Wayne Hedlund

Category: STRATEGIC PLANNING

  • Seats on the Bus

    Seats on the Bus

    In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins says, “We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage, ‘People are your most important asset’ turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

    He hit the nail on the head. Ministry is not just all about having people around doing things; it’s also about paying attention to what they are doing as well. Unfortunately, I think this ideas sort of locks many of us up. We think, “How am I supposed to find the exact right seat for everyone?” Ugh. Some of us can hardly figure out where WE fit in, much less trying to figure out which seats on the bus everyone else is supposed to fit.

    MY RECOMMENDATION: START WITH SECTIONS.

    What if we just started by getting people in the right section of the bus instead? Generally, we have three kinds of people in our church: Creatives, Doers & Leaders. Yes, I know. Sometimes people can be a mixture of one or more of those. But generally speaking, if we know what kind of people we’re dealing with, we can seat them where they fit best and worry about finding their exact seat as time goes on.

    The back of the bus – Creatives

    Everyone knows that the troublemakers like to sit in the back. If you’re sitting back there, you probably want to be far away from what’s really going on. You aren’t interested in where the bus is going right now. You just want to utilize your creativity to dream, talk, and get into just enough trouble that the bus driver doesn’t notice. 

    This is where strategic thinkers and creatives sit. They are big-picture people. They like to try new things. They are sometimes critical thinkers (I didn’t say critical people!) They are the ones you want in the room when you’re dreaming about the future, evaluating how things are going and discussing creative, new things to do or ways to do them. 

    These people don’t need a lot of authority to make choices, they just need a platform for their thoughts and ideas to be heard. Great leaders will gather them together to hear them out and learn from them. They also tend to be early adopters, ready to jump in with both feet when it’s time for change.

    The front of the bus – Leaders

    If you’re sitting at the front of the bus it’s likely because you want to be close to the action. You want to see who’s coming in and out the door. You want to talk to the bus driver. You want to see where the bus is going next and you want to play a part in how you will get there.

    This is where the the leaders sit; the ones who make decisions. These are the people in your organization who will actually decide the future and direction of the church. Sometimes the Creatives & the Leaders are the same people. However, often it’s wise to have them sit in a separate section of the bus. Of course, if you’re driving a small bus (a small church/ministry) you don’t always have that luxury. 

    In a perfect world, the Creatives come up with some great ideas, feedback and insights and the Leaders can then determine which one’s will work best for the bus based on it’s mission and where it’s going.

    The middle of the bus – Doers

    If you’re sitting in the middle of the bus you are likely in your own world. You’ve got your iPod in or your just hanging with everyone else in that section. Sometimes you like to listen in on the talk in the back of the bus and sometimes you like to sit near the front to get a feel for the action, without having to be involved. You aren’t cut out for the intensity of the back of the bus and you aren’t really super interested in where the bus is going. You just like being IN the bus.

    This is where the doers sit. These are the people who will do whatever is necessary to keep the bus moving and support the vision of the leaders. They are the ones who will dig their heels in and grind out the plans you have made. Your doers don’t make a lot of decisions, and they don’t want to. They do the work based on the decisions that have already been made, and they do it well.

    About Your Bus

    Here are a few closing observations about how these sections work (or don’t work) in different ‘buses’ or ministries.

    • In my experience, the middle of the bus (Doers) is where the vast majority of people sit, like 90%. There are usually only a few seats in the front and a few seats in the back dedicated to Creatives and Leaders.
    • If a bus has too FEW Doers, it end up coming up with a lot of ideas/plans that never get done. Innovative ideas & new paths don’t get built. The bus doesn’t stop when it should to take on new passengers. It sometimes doesn’t get cleaned properly and needs a fresh coat of paint. You get the idea.
    • If a bus has too FEW Leaders, the bus tends to take loopy circles and gets distracted going places it doesn’t need to go. It also runs inefficiently and needs to spend a lot of time in the shop with repairs. Often, the bus looks great but is going nowhere important.
    • If a bus has too FEW Creatives it takes the path it’s always known, even when there are better paths to take. The bus stays old and eventually becomes uninteresting to prospective new passengers. 
    • The smaller the church, the more Creatives and Leaders have to double up and also be Doers. There is less of a clear demarcation between the different seats.
  • Rethinking How We Think

