God, Google, and Missions

You just scored a job interview with Google.  You are a software engineer, and you need work.  After introductions, the interviewer begins asking as series of unusual questions:

• How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
• Name a piece of technology you’ve read about recently.  Now tell me your own creative execution for an ad for that product.
• You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so that you maintain your original density.  You are then thrown into an empty glass blender.  The blades will start moving in 60 seconds.  What do you do?
• Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.

These are among actual questions that Google job seekers were asked.  How did you do in your interview?  Do you have a shot at the job?

These interview questions have little to do with technical knowledge.  They have everything to do with the capacity to approach problems creatively.  They force job seekers outside the normal thinking ruts. 

Google seeks entrepreneurial thinkers who have the capacity to solve problems not yet imagined.  Google obviously expects technical mastery of its employees.  Technical mastery is not enough, though.  Entrepreneurial creativity is what brings life and innovation to the technical knowledge, keeping Google on the leading edge.

 

God gave Bazalel the ability to integrate all areas of his personhood in order to build the tabernacle.  “See, I have chosen Bezalel . . . and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.”  (Exodus 31:2-3)  

God's gospel mission is the one constant in a time of dramatic change.  Living in a time of upheaval provides great opportunities.  Fortunately, God created us with the capacity to exercise Spirit-led creativity with a focus on God's mission.  The result is the ability to see kingdom possibilities that others may miss.  What gospel opportunities are you currently missing that require a Spirit-led entrepreneurial approach in order to solve?  How will Mid-Valley churches best reach second and third generation immigrants?  What's the best way to train and deploy pastors to help reach the exploding Hispanic population?  What does international mission look like right here in the Mid-Valley?  What's the best way to connect among our churches to advance the gospel locally?  These and other questions require a dependence on the Holy Spirit to dislodge us from our "spiritual ruts."

(By the way, somebody actually did the math. Just under five hundred thirty thousand golf balls fit inside a school bus!)