Pastor Steven Furtick

Everybody wants to be an original.  Lately, I’m concluding there’s no such thing.  Don’t get me wrong, you’re unique.  One of a kind.  Just like everybody else.

When God made you, He encoded a temperament, skill set, passion, and anointing in a measured and distinctive combination.  But through the years, that DNA is enhanced and affected for better and worse through your influences and experiences.  And over time, you become a mixed breed of sorts.

Let me come at this another way:
People who stand out as unique aren’t original.  They’re just really interesting hybrids.

Musical styles that are hailed as groundbreaking typically just fuse certain elements of several existing styles in a way that is fresh to us.  Ska is reggae meets punk.  Hip-hop is the bottom of the funnel that started with R&B and rap.  Before that blues and jazz.

There’s no such thing as an original preacher.  Just a preacher who combines all of his influences and inspirations in a way that sounds new to us.  And the richer and more smoothly blended the influences, the more tasteful and flavorful the interpretation will be.
Methodist upbringing + Baptist college +
Interdenominational traveling ministry + Black preacher wannabe=
me.

There’s nothing original about my leadership style (yours either).  I’m a the product of 5 million different influences, some good, some bad, some potent, some barely discernable, filtered through the Holy Spirit, changing every day.

You can’t be an original.  But you have potential to be a really fascinating hybrid.  Internalize and integrate your influences…and see what comes out in the mix.