April 11 was the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 13 launch. It has been called NASA’s most “successful failure.” Though the three men failed at their goal of landing on the moon, this aborted mission resulted in the application of a wealth of knowledge and skills no one could have anticipated using before liftoff. This successful failure inspired a generation of young people to enter into the science and engineering fields.
Reflecting on the NASA team overseeing Apollo 13, Francis French, of the San Diego Air and Space Museum, stated, “They were ready to think about things that were way outside of their procedures they practiced, to run through checklists, to use their imagination and come up with ways to very calmly work out the best way to bring three people back to Earth alive.”
And while our journey is not to the moon, there will be times when we are likely to “fail” at our goal of landing on Asia (Acts 16:6) and “fail” at our goal of landing on Bithynia (Acts 16:7).
If in God’s common grace mankind is able to make such adjustments to innovate and save the lives of three men, how much more should the Spirit-filled Church be willing to make necessary adjustments to innovate for the lives of the 4 billion? This is often necessary to allow for touchdown on Philippi (Acts 16:12).
Embrace the stewardship of innovation, recognize the reality of navigating change, and take the two-steps few leaders take.
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Phillip Connor was my guest on last Friday’s episode of Strike the Match. We had a great conversation about the new Pew study on the 2010-2050 growth projections of the world’s major living religions. Check out our conversation and subscribe at iTunes or through RSS.