To Innovate, You Have to Make Changes

I remember reading once that the can opener came almost 50 years after the tin can. Wow. Had you ever read that?

Apparently, it takes time for innovation to ultimately find it’s true destination.

• I also read once it was years before someone thought to cut a hole in the bottom of a basketball goal.
• Another example: Plastic was invented years before someone thought to mass-produce it.
• Penicillin was invented in 1928, but didn’t arrive on the market for mass use until 1945.
• The Mac upon which I am typing this article came years after the computer had been a “thing.” Those early computers were just not a thing I could have used sitting at the desk in my home.

Hopefully you are starting to get the idea.

We should not be afraid of small doses of innovation. (Perhaps you call it change.)

As the old saying goes, if you keep doing the same things you’ll get the same results. There is relative agreement on that one.

But I learned something years ago that has been helpful to me in leading for change. Beginning something new doesn’t mean you have to have the finished, perfectly polished product in place when you begin.

Start with what you know today. Dream something new, invent it now, and then you can tweak and make it better later.

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.” —Zechariah 4:10

This has huge ramifications for us as leaders. We often wait to begin something until we think we have all the answers, but often we just need to begin something.

Head somewhere new.

Pray about it, of course. For sure, make sure it is a God-honoring direction. And I’m not suggesting you aimlessly head in a thousand new directions. That never works. I am suggesting you at least head in one good (as far as you know today) direction—even without all the answers—before you have the final destination figured out completely.

Something I learned in church revitalization, for example, is that sometimes the church or organization isn’t dying. Often decline is not your greatest problem.

Sometimes we simply need to do something different—start something new. We often need a fresh dose of innovation.

Start today heading in a new direction. Then tweak as you need to until you get where you’re going.

Read more from Ron Edmondson »

This article originally appeared on RonEdmondson.com and is reposted here by permission.

Ron Edmondson
Ron Edmondsonhttp://ronedmondson.com

Ron Edmondson is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. He revitalized two churches and planted two more.

Ohio Church Makeover

This move would not only give them room to grow, but also would enable them to do a lot more to fulfill their mission of being a church focused on “building the kingdom, one life at a time.”

How Much Tech Do You Actually Need?

Because you cannot do this alone, you are going to have to trust the right individuals who know more about tech than you do. Your calling is to shepherd. Do that.

Gene Appel: Do Less Ministry; Reach More People

None of the programs at our church were bad in and of themselves. The volume of it just prevented us from being focused on building relationships with those who are far from God. So, we had to do less ministry to reach more people. It sounds funny, but people had to be trained in how to do life with nonbelievers or people spiritually disinterested.