URBANA 2009 – Borthwick’s Top 10
Upon returning from Inter-Varsity’s Urbana 2009 Student Mission Convention (more at www.urbana09.org) in St. Louis (December 27th through January 1st), I reflected both personally (to Christie) and publicly (to our Facebook “Team Borthwick”) that I thought Urbana 2009 was “one of the best ever” Urbanas that I’ve attended (and I’ve been at 10 since 1973). Immediately the question came back, “Why?”

Objectively, it was not the largest Urbana on record: the 16,000+ attendees this year is still remarkable but I think that Urbana 2000, 2003, and 2006 were all larger.

Subjectively, I missed being there with Christie as in past Urbanas. And Urbana 09 was not my most significant public ministry role. Nothing will compare to the awesome privilege of giving the call-to-commitment address at Urbana 2000, and though I taught seminars and participated in the Pastor’s Program in 09, I wasn’t in charge of anything. (My friend Ken Fong [Bible expositor, Urbana 2000] & I wanted to start a group of “Urbana has-beens” but no one cared J)

So why one of the best ever? Here are my combined objective-subjective highlights – with a little prioritization:

HIGHLIGHT #10: Convergence. For me personally, God deeply encouraged me by helping me see how the ministry of developing leaders with Development Associates International (DAI) serves the other networks we touch – like Gordon College, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and Urbana. At Urbana 09, I met at least half-dozen college-age children of our peers and DAI support team. I saw former and future Gordon students who are preparing for overseas service. I interacted with leaders DAI has served or will soon be serving in Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, and more. And I met international leaders who have been DAI trainers or students (or both).

HIGHLIGHT #9: A true kaleidoscope of cultural diversity (Revelation 7:9). We were led in worship by a multi-cultural team who led us into a different cultural “neighborhood” in each session. Speakers and teachers came from around the world – Kenya, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Costa Rica, Rwanda, India, and many, many more. One estimate reported that attendees came from more than 100+ countries.

HIGHLIGHT #8: In Christ Alone at communion. Bringing in the New Year with a 16,000 person communion service is always a highlight, but this year was exceptional. While singing “In Christ Alone,” students around us spontaneously stood and lifted their communion cups towards heaven as they belted out the crescendo: “No power of hell; no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I stand.” Given the dangerous places God will call these students to, it was a profound moment.
HIGHLIGHT #7: Managing tensions of ministry in the modern world. Greg Jao, a brilliant emcee and primary Urbana host, summarized each session by articulating the tensions of living as salt and light in the world. He noted the complexities related to Kingdom living – the Gospel preached and lived, incarnational ministry in the tough places, and balancing our "this world/next world" motivation. He challenged students to wrestle with the Scriptures as they address these global and local realities. One vivid illustration sticks in my mind: one speaker is a zealous advocate of pacifism, but another ministers to gang members and carries his own gun. No easy answers indeed!

HIGHLIGHT #6: Seriously reflective, passionate students. Any Urbana attendee will tell you that the worship is a highlight at every conference, but this year seemed different. Rather than the emotional response of standing ovations after a challenging message, students seemed quieter and more contemplative – as they pondered the meaning for their own lives. Workshops filled to over-flowing, even on the last day. As York Moore (http://tellthestory.net/) stated in one of his reports:

Many Inter Varsity staff who have been to Urbanas for decades have said this is the most spiritually hungry group of Urbana students they’ve ever seen. Seminars have been pouring out onto adjacent halls and floors, long lines to get into Bible studies, and students weeping in the main session as speaker after speaker challenged them to live for Christ!

HIGHLIGHT #5: “Live to be forgotten.” Dr. Patrick Fung, International Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, told the story of learning of the hundreds of name-less men and women who sacrificed their lives to bring the Gospel to his native China and many other places. Maybe it’s just because I’m 55 and sometimes feeling like a ‘has-been,’ it was a powerful reminder of living with a “Jesus must increase; I must decrease” value system. [For any who have heard the “Make Me a Footnote” sermon on Ananias, it was a loud Amen!]

HIGHLIGHT #4: Connected to history. Maybe it’s just my age again, but I deeply appreciated the intentional commitment to and honoring of those who have gone before us, so that students understood that our contemporary ministry opportunities in the world have often been made possible by others who paid a price. Patrick Fung paid tribute to the sacrifices of Hudson Taylor and the early missionaries to China. Ramez Atallah honored leaders like Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar for their prophetic call for a holistic Gospel. On decision-day, Dave Howard – who attended the first “Urbana” as a student in 1946 – got front page coverage as he testified to living out the decision he made 63 years ago.

