Introductory Note: A week ago I was informed by email that Luther Seminary has determined that the column I started five years ago, Dear Working Preacher, can only be written by a member of Luther’s faculty and so I was asked to draw my involvement to a close. I did that last week. Over the course of the years I wrote my weekly letter, connecting with preachers and inviting them to share in the road of experimentation and discovery I have been on has become a central part of my own vocation as a preacher and teacher. And so I will continue writing these weekly letters of encouragement and post them here. I hope they are helpful. While...

While almost any day seems like a good day to hear from Kid President, Fridays work especially well. And so today it’s Kid President on how to be an inventor. Or, really, Kid President on creativity. Three things that struck me, and then I’ll stop and just ask you to watch and enjoy the four-minute video: 1) You can’t be afraid to make mistakes if you want to invent something awesome. Mistakes come with experimenting. Indeed, you learn the most from your mistakes. As Kid President says, “It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not okay to give up.” 2) You don’t have to do this alone. In fact, it’s really hard to. The idea of the...