    Rethinking How We Think

    Years ago I heard a story about a man who tried to steal an ATM machine. His plan was to rip the ATM out of the wall of a store-front by chaining it to the back bumper of his pick-up truck. After securing the chain, the incompetent thief got in his truck and hit the gas. A few seconds later, he heard a loud noise and the truck suddenly lurched ahead. Frantic and scared he would soon be caught, he quickly hit the brakes and ran around to claim his prize. Appalled, he discovered the ATM machine was still secured to the building. Lying on the ground in front of him was the truck’s back bumper which had been ripped off. Scared and frustrated, the man got in the truck and went home. Hours later, the police showed up at his door and arrested him for attempted robbery. He was easy to find. The police just checked the license plate on the bumper left chained to the ATM. I don’t know how true the story is, but it makes me chuckle and I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually happened.

    It is incredibly easy to make daily choices without really thinking things through first. Something unexpected happens and we either react (which I’m pretty sure is the basest form of thinking) or we do the first thing that comes to mind that seems halfway reasonable. Often, it’s a shot in the dark whether our half-baked decision will come back and bite us or not.

    The old saying “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” has its roots in Scriptures. Psalm 7:15 says, “He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.” Humanity has made a lot of holes throughout history and, unfortunately, we don’t always learn from our mistakes. 

    A Quick Example

    Consider the Children’s Ministry Director who is faced with a dilemma. A Sunday School volunteer calls 15 minutes before church to explain that she won’t be able to teach the preschool class. The director is now in a quandary. There will be several families showing up in a matter of minutes and something needs to be done quickly.

    He may react and grab the first warm body he sees to fill in; or perhaps he quickly decides to let the teen assistant teach the class alone. Either way, with a little more thinking before leaping he might have come up with several more viable options. Of course, we only ever say, “hindsight is 20/20” when we discover our hasty decision created bigger problems. In our example with the absent Sunday School teacher, the spontaneous and untrained sub might have ended up yelling at the children or left them alone for several minutes for a bathroom break. Not good for the new families who then leave the church with a bad taste in their mouths unnecessarily. 

    We are often fine with quick, reactive thinking because it usually gets us by. Anyone with a head on their shoulders, a little experience, and common sense can make a halfway decent decision that saves the day most of the time. So this way of thinking becomes the standard simply because it often works!

    In the above example, the quick thinking of that director would have saved the day if nothing went wrong. Instead, it ended in disaster and, in hind-sight, he probably wished he had thought things through more thoroughly. An extra 4 minutes probably would have sufficed!

    Those extra moments thinking things through woul likely have led to several safer and potentially more appropriate options. Was there another trusted person serving that morning who could have filled in for a while? Could the director himself have filled in? Maybe a sign on the door apologizing and saying the room would open in 10 minutes – to give more time to find a good solution. Could two classes be combined?

    The act of simply stopping and thinking through options before deciding can make a huge difference – in both ministry and life!

    There’s a better way.

    I believe we can learn to think better. To be able to view a problem from different angles & perspectives. To see possibilities and solutions where they may not be so obvious initially. Generally speaking, this activity is called “Critical Thinking.”

    For years I assumed most people knew how to think and make good choices. But after watching people make seemingly obvious mistakes over and over, I began to realize that it’s a learned skill – one in which I was unknowingly trained in during my early tenure in leadership & ministry. Understand, I’m still guilty of making some stupid choices. I certainly haven’t arrived! But I do understand some key principles that will help me make choices that are hopefully more wise than I would have years and years ago. 

    Over the next few posts, I  will explore more thoroughly, how we can all learn to think differently. 

