I’m an idea guy. And one thing I’ve learned over the years is that every one of my ideas has value. That doesn’t mean every idea is a good idea. It just means that every idea is worth writing down and coming back to later.

Several months ago I had this thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have an illustrated children’s book for 3-5 year olds that taught the real-life stories of Christian heroes?” Before I got too far with it I realized– This is one of the worst ideas EVER.!

Here’s what some of the pages would have been: 

• Polycarp – He was an old man who was burned at the stake because he refused to burn incense to honor the Roman Emperor. When he didn’t catch on fire, they stabbed him with a spear.
• Cyprian – When he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, he was first banished. But then he was brought back to Carthage and beheaded. On his way to be killed he took off all of his clothes and put on his own blindfold.
• Agnes – Agnes was martyred because she refused to marry someone who wasn’t a Christian. But since the law in Rome was that a virgin couldn’t be executed, Roman soldiers dragged her to a brothel first. Then when they tried to burn her at the stake the wood wouldn’t catch fire, so a soldier stabbed her in the throat.
• Jovan Vladimir – He was beheaded in front of his church because he refused to lead his country into war.
• William Tyndale – After being jailed for over a year in a castle, Tyndale was choked, impaled, and burned at the stake. His crime? He translated the Bible into English.
• Hugh Latimer – Why he was killed isn’t all that clear. But people in charge of the church just didn’t like him because he was teaching truth about salvation and had a habit of preaching at places that weren’t the church. So they had him burned at the stake.
• Thomas Baker - A missionary to Figi who was killed and eaten by cannibals.

I dunno, this might be my best idea ever…

Our culture is dominated by pendulum thinking.

We have a tendency to think in extremes. There’s something in our cultural make-up which makes it difficult to think about minor corrections as we default to massive swings.

It’s “either or” thinking… and it drives me mad.

It’s been going on for a while. In fact, it is engrained in Western thinking.

An Example

Nearly a decade ago, I worked at an Evangelical Free Church in Northern California. Part of the job offer was that I would pursue ordination within the denomination. As I began the steps in that process I was assigned to read a series of books about the denominations history. I was shocked to discover that deeply engrained in the history of the denomination was a protest mentality from the fringes of the protestant reformation. The very word “free” in the denominations name was a protest against Scandinavian Lutheranism. They were free from Lutheranism! The Lutherans had a hierarchical structure, churches were interdependent and structured into synods. In response, the E-Free world had a lack of hierarchy. The Evangelical Free Church of America won’t even call themselves a denomination. They are a group of  autonomous bodies tied together by historical culture and common beliefs. (Er, that’s what a denomination is, isn’t it?) Lutherans had ornate churches so E-Free churches tried to make their buildings stark white and plain in protest. Lutheran churches had a problem with pastoral abuses so E-Free pastors have virtually no power in their congregations. On and on... so much of what made the Evangelical Free Church distinct was actually pendulum swings from their past life in Scandinavia. I’d set those books down and think, “Only by God’s grace could such a rebellious attitude reach lost people.”

More Examples

• A church replaces a highly relational pastor with one who prefers books to people.
• A company used to sell gas guzzlers, but now they just sell hybrids.
• A country goes from electing a very conservative president to a very liberal one.
• A person retires, having lived in Cleveland their whole life, and moves to Costa Rica, sight unseen, for retirement.
• A family hates pets their whole life and on a whim they buy 3 dogs.

Pendulum thinking is interesting, isn’t it? It assumes that the only way to change is to go from one extreme to another! We don’t live in a culture of nuanced differentiation– we live in one filled with extremes.

In all likelihood the change you are looking for, the growth in your organization, the new product that will balance your budget, the educational principle that will revolutionize your classroom, and even the happiness you seek is not going to be found in the extremes.

One pendulum swing just leads to another.

What you are probably looking for is just a little bit to the left or the right.

In 6 weeks it will be 2010. And as many pastors climb into the pulpit on January 3rd, 2010 they will give the annual State of the church message, as well as a road map of the 2010 church agenda.

Lots of churches do this. The first weekend in January is perfect for it as Christmas is in the rear view mirror, people are naturally looking at plans for the year… and most importantly the pastor has had a few days of R&R. I love this practice.

My beef is that too many pastors give a State of our church message as opposed to a State of the church in our town message.

Set Your Agenda on Local Matters

Read Revelation 2-3 from the perspective of the church in your community. You will see that Jesus did not judge those churches by their local individual meetings. He judged the church by a collection of churches in a city. Jesus was looking forward prophetically. He knew that before he came back we would be fractured into hundreds of thousands of groups… and yet his prophesy was tied to a community, not a local church. How can you deny that? I hope this drastically changes how church leaders look at their role. Likewise, I hope they set an agenda for their church body that is reflective of Scripture and not what they know within their denomination or theological tradition. Scripture is always right!

