Political Will

A few weeks ago on 60 Minutes, the show did a rare interview with the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke. It was a good interview with some helpful insights. But the most telling insight of all was this comment that is taken from MSNBC's reporting of the interview, "Asked about the biggest potential dangers now, Bernanke suggested a lack of "political will" to solve the financial crisis."

This word is very popular these days and so I thought it would be worth taking a look at it. The more I have worked in nonprofit leadership circles and on partnership efforts, I have realized that this issue of political will is crucial to success.

In a paper submitted to the 2008 Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association, political will is defined as follows:

"Our ideal-type definition of political will requires that a sufficient set of political actors with a common understanding of a particular problem on the public agenda genuinely intends to support a commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution. This definition includes four different components, which we deem necessary conditions:

(1) A sufficient set of political actors

(2) With a common understanding of a particular problem on the public agenda

(3) Genuinely intends to support

(4) A commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution."

Just as the government is struggling with a "lack of political will," I think that many partnership efforts among ministries are dealing with a similar challenge. This definition takes a very abstract concept and really helps us to look at our associations, partnerships and organizations and consider whether we have garnered the political will to make the changes necessary to innovate and survive in these challenging times. Lets take each one and apply it to the nonprofit arena:

(1) A sufficient set of political actors
These words imply that the right people are at the table in order to process the challenge ahead. It also implies that there are enough people at the table to affect change. When you face some of your great challenges in your settings, are the right people at the table? The right people will be those who are influencers, who have a significant stake in the problem and those who represent your internal constituencies.

(2) With a common understanding of a particular problem on the public agenda
Do those gathering to process and consider your challenge have a common and solid base of information on which to begin discussions? So many times these discussions are punctuated with a lack of basic understanding. But that is the fault of the convener of the meeting as well as the participant. Think about what you can do to bring people to the table with a common understanding of the problem you are wanting to solve.

(3) Genuinely intends to support
One of our greatest mistakes is that so many times we sit down at the table to work out a solution when a group present does not support the basic premise or issue at hand. Now we should not take this line of the definition to mean that we need a group of "yes-people" bobbing their heads in a meeting. The way I read this is that those who gather must all agree that the problem is real and that a solution is needed through this effort. If all parties agree to that, then the compromise and planning will take place to come up with a direction. But if there are groups of people who attend without any expectation of supporting the initiative, then political will cannot be achieved.

(4) A commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution."
This is the toughest part. As I read this definition, for political will to be exerted there has to be an understood solution presented ahead of your deliberations which can bring understanding and general support to your discussions. This last piece involves a lot of homework by the sponsor or champion of the process. Before a group can be brought together to discuss options and build political will, the homework to define in broad strokes what the possible solutions are must take place. This seems backwards. So many times we bring people together with some basic facts and challenges and ask the group to design the solution. But what I have found every time is that a group does not have the time, knowledge or skills to define solutions in a meeting. This must be done ahead of time (with interaction with others) and presented for crafting, modifying and compromise. In this instance, the pre-meeting homework is critical. Unless you have defined the potential solutions and given your participants the chance to interact, they will not be ready to coalesce behind a solution.

Conclusion
So many times in our nonprofits we ask the wrong people to come to the table, without the key information that would inform their participation, unclear of their support for the general direction and withholding the potential solution that we are considering. This is a recipe for disaster in our innovation efforts.

So lets turn this around positively. What should we do when faced with a major initiative that requires significant political will within our organization or cooperative partnership?

1. We should get those with influence, decision making ability and representative authority at the table.

2. We should make sure that everyone at the table has the background and resources to be knowledgeable about the issue at hand.

3. We should do our footwork and make sure that everyone at the table has a vested interest in a solution and is genuine in their participation.

4. We should bring a proposal to those negotiations based on all the above so that the group can get to work on creating a viable way forward.

Inspiring Innovation Visually

There are many resources that inspire innovation. Each of us have tools that help us see the world differently and think in new/creative ways.

One cateogry of tools that I have found to be very helpful are visual ones. It is amazing the difference that it makes when you look at a problem from a different perspective. Sometimes if you have been reading articles about a specific issue and the you see a good chart, it can make it come clear.