    Check out the next post in this series: Critical Thinking 101 – Seek God

    photo credit: kevin dooley via photopin cc

  • Knowledge Empowers Leaders To Make Wise Choices

    knowledge-empowers-leaders

    A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers. Proverbs 24:5-6

    There is very little that will frustrate a true leader more than lack of knowledge. Knowledge, when wielded by the right individual, is like a sharp sword that is capable of cutting through confusion to find truth and wisdom. Lack of knowledge leaves us whacking away at ghosts in the darkness, hoping we will stumble upon the right path. Empires have fallen because of lack of knowledge. Relationships have come to ruin. Bank accounts have run dry. Employment opportunities have passed people by. All because someone didn’t have the information needed to make a wise choice.

    The church world is not exempt from this truth. When leaders have access to the right information, it empowers them to make wise choices. Those wise choices ultimately lead to transformation in the lives of the broken and hurting people in that community.

    Proverbs 24 (quoted above), reminds us that leaders can have ‘great power’ and ‘increased strength’, which can lead to ‘guidance’ when facing battles. In other words, we have a greater chance of victory than we did without them (wisdom & knowledge); we are ’empowered.’

    If wisdom were a fire keeping us warm and giving us light, knowledge would be the wood and fuel feeding that fire. Of course, knowledge must be given to the right person, a wise person, in order for it to make a difference. Otherwise, it is simply wood sitting in a pile on the floor. 

    Charles Spurgeon said it this way: “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”

    Knowledge is not our ONLY source of wisdom. There are other sources as well, the most important Source being God Himself, who promises to give wisdom to all who ask it (James 1:5.) But I suspect that knowledge is one of the primary tools God gives us to make wise choices.

    How does this apply to you today? What area of your life or ministry are you struggling with? What challenge are you facing that seems overwhelming and insurmountable? I recommend you start with prayer and then begin asking lots of questions. Go on a treasure hunt. Look for answers and don’t stop until you’ve found them. 

    Image from istockphoto.com.

  • The Art of Inviting Feedback

    feedbackI’m a big fan of feedback. Not the kind you get on Sunday mornings when the microphone goes haywire and everybody goes deaf. The kind you get when people share their thoughts & opinions regarding something you’re trying to do with excellence.

    Inviting feedback is a bittersweet activity. But when I swallow my pride and listen closely to other’s thoughts, it increases my effectiveness and impact in ministry.

    Yesterday I listened to this two-part podcast from the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast series entitled, “The Art of Inviting Feedback“. One of the big takeaways was learning how to ask your leaders, co-workers and team-mates this one question:

    “If you were me, what would you do differently?”

     I strongly urge you to ask your entire team to listen to these two podcasts. They have the potential to, over time, make a big difference in your ministry’s leadership culture.

    The Art of Inviting Feedback – Part 1 (Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast)

    The Art of Inviting Feedback – Part 2 (Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast)

    photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc

  • The Secret Ingredient Behind Critical Thinking

    The Secret Ingredient Behind Critical Thinking

    The first time I read 1 Kings 3 I was both awed and inspired. It’s the conversation between Solomon and God about what Solomon desired the most. He didn’t ask for riches or a long life, he asked for wisdom. I vividly remember praying that same prayer as a new believer those many years ago; and I’ve prayed it many times since then.

    Here’s what Solomon prayed:

    “Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 1 Kings 3:7-9

    He confessed, “I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.” Who hasn’t experienced that feeling of being inadequate and lacking in understanding? I suspect it’s actually an important element in every leader’s life. Some might call it humility.

    When I read that sentence, I can’t help but hear Solomon saying, “I don’t think like an adult yet. I need help!” Here’s the man who is now known primarily for his great wisdom, who seemed to have a natural skill for critical thinking, saying he still thinks like a child. 

    Of course, we know God was very pleased that he asked for this instead of long life and riches. In fact, Solomon later proclaimed the virtues of drawing on God’s wisdom in Proverbs.

    “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.” Proverbs 2:1-11

    I wonder if Solomon was thinking about that prayer in 1 Kings 3 when he wrote that first sentence?

    The New Testament also reminds the believer to look to God as the source for wisdom.

