Fresh Ideas

"The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas." — Albert Einstein

Ideas lead to innovations. Ideas are to be explored and experimented, even examined. We use ideas to launch new projects and ventures in our churches and the nonprofit realm, to expand and enhance what we already offering our congregations and communities.

Imagine if there was nothing new offered by the church. What if no changes were made at all? What would be the immediate results? The pastor would be shocked as he stepped up to the pulpit to see that he looked out to see a sparse congregation with a sprinkling of people. Picture gearing up for another year at your Christian preparatory academy and discovering no new students and few returning students.

The church and nonprofit sectors are in need of fresh ideas. The old ones have grown stale and stagnant. The wisest man who ever lived said that there is nothing new under the sun, but I would bet that not many of us have ventured out throughout the entire world to know that for ourselves. Thus, we must approach each day as an opportunity to discover new and improved ideas.

• Read daily: newspapers, magazines, trade publications, poetry, devotionals, biographies, etc. Read daily to learn new things. Slept through Shakespeare in high school? Read "Hamlet" or "Julius Caesar," even "Macbeth." Read and discover a new world each day. Or, you can at least learn more about the world you live in.

• Record and revisit your dreams: Dreamers need to shift to becoming developers and designers. I believe Walt Disney must have been a dreamer. Henry Ford must have been a serious dreamer, too. If you are going to take your work into uncharted territory and go against the norm, you will need to build the blueprint as you go. Keep a journal, diary or daily agenda/ calendar with notes and ideas on a consistent basis.

• Reflect on your life's path and destiny: Understand that where you have been has an impact on how you view things (perception), while your perception has an impact on how you view your present and future options and opportunities. A negative perception usually relates to pessimism, while a positive perception is usually related to optimism. Look back in order to see where you are headed. Did you recover from alcoholism or addiction? Maybe God wants you telling your story and assisting others in your church or community avoid similar pitfalls or recover from such experiences. Your testimony is not for your sake alone. God has someone who will be blessed by hearing it and others who will be blessed even further by coming to know.

Keep your ideas growing and developing. Always have a notebook and writing utensil. Use your cell phone. Palm, iPhone, Blackberry, Droid and other similar phones have "document" applications that can help record ideas and transfer to them to MS Word via micro SD card. Use what works for you. Just capture your ideas and work on them.