What's the Big Idea? - Christianity Today

Try this: close your eyes, and for the next 30 seconds do not think about a pink elephant. Remember, you are not to think of a pink elephant.

Ready, set, go.

How far did you make it? And what does that tell you about the way the mind works?

Some of the most powerful influences in our lives are invisible, sometimes very small, often hypothetical. Ideas. They fill our minds, they motivate our actions. They shape how we view reality and—just as important—possible new realities.

Ideas are also at the core of spiritual influence. They are powerful realities that move invisibly from one person to another. They change and develop. It is almost like they have a life of their own. Leaders should always be asking, "What are the very best ideas I can flow to others? Is there one big idea God has influenced me with that ought to be the big idea I pass on to others?

Planting the seminal idea

When we think of the great leaders of the past, we may remember their accomplishments, but just as likely we remember some great idea—a seminal idea—which dominated their lives and drove them to accomplish the great thing. Seminal, from the Latin word for seed, means something so compelling that it has a profound influence on others. The seminal idea sprouts and grows, and then it bears fruit. It gives life. The seminal idea spreads its own seed in hidden places. It infiltrates. It may subvert. It has the potential to prevail.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s seminal idea was that all people are owed the same respect because they have the same God-given dignity. Abraham Lincoln was compelled by the seminal idea that the union of the states could not be broken. Winston Churchill championed the seminal idea that tyranny should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

The fourth-century bishop and theologian Augustine of Hippo was later called "the doctor of grace" because he stood against the works righteousness that was taking over many churches of his day. Augustine did not see himself as inventing that idea, but as passing along a principle core to the gospel of the New Testament. Eleven centuries after Augustine, Martin Luther gave voice to the same seminal idea, making his emphasis the free gift of a right relationship with God through Christ.

Closer to our own time, Billy Graham preached to millions of people, delivering the same seminal idea: God's forgiving love in Christ is available to all. John Stott traveled the world planting the seminal idea that faithful biblical teaching is what preserves orthodox Christian faith. Robert Pierce founded the humanitarian organization World Vision on the seminal idea that Christian faith requires a practical response to the physical sufferings of people in the world.

Has God placed a central conviction, a seminal idea in you that ought to be the substance and force of your influence in the lives of others? Some leaders know what their seminal idea is. Others are looking for it. Of course, God may give any one person more than one big idea or ideal. But as a practical matter, leaders do need to figure out how to have focus in what they do. And if there is one compelling idea—a burning passion, an ache, a driving conviction, a picture of a better world you cannot get out of your mind—then perhaps that is a seminal idea God has called you to.

Making space for idea growth

So how do we go about deepening the thoughtfulness in our leadership, no matter the setting? And how do we promote intellectual integrity and growth among the people we work with? How do we discover and support the best seminal idea possible? This is not a matter of IQ, but of choice and discipline.

1. Take time to think things through. Pace the decision-making process. None of us want someone to say to us years down the road, "What could you have possibly been thinking?"—and not have a good answer. Sometimes we need to slow things down. Take an appropriate amount of time to discuss, deliberate, research, seek precedents in other leadership settings, study Scripture, and pray. We need to be decisive, but we also have to be deliberative.

2. Read regularly. Read widely. Reread. A universe of ideas is available to us, and there are two different methods of accessing those ideas. One method is to go looking for a solution when you have a problem. So, for instance, the leader looks for a book on solving office conflicts when a meltdown seems imminent. The better approach is when we continually store up insights and ideas through a regular discipline of reading quality content. It's like socking a lumberyard for building projects yet to be conceived.

A man opens a letter sent to him by one of the great leaders of his day, John Wesley. What would the hero of the Methodist movement have to say to him? The man—who happened to be a pastor—must have withered as Wesley confronted him for having a shallow ministry based on shallow thinking.

I scarce ever knew a preacher read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer …. O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not: what is tedious at first, will afterward be pleasant …. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer.

If you do not have a natural hunger for learning, start small. Set a pattern of reading 15 minutes a day, then gradually increase the time. Perhaps try listening to audio books, which allows multitasking and has a pace that enables you to think through what you are learning.

3. Broaden your learning. We also must make sure we are not in a reading ghetto. We all have our favorite types of reading and our favorite authors. But thinking deeply goes hand in hand with thinking widely. All leaders benefit from the lessons of history, for instance. Writings that have stood the test of time are often more helpful than the latest faddish book. We are always tempted by the promise of the brand-new secret solution. In a technical field it may be necessary to be on top of the latest findings, but in spiritual leadership we need to find and assimilate the principles and practices that have been developed by amazing, intelligent, wise, and godly people—whether the publication date is this year, ten years ago, or a few centuries ago.

4. Be in continual conversation with peers. "Networking" is what we call it today—a great concept that emphasizes connection and relationship. Great ideas we discover will be amplified many times over when we discuss them with others. Through discussion we come to understand the many facets of a really great idea, and partial ideas find each other and emerge as powerful forces.

There is one more high motivation for developing ideas and thinking deeply. In the end, thinking is an act of love. We need to care enough about the people we are serving to do the work of researching, examining, comparing, contemplating, discussing, and testing the best thinking that is flowing past us like a river every day. And thinking is an act of love toward God: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37).

When we think deeply about our leadership values and decisions, we honor and love God, and that may be the most important thing other people witness.

Excerpted from Spiritual Influence: The Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012).

Mel Lawrenz is one of Elmbrook Church's ministers-at-large in Brookfield, Wisconsin, where he served as senior pastor for 10 years.