As we strive to look at our world in innovative ways as we work in missions, there are several vrey good tools that are a big help in our Great Commission Work.

Here are a few:

World Mapper: This site creates maps that change the proportions to represent the statistic they are focused on. This means that a map of the world representing HIV/AIDS prevalence shows Africa as very large while Russia is shrunk significantly. These maps help you look at statistics in a new way and have the opportunity to provide new insights.

Dynamic Data: Justin Long from Strategicnetwork.org has taken the data about world religions between 1800 and projections through 2050 and created a dynamic graph that allows you to see the growth of religions, and compare specific ones to each other.

Globe Trotting: The Joshua Project team has taken their people group data and repurposed it into Google Earth. This lets you navigate the world using Google Earth and see where the people groups of the world live. It brings a very different perspective to the information.

Mission InfoBank: Global Mapping International is an organization that helps to take mission data and represent it visually. One example is this map of the Bible translation need around the world. When you look at the world in this way, it helps you understand the reality of ministry in these parts of the world. It will change your perspective on church planting, leadership training, evangelism, and on and on.

As you look at your specific efforts in innovation, consider how visual data can help you find breakthroughs.

What makes a place innovative?

Innovation isn't spread through pixy dust or mojo - oh how we wish it was. Wouldn't it be great if you could buy a can of innovation powder and spread it around your study or your office? Alas, innovation is a more complex brew that takes some dissecting.

Steve Knight is a member of our facebook innovation group and an amazing kingdom journalist/innovator. He shared with me a map that McKinsey created to show hot spots of innovation (more on that further down). And as I thought about this issue, I began to ask myself about the characteristics that make a place innovative.

Fast Company Magazine (one of my favorites) has what they call the Fast 50. These are the 50 most innovative companies. They just released the 2009 results and you will be fascinated. The five most innovative were: 1) Team Obama 2) Google 3) Hulu 4) Apple 5) Cisco Systems. They have identified those companies that are changing the rules and leading the pack. As I have watched this list, it seems to be based upon which companies are taking new ideas and turning them into strategic advantages within specific arenas. Google in search, Apple in music, Obama in fundraising/mobilization, etc.

McKinsey has created a map of the most innovative cities around the globe. They used two key criteria on their graph:

• momentum: average growth of US patents
• diversity: number of separate companies

This criteria for innovation focuses on the number of new ideas are created by companies. In essence they are saying that if you or your organization is creating new ideas and taking the time to own them, you are in a position to innovate.

They go on to break up the cities into these categories:

• hot springs: small fast growing hubs (Brisbane)
• dynamic oceans: large vibrant ecosystems (Taipei)
• silent lakes: older slower-growing hubs (Tel Aviv)
• shrinking pools: unable, so far, to expand beyond their start-up core (Indianapolis)

In another article, I found another interesting twist on innovation. Forbes shared that 7 of the top 10 innovative countries are in Europe. The article talked about how many times we view Europe as old and slow - the opposite of innovative. However, it talks about the key things that make Europe innovative. Many companies in these countries have long-standing innovation task forces. They have a high level of research and a value for quality. The article also talked about the number of patents in these countries that give their companies an innovative edge.

It really helps to see the companies, cities and countries that are innovative. It gives us ideas on how we as ministries and how we personally can create cultures of innovation. I encourage you to read some of the articles in this posting and study these examples. Look for things that you can incorporate.

But I also want to share some of the characteristics that they have not mentioned which I believe create an environment of innovation in ministry:

1. Trust: When trust is high, then organizations can move quickly, adopt new ideas and think strategically. When trust is low, the atmosphere is full of confusion, in-fighting and second guessing. A great book on this is "Speed of Trust"

2. Risk Tolerance: Every person and every organization has a tolerance for risk. Those organizations that know their risk tolerance and then allow ideas to develop with that level of risk as a guide can be innovative. If level of risk is an unknown, then organizations always find themselves with various opinions about whether an idea is worth pursuing but have no language to describe it.

