To Be Remarkable, Create, Don't Copycat

Here's snippet #5 of my article 7 Ways to be Remarkable from the January 2008 issue of Pentecostal Messenger:

5. Create, Don't Copycat

Mark Batterson www.evotional.com often says, "The church ought to be the most creative place on the planet." I agree. We serve the Creator of the universe, and we are made in His likeness. So why does the church have such a hard time coming up with original thoughts?

When churches do sermon series on 24 or Desperate Housewives, the world does not respond with awe. When T-shirt designers "christianize" secular slogans (e.g. Tommy Hellfighter, Jesus Died for Pedro), the world responds, "That's cute," or, "That's lame," but never, "That's remarkable!" The church continues to be easily dismissed because we fail to achieve the remarkable.

We say we're not creative, but we used to be when we were kids. All children are creative. I cannot count the times I've seen my kids do things I never imagined -- beans up the nose, playing in toilets, standing on hampers to reach door locks. Creativity reigns!

Adults are simply afraid to let themselves loose. What if it doesn't work? Should we let the people vote on this first? Kids have no such fears, not in the beginning, not until adults start to say, "You can't...."

To be remarkable, be an original, not a copy. Pray for ideas, dare to do them, and see what remarkable things come about.

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