HIGHLIGHT #3: Testimony from Disciple X from Y. I can’t tell you a name nor a location, but I think this testimony – of a family living for Jesus in one of THE most difficult places on earth since the 70’s – was the most profound challenge to long-term obedience that I have ever heard at Urbana.

HIGHLIGHT #2: Jim and Beth Tebbe’s decision. I’ve had the privilege of working with Jim and Beth since he started working with Urbana 2003 as Urbana Director and now V-P of Missions. BUT they provided one of the greatest memories at Urbana 2009 when Jim announced on the call-to-commitment night that they will be leaving Inter-Varsity to go as cross-cultural workers in a very tough place. Jim & Beth are in their later-50’s, but they vividly reminded everyone that openness to God’s call is a lifetime commitment.

HIGHLIGHT #1: Manny. The last time I had a college-age roommate at Urbana, I was 19 years-old myself (Urbana 73). But Manny Arango(see http://thisisthething87.blogspot.com/) , a senior at Gordon College, accompanied me this year. It was great to see things from his perspective, to learn from him about the challenges young people face, and to let him interact with people I know. We actually got to talk 1-on-1 with Disciple X as well as with David Howard (and actually hold his [now-laminated] 1946 Decision Card!). It was great to be with a young leader who is gifted, understands brokenness, loves Jesus, and is looking for God’s direction for the “what’s next?” of life. [It also helped that we have very similar commitment to laughing loud and often!]

Talk to me in a week and I’m sure my list might be a little different, but that’s it for today.

As always, thanks for your prayers, interest in us, and financial support.

Gratefully,

Paul Borthwick (January 3, 2010)

www.daintl.org
www.borthwicks.org

Urbana09 - Day 3 Twitter Wrapup

Here is a cross section of Twitter posts from December 30 at Urbana:

RT @MeandMyHouse: “Every generation needs its prophets to cleanse the temple like Jesus did.” Ramez Atallah #itsnotaboutyou #urbana09

RT @lovingmercy: Be gracious to the previous generation and their mistakes; be courageous in your own generation. #urbana09

RT @gomer2: Oscar Muriu wrecked my life in 06, he did it again last night at #urbana09. Watch his talk here: http://bit.ly/8ch91p

RT @hopeequals: RT @CRCNA: News story about @hopeequals, CRWM's peace-focused initiative launching at #Urbana09: http://bit.ly/54H30s

RT @AskAMissionary: How do I know if God is calling me to be a missionary? 7 answers here: http://bit.ly/6hDeSe #urbana09

RT @WeyW: Having such a good experience at #urbana09. It's been transformative. Hard to believe it's only a lil more than half finished

RT @MissionTrips: #urbana09 Overwhelmed with mission trip options? Key questions to help select a mission trip: http://bit.ly/4UjHaD

RT @ckeinath: #Urbana09 Humbled again, bowing to Jesus, thankful...

RT @BustaHimes: Alright, here we go York Moore is up speaking about John 3:1-21. #urbana09

RT @ryanphernandez: Sitting soo close!! Snow + #urbana09 = awesome!!! Expecting great things from this session http://twitpic.com/vw85o

RT @Likewise_Books: RT @Chris_Heuertz: If you're at Urbana (#urbana09) today, grab a copy of Simple Spirituality-the Book of the Day

RT @Angelamz40: Urbana 09: Glow sticks in crowd = new believers! And the Angels rejoice in heaven! #urbana09 http://yfrog.com/1yhlgjj

RT @MaryknollFrsBrs The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get 2 Him, the more intensely missionary we become. Martyn

RT @bensonlee: "Be thankful that hunger is an experience we create at a convention and not your daily reality." -- Greg Jao #urbana09

RT @TWRglobal: At the #u09twtup listening to @lukejesse talk about how the Tweet Up is going to go down. Great team here! #urbana09

RT @MaryknollFrsBrs: "Sympathy is no substitute for action." - David Livingstone, missionary to Africa. #urbana09

RT @USCWM: No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once. -- Oswald Smith #urbana09

RT @fotofreak365: Does anyone else feel like the booths are really intimidating? #urbana09

RT @bensonhines: My first thoughts about what the Urbana conference reveals to outsiders about InterVarsity! http://bit.ly/7V5uqm #urbana09

RT @decruzp: Wednesday night worship at #urbana09 http://twitvid.com/6E3CF

RT @adamlepp: #urbana09 I have this hope. His name is Jesus. He alone brings healing

RT @lisasharper: #urbana09: Denise Thompson: People of faith need to take up the challenge to help solve the problem of Climate Change.