3. Defined Standards: When a person or organization has defined standards for quality, missiology, strategy and so on, then innovation has a place to grow. When no standards exist, then ideas tend to fly out uncontrolled and can't get a foothold. But when there are parameters that help define direction and success then innovation has a place to develop.

4. Interdependence: When people find themselves in a place that fosters learning and collaboration, innovation will not be far behind. When it is ok to take time and learn new things and share them with others, then those ideas have a chance of finding practical purposes.

We could go on and on, but I will leave it with this question: Based on some of the input above, is your ministry environment innovative? If so . . . what have you created? If not . . . what are you going to do to begin creating a place where new ideas can thrive?

Processing New Ideas - Play it Forward and Philanthropic Investing

One of our facebook group members turned me on to a new service that I found very interesting. http://akoha.com/ is a online social reality game where you set up a list of things you want to do to for others, the planet, etc. It has combined the new trends in social justice with reality games in an interesting way.

This site is not Christian, but it does highlight a trend that we as Christians need to understand and leverage. In our post-christian culture, many people are looking for community and for purpose. A site like this provides both. They can connect with others while they fulfill social responsibility.

As we look for the new models in mission to recruit and fund our efforts, it is key to understand trends like this. People around us are looking for community and purpose. However, the tools they will use to find it are different than they used to be.

So the question becomes, how can we connect with people's desire for community and purpose in a way that energizes people for Great Commission work? That's where innovation comes in.

Another great site that leverages new trends is http://www.kiva.org/. This site allows an average investor to help fund part of a micro loan for someone around the world. Lets say that Rita in Peru wants to start a sewing business. You, sitting in your living room, can lend her 50 dollars and Kiva will work with the micro enterprise organization on the ground to get them the money and to repay you when the loan is up.

This site is combining the eBay approach to shopping with the angel capital efforts of so many. People are saying, "I want to use my money to benefit others but I want to do it through business."

How do you use that for mission purposes?

Here are some thoughts on how to take new ideas and trends and process them innovatively for your efforts:
1. When you see an innovative idea, ask what need it is meeting and who it is serving.
2. If an idea seems to have application to your efforts, define the application clearly and then list out the pieces of their idea that can be brought to bear on your project.
3. When the next huge fad hits, ask why people are jumping on board and list out the keys to its success.
4. Understand the DNA of your project. When you see another innovative idea, compare it to that DNA to see if there is a connection.
5. After you have done your comparison and analysis be willing to let the idea go if it is not a fit with your audience, your goals and your DNA.

Collaborative Innovation

We innovators are a mixed up lot. We hold two very different beliefs strongly:
1. We believe that the person in their garage can create something truly unique.
2. We believe that ideas are sharpened as we collaborate.

But as I have watched the debate around the Stimulus package for the US economy, I have seen these two beliefs hit head on. Each politician has cooked up what they think are the key elements. They throw them into the pot and try to make them better. But as happens many times, the ideas that get thrown in don't always come out better. Sometimes they just get convoluted and watered down.

So how do we bridge these two truths - because there is no doubt that they are both valid.

I think that it has mostly to do with how you go about your innovation. Here's what I mean. If you let an idea develop too long on it's own, collaboration is unlikely. Conversely, if you don't seed a concept into a group, they may not do anything productive.

Timing is critical. You have to give each member enough time to understand the challenge and process, but bring them together before the ideas are no longer pliable. What that suggests to me is that there is a window where ideas are developed enough to be good raw material but not so developed that people can't collaborate.

So what might it look like to define this window. You might ask some of the following questions:
1. What do people need to know/process in order to be valuable collaborators?
2. Do those I am engaging have long-standing opinions and ideas about the topic?
3. Is the idea too far along or the deadline too close to have authentic collaboration?
4. Is collaboration a benefit to this innovation or is the speed of a single innovator more valuable?

As you ask these things, look for that window between individual innovation and collaborative innovation. See what can happen when you are proactive about these two truths.

The List is Live!

Friends,

We have been on a journey to share 30 ways to be a generous mind in 30 days. The results of the effort are on our generous mind blog. Click here to read all 30!

