Thank You For Letting Me Collaborate With You!

A few months ago my Internet mentor, Nancy Beach, posted on her blog about COLLABORATION.  As usual, her blog post was completely inspiring to me, and it was then that I decided to enter this word into my vocabulary for regular use.  I do like to just say the world "Collaboration", but I love what it means even more.  TEAM WORK!  If you know me, then you know that I love to work with a team.  I am often heard calling it "Kingdom Work".  There is no greater creative planning or implementation than when it has been done with a team.  I get juiced from working with others who love to dream out loud and aren't afraid to fail forward.  When you try to do it all by yourself, it just seems hard and I personally think your creativity is limited in some way.  I am best when I am surrounded by a team.  I have always had the problem, or some would call it that,  of just not seeing the lines when it comes to ministry.  When I'm asked to partner with someone in another area, I am so honored.  Not because they need my help, but  because I get the chance to learn something from them while we work.  And you know how I love to LEARN! Kingdom Work is blessed by our Creator.  Let's think about this for just a moment.  In the beginning, God created...  and that includes Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  The team - The Trinity - God 3 in One.  The very first recorded example of Creativity was a team!  Thank you Lord for the example.  In the creative arts field, we just have to surround ourselves with a good team - paid or volunteer.  Without others, the work is hard, the thanks is little, and the job is too big.  The statistics of burnout in this field is huge.  Just ask Nancy Beach.

On this note, I'd just like to give thanks to the people that allow me to COLLABORATE with them.   

First, my husband, Bradley.  We make the greatest team!  I call him my secret weapon.  From our home, to our kids, to ministry for over 13 years together now - he is my greatest teammate and the one who brings out the best in me.  He's never too busy, never too tired, never too afraid to hear my crazy brain.  He's also the first to give me godly wisdom when I need to hear Truth.  I love him more with each passing year!

Second, my BFF, Angie Elkins.  We've been a team for longer than I can believe sometimes.  From Senior class President and VP, to high school musicals and friendship - some of my favorite creative ministry moments have been as a result of her creative brain - a seed that she has planted in my mind and let me run with it, or should I say trusted me with.  Collaboration with her is always fun, easy and I love it!  I look forward to 28 more years of it.  

Third, my ministry mentor, Mark Blair.  He saw something in me that I knew was there but felt would have to wait.  He listened to the Lord's prompting and gave me a chance to soak up his amazing knowledge in all aspects of ministry and the arts.  He gave me direction to find the way, correction when my way was wrong, wisdom when the way seemed blurry and encouragement to keep stretching my wings.  Leaving the nest of his ministry was painful at the time, but God took that leap of faith and blew my mind.  I am grateful for his time, for his partnership and trust to do ministry together for 5 years.  One of my greatest privileges in life.

Fourth, my daddy, Andy Gore.  He taught me the LOVE OF LEARNING.  Literally, he was my first teacher -  Homeschool kindergarten in New Albany, MS.  He was the one who set the bar of expectation high, and then gave us the ladder to reach the bar.  He was my biggest cheerleader back in the day and he still is today.  He knows all of my failures and helped me turn them into some of my greatest successes.  He taught me how to love and be loved.  I will forever be a student because of this great man who showed the way every day and still does.  I will always be a Daddy's girl and proud of it.

Abba Father, thank you for these amazing teammates.  I am a very blessed woman.  Please Lord, give me years of continued creative collaboration with these very important people.  I thank you in advance and give you all the glory.

Failing Forward

Yes, you read that right, not falling forward, but failing forward. Noodle on this, "Failure is not an option. Failure is a requirement." (Bobby Gruenewald, LifeChurch.tv) Sound weird in your brain?

Just tonight I had one of those long conversations with my 10 year old about the 75 she got on her spelling test last week, since she didn't remember to bring her list of words home to study. My point is we have to stay on top of our preparation so that her grades reflect her ability. Trust me, she is super smart...so in this area, failure is not an option. So when bad grades come home, what I want her to learn is that she must fail forward - learn from her mistakes and make a better grade. Great news is, she gets another chance this week. These conversations are never fun, but the desired result will be rewarding in the end.

Now, let's consider this in the context of CREATIVITY. Noodle this one, "When you fail, you get to try again. You get another chance to create. Mental risk takers are more likely to produce creative results by working at the edge of their competence, where the possibility of failure lurks." (David Perkins, Harvard University) This guy is saying that when you are out there, perhaps way out of your comfort zone, you just might find your greatest achievement waiting way out there. Perhaps when you're risking what you know and what you're comfortable with. In essence, there can be mental freedom in failing. It allows you to look and say, "Okay, so we can eliminate these things because they don't work." Imagine that.....

My dad used to do this with me. I would come in and sit on his lap...cry my mascara from one shoulder to the other. He's listen, let me get the tears out, then he'd dry me up and say, "You tried, you failed. NOW, what did you learn? What will you do different next time?" Then, he'd encourage me to not be afraid of getting back at it, take what I learned and go try again!

Craig Groeschel was quoted in Innovation Magazine as saying, "I tell our staff over and over: Failure is not an option, it is essential. If you're not failing, you've stopped dreaming. And eventually, you'll stop learning and growing." I personally believe that in my field of ministry this is so true. One of the things I see that hold people back, myself included, is the fear of failing. The "What if my idea stinks or doesn't work?" It can be completely paralyzing at times. I have sat in meetings before and actually been afraid of sharing ideas for the fear of being ridiculed that my idea would be a failure. This was something that I realized early on that I had to break free from. My mentor certainly helped. No idea was bad and everyone was heard. Creativity must include an element of failure. Especially in the brainstorming phase. There is no dream that is impossible when you're brainstorming. NO just simply shouldn't be allowed. There is no limit to the budget when we're dreaming. There is nothing to hard to accomplish or to big of a task to tackle. If you bring your limitations - or better said FEARS to the brainstorming table, then you're not really dreaming. As a creative, I feed off of other people's thoughts and ideas. Throw everything out there, like spaghetti against the kitchen wall and see what sticks. Together, we might discover the greatest idea our ministry has ever seen. Keep it in your head and we've been limited and perhaps didn't even know it. The time to take our dreams and make them reality comes when the brainstorming is done. That is an art itself. We'll talk about that one in a later post.

Failing forward. We just can't be afraid to fail in life. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it brings us ridicule from others. But I can think of some great Americans who failed and failed again before they found success. Abe Lincoln for one. This man had hardship stacked against him. He lost jobs, failed in business, lost loved ones, lost congress races, even had a nervous breakdown in 1836 - yea, mental illness. There was a lot of failures there before this man, who many thought was a loser, became our president. And had he not led the way for the Emancipation Proclamation, I'm pretty sure my new President wouldn't be the President right now. History now treats Lincolns failures as inspiration for life. Thanks Abe.

Please hear my heart here...I'm not about being a failure. Absolutely not. I hate to make mistakes PERIOD! But I embrace the freedom that comes with being unafraid to face failures as I seek to help others create ministry. I'm not afraid to fail, as long as I failed forward. I get a new chance to create. Thank you Lord for mercy and grace and new chances.