As 2009 comes to a close, so we can get ready to engage 2010, its time we start evaluating what is “the old” and what is “the new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “…Old things have passed away; behold, all things become new.”

What is new? It’s something different, something that has not been tested, tried or proven. New ideas and vision are ripe and ready to be seized as we enter 2010 and beyond. Many times as leaders, we miss out on the “new” because we get so emotionally attached to the proven, the tested and already established. I like what my new friend who I just recently spoke with over the phone a few weeks ago, Ben Arment, founder of the STORY Conference in Chicago says, “We miss out on the most important season of a vision’s lifecycle because we have an undying love for the proven ideas and a blatant disregard for the new ones.”

As we start making our New Year resolutions, begin to ask what dreams have you suppressed? What idea needs to come out of the closet? With an unstable economy, the church needs new ideas and fresh vision more than ever. But, with it will always come risk. Navigating through the unknown is a scary process, but it’s necessary in order to put legs to a new idea.

In 2009, there was a considerable amount of churches, businesses, conferences and resources that came to an end. What does this mean for us in 2010? We can’t keep looking to the old and proven models of ministry for the new ideas. If we keep doing ministry and church the same way, we’ll get more of the same. It’s time to shuffle your current ministry model and start engaging new opportunities and emerging voices that are around you. I’m personally tired of the same speakers, conferences, authors and experts — where are the new leading voices? Or, has the ministry landscape become so competitive that inwardly we have become insecure to look for and empower those new emerging voices? Just a thought.

Maybe your current model of ministry worked in the year 2000. But will it still flourish in 2010 and beyond? For new ideas to cut through the status quo, we have to be willing to break some rules. When a new idea becomes accepted, it turns into a system that gets repeated over and over again. So, when a new idea or a fresh vision comes along, it will always threaten the way things are done. So, don’t get so comfortable with the ways things have always been done these last few years, because with every new generation it will change. It must change.

We must always honor the visionaries and idea-makers of the past. But with it, continue to give room and create space to the new ideas that are in their infancy. Your idea might sound ridiculous, but it could be the very thing that becomes the next revolution to ministry and the church.

2010 is a year for all of us to step outside of our little ministry bubble, and look to the possibilities of what God can do through each one of us. History has always proven that it’s the obscure, the un-heard of and the ridiculous that shape the future. So, this year, step out into the unknown, dream big and be ridiculous!