    Solutions ARE available when we choose to seek the Lord. This doesn’t mean solutions will fall out of heaven into our laps. It means God will give us the tools and ability to discover solutions as we apply ourselves to find them.

    “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” James 1:5

    In my experience, critical thinking is a skill that must always be mixed with the favor and wisdom that only comes from God. Too often I have been guilty of trying to figure things out on my own; and although that type of thinking can still bring good results, I don’t believe it always leads to God’s very best. 

    “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regards to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” 1 Corinthians 14:20

    “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” | “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom…” 1 Corinthians 1:20, 25

    Critical Thinking – Step 1. What’s the first step in becoming someone who can tackle problems and find great solutions? Two words.

    Seek God.

     

    photo credit: Davide Restivo via photopin cc

  • Elevation Church Core Values

    Elevation ChurchI’m a firm believer that defining your core values is a foundational strategic necessity for any church or organization. I’ve already discussed this in-depth in my Core Value series. That said, I thought it’d be cool to share the core values that Elevation Church has defined for themselves. These have got to be some of the most unique, well written, values I’ve ever seen. They are interesting, inspiring and instructive. When I read them, I find myself pulled towards them and that church. It makes me want to learn more about them.

    Understand, I’m not suggesting you copy these values and make them your own. I do suggest you develop your own values and consider modeling the style of how you write and communicate them after Elevation. Enjoy.

    Elevation Church Core Values

    • We Are Known For What We Are For 
      We will speak vision and life over our people. We will lift up the salvation of Jesus rather than using our platform to condemn.
    • We Will Not Take This For Granted
      What we are experiencing is not normal. This is the highest calling, and we will remain grateful for God’s hand of favor.
    • We Are All About The Numbers
      Tracking metrics measures effectiveness. We unapologetically set goals and measure progress through all available quantitative means.
    • We Act In Audacious Faith
      In order to dominate a city with the gospel of Jesus, we can’t think small. We will set impossible goals, take bold steps of faith and watch God move.
    • We Need Your Seat
      We will not cater to personal preference in our mission to reach this city. We are more concerned with the people we are trying to reach than the people we are trying to keep.
    • We Are United Under One Vision
      Elevation is built on the vision God gave us. We will aggressively defend our unity
      and that vision.
    • We Dress For The Wedding
      We will continually increase our capacity by structuring for where we want to go. Not where we are. We will remain on the edge of our momentum by overreacting to harness strategic momentum initiatives.
    • We Are A Generation Of Honor
      We freely give honor to those above us, beside us and under us because of the calling and potential God has placed inside of them.
    • We Are Ruth’s Chris, Not Golden Corral
      Simplicity enables excellence. We place a disproportionate value on creating a worship experience that boldly celebrates Jesus and attracts people far from God.
    • We Lead The Way In Generosity
      Our staff and church will go above and beyond to give sacrificially to the work of God
      in our city.
    • We Think Inside The Box
      We will embrace our limitations. They will inspire our greatest creativity and innovation.
    • We Eat The Fish And Leave The Bones
      We will always maintain a posture of learning. We seek to learn from everyone and incorporate a variety of influences into our methodology.

  • Strategy Kickstart – Asking the Question, ‘Why?’

    strategy kickstart logo3A Strategy Kickstart is a short 3-5 minute video clip which can be used to ‘kickstart’ a strategic discussion in your church or ministry. Simply show the video clip to your team and use the ideas and question posed to stimulate a valuable and hopefully relevant discussion on how you can better fulfill your ministry mission.

    In this Strategy Kickstart, Wayne Hedlund challenges us to identify events and activities in our church and challenge them as a team by asking the question, “Why do we do this?”

