Fine line between modeling and imitation...

Great post by Mark Batterson on Imitation is Suicide. Quoting Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic in LA, Mark writes:

He said something that was so profound. Really made me think. "I think a lot of pastors have a dream that matches the life of the pastor who is the living the dream they want."

Wow. This really got me thinking and I'm thankful for Mark's posting for two reasons and two responses:

1. As a fairly new executive pastor, I occasionally find myself looking at the seeming successes of other executive pastors or administrative pastors and, frankly, questioning my call - am I the right guy in the right seat on the right bus? Or, am I just warming it up for someone else? While in some respects this is healthy humility which allows me to keep sharp and relying on God, it can foster into an insecurity blossomed from a reliance on myself rather than God.
   
   Bottom line - I don't have to look very hard to see God's hand upon Sherry and me in bringing us to this place. He wants me/us here. He's doing great things and allowing us to lead and be a part of the adventure. And, to be faithful to the call, I must strive to learn lessons and act on them - continually seeking Godly excellence and His leadership and wisdom.
   
   
2. It is true that we on staff at Central encourage each other to look at other churches for transferable truths. We ask each other to identify ministry approaches that other churches have found to be successful for them that we in turn can leverage in ministries here in our church. While there is nothing wrong with this - and I have yet to find one church who doesn't want to share their lessons and approaches - there are dangers.
   
   The first danger is just what Mark describes. When we solely rely on others' creativity and innovation, we risk losing our uniqueness, originality, and authenticity - our edge. And, for those of us who are more operational in thinking rather than creative, this can be a hole easily stumbled into. As he put it: keep learning and be yourself. Don't settle for doing something someone else thought up just because of a lazy or strictly efficient approach to getting the job done.
   
   The second danger is not examining other church's approaches thoroughly enough and implementing something that just doesn't work in our church. This doesn't mean that we don't try new things and it should be OK to fail. However, if we can avoid some obvious missteps by using our God-given analytical thinking skills, then let's take the time to do it.

What do you think? How should leaders approach the open and offered innovation of others?
[the pic is of son Cameron. I asked him to look "questioning" which he does so well...:)]