Maybe this changes how we look at our role as a pastor in the community?

• Our role may be to call local churches to come together for a common purpose.
• Our role may be to call one another back to our first love.
• Our role may be to ask the body of believers in our town to seek justice, speaking out against injustice to the point of change.
• Our role may be to beg the church back to a period of societal reformation.
• Our role may be to implore the local church to put the protest back in protestant.
• Our role may be to remind churches that we are called to reach lost people, not put on the best show in town.
• Our role may be to sound the alarm that the best way to reach the lost is minister to their needs, not entertain them.

Phrases from Revelation 2-3 to meditate on as you set your churches 2010 agenda. First love. Perseverance. Rich in poverty. Faithful to the point of death. Overcome. Service. Hold on to what you have until I come. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Dressed in white, for they are worthy. You have kept my word and not denied my name. Endure patiently. I am coming soon. Buy from me gold refined by fire. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Be earnest.

What if, on January 3rd 2010, your church delivered a new kind of message? What if you called a meeting with some like-minded pastors in your community and set a common agenda for what the church will do in your town? I’m not talking about 100 things you will do… I’m talking baby steps. Here are 3 things we will do as “the church of our town.” And then on the first Sunday in January your agenda for 2010 includes a couple of things for what happens within your four walls… but also includes a few things that WE as the body of Christ in our town are doing together to be the Gospel to our town?

Now there is an agenda worth rallying around! I’d give to that. I’d stick around for that.

That creates new energy. Well, in me at least.

Last night I was listening to the latest episode of This American Life about origin stories of new industries and companies. Many well known companies have a myth that they started in a garage. Even if it really isn’t true, people want to believe that their company was created by someone with a crazy idea who invested her last $2000 on an idea and got started in their garage. For some companies, like Hewlett-Packard and Apple, there is truth to it and the garage has become a corporate icon for innovation. In the case of Google, they have tried to capture that feeling so much that in 2006 they actually purchased the garage which housed their offices for a few months in the early days.

It made me think of the virtual garage in which YMX was built. A few friends sat around in an AIM chat room one night and envisioned a new place for youth workers to hang out. That night the idea went from light bulb to a URL and was a big moment. Just 2-3 weeks later I pulled an all-nighter when we opened the site and in 12 hours went from idea to profit. For me, that was an iconic experience I will look back on for the rest of my life.

It made me think of garage start-ups right now. I thought of Bob Carter who started The Pod Drop in his basement. In just three years he has taken his small iPod repair business from his basement to franchises. I thought of Derek Johnson who started Tatango. In just 2 years he has taken his idea of a group texting service from his parents basement to hundreds of thousands of customers. We don’t need to think of the garage story think it couldn’t happen today. Today’s economy has forced the brightest minds on the planet from the board room to the garage. Out of this recession will come the next great innovations that shape the next 30 years. The question isn’t if it will happen. The question is, “Will I take my idea and run with it or will I end up working for the person who took his idea and ran with it?”

More importantly it made me think about the fact that for most people– there is never a garage. There may be dreams of a time when you are passionate about a new idea– about thumbing your nose at the man and going on your own– but for lack of something [money, time, guts] it never happens. Most of us, even leaders of great organizations, never get to be a part of it in the beginning. The garage is merely a legend. We get hired some time well after the good ‘ole days of wheeling, dealing, and turning heads. If you got hired today by Apple or Hewlett-Packard you would never be allowed the freedom to truly innovate in a garage to try to make something happen as it’s simply too complicated now. You have to make payroll, you have to mitigate loss, you have to protect the brand, you have to guarantee the shareholders a return, etc. Certainly these jobs require leadership, but a type of leadership that knows how to innovate in mature ecosystems.

My challenge for you is simple. Whether you a leader for a government agency, school district, church, non-profit, or even a small business– my challenge is the same. Spend some time in the garage. Ask big questions. Thumb your nose at the status quo a little. (Even the status quo for excellence you created.)

Starter questions:

If we were to start a church today in this community, knowing what we know now, what would it look like? Where would we meet? What programs would solve the most systemic problems in our community? How could we manifest the Gospel best? What behavior would we thumb our noses at? Who would be the most crucial people to invest in? Who would we not care if we pissed off? Who is the most unreached people group in our town?

This doesn’t have to be about a church, does it? Make your own questions for what you are passionate about and go to the garage.

Are you ready? 1-2-3 GO!