     

  • Critical Thinking Series – Introduction

    The articles in this series are from my e-book, “Thinking for a Change: a fresh look at critical thinking”. The e-book is available for download at a price of $2.99 at the Transforming Leader Online Store.

    critical-thinkingYears ago I heard a story about a man who tried to steal an ATM machine. His plan was to rip the ATM out of the wall of a store-front by chaining it to the back bumper of his pick-up truck. After securing the chain, the incompetent thief got in his truck and hit the gas. A few seconds later, he heard a terribly loud noise and the truck suddenly lurched ahead. Frantic and scared he would soon be caught, he quickly hit the brakes and ran around to claim his prize. Appalled, he discovered the ATM machine was still secured to the building. Lying on the ground in front of him was the truck’s back bumper which had been ripped off. Scared and frustrated, the man got in the truck and went home. Hours later, the police showed up at his door and arrested him for attempted robbery. He was easy to find. The police just checked the license plate on the bumper left chained to the ATM. I don’t know how true the story is, but it makes me chuckle and I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually happened.

    It is incredibly easy to make daily choices without a good and proper dose of critical thinking. Something happens to us and we either react (which can barely be define as thinking at all) or we do the first thing that comes to mind that seems halfway reasonable. Often, it’s a shot in the dark whether our half-baked decision will come back and bite us or not. In fact, the old saying “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging” has its roots in Scriptures. Psalm 7:15 says, “He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.” Humanity has made a lot of holes throughout history and, unfortunately, we don’t always learn from our mistakes! Check out some of these quotes that so aptly capture our propensity for doing or saying something prematurely.

    • “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
    • “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein
    • “I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a ‘learning experience.’ Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid.” -P.J. O’Rourke
    • If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll have nothing to smile about when you’re old. –Author Unknown
    • When you’re thirsty, it’s too late to begin thinking about digging a well. –Japanese Proverb
    • Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. –Author Unknown

    Consider the Children’s Ministry Director who is faced with a dilemma. A Sunday School volunteer calls to explain that she won’t be able to teach her preschool class (which is starting in 15 minutes!). The director is now in a quandary. There will be several families showing up in a matter of minutes and something needs to be done quickly. He may react and grab the first warm body he sees to fill in; or perhaps he quickly decides to let the teen assistant teach the class alone. Either way, with an extra minute or two, he could have come up with more viable options. Of course, the old saying “Hind sight is 20/20.” is only quoted when we discover our hasty decision created bigger problems. In this example, what if the ‘last minute’ sub ended up yelling at the children and left them alone for several minutes for a bathroom break. The quick decision might end up with new families who are angry and unsure if they want to continue attending church or not.

    One reason we are OK with this way of thinking is that it usually gets us by. Anyone with a head on their shoulders, a little experience, and some common sense can make a halfway decent decision that saves the day . . . most of the time. So this way of thinking becomes the standard simply because it often works!

    In the above example, the quick thinking of that director could have saved the day if nothing went wrong. In hind-sight he might also wished he had thought things through more thoroughly. An extra 4 minutes would have sufficed!

    There’s a better way. I believe we can learn to think with perspective. It’s my personal goal to be a ‘critical thinker’ (not a critical person!) as often as possible; and I’m beginning to see that my goal can and is being realized in my day to day life.

    To read more, check out the next article in this series or purchase the e-book at my online store today!

    photo credit: steven n fettig via photopin cc

  • How To Draft Your Core Values

    draft-core-valuesI’m a firm believer in core values for your church or organization. So in today’s post I’d like to outline some ideas on how your strategic team might go about drafting your ministry Core Values.

     

    HOW TO DRAFT YOUR CORE VALUES
     
     
    • Set Your Expectations
      In my experience, the process of defining and clarifying your core values is both time consuming AND rewarding as a team. It is definitely a team sport though. Don’t go about drafting your core values alone. It’s meant to be accomplished in a team environment. So make sure you have set aside several hours to work on this project. You may want to consider two or three 3-hour sessions right away. Side-Note: Be sure to keep your meetings close together on the calendar. The more days/weeks between meetings, the less momentum you will build towards completing the project successfully.
       
    • Get On The Same Page
      It’s important that everyone on your team has a basic understanding of why developing your core values is important as well as what core values are and are not. The aforementioned articles (above) would be a great place to begin. Be sure you spend time talking about these things as a foundation first, so you don’t end up doing so half-way through the process.
       
