What if, instead of keeping up with change, you could get ahead of it?

It’s an incredible thought, in times like these, where it feels like change is moving far too fast to keep up with. The rate of technology change is astonishing – and we can barely keep our iPhones updated. Political systems are shifting. Science is making new discoveries every day. And that’s not even getting into the countless impacts of worldwide pandemic. 

Does the change drive you? Or can you drive the change? 

In What Comes Next?, we use the eight elements of the Futures Framework to teach you how to help shape the future, be visionary, and grow your businesses and ministries. This futures-thinking process is a proven solution for executives, entrepreneurs, pastors, and anyone in between who struggles to respond to an ever-changing world.

The book is all about looking boldly into the future, figuring out what is possible, and defining the way forward. It’s a guide to help Christian leaders like you respond well to uncertainty and shape the future in an ever-changing world.

When we started working together in 2008, the world felt just as unpredictable as it does today. Our industry was changing, jobs were disappearing, and technology was disrupting everything. We faced a decision on whether to keep our heads down and trust that the future would follow the straight-line trajectory we expected or to embrace the uncertainty and hold on for the ride.

We decided to embrace uncertainty. The thing was, we didn’t like where we saw the line going, and we decided to do something about it. We’ve seen our fair share of volatility, and faced plenty of people who told us “that can’t be done.”  We resolved to run at the dream we had about the future, about engaging everyone around the world in space exploration, believing it was worth it to fail for the dream than give in to the same old same old same old. 

Do you want something different too? Because it’s worth it to try, to experiment, to risk. Whether it works out like you hoped or not, you’ll be more resilient, better positioned, and more aware of the landscape that you live in and how God is working in it. You’ll have a new perspective on others who share the space with you, and as you continue to grow, a new sense of what’s possible. The actual future matters – but so does the process we go through to get there. 

That’s how we arrived at the Futures Framework. We stepped back and looked at the significant questions that had helped us assess who we were, what we wanted, and what the possibilities were. We looked at the questions underneath those questions – and which ones needed to come first to get us better positioned for the ones that came later. Exploring many of those areas showed us the wilderness over the horizon… so that we could prepare you to find a way forward into your future. 

Yogi Berra famously said “it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” We agree. This work is not about predicting the future. It’s about learning better questions to ask, discovering what we can identify about the future so that we can be prepared for it. It’s about doing what we can to shape that future in line with our gifts, the needs of our communities, and God’s direction. Most of all, What Comes Next? is about entrusting what we don’t yet know to the One we do know. 

He can always be trusted.