I'd rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas.
I'll explain what I mean by God idea in a moment, but first, we interrupt this regularly scheduled article for a Bible verse:
"Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Cor. 10:5
We tend to think of that verse in negative terms: we must take sinful thoughts captive. And that's certainly true. But let me flip the proverbial coin: we also need to capture God ideas. And by God idea, I simply mean those mustard-seed ideas that are conceived in our minds by the Spirit of God. They are not the byproduct of human logic. They are the byproduct of divine revelation. Yes, it's tough to discern between a good idea and a God idea. Yes, you'll make some mistakes along the way. But learning to discern a God idea is one of the soft skills of spiritual leadership. And in the long run, it is God ideas not good ideas, that change destinies.
If you stop and think about it, everything traces back to an idea. It may be a bad idea, like the time I tried to pour a little bit of my McDonald's coffee out of my McDonald's cup so I could add some McDonald's creamer. Warning: do not attempt this maneuver while driving 65 mph on the highway. If you do, I would recommend wearing an old brown shirt because I can predict with a high degree of certainty that you will end up with coffee stains on your shirt. But enough about bad ideas! It may be a good idea, like double-checking that the bathroom door is actually locked before getting down to business or letting your Ruth's Chris steak, cooked in an eighteen-hundred degree oven and served on a pre-heated five-hundred degree plate in butter sauce, cool off before taking a bite.
Bad ideas cost an arm-and-a-leg. Good ideas are a dime a dozen. But God ideas? Well, God ideas are worth at least $51,885. More on that in a minute!
Every God idea has a genesis moment.
It was probably seventeen years ago that I heard a message on an obscure passage of Scripture in II Samuel 23 about a guy that chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day. I don't know how. I don't know why. But that passage captured my imagination. Something was conceived in my spirit. It was a mustard-seed thought, but I thought if I was to ever write a book, that passage would make a killer text. I think that idea was more than a good idea. I think it was a God idea. And nearly two decades later, that God idea became reality in the form of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. In a Pit has gone to seven printings. I've gotten thousands of letters and emails from readers. And hundreds of churches have done a series based on the book. And I'm grateful for all of the above. But I'm also cognizant of that the fact that it was once a single-celled God idea.
You never know how or when or where a God idea might show up. It might be a sermon. It might a conversation or a book or a prayer or even a personal tragedy. But whenever or however the God idea is conceived in your mind, you need to capture it and steward it. You need to nurture it until the dream becomes reality.
Here are a few genesis moments.
Our free market system of small groups at National Community Church? It traces back to a book titled, Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century. I read it from cover-to-cover in one sitting. That book led to a complete overhaul of our small group system. We have approximately one hundred small groups offered this semester. And I believe the day will come when we have a thousand small groups in the metro DC area. But it all traces back to a genesis moment when a God idea was conceived and captured.
Our Annual Ministry Report that looks like a popcorn box? I was actually at my first Catalyst Conference walking through the ministry booths. I spotted an annual report that sparked the idea. That AMR is a critical part of our assimilation process. We've given away thousands of AMRs over the years. But it all traces back to a genesis moment when a God idea was conceived and captured.
Ebenezers coffeehouse? I was just walking by an abandoned piece of property a few blocks from the Capitol when this thought popped into my mind: this would make a great location for a coffeehouse. It took eight years of praying, rezoning, and building. But the end result is not only the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, but also the #1 ranked coffeehouse in the metro DC area (AOL CityGuide, 2008). But it all traces back to a genesis moment when a God idea was conceived and captured.
And finally, our missions catalog that raised $51,885 over Christmas? We were on our staff planning retreat having dinner at Cheesecake Factory. For what it's worth, I was eating spicy cashew chicken when the idea surfaced and I would highly recommend it even if it doesn't result in a God idea! The end result of that God idea was more than three hundred goats to feed kids in Ethiopia, eighteen hundred bricks to build an orphanage in Uganda, and four huts for widows in Malawi. But it all traces back to a genesis moment when a God idea was conceived and captured.
Let me finish where I started: I would rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas! And I believe there is a God idea in each of us that could change our lives and change our world. Some of them are small. Some of them are big. Some of them need to happen yesterday. Some of them might not bear fruit for seventeen years! But one way or the other, you need to take it captive! Then you need to pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on us until the dream becomes reality!