Mavericks

Webster defines a Maverick as, "a Pioneer, an Independent individual who does not go along with a group."

Synonyms for Maverick include nonconformist, heretic, dissident, dissenter, and separatist. If you think about it, Jesus was a Maverick and was eventually destroyed by the institutional religious body - the Pharisees - He came to redeem. And you thought you had it tough getting your ideas through!

The Scriptures are actually filled with men and women who were nonconformists - who didn't meet the norms of society. Moses was an outsider whom God chose to be an insider to bring renewal to His people. Joseph was left for dead by his brothers because they were so upset at his unusual ways. Peter was a Maverick from the word go - seen most clearly when he told his Lord he would build three huts for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah during the Transfiguration! Jesus never cast him aside for his raw edge but cultivated it and harnessed it. Then, of course, there was that great Pharisee of Pharisees, Paul, who like Martin Luther began in the bosom of the institution but soon was coloring outside the lines. Before you knew it, he was sparking a fresh wind of renewal from heaven above.

The simple truth is that the greatest strides in the advancement of the cause of Christ have come from the radical fringe, not the institutional core of the Church. Likewise, the business and industrial world has been brought from one major era to another by the likes of strange inventors such as Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver. Chester Carlson who invented the Xerox process was laughed out of town before he finally patented his idea. The 3M Company encourages Mavericks. The man who invented Post-it Notes did it on company time even though it was a personal project. The quartz movement watch was invented by a Swiss watchmaker; unfortunately his superiors rejected the idea, but the Japanese and Americans patented it, and Switzerland went from 85 percent global market share of watches to less than 15 percent.

"The photograph is of no commercial value." - Thomas Edison remarking on his own invention in 1880.

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." - Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1920.

"It is an idle dream to imagine that automobiles will take the place of railways in the long-distance movement of passengers." - American Road Congress in 1933.

"I think there is a world market for about 5 computers." - Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM in 1943.

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." - Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation in 1977.