(This blog is not about your prayer closet)
(This blog is not about your prayer closet)
The revival meeting was in full throttle. The new SRC subwoofers were thumpin’. My Pastor-buddy, Keith Kippen, had just arrived.
I greeted him warmly by shouting in his ear, “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great!” He responded, “I need to tell you about something later on.”
“You fed a dumpling to a fawn?!” I barked back with a puzzled expression.
“No! I need to tell you something really cool after the service.”
“Okay!” I still hadn’t heard a word he said, so I smiled and winked and went back to worshipping Jesus.
When we had a moment to catch up, Pastor Keith began to tell me about this revelation that he had received out of 2 Corinthians 3:1 where it says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established…”
His new understanding of this text is that if something new is going to be established, there need to be witnesses.
The example he gave was for marriage counseling.
“I don’t do any counseling now unless the couple comes in with witnesses, such as another pastor, elder, or friends, who can then speak into the matter. These "witnesses" will then be able to continue to walk with them, to support them, and be there to help hold them accountable.”
Internally I honored and received this tip, and externally I stamped it with my signature approval, “So good bro.”
Skip a beat.
The lights turned on.
I am not anti submission at all. I am surrounded by amazing, Godly, mature, and experienced leaders who will graciously mama-bear-paw-smack me if they need to.
I have also seen how counsels can sometimes shoot vision out of the air as if it were duck season.
Without taking on too much shame regarding projects in the past that have failed, I realized that if something is worth creating, maybe it’s worth building with the next forty years (arbitrary number) in mind.
I’ve made some pretty cool sand castles, and when the waves came in, they fell over.
Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed.”
What this text is saying is that if you want to establish something successful, get many wise eyes on your plan.
My fear of inaction has been my excuse for solo execution. Solo execution creates a vacuum into a weird and lonely place.
So, I’m trying to get used to a new form of creativity called community, wherein the context of building cool Kingdom stuff we can all contribute to solving problems before they show up.
Because this is new, the old way of doing things is always trying to get me to backslide. My planning meetings are getting larger, but we are building more healthily.
I’ve been working on a book for two years now called Counterfeit Fruit, but I’ve been stuck and haven’t been able to finish it. The book is outlined, and I have around thirty thousand words written, but something doesn’t feel right, and so I’ve lost the inspiration and direction needed to finish it.
One idea that I had recently was to go back to chapter one and submit it, along with the outline, to people that are gifted teachers; have them study and critique the structure and sequencing of the section. If they can show me what works and what doesn’t, perhaps chapter one could become the template for the rest of the following chapters. Additional advisers could help this plan succeed.
Here’s my advice. If your output it zilch, just do something and get some sort of production moving, even it’s lame. Nothing ever begins amazingly.
If you are producing, but the quality and efficiency of your work need to be improved, or if you have a project that is going to be expensive (the amount of energy or finance required) first gather your diverse and trusted advisors and meet up in your war room.
What do you think? Hit me back with your thoughts, projects, and revelations.
You are loved (and amazing)!
Darren