We hope they bless you,

Jon and Mindy

Innovation in Short Term Missions

A lot has been written about Short Term Missions for sure. We have heard the good and the bad. Whatever your experience has been, the movement has impacted global missions in a significant way. Lately it has all seemed to be the same old . . . but a member of our facebook group connected me to a new innovation in short term missions.

The site is called www.onlinemissionstrip.com. Their tag line is "Sharing Christ through social media." Here is the amazing thing about this site. They are organizing a global mission trip where youth groups can sign up to do missions on facebook and other social media.

The experience is completely virtual but has all the components of a typical trip. You get training through January 31. Then the trip goes from February 1-14. After that the group is organizing online follow-up events to disciple new believers.

They are signing up youth groups who are going to take this on as a project. One youth pastor named Brad Cooper wrote:

"God didn’t allow the internet to be created so the whole world could be addicted to pornography…

He has much bigger plans….

Im hoping we wont miss the opportunity He’s giving us!

Innovative… I think so…"

Usually the Internet evangelism efforts have been spread out and ongoing. The innovative elements of this are:

1. They are giving it a beginning and end to build it as an event.

2. They are signing up youth groups to do online evangelism together

3. They are offering training and follow-up materials to help people engage those they reach.

4. They are using all of the new tools strategically. They have YouTube videos, twitter feeds, facebook apps, and on it goes. So many times we try to use old school tools in new environments.

One of the most innovative pieces is the accountability. As I mentioned above, because it is being done in youth groups, there will be local/live interaction about the ministry effort. Instead of being isolated by technology, this group is using it to give youth groups a plan and an strategy for their outreach.

Take a look, what can missions learn from an effort like this?

Pencils, stones and good friends

I was recently corresponding with a member of our Innovation Team on facebook and a very cool insight on innovation happened. We had begun the conversation about a book but then when I asked him to share about his particular innovation that he was working on, he sent back a summary of the last year's progress.

At the end of the summary he shared how helpful it had been to write it down and how surprised he was to see that more progress was being made that he had ever imagined.

When we are in the middle of a major innovation effort, we can't see how far we have come. The daily challenges mount and keep our eyes focused down on the ground. We can become so focused on the project that we don't see when major shifts happen. We may have taken our idea in a whole new direction and not even realize it.

So I would like to share three things that can keep us plugged into the bigger goal while we are slogging through the daily struggles.

Pencils: Journaling, blogging, twittering are all ways that you can share where you are at. The ability to write down what is happening will help you to process it and look at it in the bigger context.

Stones: When you hit a milestone (it is good to identify some of them at the outset) you need to put a stone (figuratively or literally) there and celebrate that step. Those stones are key to giving us perspective.

Good Friends: Who are you sharing about the progress of your innovation with? Do you have some good friends and colleagues that are dialed into your journey? They give you perspective because they are looking at your process in a new way.

Blessings as you set your innovation in perspective today!

Are you ready to innovate?

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:13

Does the Bible have anything to say about being innovative? I think there are several places, but I would like to share the above verse with you and make some connections for you to consider. In this verse Peter is challenging people to be holy. Holiness is a focus on Christ that results in acting Christ-like.

Innovation isn't so much about genius. It has more to do with perspective. Are you ready to see things differently? Are you ready to act on what you see? The more I work on new ideas, the more I am convinced that innovation in God's kingdom is a question of Christ-like obedience. God is the ultimate innovator. He will do the most creative mind-boggling things to bring people to Himself. If that is true, then He is always giving us opportunities to innovate - but are we listening?

So lets break down this verse:

prepare your minds for action: This speaks of the fertile ground that will produce innovation. If your mind is prepared to act on what God gives you, then you will be an innovator. But if you do not prepare your mind for action, then there will be a million reasons why you will not be obedient and turn down the opportunity to innovate.

be self-controlled: Living a life that is self-controlled puts you in a position to be obedient. If you are reading, proactively looking at your time, studying the Bible, engaged in your community, then you will have the lifestyle that allows you to be innovative. People who cannot manage their time and efforts, find very little opportunity to make a difference.

set your hope fully on the grace: Instead of looking back and wondering about what you could have done, this verse focuses you forward. It calls us to set our hope on what Jesus has done and is doing for us through his grace and love. As I have shared before, Hope Expects Good! That means that we are called to expect good from God and look forward to what He has done for us. Forward motion allows us to build speed around new ideas and key projects.

