Recently the mainstream media discovered Sarah Palin speaking to her Pentecostal church about prophetic ministry. Three days later the McCain-Palin campaign is offended by their opponents lipstick-on-pigs statement. What does this tell us about how Sarah Palin views the future?

Nothing.

Let's talk about the real future. While prophetic ministry is an intuitive practice that those in Renewal movement use to lead from the future, it is not the only practice. There is also forward talk of vision and action.

As Christian leaders, we need to step back and ask the larger question. What foresight does Governor Palin have about the next 25 years? She may talk about a servant's heart, but does Palin carry the requisite complexity when she thinks about the future of America? Is she only ideological, or does she engage the future from multiple viewpoints?

It is hard to measure cognitive complexity from casual conversation. But scholars do get an indication of a leader's ability to think forward, deeply and widely from how they consider themselves related to alternatives, as Dr. Bill Torbert argues.

Three Future Views

According to Dr. Peter Bishop, there are three approaches to the future. One approach envisions the Chosen future. The second considers the Expected future. The third approach weighs the Alternative futures.

The Chosen Future: Palin appears to be strong on this future. This is the prayerful future, the future we choose once we leave our prayer closets. When Palin talks about prophetic practice, or words of knowledge, she is dealing with this aspirational landscape. Pentecostal prophecy often deals in these generalities, as words of exhortation. Many times this is the future writ large from the vision of Isaiah, or other Hebrew prophets. Yes, it often carries narrow revivalist or conversionist frameworks. But it usually carries a more benign expectation of God's presence, where the church and society arrive at a more positive future state. The Chosen Future is the future we want, whether from Divine or Human encouragement. I don't worry about Palin here.

The Expected Future: This view of tomorrow sees the future as the collective push of the past. To that degree it is true conservatism. It projects the past onto the future. It deals more with trends or driving forces. Palin seems comfortable talking about energy in this vein. She presents an oil lobby Exon-Mobil view that we can drill our way out of Peak Oil. We should be asking ourselves, in what way is Palin a continuation of the past eight years, or 40 year cuture wars, and ask whether that would be a good thing. This is something I am still weighing with regards to Palin.

The Alternative Future: This view of the future focuses on alternatives, or possible crises on the horizon, that are not being dealt with by the Expected future. Due in part to Obama-Biden, this election has been defined by change, or the need for alternatives. Obama asserts we need change with respect to energy, jobs, healthcare and foreign policy. McCain-Palin now challenge this turf, with their claim of being mavericks that Washington needs. Here is where the real discussion of this election needs to be carried out. Here is where we can examine the record of Bush-Cheney, and compare it with McCain-Palin, and contrast it with its Democrat alternatives.

Pentecostal Head-Fake?

Some mainstream media might be taken in by Palin's Pentecostalism. In seeing her talk about God and Iraq, they might portray her as small town, or even small minded. In doing so, they ignore the real vetting issue. The real influence on Palin is not her religion, but her politics. What is the nature of Palin's conservatism? How has she made choices in Alaska based on her worldview or the company she keeps? How will those stakeholders either help or hinder the future of America that could emerge? Does she have the requisite cognitive complexity to base judgment upon?

I'm not worried about Palin's view of the Chosen future being influenced by her religion. I'm concerned about real, rather than phoney issues. Let's ask if McCain-Palin's Expected Future would release America to lead the new green energy-tech economy? Let's ask if McCain-Palin's Alternative Future of reform would create more healthcare, jobs or livable communities over Obama-Biden's plans?

Wake up Church, it is the 21st Century!

Let's stop laughing about lipstick on hockey moms or failed-policy pigs. Let's start looking at how to empower both moms and dads from all walks of life for the coming Innovation Economy.

Why? Because when that call comes into the White House at 3 am, next time, it will not be because of Al-Qaeda. It will be a call about American competitiveness, as Thomas Friedman says, related the rise of China and India in a hot, flat and crowded world.