    • Assign Homework
      Next, I recommend you ask each person on the team to take an hour by themselves to personally brainstorm what they believe the core values of your organization are. Be sure they are armed with the “What Core Values Aren’t” document when they do so! I suggest they either keep their list until you return together as a team or submit the list to one individual on your team. I don’t recommend each team member sending out emails to the rest of the team with their list. You want to have conversation about this stuff, but live, not digitally.
       
    • Combine, Discuss, and Condense
      Now is when the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Be sure you have a good chunk of uninterrupted time to talk and have each team member share each value on their list as well as “why” they believe it’s a value that should be considered. As each team member shares, write the list down on a white board so everyone can see the list developing. This one meeting is probably one of the most important. If you don’t have a good degree of trust and openness on your team, people may find it difficult to challenge or question some of the thoughts and ideas being presented – which is an important part of the process.After everyone has shared and the list is developed, begin working on condensing the list down to as few primary core values as possible. Resist the temptation to have a ton of values. You’ll find that, with some effort, many of the values can be combined into a bigger category. For example, “caring” and “responsive to needs” can both potentially fall under the umbrella of ‘caring’. You’ll also want to test each value against my list of what a core value is NOT. Keep in mind, as well, that choosing to not keep a value doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not important to you or the ministry – but that it doesn’t fall into the primary DNA listing of values for your church. Ideally, you’ll be left with a handful of values – preferably less than ten.
       
    • Rephrase Your Values For This Culture
      Unless you’re target audience is boomers on up, you probably don’t want to keep your list of values as is. I recommend you engage in another strategy session or two and rephrase each value in such a way that it will capture the attention of your ministry guests and attendees. For example, at Elevation Church they hold a value that in it’s simplest form could be phrased: ‘Teachable’. However, the way they explain it on their website is much more interesting, catches my attention, and draws me in. They say: ‘We eat the fish and leave the bones’. Or in Granger Community Church’s recently revamped core values they define ‘Team’ this way: ‘We Value Team: We is Better than Me’.
       
    • Share Them and Live Them
      Finally, you need to discover ways to regularly communicate your values to your congregation, leaders, and even your guests. I suggest you post them on your website and literature about your church, preach a series about them and package it up and give it away to everyone who takes your members class, add them to your strategic dipstick list (the list of things you check on strategically on an annual or semi-annual basis), blog about them, talk about them, and do so regularly.Most importantly, make your values so important that they are non-negotiable. A negotiable value isn’t really a value, it’s an idea. If you have a value of integrity, make sure you and your team consistently think up ways to lead your ministry with integrity. If it’s about teamwork, don’t just talk about teams, build in your very structure standards that prevent people from running ministry all by themselves.
     

    photo credit: Venessa Miemis via photopin cc

  • God the Master Planner

    Blast from the past . . . originally posted on September 3, 2010.

     

          

     

    Isn’t it great to know that “planning” is God-inspired? He has no desire for us to live our life and run our ministry “spur of the moment” or spontaneously every second of every day. Oh, there’s room for that, at least I hope there is since I participate in unanticipated activities fairly regularly. But God is into planning. In fact, He is the Master Planner.
    Just go outside and look at this world we live in. Wow. And the stars, each a massive inferno so expanse that we can see them millions of miles away. Last week I discovered a praying mantis clinging to my screen door. I gave him a good look. The design and symmetry and “perfection” of this little noble creature is just as awe-inspiring.

     

    Genesis 1 says that God built all of this in seven days, in a particular order too. It would be interesting to know why he created the animals in the water and air on one day and the land animals on another. Why not both the same day? Or the other way around? Must be some serious strategic planning going on there. I mean, if I were God, I think I’d just do it all at once. But God saw it fit to phase creation in, even including a day where He intentionally did nothing.

     

    Wow. Thanks God, for reminding us that you’re into planning. It’s a reminder to us that every moment we spend thinking about the future and building processes, steps, and ‘plans’ towards that future we are participating in a God-inspired activity.