Are you ready to step out in obedience and innovate?

30 Ideas in 30 Days

A key part of innovation is learning and sharing new ideas. What does it look like when you are disciplined about that process?

In our efforts to share practical ways to be a generous mind, we are twittering 30 ideas in 30 days. It's simple: go to www.twitter.com/generousmind and follow our twitter to get these practical ideas. At the end we will document them all on this blog as a summary.Blessings as you are generous today!

A New Year with A New Perspective

To survive in these tough times, innovators must be persistent. We angle, cajole, network, present and smile our way into opportunities to share our ideas. This determination and spunk is part of what makes an innovator who they are.

But many times that drive is overtaken by pride and self importance. It happens so easily. We start out simply pushing an idea forward and before we know it, we have convinced ourselves that we deserve the success and the rewards that will eventually come.

So in this new year, I would like to present the antidote to this prideful tendency among us innovative types. The cure is brokenness. BROKENNESS???? "What kind of cure is that?" you might ask.

I asked the same question till earlier this year. That was when I read a book called "The Tale of Three Kings" by Gene Edwards. I had heard about this book before, but God brought it to my attention through a sermon, a friend's recommendation over coffee and then through a vague memory of seeing this book in our storage closet. Well, my memory was accurate and I read the book quickly.

This book takes a unique look at Saul, David and Absalom. The first was an angry king who threw spears, the second was a broken king and the third was a rebellious king. The book shows David's brokenness and then challenges the reader to consider a broken life before God.

Up to that point, in many ways I had allowed the pride of innovation to rule the day in my life. But God used this book to show me what it meant to be broken. And what I have found in the process is that a broken person is an even stronger innovator. When you are broken before God, you accept that all ideas come from Him. You also accept that only the ones that God blesses should succeed.

A broken spirit does not push beyond God's direction and moves forward with courage under God's leading.

As each of you innovators begin your new year of work, what will be the driving force behind your work. Will it be your pride and self reliance? Or will you live a broken life before the Lord and ask Him to guide your efforts?

Blessings as each of you innovate in this new year!

An Innovator's Christmas Prayer

Dear God,

It's been a busy year and I haven't stopped and to pray like this nearly as often as I had hoped.

But this morning as I drink my coffee and reflect I want to thank you for the blessings in my life.

I want to thank you for the inspiration on those late nights where so many ideas were born.

You gave me hope to expect good from the most difficult circumstances that I faced.

You showed me the right timing to move forward on that exciting project.

You guided me to fix the key things and flex on the rest.

You provided the courage to be authentic in my relationships and my efforts.

You showed me that you can use art, cell phones, conferences, and countless other tools to impact people's lives.

You encouraged me to dig deep as I sought the new ideas and inspiration to work.

You celebrated with me on the good days.

You challenged me to be risky and dangerous in my efforts to serve you.

Maybe we have been talking more than I thought this year God. So many times you are there and I don't even realize it. In those brainstorming sessions, the early morning breakfast meetings, the quite times reading a book, the long talks with friends . . . you made all those possible. Thank you.

But as I sit here typing on Christmas Eve, the innovation that I am most appreciative of is your greatest gift. I am baffled and amazed at your majesty that would design the incarnation. Your perfect design for my life included your Son coming to Earth and saving me from sin.

Thank you for the hope and courage that you have given me this year and I pray that it would increase as I strive to serve you in the coming year.

Amen

How to destroy an idea in 10 minutes. . .

You wake up one day and you decide that you have had it with change. You commit to avoid anything that looks new or different. You don't quite know why, but it is as real to you as the steaming coffee you hold in your hand. You say with conviction, "Today I am going to be happy with the same things that I enjoyed yesterday!"

