As soon as children can hold a crayon, an adult in their lives usually teaches them to color inside the lines. The free-thinking child scribbles anywhere; while the child who wishes to please colors a picture with the right colors in the right places. The child who succeeds in coloring within the lines is congratulated; and the picture is proudly displayed on the refrigerator, the art gallery of American homes.
Business leader David Armano said, “Look at the world around us. What if someone told Steve Jobs of Apple to ‘stay in the lines’; or what if Thomas Edison never tried coloring outside of a line, just to see what would happen? What about the person at Motorola who thought the world was ready for an unusually thin and stylish phone? What if that individual just ‘stayed in the lines’?”
Are you creative? Are you creative in your personal walk with God? Are you creative in ministering to students? Are you surrounding yourself with others who are creative?
Professional Life
In the future, the lines will be blurred as youth workers definitely will have to color outside the lines. Effective leaders, who are stifled by the restrictions of the lines, will be handicapped in an ever-evolving postmodern world. The future needs leaders who will coach us through change and go beyond the status quo of youth ministry. Not only must they think outside the box, but they must think beyond the box. In fact, future leaders will not even see a box.
What would your ministry look like if some creative spice, some passion, was added? Do you envision a ministry going beyond the redundancy of Sunday morning and Wednesday night?
Personal Life
As you are reading this, you might be equating creativity to being artsy. I’m not talking about how well you draw, paint or mold clay. I totally lack art skills myself, but I am creative. Creativity in life and ministry is more than just artistic expression; it is launching out in the deep, where the water is over your head, where you have to trust God. Creativity involves risk-taking faith even to go beyond Peter jumping out of the boat; it is actually walking on water. The bottom line is: Creativity involves risk. It is the risk of surrounding yourself with other creative people, people who are even more creative than you.
Seek Creative Leaders
Popular leadership speaker Marcus Buckingham says, “In order for leaders to lead in the future, it will be necessary for them to know their strengths and their weaknesses. An integral aspect of leadership in the future will be leaders who steer toward their strengths.”
One of the oldest tricks of the trade in leadership is to seek out other leaders who complement any given personal weaknesses. As the future unfolds, successful youth workers will need to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses constantly. Effective youth workers will need to steer toward their strengths, simultaneously surrounding themselves with others who complement their weaknesses.
Why not spend some time with the Lord in regard to your creativity, or lack thereof, in your personal and professional life?
Also, spend some time praying about how you can recruit some creative youth workers who will transform your life and ministry. As a result, you will impact a generation of creative adolescents.
