Thanks to Michael Hyatt and Thomas Nelson publishing I got my hands on two pre-release copies of Donald Millers new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I’m supposed to do a review on my other more random blog on Sept 29th, the day it releases, but I can’t not talk about this book right now. Donald Miller and innovation go hand in hand.

Bottomline… this book is good. The best one of Donald’s since Blue Like Jazz. It’s challenging, thought provoking, hilarious, inspiring and moving. I loved it. You’ll want to go out and ride your bike across America or dig wells for clean water in Africa after reading this. I recommend it.

If you haven’t added Michael Hyatt’s blog to your Google Reader yet, you’re missing out. He is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, a brilliant businessman and a standout when it comes to spiritual leadership. He is passionate about using social media to influence those around him for Christ. In fact he’s coined the term Leadership 2.0 (i.e. Web 2.0), where people will be interconnected and dialoguing across multiple platforms instead of the old-school uni-directional communication model.

Listen to this recent Catalyst podcast to get a taste of what Michael Hyatt is thinking about, including his take on using his blog and twitter to connect with people around the globe.

Mind blowing statistics about Social media…if they’re true. The better question, what are the implications for the Christian community?

Reality is our friend. Answer these tough questions for your organization or local ministry:

• What number of key leadership seats are there?

• What number are filled with the right people?

• What is the plan to fill the rest?

• Are you prepared with back-ups in case those seats empty?

Jim Collins questions via Bill Hybels

This screencast (before Screenr) is a great argument for why your organization should have a Facebook fan page. It’s also a reminder that static websites are on the way out.

The creator of the video is Brian Barela who leads the Campus Crusade ministry at Chico State and blogs here.

Screenr is the lastest screencast application to come out and the best of the ones I’ve seen. Let me just say…it’s AWESOME!

This was the first one I did. It took me about 3 minutes to do this.

Screenr uses your twitter login and with about 3 clicks you can begin recording what you see on your screen and your voice. No downloading and it’s free!

Once the recording is done the fun begins. You can actually send your Screenr screencast link via twitter, you can publish it to youtube, you can embed the video or share the link…all super easy! The possibilities are endless. A friend just sent me his Screenr link to help me connect a twitter account to his facebook fan page. Uhhmaazing!

Think about training people in technology using this tool. Create a quick screenr to teach your staff how to use a google calender or anything else! Visual learners love it! Go crazy.

Faith sets the imagination to work.

Lively faith can envision numerous ways in which God can work. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as we realize that God is not restricted  to our range of possabilities and methods.

What if all of us let our imaginations run riot in regard to the adequacy and suffiency of God?

Sadly in the Christian church culture imagination often brings up connatations of falsehood and fancy. But this isn’t true of “faith-full” imagination. You might even say that faith needs imagination to pull out all the stops if it’s to begin to grasp the grandeour, majesty and ability of God. “Faith-full” imagination doesn’t falsify God it finds him!

We have a desperate need for imaginative faith.

Am I leading with “faith-full” imagination of what God could do in our midst? Am I dreaming of what the future could look like in light of an all-powerful God?

(Thoughts originate from Davis’s commentary on I Samuel…specifically I Sam 26)

Some of you have seen this, but it’s a great summary of the tech change we’re experience right now. The question is, how can we as full-time Christian workers use this new technological landscape to help fulfill the Great Comission?

Want to connect the Twitterworld with the Facebook empire? It’s easy.

First option: I originally started with the Twitter application for Facebook. This essentially takes all your tweets and puts them in your Facebook status. If you don’t tweet very often this is fine, but I soon starting using Twitter more often and didn’t want a complicated tweet with all kinds of RT’s, @’s, #’s, twitpics and tinyURL’s  to show up in Facebook. (sidenote: I think this application doesn’t link updates with the @ symbol in them anymore, so it’s not as overwhelming as it used to be).

Better option: Now I’ve found the Selective Twitter Application on Facebook. Just follow the directions to install and then enter #fb at the end of the tweets you would like to show up on Facebook. Please note, this will not work if your Twitter updates are protected.

If there are any better options out there, let me know!

The pace of change has gone hypercritical. Maybe you’re experiencing sucess now in your organization, but are you changing as fast as the world around you? Gary Hamel shared these thoughts at the Leadership Summit on how to outrun change

1. Overcome temptation to take refuge in denial - Face the facts! Humility is a survival method. Stop living in self-dillusion, thinking things are going better than they are.
2. Generate more strategic options – don’t cling to the familiar to tight…besides change is more exciting than the status quo.
3. Invite radical idea - We need new ideas that challenge the orthodox. Look at everything your organization does…how long has it been going on? When was the last time we did something different.
4. Build an organization that doesn’t need super human leaders – Long gone is the need for a top heavy organizations that are dependent on one super-dynamic leader. Allow freedom of innovation from everyone. Our job as leaders now is to mobilize, connect and support this generation of contributors.

The good news is that unexpected change brings unexpected opportunities to interact with our culture about the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Hamel puts it like this,  “Stop being a prisoner of precedent and a custodian of culture.” Maybe the Christian culture should be leading innovation instead of trying to catch up to it.