Once you arrive at your the office, and you settle into your chair to go through emails. But to your dismay, the first thing to pop up in your email box is a note from one of your "innovative" co-workers. You hesitate to open it, but in the end your curiosity gets the best of you.

So you click, you read and then you sit back in your chair and think. In the email your friend shared with you a new idea. The friend shares it with passion and with quite a few BOLD words and !!!!!!!! - you can tell he is excited.

You also know that this idea will change your world. If you join him on this adventure, the whole department will be impacted. The whole organization might adopt this concept and change.

So you think . . .

Then it comes to you. Instead of doing all that work to join this friend and his new idea, there is an easy out. You look at the email again and you say, "Wow, he has guts recommending this. I wonder what his motives are? I wonder if he really has our best interests in mind or if he is just looking for some more of the limelight?"

You continue your internal interrogation of this co-worker and within a few minutes you have accomplished your goal. Your mind convicted him of being self-centered, ambitious and prideful.

You say, "There that was easy!" and you continue on going through your email.

Change averted . . . idea destroyed . . . innovator tarnished.

Author Note: We have all had moments like I have written about above. You can admit it, don't be afraid. In those moments where we fear a new idea or a change, we decide to turn someone's passion into pride and in the process we turn our own status quo behavior into a humble badge of honor. By judging motives we hold great power to destroy people and ideas.

Why do we do this? There are many reasons. The important thing is that we understand our fears and our reactions so that we can change them. If this little story connects with you, share your experience . . .

Don't Think Because You Might Have To Act

So you come up with this idea that really has some potential. You go over it in your mind and the more you think about it the more excited you become. But the bubble of your excitement is quickly pierced when you realize that if this idea ever comes out of your mouth you will have to do it. Then in fear you stuff that idea deep down and breath a sigh of relief that it never made it out of your mouth.

Does this sound familiar? There is probably no one reading this blog posting that does not relate.

We live with the reality that an idea shared is an assignment given. People like our ideas but the message is clear, "Don't bring new ideas into the world unless you are ready to carry them out."

But there are a few big problems with this and I am afraid that this mentality has kept many from bringing innovative solutions into the light of day. Here are a few issues:
1. Many times the person with the idea is not the one gifted in its execution. God may have someone waiting in the wings to implement if only the innovator would be willing to share it.
2. New ideas don't always necessitate action. Sometimes a new idea helps to create different thinking and will have other benefits.
3. New ideas challenge people to step outside of their comfort zones. If people only bring up ideas they think they can execute, then people will not be challenged.

So next time you stuff that idea down because you are afraid you will be asked to make it a reality, remember that there are other values and reasons for being generous with your innovations!

Hope Expects Good Responses

We got some great responses to the Hope Expects Good posting. That is one of the themes that is in our upcoming book about how we view truth (more to come on that soon).

Take a minute to check out some of the great responses from readers like you.

Hope Expects Good

Dean Merrill wrote in The God Who Won’t Let Go, “Hope is actually very close to fear. Fear looks at a set of grim prospects and says ‘It might fail.’ Hope looks at the same set of grim prospects . . . and says, ‘It might work.’ Hope and fear are thus like two ships passing in the night but headed in opposite directions. They are at the same dark murky point in the ocean. But by morning they will be miles apart.” (p. 23-24)

Mindy found a definition of hope that is very simple: Hope expects good. I love it because it is so easy to apply. When you wake up in the morning do you expect good or evil? Is hope guiding your life or is fear?

Lets apply this to innovation. The innovator is a person who has learned to hope. They expect good out of every new project, strategy, line of investigation. Hopefully they are realists, but that doesn't stop them from having an attitude defined by hope.

What does it mean for you if you live expecting good?
1. You see opportunities when others see brick walls.
2. You give people a second, third, fourth chance when others wouldn't.
3. You probably smile a bit more.
4. You have a determination and persistence that allows you to persevere through major challenges.
5. You are close to the Father's heart - that is how He sees each of us.

So as you read this, are you expecting good from your day or evil? Is your work being defined by hope or by fear?

I pray that it is by hope - the hope that comes from the heart of God.

