Albert Einstein said, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."  All of us face problems every day and the solution often requires a new way of looking at the problem.  Consider the following sequence:

O T T F F S S

What do you think are the next three letters?

Did you guess:  E N T?  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!  Did you guess E T T F F for the next letters?  If you have not figured out the answer simply spell out the numbers One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, etc.  Now you can see the sequence.  Creativity often involves a fresh way of looking at the situation.

IBM recently polled over 1500 CEO’s from 60 different countries and asked them, “What was the most important leadership competency?”  They rated creativity as number one!  “Eighty percent of the CEOs said the business environment is growing so complex that it literally demands new ways of thinking.”   (Tony Schwarz, Harvard Business Review).  Here is a link to the full report. 

The challenges we face in ministry require a fresh look at the way we do ministry.  One of my mentors, Bobby Clinton, said it well:

Methods are many, principles are few

Methods often change, principles never do.

What are the changes you need to make in your ministry while holding fast to the timeless biblical principles?  "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?  I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). May we be sensitive to His leading as we minister in a changing world.