RT @tanacea: So much praying is repeating back to God what he already knows. #urbana09 http://myloc.me/2udB7

You can follow along as I pass on what people are saying from Urbana09 at: www.twitter.com/generousmind

Urbana09 - Day 2 Twitter Wrapup

Here are some of the tweets that came out of today's conversations and presentations:

RT @Angelamz40: RT @lovingmercy: Love does not reach from afar, it becomes incarnational. #urbana09 (via @mmesachi)

RT @mmesachi: RT @lovingmercy: Evangelism is firstly relational. #urbana09

RT @Angelamz40: Our prayer: open our blind eyes and break our hard hearts. Save us from pride/prejudice/superiority. #urbana09

RT @Liz_Pix: AM bible session. John 2:1-12. Often times we can taste the glory of God but still not give him the glory for it. #urbana09

RT @TheTatar: "May the people here make decisions that will change history." Yes, Lord, help us change history! #urbana09

RT @HeatherTWR: Ramzez Atallah and Dave Ramsey agree- ACT YOUR WAGE and GIVE LIKE NOONE ELSE! #urbana09

RT @michaelkaspar: RT @julioanta: "Build movements, not monuments" - Ramez Atallah #urbana09. #OMbooth1107

RT @RLouisT: The Great commission & Great Commandment go hand in hand. Love by word and deed. This is the Biblical Mandate frm God #Urbana09

RT @sudantweets: RT @simusa: RT @goodsirdavid: There are currently 15,000 people in auditorium in St Louis cheering 4 Wii tennis. #urbana09

RT @hcjbglobal: Come chat with Radio Trainer Allen Graham from Quito Ecuador at 2:15 booth 1100 #itsnotaboutyou #urbana09

RT @USCWM: Keep the conversation going: articles on slave trade, trafficking etc #urbana09 http://bit.ly/4zAVNH

RT @bensonlee: standing room only out the door for the prayer, fasting, scripture and worship 101 seminar at #urbana09

RT @aaivprays: #urbana09 John Perkins: our blessings from God were never meant for us, but to be shared with others.

RT @christian2do: RT @hcjbglobal: chat w/ Singapore based Ty Stakes about engineering music & farming @booth 1100 at 6pm tonight. #urbana09

RT @acjeske: #urbana09 I am one of the urbana photographers. Shots up at worldviewmultimedia.com ! More soon!

RT @Mexicachel: The bible condemns heterosexual sin at least ten times more than homosexual sin #urbana09

You can follow my messages and RT's during the day at www.twitter.com/generousmind.

Urbana09 - Day 1 Twitter Wrapup

Each day of Urbana09 I am going to do a wrap-up of twitter posts that I have made or that I have RT'd. My thought is that this will give you a unique and creative insight into the event. I encourage you to go to the daily Webcast to listen in with much more detail to the great speakers.

Day 1 Twitter Wrapup

RT @Linson_Daniel: Let scripture speak John 1:35-42 manuscript study this morning, Where r u staying? Come and you will see... #urbana09

RT @AndrewPass: #urbana09 Jesus speaks to people in community. The disciples are not isolated!

RT @morganjustin: 'Being criticized feels bad. But, feeling bad always wears off.' #urbana09

RT @IJMcampaigns: Hundreds at #urbana09 take stand for oppressed by wearing Humanwrong.org shirts http://post.ly/GSDJ

RT @GEMission: #Urbana09: He Dwelled Among Us. Following Christ how can u be missional presence 4 Christ in the community He has u?

RT @djchuang247: #urbana09 splitting an extra-large pizza w new strangers who'll be friends before we finish

RT @jiolasa: RT @OMurbana: Please help us spread the word. A donor will buy 1,000 Iraqi bibles if we get 1,000 people to 1107. #urbana09

RT @philfoell: after his birth, Jesus was forced to become an international refugee to Africa. Jesus identifies with refugees. #urbana09

RT @philfoell: Social action without the Bible only brings momentary change. #urbana09

RT @Mexicachel: People should learn something about everywhere and everything about somewhere. #urbana09

God calls us to go to others in their context and on their terms and regardless of their response. Ramez Atallah #urbana09 - Night 1

RT @jameschoung: "Live to be forgotten ... make Christ visible, not ourselves." --Patrick Fung #urbana09

RT @aaivprays: #urbana09 tonight, stories of God's people: the displaced, the disadvantaged, the oppressed, widows & orphans & foreigners.

RT @Samlopez: The Word: Be a witness, not a traffic obstruction. #urbana09

Follow along as I RT and comment on Urbana09 at www.twitter.com/generousmind

Sharing Twitter Updates from Urbana 09

No, I'm not at Urbana 09 but I am very excited about what God will do through the event in the lives of those who are there.

