BIG problems need BIG solutions

Last month I started getting this magazine in my box at work. I had no idea where it came from. I have to admit...I wasn't too impressed at first because the cover story was about Al Gore and I'm not much of a fan, so I didn't pay much attention to it.

I know, I know...you are not supposed to judge a book, or magazine, by it's cover. Lesson learned.

My friend Jason Cullum (www.TheFissionGroup.com/blog) signed me up for this magazine when he received a free subscription by renewing his. Once I learned who it came from, I knew it had to be a valuable magazine.

Jason is a business guy. He is a student of leadership. He is a great leader himself. He is the type of guy that if he is reading something, I want to read it.

Well, I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was challenged.

The cover story of the latest issue of Fast Company Magazine is about Adam Werbach. He is an environmentalist who decided to go to work for the ultimate enemy of their movement... Walmart. In doing so, the guy who was the president of the Sierra Club at age 23 was cast out of the inner circle of the environment movement.

While I may not totally agree with all of his points, I was challenged by a quote he made.

He says the company (Walmart) offers him the organizational leverage to make change rapidly and on a scale that the traditional environmental establishment just
can't provide. The movement, he says, "is not willing to suggest solutions that are as big as the problems."

Did you catch that? He decided that being on the outside complaining about the corporate giant was not making an impact, so he took his 'movement' inside the company.

He came up with a solution that was as big as the problem.

Many churches could benefit from this 'big solution' type of thinking. Is our traditional movement having an impact on the huge problems facing society today? No.

The radical solution is not a new one. Jesus said we were to go in to all the world and make disciples. That means we get into the 'problem' where it is dirty and challenging. It is work. It is about people we don't like to be around. People who sin. People who hurt other people. People who just hurt. It may put us in danger at times. It will challenge our stereotypical beliefs on society. It will reveal our prejudices and hypocrisy. It will make us tired. It will make us stronger.

Too many traditional church 'movements' stand on the outside and complain.

They are not willing to suggust solutions that are as big as the problem.

I love my church. It is a great church. But it can be a lazy church. It can be a judgemental church. As a church leader I am often a part of the problem. I fear the backlash of engaging the world on such a level. Adam Werbach suffered great backlash from his traditional peers.

One person said about him,

"For you to believe that you and your little lonesome are changing something with a million-and-a-half employees, $350 billion of sales, well, there's a level of ego there that just is staggering."

One man 'and his little lonesome' is changing a corporate giant.

Imagine what you and God can do.