: stop avoiding risk. start embracing it :

On Balancing Risk and Performance : IBM's 2008 Global CFO Study "Growing global risks. Rapidly changing environments. How are leaders responding? Learn about what more than 1200 CFOs and Senior Finance Executives from 79 countries have to say and what actions can be taken to build new flexibility and agility into organizations to help drive growth" ... G&M's Report on Business.

OK, so maybe my 'blogjam is broken? inspiration comes from strange places I guess? I was reading the Globe & Mail at StarBucks today, and I noticed a 3/4 page ad from IBM, which was far more eye-catching than their website is! Obviously, I am thinking lots these days about 'the Kingdom' and how an individual, a family, a small group, a faith community, a church, a denomination, a business, an organization, a government, a whatever ... can make a Kingdom difference in the 21stC? I think we would all agree there's the element of risk.

Over at Open Hands ( http://markpetersen.wordpress.com ) 'blog last week, Mark wondered about safety vs risk. Maybe that was in the back of my head when I saw the IBM ad today? Anyhow, more about Mark's March 20th post later. Watch for it ... Tears on a Plane.

Basically, I think what I am wondering is ... "where is the fine line between security based, money-in-the-bank, compliance ... vs ... challenge, opportunity, Spirit-led risk when it comes to faith based ministries?" For many, or maybe most, this isn't an issue, as they operate on a shoestring, but when the scales tip and there is cash, why do we sometimes bury it, and not invest it again? Or, when opportunity presents itself, why don't we think beyond the box and just maybe see things differently, in a new light? Or finally, why simply stay safe, predictable, and on the known path, instead of the road less taken? An inability to rise to stuff bugs me. Kind of like ... in mammon we trust.

Anyhow, if IBM can be asking the right kind of questions about appropriate ( financial ) risk, why isn't more of the Church asking? why are the ones who are asking so often shut down? Questions, questions, questions ... ironically, Big Blue's ad ended with a challenge:

stop talking, start doing.

dlc