“Let us paint images of the new creation on an age that seems tumbling down.  Although the age may well tumble, our images are painted on the eternal mystery of God and, therefore, sure.”

– David Buttrick

I’ve been thinking as we’ve been unpacking boxes, arranging/rearranging/re-rearranging (gotta love it) the furniture. I’ve been thinking specifically about what it takes to see catalytic innovation.

Katrina and I are in the business of innovation. She’s an artist and I’m some edgy church planter. Whatever, that’s cool I guess. But its deeper than just what we’re doing. It’s our spirit - our strength - the ‘there’s always another way’ spirit - the way we approach life itself.

The entrepreneurial seed that has been planted in our hearts is beginning to take root. It comes out in how we research the city, go about setting up bills, arranging (and rearranging) our house, getting an income…my friends make fun of me for the “get rich quick” schemes I tell them about. One of these days I’ll make good on one of my ideas, then they’ll be sorry!

The point is, it seems that this spirit of innovation comes standard in the Willis family as of late. It’s so cool to see it emerging in Katrina. I never know what she’s going to discover next, and I’m learning to respect her ideas and intuitions, even when it conflicts with my own. She’s a genius and a wonder with concepts, networking, and communication. The world is never going to be the same because of her.

But what drives innovation? How do we aid and enable that spirit already inside of us to grow? Besides good, caring mentors, it seems it takes the following:

Lack of Resources + Increase of Passion = Exponential Innovation

Most great ideas are born out of a resource dearth. Many ideas die because the genius who came up with them was either too busy too scared or to cynical to pull it off. That’s why the innovative seed must sprout in a soil that is desperate for change, but there must be a mind that is willing to cultivate that dream with the same passion and fury that propels the survival of a species, or the determination of a predator. He/she/they must be relentless in their pursuit of their goals, doing whatever it takes (innovation) in order to see them accomplished.

Like any discipline, some of the pitfalls of painting don’t emerge (or become recognizable) until after one takes the risk of continued practice. One of the greatest lessons I’ve been learning in painting is to take confidence in the simplicity of a single stroke – to appreciate what one simple stroke can accomplish and communicate. (The painting here is a study of Mark from a couple of weeks ago.)

Just because a stroke is simple doesn’t mean the painting comes out as simplistic. The simplicity of each stroke actually adds great interest to the painting. Now, I think a little bit longer before I throw paint on the canvas because I want to be intentional. And rightly so – a stroke remains packed with substance: placement, direction, color, consistency, texture, value, size, and relationship to other strokes…

Before I did a lot of trial and error painting. If any of you have ever tried oil painting, you know that the paint takes an incredibly long time to dry! So while the paint is still wet, if the artist meddles in the strokes, the painting becomes muddy and difficult to appreciate. I have killed many pieces this way – out of insecurity and in search of perfection.

But my search was misguided. Even though I may not see what the painting will be as a finished piece, I have to trust the process. I let go and force myself to trust something that I cannot see. And a visual product emerges. It’s such a weird yet satisfying experience.

Part of being a disciple of Christ is learning to live in God’s governance; his new economy. In America, we tend to see capitalism as the foundation for our society - production and consumption are the backbone to its market economy. Capitalism tends to put competition at the top of a short list of values for its citizens. We see the vicious, unjust effects of this all the time - the rich are taxed much less than the poor, unemployment, concentration of political and economic exploitation, and environmental rape.

Maybe its time in God’s Kingdom to function more organically in a new economy.

I just found out about time banks! They are really sweet way to use the currency of time to provide services to a local community.

The concept is simple. For every hour you give in service to another Time Bank member, you earn one Time Dollar. You can now use this Time Dollar to spend on a service someone else offers in the time bank community.

Time Dollars are a community currency that members earn by using their time, energy, skills, and talents to help others. Time Banking is about local individuals, organizations or business’s helping each other in one-to-one exchanges or in group projects. Members help rebuild neighborhood networks and strengthen communities. There are lots of time bank communities that set up shop on the internet as a way to search available services and meet their neighbors.

What an amazing way to (1) save money (2) participate in a local, neighbor centered economy and (3) experience the redistribution of wealth and resources. Imagine seeing a white collared businessman doing taxes for a Mexican immigrant family who earned their Time Dollar repainting their black neighbor’s house, who got his Time Dollars by going grocery shopping for the elderly woman across the street. Imagine the crime rate going down as neighbors get to know each other and watch out for each other. Imagine an investment into your own local economy!

“Give and you shall receive” - God’s economy doesn’t include dolla billz, he was talking about relationships!

Maine Time Banks - a time bank up in Portland, Maine

Start Your Own! - no matter how big or how small, why not begin one in your neighborhood?

Living In Story- Reciprocal Missionality in the Image of God - Ron Pate’s participatory seminar that clued me in to time banks. He is a part of SCUPE (Seminary Consortium of Urban Pastoral Education) in Chicago. SCUPE helps communities in Chicago start timebanks (they call it Abundance in the Beloved Community, or ABC’s).

I’ll get back to talking about brain dumping again soon. I promise.
In the meantime, I want to share with you a little Christmas cheer. The other day I had my good friend Jennifer over. She was telling me about how she is planning on heading to meet with family for Christmas. Apparently, her parents rank at the top of the stack for dreamers at Christmas time. They want it all - -and they send her an itemized list prior to the holidays, so she can prepare… and save up her money.

Well, this year, she decided to buy them a llama. “A LLAMA?!?” You heard me right: a llama. I could hardly contain myself. Her logic went something like this, “Well, Katrina… It generously helps a family in the south, and it cost about the same amount of money I would have spent on them, and if they complain about it, they’ll have to live with themselves… it’s great.”

Needless to say, I could barely stop laughing out loud. At first, I thought she had physically bought them a pet. Then she mentioned Heifer International. She proceeded to describe a little toy llama she had bought for her family as well. “I’ll put in a box with a card, so they’ll have something tactile.” Brilliant. And the heifer website gives you a printout of the gift you’ve purchased, too. It’s great.

I knew about Heifer before this, but I never connected it with Christmas time. It’s great if you’re doing some last minute shopping. You don’t have to walk into any stores— you just print the card and hand it over. And it’s a great conversation piece. Merry Christmas!