I've sent a final proposal draft to my independent study professor and am waiting for feedback. I may need to make a few adjustments, but I hope that I will be able to submit the thesis application early this week.

So far I haven't gotten any solid writing done. Every time I tried to get something down it would slip away from me and I would end up with nothing that was working. And once I was writing online and my logout expired and I lost a couple of hours of work. Maybe now that there is more of a solid idea of what I am going to do, I'll be able to get a draft written of the introduction and maybe even something beyond that.

I'm still hunting and gathering. I still feel a bit far away from where I think I should be at this point. I researched quite a bit this week and wrote for about two hours yesterday, only to lose all the writing due to a glitch when saving.

In working on defining terms I learned that "faith-based organization" generally means public services, charities or NGO humanitarian groups organized by or associated with major denominations or churches, mostly Christian. Under a broader definition "faith-based organization" can mean a church or school as well, which was my original understanding of the term.

The conversation that exists on this topic is beginning to focus for me. I see approaches to church practice that range from highly innovative (ReChurch, Seeker-Sensitive, Emergent) to not very innovative (Fundamentalist, traditional Brethren, Conservative). This is not an exhaustive continuum, but that's something I may want to develop. I see challenges for both ends of the spectrum.

I am not sure what I am trying to say at this point. I want to examine how Design Thinking can be applied to the church. Problem is, I see that it already has been (if not in those exact terms). Perhaps what I should be doing is analyzing the various ways in which it has been.

Add to that day-long meetings at the office (Monday-Friday) and some family life considerations. But I have a great list of what I think innovation should be, and that is really helping me think better about what aspects of design thinking innovation are most applicable to faith-based organizations. I still think there's a lot that churches, mission boards, faith-based schools, and faith-based non-profits can do to be more creative in their approaches to common challenges. This never means changing orthodoxy. This never means altering belief.

I learned today that the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) has changed it's standards for ministers, elders, and deacons. Instead of the requirement that clergy live “in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness,” the new wording allows the ordination of gays and other unchaste persons. This is not the type of innovation that I am talking about.

It's finally starting to dig in, and this week was a great opportunity to reconnect with the master of innovation, Marty Neumeier. As I define what I personally mean by "innovation" (and what the key proponents, like Neumeier, mean) I am beginning to get some real ideas about what innovation can mean to faith-based organizations. And while i do not like the idea of "branding faith" (to use Phil Cooke's book title) I believe that there is great benefit for a faith-based organization to remain "agile" (to use one of Neumeier's words). One of the topics I would like to address in the thesis would be what it can mean and what it might look like for a church, faith-based school, or other faith-based ministry to be "agile."

One of the key words that Neumeier uses that I believe is essential to effective innovation in faith-based organizations is empathy. Empathy may be generally defined as "the ability to understand and share the feelings of others," (Apple Dictionary Widget). As I see it, empathy is the twin to biblical "charity," or love. Here is a key tenant of Design Thinking that applies directly to faith-based organizations: the creative power of charity. I think there is much promise for application here.

The ideas of innovation also suggest that business leaders solicit solutions to corporate problems from the employees, rather than continuing the "secret society" type of management style that makes decisions in a private boardroom and then passes down mandates to the company. I want to explore the possibilities of churches (in particular) and other faith-based organizations doing the same.

While divine authority and sound doctrine should never be altered or eliminated in favor of innovation, I am interested in how a faith-based organization might be able to revitalize its work through the consideration of design thinking.

On a different note entirely, I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and learned about the Group of Seven. These turn-of-the-century painters had an approach that I absolutely love: they hiked or canoed into remote places in Ontario and painted, often in a very personal and expressive style. More about that later.

I also became acquainted with the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) and learned a little bit about their programs.

Next week there will be more interviews, and some deep digging into Marty Neumeier's work.

One more thing: Ontario can be just beautiful in late July.

• develop a clear definition of innovation by finishing the book The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry and by reviewing The Designful Company by Marty Neumeier;
• establish a thesis committee by contacting each of the prospects on my list and getting a reply from each;
• refining the thesis proposal.

Right now I am in Toronto, am halfway through Henry's book and did not even get reconnected to Neumeier's material. I have one confirmed thesis committee member and still need to contact two to ask for their participation. With everything going on I really lost focus on this project. However, there are some important insights that I have gained this week, insights that will help me as continue refining the thesis components:

[1] Establish the three most important aspects of the project that I want my mind to work on. These are

• define innovation
• refine my ideas about how innovation can impact faith-based organizations without significantly altering their message or their most essential practices
• consider effective ways to express these in visual terms

[2]Develop a list of individuals to interview regarding the role of innovation in the church, specifically Fundamental Bible-believing churches.
[3]Begin researching the effect that design thinking has already had when applied to faith-based organizations.

My goals for this coming week are to conduct a few interviews with church leaders in the Toronto area, finish Henry's book, and to brainstorm ideas for the visual component of the thesis.

"Graphic Design is information visualization. Good Graphic Design is information visualization that leads to conversation and builds community." 

Innovation—I think I will need to re-read some Neumeier and Brown to get a core definition of "innovation" as they propound it. I also want to read more Buchanan and locate some of Golsby-Smith's writing to fill out my understanding of Innovation.

Resistance—While not on my To Do list for this course, it may be time to begin conducting some interviews to gauge the level of creativity promoted and allowed in various church communities. This may need to be survey or it could be personal interviews that I initiate with individuals.

The thesis proposal seems very general at this point (which may be perfectly fine) but I'd like to focus it a bit more before submitting it.

It may be early yet for this as well, but I am growing anxious that no visual component is materializing for me yet. When I peer into that part of the thesis project I am seeing nothing. A little worrying, that.

I don't feel that I am getting much traction yet, so I will need to get busy with reading and taking notes. The thoughts right now are vague unfocused.

*I came across a great book and ordered two copies: The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant At A Moment's Notice by Todd Henry. This newly-published work speaks to creatives in general and church creatives in particular. Since I haven't read it yet I can't say much more than that Todd seems to have written my thesis. I could be wrong: he may be barking up a different tree entirely. I'll let you know.

This week I directed a high school art & design camp at BJU. Since we spent nearly 10 hours a day with the campers, I didn't have much time to put into thesis development. My goal for this week was to write a draft of the thesis proposal and to begin building a reading list. I was able to do both of these, but feel that I have just barely begun to really consider how I will approach the topic.

I am going to be writing and designing about how to foster a culture of innovation in faith-based organizations. I am going to do an analysis of design thinking and innovation first (looking closely at the ideas of Richard Buchanan, Tony Golsby-Smith, and Marty Neumeier). My reading list so far includes mostly books, essays, and articles relating to design thinking and business. I want to do a lot more research into church marketing and the viewpoint of religious institutions on creativity/innovation in how they function (faith and practice).

More to come next week.