For those of you who, like me, are not there here are two things you can do:
1. Be praying for the 17,000 young people who are there.
2. You can follow all the Retweets that I will be syndicating from my twitter account at www.twitter.com/generousmind

Have you been to Urbana in the past? What did God do in your life through it?

Why bother innovating if we serve God?

Philip had this great question to my blog post about Ancient Inspiration:

"Why do we need innovation when we have God? Surely He will pass on what he wants us to be innovative about. It is His will and all our fates are determined by Him."

Let me share with you my reply:
Dear Philip,
Great question. I don't think that human innovation and God's revelation are mutually exclusive. In fact, I would say that God created us to innovate and uses the feature in us to inspire us. Innovation is simply us using the brains and experiences God gave us in coordination with Him to bring Him glory.

Now I know that people innovate without thinking about God at all, but I think that God still gets the glory for that since He made those people too. The study of innovation from a Biblical perspective is then our opportunity to see how God moves through us to accomplish things in this earth.

What do you think of my take? How would you respond to Philip?

Ancient Inspiration

So many times when we think about innovation, we focus on the new. We look to new industries, new ideas, new perspectives for our inspiration. Think about all the magazines touting the newest trends in technology, business, culture, etc.

But to do that we miss out on a huge "field of meaning," as my partner in ministry Eric Foley likes to say. What does he mean by that? Well, as we search for innovation, we tend to look forward only. We feel that only new things can inform the future. This understanding is at the world view level and we don't even know that we think this way. It comes because progress is such a high value for those of us who are products of modernity. We truly believe that success means always pushing forward to new frontiers, new ideas, new realities.

I want to challenge that perspective on innovation today. I believe that some of our best fodder for innovation may come from our past. You see the past does a few things that the future cannot do. The past has not yet committed some of the errors that we have codified. The past can have a very different perspective on things that we now take for granted. Also, the past is sometimes an amazing lens to see the very mistakes and struggles we are mired in today.

Now the past isn't perfect. Every age is rife with ignorance, prejudice, and faulty thinking. But I would like to impress on you that the past is a source on which we can draw for our innovation efforts. It is a rich story that will give us ideas that no tech magazine could ever draw out. And we need every source we can get in order to effectively innovate in the 21st Century.

So here are some ideas:
1. Identify some innovative thinkers of the past and read their biographies.
2. Read history and look for the patterns that inform our world today.
3. Talk to grandparents and great grandparents and ask them questions about how they see the world.
4. When you find yourself assuming that the future is better, catch yourself and challenge your thinking about progress and it's inherent virtue.

So there you go, are you ready to dive into the past? I pray that God gives you some rich sources of inspiration from what He has done throughout history.

My Innovation Ended Up Where?

So you come up with an idea, find your gang of co-conspiritors and launch it. Soon it is a huge success and you are off and running. But that isn't the end of the story. What you birthed could end up leading to many things that you would never expect or dare to imagine. Are you ready for that?

A great example is a wonderfully documented article by Christianity Today about the diffusion of innovation that happened as a result of launching Kiva.org. For those of you who haven't experienced Kiva, it is a site that brings microenterprise down to the individual level allowing people to make loans to individuals around the world through qualified partners. In short, it crowdsources relief and development work and allows individual people to be a part of the global solution in a personal and transformational way.

Well, the article shows how a variety of international development ministries have now started similar projects or joined Kiva's network in order to harness the innovation that Kiva identified. 20 years ago the idea of individuals doing something as complex as lending money to a shoe maker in Guatemala would have been unthinkable. But the founders of Kiva saw how the Internet was democratizing everything and acted on that major change in the area of microfinance.

Their innovation has made many new efforts possible that the founders could never have imagined. Here are a few of them:

• Opportunity International
• World Vision

So now lets turn to your idea. What are you working on? What have you rolled out that is changing your area of minsitry? Are you ready for that innovation to spread?

One of the keys to being ready is to hold it lightly. So many times when we invest so much in a new idea and an innovative project, we close our hands around it and tell everyone to back off. But the rules today require the opposite. The power of your idea and its impact will depend largely on your ability to hold it loosely.

Matthew 6:20 commands us to store up our treasures in Heaven and avoid the great mistake of putting our hope and trust in things that will disappear in the face of Eternity. This means that we will have to hold our efforts loosely. But what does that look like?

