I am reading a book called "The Spark". I am only 4 chapters into it but I think it is drastically changing the way my team and I look at our lives and how we do church. It's a story about the main character, Frank, finding the passion that he once had in his job. I can't tell you how much this book hits home. So many of my friends live in a world where their creativity has been stifled by bosses who just want the job done or organizations who don't value the art of creativity.
I was reading one evening and almost passed by a line that deserved more than just a second glance. I think I read it and said to myself, "I believe that", but moving on without giving it more thought would have been a tragedy. I thought profound statements like this one would not be reserved for a character that would be considered less than a supporting character.
He said, "Nothing of significance could be accomplished without taking a leap of faith."
I guess you could also say, you won't make that big of a difference in the world unless you take some risks. My dad always used to tell me something that I will probably keep with me all my life as one of those filters I run my life through. He would say, "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten."
I wonder how big of a difference we could make if we were a people who took leaps of faith. Leaps of faith in the insurance world, in doing church, in our marriages and our friendships. Taking leaps of faith don't always turn out right, but at least you can say that in your life, you took some.
I’m not sure if everyone has this moment or if it is reserved for only certain people in life. This moment came to me as I watched a TV commercial for a new upcoming show on Fox called On The Lot. This particular show accepted short films submitted by aspiring filmmakers in search for the next big Hollywood director. Now I am pretty into film and video and after getting some knowledge dropped on me at film school, am pretty sure that I want to spend the rest of my life telling stories through this medium. I devoured every bit of that 30 sec preview. It stole all of my attention and when it ended and the next commercial played, I made the decision to get Tivo so that I can relive such glorious moments. That wasn't "THE MOMENT". You would think that my reaction would be something in the ballpark of excitement. Nope. I was so pissed. I missed it...my opportunity. I didn’t even get the chance to try. Now enter "The Moment". I decided that I was not going to be a passive leader anymore. For the past few years I have gotten by on a just having some good ideas, doing my job well and designing videos that people thought were cool. I wasn’t really leading anything. So I decided to change from being a "Passive Leader" to an "Active Leader". I want to be an innovator. I want to develop fresh ideas that help shape the way church is done. I want to actively pursue greatness not mediocrity. So here is a step. I have started a dialog with you. This blog is an effort to push myself to refine who I am and who I want to be. Not everything on here will have to do with church or production or film. It’s just an opportunity to share with you my life and pursuit of more.