The 10 Commandments Of A Great Idea: How To Turn A Thought Into Reality

“An idea is an accumulation of individual thoughts… An idea is an inspiration dilemma which evolves into action…  The world was created with an idea. The world was also condemned with an idea… Our world is spinning out of control. Ideas have gone haywire.”  – Ed Young

On Friday, July 5th I had the privilege of representing INJOY Stewardship Solutions at a C3 Global event hosted by Fellowship Church in Dallas, TX.  The church’s pastor Ed Young spoke with those in attendance about ideas, idea generation, creativity, and leadership trends in the church world.

One of the sessions he taught was on The 10 Commandments Of A Great Idea: How To Turn A Thought Into Reality.  The following are my notes from the session.  Please note his wife Lisa joined him for points 6-10.

What is an idea?  Ed’s answer – Inspirational Dilemma which Evolves into Action. How to turn a thought into reality…

1. Thou Shalt Remain Immature. – Matthew 18:2,4

• Our educational system beats the ideas out of us.
• Higher educational is the institution of socialism which is the beginning of communism.
• God is the author of math, the author of science, and the author of history.
• Laughter brings cool and fun ideas.

2. Thou Shalt Grind It Out. – Colossians 3:23

• What are those things you have to do as a spouse, parent, and pastor? Put the most offensive (forward moving) things into those things and let the other things fade away.
• I spend 20 hours per week on sermon prep.
• The first several hours of every morning I spend on talks and sermons.
• The main thing I do is to lead and feed. The most difficult thing I do is preaching and after that is leadership.
• Many people work hard but they’re hardly working. They get stuck in the superfluous and miss the significant.
• What is the main thing you’ve got to do?

3. Thou Shalt Drill Down In The Details.  – Galatians 6:5

• Sweat the details.
• The details really matter.
• It is important to go on trash tours.
• Delegation is not relegation. Delegation without investigation is an abomination.
• We are not in the feelings business.
• We are often one handshake away, one conversation away from someone knowing Jesus.
• Is there a Hell?
• You’ve got to have people upfront who look like the people you want to reach.
• We even talk about personal hygene and if they keep their car clean.

4. Thou Shalt Constantly Change. – Isaiah 43:19

• We don’t change the message. We do change the methodology.
• People have been leaving Fellowship Church from the moment we started.
• The moment it stops affecting me is the moment I stop.
• People don’t leave the church. People don’t leave Fellowship Church.  Fellowship Church left them.  They couldn’t do it anymore.  They couldn’t grind anymore.
• We want to be comfortably uncomfortable. We are comforted by Christ and uncomfortable for Him.
• We never compromise the message ever.
• When the church changes some can’t make it. We have to lean into the ones who do.
• When people leave a church it’s like a divorce. It’s emotional, psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual.

5. Thou Shalt Absorb Critique. – Hebrews 13:17

• Ideas are like child birth. Conception, that’s the fun part.  Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery.  The growth and maturity.
• There is a fine line between critique and criticism. Sometimes people take critique as criticism.
• We critique to make things better.
• We’re accountable to the Lord and our spouse.
• I also critique myself. I painfully watch video of myself.
• One of the mistakes I make is I shrink Fellowship Church. (talking to one person from the pulpit)
• Everyone can’t take critique and they usually don’t make it.
• I selectively micro-manage.
• The things I share I learned the hard way.
• A lot of people have generational traction.
• When you take something away from someone you see their true character.
• When you play sports you humiliate yourself in front of large numbers of people. Your coaches humiliate you in front of your peers. I don’t waste my time with one-on-ones.
• You cannot waste your time. A lot of time we waste our time.

6. Thou Shalt Share Your Ideas With The Team. Together Everyone Adds More. – Romans 12:6

• I’ve tried to never make independent decisions over my 29 years at Fellowship as pastor.
• I’ve never known anyone to ask more questions than Ed. – LY
• A delegator has to be desperate.

7. Thou Shalt Have Discernment. – 1 Corinthians 12:17

• What are the three biggest traits of a great leader? Discernment, discernment, discernment.  It’s putting the right people into the right spots.

8. Thou Shalt Learn From The Best. – Proverbs 22:29

• Getting wisdom from others is like taking a vacation in your mind.
• What can I create? What can I copy?
• You copy principles and precepts.
• You don’t have a massive growth reaching the unchurched. You only have massive growth when you’re reaching Christians.
• When I go on Instasham, I mean Instagram.
• If you mimic someone else it doesn’t work. Run your lane. You can’t compare yourself to another church because you’re unique.
• Do submit yourself to learning. We learn from everybody. – LY

9. Thou Shalt Promote. – Matthew 5:15

• Always promote what’s upcoming at your church. – LY
• Advertise the results of what you promoted.
• Basically you’re telling the story of life change at your church. – LY
• People lose the vision in three weeks. – LY

10. Thou Shalt Understand It’s All About Him.  It’s about Jesus. – Deuteronomy 6:5

• We’re here to share Jesus and take as many people as Heaven is possible.
• The only things that last is the souls of people and the Body.

What is one thing you learned from Pastor Ed and his wife Lisa’s comments above which can help your ideas become reality?

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