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2009 – ROMEO, MI- Today marks the opening day of a brand new school in the Village of Romeo. 350 excited faces greeted the staff of North Macomb’s newest charter school. “We can’t believe that this dream became a reality this fast!” That’s Todd Nelson, the school’s principal. Nelson is a 14 year veteran Principal who came to Romeo after being laid off in Hillsdale last June due to decreased enrollment. He’s referring to the miraculous creation of the new charter school, which sprang up just months ago when concerned parents realized they were left with few options. In May, when the Romeo Community School board voted to close Croswell Elementary School for alleged budgetary reasons, a group of parents met to create an alternative to the struggling school district. Tiffany Johnson, who lives on Tilson Street remarked, “What we love about Romeo is that our kids can walk to their neighborhood school. When we heard the school was starting and they had recruited the best teachers in Michigan who just happened to have been laid off because they didn’t have the seniority to keep their jobs in union school districts, we signed up our Susie right away.”

Of course that is fiction. Yet, I don’t think it’s impossible to believe this scenario is true for Fall 2009. Last Monday, the Romeo Community School board voted to close the centrally located, recently updated Croswell Elementary School because of their lack of foresight. They all balked, laughed even, when I presented them with 5 Money Saving Ideas just a year ago. Today I balk at their lack of foresight and mismanagement. Every member of that board should be recalled as they have failed to lead the district through tough times.

Their administrators all make money college administrators would dance over. Their staff all make too much money with guaranteed raises despite falling test scores and a deficit budget. While the district had the opportunity to negotiate with the unions last summer, they chose to deny the data they had and sign a new contract which completely bankrupted the district. With more than 91% of their overall spending going to employee salaries and benefits (more if you figure in the slush fund known as the Sinking Fund) they have fiscally robbed the education of the children they were voted and hired to serve.

While housing prices in the district slumped 50%, the board planned for an INCREASE in tax revenue from the state. While unemployment soared in the district, they projected that more students would move to Romeo. What we see from that district is backward thinking… it’s time for a fresh start.

Unlike some of my friends who go to school board meetings ready to argue, I think the wisest thing to do at this point is to let those silly elected officials have the district. Many are bankrolled with MEA union dollars or physically threatened into doing the will of contractors who get rich. It’s a tiring game of cat and mouse. They will not be satisfied until they have completely blead the district dry.

With prime real estate and a willing group of parents, the perfect time has arisen for a new option in Romeo education: Charter schools.

Here are the facts:

- A charter school would be entitled to the full per pupil income that RCS currently recieves. If Croswell attracted 300 elementary students, they would instantly generate roughly $2 million in revenue from the State of Michigan.

- A charter school could further get grants from the Federal government. President Obama is pro-charter school and anti-1950s era school failures like we see in Romeo.

- With unemployment hovering around 17% in Michigan and higher in Macomb County, hiring teachers at a fair wage would be a snap. I am convinced you’d have thousands of applicants for the 15-20 positions you’d need to fill.

- The rest of the needed positions, from janitors to food service, could be filled with community members looking for reasonable hourly work.

- There are hundreds of parents whose children are being displaced. Kids who once walked to school from the neighborhoods are now going to be required to ride buses. I’m guessing those parents would love the opportunity to experiment with a new school. In fact, I have no doubt that there are parents in surrounding communities willing to drive into Romeo to try something outside of the union box.

- There is plenty of data to back that a public charter school can provide an equal or better education. My own children attend one!

- Once a new charter is formed, they would be wise to hire a charter school company to run the school. Here’s a link to get you thinking.

- Other then procuring a rental/purchase agreement for the otherwise vacant property, the Romeo Community School board would have no say. It would truly be a new day for education in the village.

- All of this really could happen by September 8th 2009! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. A charter board would need to be created to start the paperwork immediately. It is plausible. E-mail me if interested and I’ll help get the group meeting!

Some may dismiss me and say, “Adam, why should we listen to you? You don’t even live here anymore?” True, I moved from the district in August. (sadly) But I continue to be concerned because this is an issue of justice. It sickens me to see reform-minded board members intimidated and threatened. It sickens me to see 1950s era unions having more say in the district then the parents. It sickens me that money is wasted on overpaid administrators while the education of the districts children continues to decline.

Someone has to encourage others in Romeo to stand up and scream outragiously “ENOUGH!” There is another way. There is a way where that coin is flipped and dollars are spent on education. There is a way which truly puts the kids first and the unions in their place. The time for school reform has passed. The time to take action and educate children in a responsible way has arisen.

The question is, are there parents in Romeo willing to lead that charge? Or will 2009-2010 just be another year of fighting a battle against 1950s era unions?