DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVITY

Albert Einstein once said, "Significant problems that we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." You must learn to think in a new way - you need a "paradigm shift."

Leaders in the old Soviet Union eventually realized that simply trying harder to make the old Communist system work - didn't work! What was needed was a whole new paradigm.

On a personal level, I've noticed that when people are "stuck" in life, it is because they are usually still framing their problem with a set of assumptions that no longer apply. Or they are using the same problem solving techniques that they used in the past but don't work anymore.

You MUST develop your creativity to survive and thrive in the 1990s.

Life continually involves problem solving. Creativity is the key to figuring out how to get from point A to point B when you've never done it. It is the act of generating new ideas. Without creativity, you run the risk of becoming obsolete in our rapidly changing marketplace.

Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing mysterious about being creative. The basic principle of creativity is simply combining two or more known ideas in a new way to create a new idea. This is a skill you can train yourself to do. It starts with awareness:

"The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them."

Prov. 18:15 (LB)

Here are the five steps I use in the creative process:

1. State the problem clearly. What is wrong? Be as precise as you can. Vague problems are more difficult to solve. Is it a problem with manufacturing... or merchandising... or marketing... or management?

2. Set a specific goal. What is it that we really want to happen?

3. Generate as many ideas as possible. The more ideas you have, the better. Force yourself to list 10 options. Brainstorm. Have fun. Be outrageous. Challenge the rules. Be off the wall. Use your intuition. Ask a lot of questions. Forget "realism" for the moment. Try crazy associations: How is this problem like an elephant?

4. Narrow your list down to the one best idea.

5. Take action! Do it now. Go for it. Many of the most successful people made it with just one outstanding idea.

Accusation -- the final stage before promotion

Accusation

1. Accusation is your enemies way of influencing your future, by intimidating your present.
2. The moment you expose an accusation, you disarm the source.
3. Your response to accusation determines how off course your enemy can do.
4. Remember you only fail when you break your focus.
5. Those on their way to the fight talk different than those already in the ring.
6. Accusation can only goal as far as fact.
7. False accusation will only be as successful as other people's ability to interrogate truth.
8. Those who do not embrace truth entertain a lie.

Rremember the words that were spoken by Apostle Peter of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he said in 1 Peter 2 verse 23 and it reads "he did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threatened revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly."

The blame, the accusation, the charges are the final stages before a promotion from the Father God. Get ready!

The Minister With The Million Dollar Voice

Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, often abbreviated to C. L. Franklin (January 22, 1915 – July 27, 1984) was an American Baptist minister and a civil rights activist. He was also the father of Aretha Franklin. At age 16, he became a preacher, initially working the Black itinerant preaching circuit, before settling at New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained until May 1944. From there he moved to the pulpit of the Friendship Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York, where he served until June 1946 when he became pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.

Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s his fame grew, and he preached throughout the country while maintaining his pulpit at New Bethel. Known as the man with the "Million Dollar Voice", Franklin was one of the first ministers to place his sermons on records (which continued into the 1970s), and also to broadcast sermons via radio on Sundays. He commanded high fees for his public appearances, and among his most famous sermons were "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest" and "Dry Bones in the Valley." In addition to his fame as a preacher, Franklin was known for his fine singing voice. He greatly encouraged his daughter Aretha Franklin in her musical endeavors, and during the 1950s took Aretha with him on speaking tours and musical engagements.

In addition to his ministry, in the 1950s and 1960s as he became involved in the civil rights movement, and worked to end discriminatory practices against black United Auto Workers members in Detroit.

Rev. C.L. Franklin is the "premier" Black Preacher of the 20th century. His style incorporates the Shakespearean orators with the wailing of the African- American slave preachers. Like African-American creative artists here and now; African-Americans takes something foreign and incorporates it with something familiar. Khallil Love

The part of the clip featuring a Morehouse ceremony, probably centering around Dr. Martin Luther King's memorial service, was phenomenal! Especially so, given the fact that the Morehouse Faculty traditionally frowned on preacher's who "celebrated" during the preaching event as Rev. C.L. Franklin does here. Well, it seems that neither the student body nor the Faculty had a problem with "whooping" on that day if the equally exuberant response from the audience is any indication, says one present for the event Morehouse student.

Get Off Your Blessed Assurance

We have preachers that are saved, love God, and the local Church but sit on their blessed assurance waiting for Jesus to return and watch others to do what needs to been done in the House of God. They cannot conceive the idea that Ephesians 6:11-17 directed them to “develop the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ…” Get the rest of the post by visiting http://thesecondscoach.com for a call to action.

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