Managing Projects for Ministry

186 Manag i ng Pro j ec t s for Mi n i s t r y

The Continuing Reign of Adhocracy: TUMI’s Prototype Shop, continued

consensus, I will serve as the official “tie-breaker,” which seems appropriate for a Director role in a truly creative and collaborative environment. The key in this is our ability to listen to one another, and submit to one another as we explore new directions together. How Will We Test and Market the Products Which Arise from our Prototype Shop ? With the ongoing design of our website and bulletin boards, I am hoping that TUMI will become better known throughout the urban ministry community. For the particular items we design in the Prototype Shop , I believe we ought to field test and do pilot studies with select ministry partners, urban churches who agree to “test drive” these learning experiences and materials to give us feedback on their usefulness and benefit. (We also will solicit aid from our satellites and others who are in the process of training leaders to use select learning resources for a nominal fee, or even free.) By allowing select urban leaders to “taste the stew” before we mass produce it is wise; we will see if our “cooking” has been worth the effort. While the specific activities for these kinds of testing processes are still in flux, the basic idea is sound and quite effective. The Prototype Shop will allow us to be as flexible as we can in producing materials, making them available to partners for experience and comment, and then, based on the feedback we receive, either continue to refine the products or abandon them for other possibilities. Above all else, the Shop will demand loyalty to the creative and innovative process above and beyond loyalty to the success of any particular idea. If we maintain our vision here, we will be able to do remarkable things for the urban church, all for the glory of God in Christ. Conclusion God Almighty, in the person of his dear Son, Jesus Christ, is the source of all imagination, creativity, and innovation. The Father is the Maker of heaven and earth, and the worlds and the starry heavens display his remarkable ability to create, as the theologians say, ex nihilo , out of nothing. We imitate our Father when we embrace our freedom in Christ and give our best energies to create “out of nothing,” too.