Creativity Archives - Page 4 of 5

Wear a mask! There’s a difference between self-expression and being selfish.

Rich KirkpatrickJanuary 13, 20210452 views

The most helpful creatives among us know this truth by painful experience: Our selfishness never helps us. It, in fact, has the opposite effect. When individual rights seem suspended, the idea of the “greater good” takes a back seat. For my Christian friends and family, the ethic of taking care of your neighbor divides our churches and our homes. Wearing a mask has become a violation of rights to some rather than a symbol or method of safety. Closing businesses upends livelihoods and shatters dreams. Disrupted worship services keep us away from the fuel of our faith and fellowship of our friends. We don’t walk this life alone, and this pandemic keeps us alone. Selfishness is a powerful tempter. And, at the moment, we are vulnerable to its seduction. My feelings are important, but how about the health of my loved ones? In LA County, our health officer’s life has…

Flexing the Muscle of Imagination: The hard work of creativity

Rich KirkpatrickAugust 5, 20200538 views

Leading worship requires a heavy dose of administrative strengths. There are team members to schedule, music to arrange and distribute, plans to execute, and budgets to keep. Just because you sing and hold a guitar doesn’t mean you automatically get to create! Yes, you serve by making music and prayers work in service for your church. Yes, the desire for unique artistic expression worthy of a worship service rate high on the task list. But, imagination takes a back seat.

Country music isn’t that bad!

Joel BucknerFebruary 28, 20170738 views

Over the past few weeks, my worship team has been reading The HD Leader by Derwin Gray. The book speaks about building multiethnic churches and embracing diversity. According to the book, a homogeneous church is one that is made up of 80 percent or more of the same ethnicity. Ring any bells? I certainly grew up in a church that was homogenous. Every Sunday we had a full-on production: big choir, praise and worship team, a loud and passionate preacher, and it wasn’t church without a b3 Hammond organ. My church experience shaped my perception of what worship was “supposed” to look and sound like. It was what I was comfortable with, and for a long time, it was all I knew. I moved to Nashville, the music mecca, a few years after college and my perception of worship and church began to change as I was exposed to new…

Creatives: Here’s How to Make Sensitivity a Strength Instead of a Trap

Rich KirkpatrickJanuary 23, 20160210 views

Many who are very creative deal with this thing called sensitivity. It means that there sometimes is a thought, experience or encounter that most people easily forget that stays fresh in the mind of a creative. The ability to relive an event in full color can bring forth an amazing song or powerful painting. But, both the pleasure and the pain can be a trap to the creative if not leveraged properly. Perhaps, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) inflicts more of us than others for the same reason. If the event was positive, then disappointment of current reality could lead to depression. Worse, the most painful moments in life fade slowly, leaving an open wound in need of healing. The healing process for a creative then is a bit different–because creatives truly are, differnt. Where others may cope by refocusing on a new activity, the creative is trapped, stuck, obsessed. So,…

The dance: Create to tell a story. Innovate to solve a problem.

Rich KirkpatrickApril 21, 20150277 views

There are two types of creativity needed as humans. We have presented issues that need addressing and to be creative in this case mean people work to solve what needs to be solved. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. Things that are “needed” get the resources, the cash, the spotlight. This is true in our spiritual leadership, as well. Culturally, we are locked into a love affair with making things “work” which is not entirely a bad thing. The problem comes when the other leg of creativity is neglected and even denounced. You see, aesthetics are hard to justify as expenditures when your only vision of creativity is one of utility. This modernist thinking clashes with our souls, yet we still in our leadership worship “what works.”