Here’s a surefire way to come up with better creative ideas:
Start disciplining yourself to say your bad ideas out loud.
When you’re in a brainstorming meeting, the natural thing to do is to try to get your idea perfectly formulated before you risk embarrassment by verbalizing it.  Nobody wants to expose himself to unnecessary ridicule.  And make no mistake, some ideas are better left unsaid.

But when you have an idea that you know isn’t quite there, yet it seems to be in the right zip code, here’s a phrase that can help you get it out there for further input and development:
“Not this…but something like (insert idea).”

I learned this trick from my songwriting days.   In co-writing situations, I often found myself having the right idea for a lyric, but I couldn’t figure out a great way to phrase it.  So I’d just put it out there:
“I have an idea for the next line.  Not this, but something like (insert clumsy line).”
This is where a good co-writing partner will jump in and see it from a different angle, providing a different perspective, and, over 50% of the time, refining your mediocre idea until it’s actually a feasible line.
This phrase has helped me solicit help for sermon illustrations.  I’ll tell my team: “Hey guys, I have this idea for an illustration for tithing using piggy banks.  This isn’t exactly it, but something like (describe idea).  How do you think we could make this work?”

Putting this phrase into practice has enabled some of our most celebrated ideas, like our Egg Drop, Bless Back Project, and Community Outreach strategy.

The first step to birthing a great idea is having the guts to share the bad idea out loud with at least one other person.
And the introduction: Not this, but something like…. is a great place to start.

Creating an over the top experience for our guests isn’t just a talking point, it’s a driving force behind Sunday mornings. Listen to the Assimilation Department discuss principles and practices that have helped Elevation Church excel on Sunday mornings.

Larry Brey, Assimilation Pastor

There’s Something On The Horizon

When you follow a visionary leader there is a certain tension you will carry. They have an innate ability to see things off in the future. Pastor Furtick is usually 4-6 months ahead of everyone else in the organization. Time and time again he has been able to position the church in the right lane of traffic to avoid major accidents or lose momentum because we’ve had to slow down.

We’re in the midst of one of those “off in the distance” places right now. When we started Elevation we made a conscious choice to honor the office of Pastor and I feel like we’ve done extremely well on that front. We have honored God’s man and He has blessed that decision. We have tremendous unity around a singular vision of “seeing people far from God filled with life in Christ.” But several months ago Pastor Steven began emphasizing how important it is for us as a staff to honor each other.

Now, if you have ever visited Elevation on a Sunday morning one of the things you notice is that you’ll walk through an army of greeters. Each week our guests comment on how welcomed they felt, it’s truly amazing to watch as people experience a genuine smile, a handshake or a hug. I think we’ve created a welcoming environment that rivals any organization. Our volunteer force is incredible; they are truly committed to making people feel welcomed. I think we’ve taken welcoming as far as we can and it’s tempting to pat ourselves on the back thinking “we’ve arrived.” Here’s where the visionary leadership of Pastor Steven comes in…he’s been months ahead preparing us for the next shift the church will go through.

We’ve worked extremely hard at creating a welcoming experience…but Pastor has been getting us ready to shift to a ‘hole ‘nutha level. When you realize what Pastor Steven has been talking about for months is right in front of you, it’s a light bulb moment. The shift he’s been preparing us for all along is to take us from a welcoming church to an honoring church. That sounds simple on the surface but it’s much more profound when you dig deeper. Welcoming is easier, put smile on your face and shake hands as people walk by. Honoring is a heart so captivated by the gospel that you run to the guest and walk them in. It’s pushing the stroller for the single mom as she tries to corral her three kids into the building instead of saying welcome as they walk by.

This shift from welcoming to honoring is a challenge that is in front of us. It’s the thing that positions Elevation Church in the place to give our guests an entirely different experience. Pastor Steven has seen this coming for months and he’s been preparing us all along. His emphasis on the staff honoring one another is the foundation of a church honoring one another. Because this shift isn’t just tweaking how we train our volunteers, it’s a colossal change in perspective. It starts at the top and flows down throughout the church. As the leaders of Elevation honor one another so will it permeate into our volunteer culture.

The story of the prodigal son displays the honoring heart of God. Even though the son had taken his inheritance and squandered it, the father went running out to meet him when he saw his son returning. He put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet and threw a big party because his son came home. That’s what Sunday should be like in all of our churches…to honor our guests because they’ve come home. Thanks Pastor Steven for preparing us for something you saw off in the horizon months ago.

I guess it’s the last series you’d ever expect from a church like Elevation. People seem to think we’re cutting-edge…but when it comes to what really matters, we’re old school. That’s been our vision from day one: new-breed methodology, old school theology.

We kicked off the Old Time Religion series on Mother’s Day, complete with a Hammond B-3, stained glass, and choir robes (no handbells, alas).
The sermon was prerecorded several weeks in advance at Moncks Corner United Methodist Church, the church I grew up in, where my grandfather served as pastor in the late 1950s. It was a fun way to take my staff on a field trip for the pre-record and expose the entire church to my roots. I preached the entire message in the sanctuary of that church, which brought back memories, and allowed me to honor where I came from (thanks Mom.) You can watch the sermon here.

This series is gonna be fun. I can tell already. I’ve got a smoking hot message about prizing and prioritizing the Word of God for this Sunday. And I’ll be preaching it behind a big old honking pulpit. What’s old is new again.
Invite all your friends. See you Sunday.
Butler Evite, Providence Evite