How we build ministries

I like to start new things. My creative process is somewhat random, but here’s one I often follow at Adventures:
1. Ideas will come to me, often when my brain is in the neutral position – for example, while running or in the shower.
2. Returning from a run, I’ll quickly write them down on scraps of paper or in my journal. That happened today. I’d been tossing around the question, “How do we find the unsung heroes around the world who most need our help?” Four or five thoughts came to me as I was running, ideas that would be lost if I didn’t capture them in my journal.
3. Mornings before going into the office are great for the next step – compiling the skeleton of a plan. Sometimes. this will show up first as an email to a coworker and then later recrafted into a Word doc.
4. On the phone or once I’ve arrived in the office, I might run the idea by a few coworkers to gauge their reaction. They then edit the document.
5. The first step in actually building a model or a prototype of the project is to look at people and resource requirements. If the new project interfaces with operations, we have to ensure that we’re not being too disruptive.
6. From there we often go straight to marketing to guage our target market’s interest and obtain feedback.
7. Then we keep iterating – making changes and gathering more data to improve our model.
Some projects currently in development
Center for Global Action – We expect about 20 for our first classes in September. We hope to double that number in January and double again next year. Tomorrow Randy Wallace, an expert in experiential learning, will train our course facilitators.
Kingdom Journeys – Goes on sale soon. I’ll post details here on the blog. It’s been a five-year project. Initial reviews have been very positive.
Guatemala base – This just showed up on the radar screen this month. A World Race squad is going to develop it next month. Please pray for us.
Sustainable Farming Training Center – Will launch on a demonstration farm in Harrisburg, PA in 2013. Still in development with a friend and partner.
I love working in an environment where ideas have a chance to germinate and grow. I believe that God is looking for people he can trust with his dreams. More than anything, my ambition is to be such a person.
When was the last time you started something? What process did you follow?
Comments (8)
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
More Posts
Me too Seth. For me those “things” come to me while I’m running, and early in the morning in my bed around 4:00 a.m. when I am awakened with thoughts, and then also when I’m in the shower!
It is refreshing to know that you are embracing NEW STUFF and not stuck in the old. Way to go man! Keep it up.
“Lord, I ask right now that you would continue to bring revelation knowledge to Seth and the other leaders. Holy Spirit, speak to them and guide them into great and new things to bless those unsung heroes out there…”
AMAZING!!
I so needed these instructions this very minute.
Thank you Jesus!!
Thanks Dad… Talk to you soon.
I so badly want a copy of this book to read, thanks for making it available! Frank III
Hi Seth,
This is very relevant to what I’m doing right now. My wife & I are on a “working” furlough in NC until mid-October working on getting our missions discipleship project up and running. We’ve ran a prototype of it for a year down in Monterrey in order to fine tune it and now we’re ready to “go live” soon with a website and all the details and organization that we’ve been lacking. The project, though based in Mexico, is international in scope (Mexico, NYC, India) and so organizing it has been a challenge. These are exciting times to be doing what we’re doing!
Saludos y bendiciones!
Greg in Mexico
Greg – good to hear from you. Glad your project is getting launched.
Thanks Seth….I was interested to see you are looking into the sustainable farming models. That has my interest these days too.
Blessings…
Harrisburg, PA?! I live there! I’d love to know more about the project/if you need any help/if I can get involved!
Entrepreneurs are gifted with the stewardship of ideas. How you nurture, develop and raise these ideas makes you a parent of sorts. Sometimes, you need to put some ideas up for adoption so they can live. Sometimes, you have to neglect some of your other “idea children” to give birth to one idea. But, it’s usually a labor of love…and pain.