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Innovation

Three Ways I Process Ideas

By Innovation, Leadership, Life Plan, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Perhaps this has happened to you…

You read a Tweet…you hear a message…you read a book, blog post or article…it gives you an idea, encourages you, prompts you to want to take action on the idea…

If you are like me, that thought can soon become lost in a sea of other thoughts and ideas and, as great as it may have seemed at the time, the idea never becomes reality in your life. Weeks, months, or even years later you may even hear the same idea again and remember that you never did anything with it the first time…

I often am asked: How do you capture great ideas and make them useful in your life?

Here’s a simple system I use…there’s nothing extremely genius about this, but for me it had to become a habit to be successful. Others will have better systems, but this is what I do:

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Friday Discussion: Are The New TSA Travel Requirements Fair?

By Business, Change, Culture, Innovation, Leadership

What’s your opinion?

Since 9/11traveling has become much more difficult and time consuming. Our government has assumed new responsibilities as we travel. I am thankful for the diligence of people involved in keeping us safe. Their work should never be taken for granted.

The most active story on my radar this week, however, has been that of the new TSA restrictions on travel.

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Great Leaders Don’t Take Opportunities Just Because They Can

By Business, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership

Part of being a good leader is not taking opportunities even though you can. Sometimes letting your staff do something you could do, maybe even would like to do, is a better for the entire team.

When we launched our church eleven couples took a risk on a dream we felt God was leading us to pursue. We empowered this core team to do things the way they felt best doing them, as long as they were achieving the vision we knew God was calling us to achieve. We encouraged them to explore new ideas, become experts in their field of interest, and then released them to dream and build. It became part of our DNA and we are still allowing people to explore new opportunities.

For example,

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YouVersion Changes Lives

By Christians, Church, Encouragement, God, Innovation, Missions

If you have a smart phone, you never have to leave home again without your Bible!

I love what the team at LifeChurch.tv has done to encourage Bible reading through their work with YouVersion. Our church uses the live version each Sunday (sign up HERE) and it has started to catch on with people. YouVersion continues to improve their offerings for churches. Consider these additions:

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Take Time for Excellence

By Business, Change, Innovation, Leadership

Often it’s one revision…a second look…one additional opinion…that takes an idea or a project from “Okay” to noteworthy.

It happens for me when writing a sermon. If I take the time to finish, then sit on it 24 hours, then go back for one more critical look the message is always better than it was before.

Don’t rush excellence. There’s a balance between stalling too long and rushing through a decision.

Which do you lean towards…rushing through a project or stalling too long?

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Organizational Tip: Give Permission to Be Spontaneous

By Business, Change, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Recently I attended the Story Conference in Chicago. It was a two day conference for the creative-minded packed full of the best ideas available to communicate our story to the world. It was a well-planned and scripted time and Ben Arment, the conference founder, is to be commended for the event.

The greatest moment for me, however, happened…

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The Posture of Leadership

By Business, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Vision

It’s a strange phenomenon…I’ve seen people serve in leadership roles who I don’t even think are qualified to lead, yet they are leading and people are following. And, many times, they are achieving results…

The reason is not their abilities as much as the way they have positioned or presented themselves to a group of followers.

Here’s one principle of leadership:

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Criss Cross: Our Newest Staff Member at GcomChurch

By Children, Church Planting, Culture, Innovation

We have a new staff member. His name is Criss Cross. He started in the office this morning (and thankfully I’m out of town).

Criss Cross is our children’s ministries new mascot. We realize churches usually don’t have mascots, but we are passionate about reaching children for Christ. It amazes me to watch children get excited about a mascot at a ballgame. Sometimes they don’t even know a game is in progress if the mascot is nearby. I love watching their excitement interacting with a mascot.

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