Managing Projects for Ministry

Append i x 177

Appendix 41 The Continuing Reign of Adhocracy: TUMI’s Prototype Shop Innovation and Creativity in Design and Production for Equipping Urban Christian Leaders Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis We are now in a wonderful position to create our own Prototype Shop . Essentially, the notion of a shop is both a process and a style of operation that will allow us to maximize our creative potential as an Institute while, at the same time, minimize any financial or resource damage we might incur from expensive in-house duplications and shipping of our products. As a project management enterprise, TUMI operates as a collection of gifted and committed individuals who creatively combine their contribution around select projects. These projects are designed to help us accomplish our purpose and objectives as defined by our mandate as a training center under the auspices of World Impact. We function on the basis of our portfolio of active projects which represent our priorities as a mission. All of our budgeting, scheduling, and decision making are anchored on these select projects. We form specific groups of TUMI staff and others to accomplish certain aims, and then disband these task forces once we have attained our results. We re-form based on the availability of the staff and the kinds of contributions required. This kind of structure is fluid, set up for temporary use, and based purely on being effective in the moment. It is ad hoc : Latin, “to the thing.” We must allow adhocracy to reign here. The Prototype Shop idea can enhance our ability to accomplish our projects, and do so with the greatest amount of freedom flexibility, and effort. As a center focused on providing resources which equip indigenous leaders and edify urban congregations, we must become ever more sensitive to the growing needs of urban Christians. In order to accomplish this, we must strive for new levels of innovative design, creative investment, and professional collaboration among ourselves to invent the best possible resource portfolio for urban congrega- tions and their leaders. This is a time for us to throw caution to the wind (at least in the context of the Prototype Shop ), and strive with all our might to use our freedom in Christ to design the most attractive, useful, affordable, and culturally sensitive batch of goods