I am far from innovative.  I get accused of having “original” ideas.  However, I must confess that I am far from original or innovative. Most of the stuff we have tried at The Vertical Church has not given us the results we may have wanted.  As a matter of fact, the more we try to stop growing the church and focus on making disciples it seems that Jesus shows up and gives the increase.
Here is one practical way I get ideas:
The  Listen Principle:
There are many voices that we can listen to.  Many people have great ideas on how to grow a church or on how to increase your sales, or on how to do whatever.  Voices from every where are competing for a place at the head of your table.  But, there is one voice that knows the future and that really has your best interest at heart.  That is the voice of The Holy Spirit.   If you look through the New Testament, you will see a strict following of the voice of the Spirit.  When the Spirit said go, they went, when the Spirit closed the door, they stopped.  God has given us the Holy Spirit to speak, guide, comfort, direct, convict, and tell us the path that leads to real life.   The best ideas I have ever had have come from focused times of listening to the voice of The Spirit.  There are two ways the voice of The Spirit speaks to me:

1.  Through the Bible:  Every day, I sit down with the greatest mentors in that have ever lived.  They are found in the pages of Scripture.  I love Wayne Cordiero’s book on “The Divine Mentor”.  That single book has guided my devotional times in the past year.  He came up with a method called, the S.O.A.P. method. It’s just another way of reading the Word and letting God speak through it.  As a matter of fact, one of the best moves we ever made as a church was moving 9.5 miles from our current location to a new part of town.  That was birthed out of time with God in the book of Joshua.  God used His word to speak to me as the leader of The Vertical Church to make a monumental move that impacted lives.  So I listen through the Bible.

2.  Through Spontaneous Thoughts:  I still believe that God speaks to us.  I don’t believe that He speaks against His word, but I do believe that God gives us His ideas for carrying out the vision and mission of Jesus.  In my personal life, the Spirit speaks to me through spontaneous thoughts.  Admittedly, some of these thoughts are of my own making and some from my flesh.  Therefore, I have to go back to Scripture and weigh them against the Bible.  I believe the Spirit is speaking all the time, we are just not listening all the time.  So I have specific focused times of listening in silence.  This is part of my regular prayer time.  I also take time and just think and listen.  Sometimes thoughts will come to me while I am doing something else, like showering, or shaving, or mowing the lawn.  Whatever the case, I will write them down and weigh them against scripture.  There have only been a few times that I have known for sure that it was of God and He wanted me to act immediately.  Most times I journal them and then pray over them and act when the Spirit leads.
This idea of listening has helped me hear what God wants to do in our city through our church.  I am far from original or innovative, but God is.