Let me beat a drum that I’ve been pretty passionate about for a couple years. I think we need to do a better job of sharing our creativity within the Kingdom. There is way too much “competition” and not enough synergy. I better preface what I’m about to blog by repeating what I blogged about last week: imitation is suicide. But we need to learn from each other and share with each other. In a sense, I’ve always viewed creativity as a game of leap frog. Get an idea from someone. Put your own fingerprint on it. And try to do it better than they did it.

I’m a non-tech guy, but I like the open-source concept. Instead of a controlled closed-system, open-source allows a variety of programmers and designers to shape the source code. That’s a layman’s definition. But it’s all about collaboration. Or in the words of an 80′s classic: stop, collaborate, and listen. And the end product is better because of the synergy. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

It was about a year ago that we made a decision that we’d open-source all of our sermon series. The driving desire is that other churches would take our ideas, add their creative touch, and do them better than we did them.

Approximately 400 churches have done a Chase the Lion sermon series based on In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. All of the graphics and videos and transcripts are absolutely free and customizable. Check out www.chasethelion.com. We’re doing the same exact thing with our Wild Goose Chase series. We’ll make all the resources free @ www.chasethegoose.com. And while you’re at it, check out www.TheElephantInTheChurch.com. It’s another series we’d love to see hundreds of churches do.

Let me share a couple open source examples. There are tons of examples, but here are some graphics from churches that are doing a Chase the Lion series and Wild Goose Chase series. But they are putting their own creative fingerprint on it. What’s inspiring to me is that other churches are doing trailers and invite cards and creative elements that are better than we did it.

Let’s play leap frog!