Holding your innovation loosely means:

1. Mentoring those who want to learn from your work
2. Giving others access to your ideas is wise and sustainable ways
3. Supporting new applications of your innovation
4. Being generous in your encouragement of those who enter your arena
5. Defining your success based on obedience to Christ not in the metrics of finance, fame or personal enjoyment

I know many in the ministry world who have failed to do this and it is important to consider what happens to the innovation. Those that hold their hands tightly closed see the innovations shrivel up just as the innovator becomes old and frail. They see their whole area of ministry become competitive and focused on success and notoriety. They foster all the things that might look successful in earthly terms but lead to isolation, greed and selfishness.

So you can choose how you will handle your innovation and that may make all the difference in how God will use it for His Kingdom.

The Ordinary Innovation

In my relentless pursuit of debunking the idea of the lone innovator sitting in the garage creating the next mode of transportation or a faster way to cook a burrito, I would like to submit to you this thought shared with us by Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table:

"A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times."

Do you believe this? I do, and let me tell you why. For many years I have been stymied by the notion that new ideas come in a burst of brilliance that dazzles the mind and immediately sets you to writing down formulas, couplets, strategic plans or recipes. So in an effort to create the right scenario that would lead to innovation I would go to great lengths to . . .

1. Make sure the lighting was right

2. Read innovative writers

3. Find that creative place that seems to be dripping with new ideas

4. Build up expectations of what would come from my time of thinking

5. And the list goes on and on

It is a bit like the person who goes to the end of the world to find the world's smartest man. There is this expectation that if all of the situational elements are just right that you can force new ideas into existence. So many times I see leaders of organizations go away to plan and pray with the hope that this will happen. I see writers looking for just the right setting to create their masterpiece. But are we taking the right approach?

More and more I'm wondering whether the greatest innovations are ideas that slowly and quietly ooze into our lives as we work away at what God has called us to. It is much less exciting and it doesn't make nearly as good of a story, but I wonder if it isn't more a reflection of reality.

One of the reasons I am leaning towards this approach to innovation is that I am becoming convinced that the level of learning you need to define something new is much greater than most of us imagine. In a world that is flooded with information, we don't consume enough of it on any one topic to build a foundation to let us innovate. More and more I see innovations happening over time as we gain that key level of knowledge.

In Malcom Gladwell's latest book "Outliers" he talks about how anyone who has reached expert level in a field has had at least 10,000 hours of practice or experience. I think that innovation requires a similar amount of experience. That is why innovation is really rare and when it does happen it is usually a surprise to the world because the innovator has been quietly learning, thinking, processing, and developing the idea for a long time.

So as you consider this alternate way to view innovation, here is my question for you - What are you investing a significant time over a long period to learn and master? I think that there is where your innovation will arise from and I imagine that it will come at the most unexpected moment of your lifelong learning process.

Innovating in a Generation

So many times when we come to the idea of innovation we focus on the old stand by - the industry. We talk about innovations in media, health care, ministry, sports, and on and on it goes. This focus on industry innovation is of course one very good way to think about our creative efforts. But it isn't the only way.

One of the keys to breaking out of the moulds that bind us is to think about the world through different perspectives and different categories. Are you following? If you only think about innovation in regards to a particular industry, then you will be limited to industry categories as you try to be creative. Sure it can lead to creativity ... but what if you thought about the same problem through a completely different category.

Lets take generations. I have a friend named Cavin Harper - president of the Christian Grandparenting Network. He saw the great challenges that families are having and especially the children. He could immediately have gone to innovate in the school system or through the government services. But he took a different approach.

Instead, he decided to ask the question, "How could grandparents be part of the solution?" Very interesting approach considering the billions of dollars we have spent in programs and services. Instead Cavin side stepped all those things and latched onto the relationship between a grandparent and their grand kid as a key tool to teach a new generation about Jesus and equip them in their faith. You have to check out what they are doing. I get to work with Cavin through my new job at .W. What a privilege to watch him take a completely different approach to innovation in this key area of training up the next generation.

From his Grand Camps to the upcoming Legacy Conference in Minneapolis. If you live in the Minneapolis area or know grandparents or parents that do, I would encourage you to consider going to this event on October 23-24. It is a great opportunity to experience a new approach to an age old challenge. If you are too far away to go, please be praying for the event and take some time to explore Cavin's approach.

But the best thing to do is hear from Cavin himself. Check out this short video where he shares his heart.

Now it's your turn. I want you to think through the innovation you are working on right now and ask these questions:
1. What is the innovation I have been working?
2. What categories have I put my work in - maybe without even realizing it?
3. What other categories might apply to my work?
4. What would a solution to my challenge look like through those other lenses?

Enjoy your re-framing work!