What I Gained From a “No” in the OSV Challenge
Everett Fritz – Andrew Ministries
I was a Semi-Finalist in the 2021 OSV Challenge. I did not make it to the finals… and it was the best thing that could have happened for my ministry.
I am the founder and executive director of Andrew Ministries. We support Catholic Youth Ministry by helping Catholic institutions implement a small group mentoring model and parent focused youth outreach.
During the pandemic, I became very restless in prayer – a kind of restlessness that I have experienced when God is asking me to do something different. Because of this restlessness, I kept scribbling out ideas as they would come to me. After a coffee conversation with a friend, I came up with an idea to develop a platform that supported the work of discipleship without relying on a scripted program. I scribbled some notes down on a napkin and stuck it in my journal. Admittedly, a lot of the details about this project were very fuzzy and it was a very incomplete idea. I did not have the intention of doing anything with this idea. Like most of my ideas, this one was likely going to get stuck on the back burner and I likely would have never returned to the idea.
Two days after my coffee conversation, I saw an advertisement for the 2021 OSV Challenge. The advertisement said that the OSV Institute wanted our, “cocktail napkin ideas.” While my idea seemed far from complete, I decided to take the notes on the napkin and throw the project into the challenge to see what would happen. I told the Lord, “if you want me to run with this idea, push the project through the challenge.” Much to my surprise, my project became a semi-finalist in the 2021 OSV Challenge, which meant that I got the benefit of participating in the accelerator round.
The accelerator was phenomenal. I became part of a community of supportive Catholic entrepreneurs who collaborated, encouraged and prayed with one another. I received spiritual and academic formation that supported the work and growth of my ministry. All of the challengers were assigned a hand-picked mentor that would walk along side of us for 6 months to help our projects get off of the ground. In short, I had everything I needed to make my “napkin idea” something that was real.
Two of the last pieces of advice that stuck with me as I headed into the semi-final pitch were, “don’t be afraid of the inevitable pivot,” and “stay true to your mission.” As I entered my semi-final pitch, I was in the midst of a “pivot.” In the layout of my business plan, I knew that there were pieces of the project that simply were not going to work and I was working through adjustments. I made my semi-final pitch knowing that my idea still needed a lot of help. When I received the phone call to inform me that I was not going to be a finalist, I was initially, very disappointed. I knew that I was on to something and I was sad to see that my idea wasn’t going to make it to the finish line. During the phone call, Matt Smith gave me feedback that proved to be exactly what I needed in order to take the next step. After our brief conversation, I understood the pivot that I needed to make to better connect my project to the mission of my ministry. I also had a better understanding of the next steps for my ministry to be successful. In my case, the Iast thing that I needed to hear was “you are in the finals,” because I would have continued to head in the wrong direction. The best thing for my ministry was to hear the words, “You are not a finalist and here is why…”
If you have an innovative idea that you have been sitting on that could benefit the Kingdom of God, I highly recommend throwing it into the 2022 OSV Challenge and see what the Holy Spirit does with it. You may not win the $100,000 grand prize, but as with most things that are driven by the Holy Spirit, you may end up receiving more than you expected.
EVERETT FRITZ is the Founder and Executive Director of Andrew Ministries and he was a 2021 OSV Challenge semi-finalist. Everett authored the popular book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working and What to Do About It. Everett regularly speaks on the topics of discipleship, youth evangelization and chastity. He and his wife Katrina reside in Denver, Colorado with their three children.
