Organization Not Optional

Once an idea is recorded, we are now getting into territory where personal preference becomes more of a factor than before. Getting your ideas down isn’t optional. The process you use to organize them is. Ultimately, go with whatever you’re comfortable with and understand. If you can’t use your system, there’s no point in having it.

My own preference is using a spreadsheet with multiple tabs covering different categories and platforms of communication (e.g. blog ideas, sermon illustrations, leadership teaching, staff meeting teachings). Once a week I sit down with my assistants and list every idea I’ve had over the past week with the main idea, any scriptures I want to use with it, and the category or platform it belongs in. Each idea is then listed chronologically within its assigned category. This way, I can see all of the resources I have within a particular area and have access to the freshest concepts within it.

Whatever method you go with, keep in mind that your organizational preference is optional. Being organized isn’t. Many pastors use the excuse that they’re not naturally organized. Translated, that means, “I’m too lazy to take the time to make my ideas more accessible.“ When God has given you inspiration, there is no excuse for mishandling it. Even if it doesn’t come naturally for you. Do the hard work. If nothing else, find someone who is more organized and empower them to do it for you according to your preferred design.

Execution Matters Most

Ideas are overrated. Execution is what really matters. Ideas become reality because of something you do. Not because they are written down. So it’s essential that you have some kind of a system to make sure your thoughts are being filtered into your sermons, blogs, staff teachings, and any other place where you have a platform. If not, all you have done is buried them in a document rather than in your memory.

In my case, I have an assistant who regularly goes through my spreadsheet and makes sure the strongest ideas are being implemented in their respective areas. For example, when it comes time to plan out our sermons for the year, he has access to every single series idea I’ve envisioned up to that point. If we want to do a series on giving, everything I need on that topic is put in front of me.

You might not have the luxury of having a paid staff member to help you do all of this. But don’t let this stop you. Find a volunteer. Or set aside a set time in your calendar every week and do it yourself. The dividends it pays far outweigh the time and energy you will ever put into it.

And remember that it’s not ultimately about efficiency. This is about learning to harness the infinite sum of knowledge and inspiration that is at our disposal because of the God we serve.

Considering the fact that we have a God who is constantly at work to reveal Himself, there should not be another group on the planet that is coming up with better ideas than the people he has chosen to use as his instruments of revelation. Let’s not waste what we have at our disposal.

Yesterday I told you I would be giving you access to my system for recording, cataloging, and implementing my ideas. After writing it out, I’ve decided it’s much too long for one blog post. I don’t want to shortchange you by reducing it, so I’ve divided it in two. The second half will be posted tomorrow. Here is the first half of the process:

The Birth of the Idea

The genesis of any system for getting your ideas from your mind to reality starts with the initial moment of inspiration. I’ve found that these moments occur in two different ways.

Sometimes they will appear out of nowhere. I’ll be doing something that requires zero creativity, yet one of the most creative ideas I’ve ever had will come to me. You’ll find that your subconscious is often working harder than your conscious mind ever will. Collecting random bits of information and making connections you never would. When God decides to use it to present you with something fresh, be ready.

Others come through learned observation. What I mean is that you have to train yourself to become aware of everything around you and its illustrative and revelatory potential. The books I read are no longer just for my own personal edification. They are goldmines for ideas. Every conversation I have, my favorite memories from family vacations, everything has the potential to birth an idea inside of me. Because God has created the world, everything around us possesses the possibility of more fully revealing the One who created it. Or giving us insight into the way His creation is designed to work. So keep your eyes open.

The first source of inspiration requires little to no work. The second may require intensive examination and reflection. Both are required if you want to maximize your mind’s full potential.

Get it Down.

The next step is crucial. It’s the one most pastors never get to and why most ideas never see the light of day. Ingrain this instruction in your head: write everything down.

Record every creative impulse. Every good idea. Every bad idea. Every possible vision initiative. Every potential illustration. When you’re reading, if the author says something in a fresh way that could illustrate one of your own concepts, record it immediately. Don’t highlight the sentence and hope you remember to flip back and find it later. You won’t.

Write it on a napkin. Record it on your phone. Write it on your iPad. Tatoo it on your arm if you have to. Whatever you have to do, just get it down. Some of your best sermon ideas were never preached because they weren’t written down.  You thought you’d remember.  You didn’t.

I write most of my thoughts in a Moleskin. But I’ll also do whatever it takes. I’ve called my own voicemail before and left a message just so I wouldn’t lose an idea.

However I end up recording it, I follow up and transfer it to either my computer or my iPad to make the second half of the process more efficient. We’ll pick up there tomorrow.

For now, keep your eyes open for every little piece of inspiration God gives you. And have a pen ready.

I once heard somewhere that there is a greater wealth of master symphonies, brilliant novels, and revolutionary ideas in a graveyard than anywhere else in the world. In other words, there is a greater mass of ideas that never left the heads of men and women than that actually saw the light of day and had an opportunity to make an impact.

Unfortunately, pastors are sometimes the greatest contributors to this tomb of collective genius. How many illustrations have been lost that could have unlocked and explained a biblical passage for someone like never before because the pastor failed to write it down? How many leadership teachings have been lost that could have taken ministry staffs to a whole new level because the pastor didn’t take the time to catalog and deliver them?

One of the greatest responsibilities of stewardship a pastor carries is the stewardship of the mind. If you have the calling and honor of preaching the Word of God, your mind and every God-given thought and idea that comes from it are among the most valuable assets you have. They are gifts from God…and therefore you are responsible for them.

Almost every pastor would agree with this. If they have been to seminary, it has been forcibly pressed into their psyche. Yet many pastors struggle with actually exercising good, practical stewardship of the insights and inspirations that are given to them by God. I don’t think it’s because they lack the intention or desire. Many pastors think of great ideas and mean to write them down and use them, but never get around to it. They can’t remember it later. And the idea is lost.

Although no system fits every personality, I want to give pastors some practical ways to be better stewards of the gifts he has given them. Tomorrow I’m going to give you private access to my system for writing, cataloging, and implementing my ideas for every platform I communicate from. It will not be a fix all. You might only take a few aspects.

Whatever it inspires you to do, commit with me never to lose another idea. The calling and honor of preaching is too great to waste any more of God’s resources.

One of the core things we’re known for here at Elevation is placing a disproportionate value on providing worship experiences that boldly celebrate Jesus and attract people far from God.

Integral to this aspect of our identity is the desire and push for excellence in everything we do. There is absolutely no room for mediocre work. We’ll can a worship element we spent dozens of hours planning and implementing if it doesn’t meet our standards. We want to produce the best videos, play the best songs with the best musicians, and proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the best of our abilities.

But there is a danger in this and it’s something I recently communicated to our staff during one of our times of worship together. It’s one thing to worship with passion and excellence when the room is full and all eyes are on us. The real test of worship comes when your auditorium is empty and the only people remaining are the staff who now have no responsibilities but to stand before God and still give Him everything they’ve got.

In these moments, if we dial down our intensity and offer mediocre worship, we reveal the true motivation of our hearts. Our excellence really hasn’t been about worship. It’s been about performance. We’ve tried to engage a crowd instead of leading the crowd to join us in engaging God.

Pastors, worship leaders, producers, any and everybody involved in leading worship experiences, we can’t operate with excellence simply because people are watching. We have to do it because God is watching and is worthy of our best.

And this truth applies to every Christian. Colossians 3:23 insists that “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

The consistent and passionate giving of your best efforts in whatever you do is the best gift of worship you have to give to God every day of your life. Especially when there are absolutely no eyes on you besides the One you are worshipping.