After four months of frenetic labor, the Alignment Task Force delivered a report to our Elders that bewildered us. The goal was to line up our core values, ministries, and future plans to be sure we were aligned and weren't diffusing our efforts.

But you know how these things go. They couldn't sort everything out by the deadline we gave them, so they handed us a nearly 40-page hodge-podge of strategic analysis, pet projects, and complicated structures. That set off another four months of long Elder Board meetings. We exchanged pages of responses, charts, and clarifications. We didn't quarrel. We just didn't know how to go forward. We needed a clear imaginative solution.

Imagination in ministry is usually messy. It doesn't matter if we're trying to plan a sermon series, help a counselee, plan effective outreach, or create a new logo. It doesn't matter if we're working with a team or on our own. Nine times out of ten, we don't come up with one clear ...