I suggest to you that complete, formula programs for ministry are often a bad choice. How many programs are there that you can buy today? Let’s take youth ministry for example. “Buy our one year program,” the company literature suggests. “Why innovate?,” these complete programs continue, “We’ve already done a program for you-and maybe you can be just as good as us! Just add kids!”

John F. Kennedy was once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of progress.” Off the rack, conforming programming can be stifling. Why not build your own? When you do buy published materials, at least patronize the wise publishers that understand modular sessions instead of yearly programming.

Who are we to assume that the message of Jesus Christ can be canned, rubber stamped, boxed and shipped? Since when do your youth have to conform to what someone else has decided is “successful?” Since when did the Good News become a project? Since when did God quit giving you inspiration, grace and power? Since when are you incapable of creating and innovating programs, projects and ministry?

Yes, I know you are busy. Actually, you might also be panicked if your current program is falling apart around you. If you are too busy with a program that is not working, then shut it down for ten weeks to create the space your team needs in order to pray and to innovate.

Being “busy” is the absolute enemy of innovation. "Busy"ness makes it too easy to quickly pull a program off the shelf and “just add kids.” But with what are you busy? Are you always busy seeking innovation and building relationships? Are you busy calling forth the Gifts of Spirit that you have been given by God? Is using a pre-packaged program always the best use your Gifts of Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge? Are you going to the pre-package because you are afraid to use Courage and Awe?

Create something new today- don’t wait for someone else to innovate for you. You already have all the "raw materials" you need, in the form of the Gifts of the Spirit