What’s The Plan?

  Pinky and the Brain were an iconic cartoon in the 90’s.  They were two little mice and their main goal and objective in life was to take over the world. Pinky and the Brain Quote: Pinky: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight? Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky – try to take over the world! Of course, they never succeeded, but it was great fun watching them try. As a leader it is important that you know where you are going and what is your objective in your ministry.  God has a plan for you and there are some things that only you can do.  But many times the plan we are to walk out includes others.  I challenge you to periodically do a check-up on yourself. Check Up Number One: Know where you are going. As a leader, you are in a position to steer the ship.  You can set your sail to wherever you want to go. But it is vital that you know where you are going.  If you don’t know where you are going others will not follow you. If you don’t know ask yourself these questions:

• What do I like to do?
• What do I see myself doing?
• Where do I see myself going?

By asking yourself these questions it will help you determine your goals. Check Up Number Two:  Is my dream or vision from God? If your vision comes from heaven it will not be just about you.  It will involve others.  A selfish vision or dream is not a heavenly vision.  Think about why you are motivated to do what you see yourself doing. Key questions to ask yourself:

• Why do I want to do what I want to do?
• How will this help others?

Check Up Number Three: How will you get there? Now that you know where you want to go, and that it is from God, the next thing you need to do is plan how you will get there.   This is where good planning and organization will help you go a long way.  Your people skills are important too.  Any great vision will take people to carry it out.  You cannot do it all by yourself. To determine the steps to your goal ask yourself these questions:

• What is my next step toward my goal?
• How many steps do I need to take to get to my goal?
• How can I get others involved?
• If I get others involved, what will I have them do?

How Dreams Grow

Writing curriculum has always been a huge part of our vision.  Mark and I have always believed that you can teach kids how to pray, how to worship and how to follow the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit lives in them.

Our curriculum development has changed over the years.  In 1988, Mark hand wrote his notes, I typed them on a typewriter and then we printed the pages to make our manuals.

Now when we write curriculum, Mark plans out each lesson, then there are the story arcs for the Masked Hero and the Short Films.  The artists are given direction for the artwork for the motion comics.  The short film scripts are giving to a production manager, props are gathered, actors are contacted, sets and locations are decided.  There are several writers that help write the drama scripts and object lessons, small group notes and parent devotionals.  Each lesson is compiled and designed on the computer, then it is proofed and proofed again.

So you can see, Mark’s vision for writing curriculum starts with direction from God, then the planning and production begins with many people involved to complete the goal.

Pinky and The Brain never succeeded in taking over the world, because, well it’s a cartoon. But when you think out of the box, it didn’t work because they didn’t take the proper steps to walk out their plan, they didn’t have others help them (and it isn’t really a Godly plan either). Don’t be like Pinky and The Brain, who never accomplished their goal. Tell me what do you have a vision for?  And what is your next step?