On Christmas Eve, I shared Alberto Ríos’s poem, Christmas on the Border, 1929. It was based on the true story of the twin towns of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Senora, that were separated by the US/Mexico border. The town of Nogales, AZ wanted to throw a big Christmas party with gifts for all the children, but how could they do it, when half the children were in Mexico?

Government and immigration officials made the decision simply to “move” the border for a few hours. As the last line says, “On the border, on this day, they had a problem and they solved it.”

My friend, the Rev. Tony Lorenzen, loves a line we picked up from the missional church movement: “The answer to ‘How?’ is ‘Yes!'”

I know, I know, there are more steps in the questions of strategy, tactics, and procedures. But I do wonder, if we began with an assumption that the answer is Yes, what might more we accomplish?

In our “New Ideas” process map, when an idea gets to the appropriate team, they are to consider one big question. It may sound contrary to the optimistic assumption above, but bear with me. The question is, “What is the reasonably worst outcome in this, and this acceptable?”

This question means that rather than weighing the potential success (which often can’t be known), the team starts with a low bar. Is the worst case scenario okay? Well, then, if the originator of the idea is ready to make it happen, then go for it!

Everything at Live Oak, including the very creation of this congregation, happened because someone had an idea, and others jumped in to help them make it happen.

What is your idea, that you’re willing to put some time, energy, and enthusiasm into?