Are you being eaten alive by criticism?

Every innovator will be criticized. No matter how nice you are, how loving, how considerate, how calculating or how sympathetic. The simple reason is that change and new ideas bring criticism. There are people who do not want change, or maybe it would be better to say that they are truly afraid of it. Out of that resistance and fear will come criticism.

I am listening to a book called "Tribe" by Seth Godin. It is an excellent resource on innovation and I will highlight it next weekend. One of the things he says in the book is that the fear of criticism keeps us from stepping out and doing the innovative things that are necessary to move our causes forward.

In my life, I will admit that I am very afraid of criticism. It is like termites eating away at me from the inside where no one else can see it. Many times I have ideas that I just don't feel I can share because of the criticism that might come my way. I don't think I am alone. I think that my fears are pretty normal.

Moreover, I think that under similar fears are hiding hundreds - maybe thousands - of good ideas. We are being eaten alive by criticism or the fear of it. Our organizations are languishing because we will not share our breakthrough ideas. Our causes are stagnant because we will not put forth the new thinking. Our relationships suffer because we will not share the ideas that might bring insight and new horizons.

So what should we fearful yet creative people do? Should we throw off all inhibition and share everything? Should we clamp up and wait for people to ask us for our ideas?

I think this particular challenge calls for a few things:

1. Love: We need to bring our ideas out in love and kindness for those who might struggle with them. We need to realize that there can be many reasons for criticism that we do not understand or appreciate.
2. Courage: If God is calling us to innovate in a certain way, we need to be brave enough to bring our idea out even if we know we will be criticized.
3. Dependence: We need to know that the success of our idea rests completely in God's capable hands - not our energetic efforts. We need to give our idea to God and allow Him to bring it out.

So if you are afraid of sharing your idea today, take courage. One of the things that I daily try to remind myself is that my identity as a person is not in what others think of me. My identity is in Christ and His love and care for me.

Now that we have talked about that, are there any ideas that you feel God is asking you to share? Share them with this community and ask for prayer as you pursue them.

Clearly Seeing New Opportunities

One of the seminal jobs of an innovator is to gaze into that cloudy thing we call the future and intuit new opportunities. The ability to see where something is going and apply that to a specific audience or a specific challenge is what defines an innovator.

Now that means many times we will be wrong or at least not as right as we wish we were. There will be times when we got the opportunity right, but someone else got there first. Or there may be times when we see the challenge that needs to be met, but the audience is unwilling to go there with us. That's all part of the game.

One of those innovators that I have been so impressed with over the years is Phil Vischer. He saw a huge audience of people looking for Christian kid's content and so he created Veggie Tales as a way to meet the opportunity. But even though he lost Veggie Tales in the end through a series of challenges, he has now picked up on a new innovation.

Phil Vischer has launched something called JellyTelly. This new innovation is a step ahead of many others and has some huge potential. Some of Phil's challenges with Veggie Tales was in the area of distribution. So with JellyTelly, he is creating wholesome kids programming delivered straight over the Internet instead of through cable or DVD. Kids can watch new programs for 1/2 hour each day right now and as he is able, the new company will expand that and provide more programming.

Not only will this give young writers and producers a whole new outlet for creating kids programming that reflects Christ, but it gives parents another way to engage their children with the Bible.

So for 2.99 a month, a family can access daily programing and games that reflect their values. We will see if Phil has identified an opportunity that the audience will grab hold of. But whether or not that happens, Phil has shown himself to be a world class innovator in his work and faith.

Billy Graham's 90th birthday

One of the great innovators in modern evangelism is Billy Graham. He turns 90 on Nov 7 and the BGEA has set up a cool way for you to share your memories of him or a birthday wish. Watch this video:



And then go to www.billygraham90.com to leave your special message.

Upcoming Writers Conference

I would like to share about a ministry that we support - MAI (Media Associates International). They hold a key conference for writers from around the world every 3 years called Littworld. That conference is a place for writers to learn, get plugged in and to move forward in their careers in their respective countries.

Littworld will be held in Kenya in 2009. Read a bit more about it.