Category Archives: Creative Process
Let’s start with the good first.
People come to church on Easter and Christmas. They are almost a captive audience. They will come at a friends invitation more readily than any other time of the year. And this is a good thing.
However, in my mind it gives me even more cause to make sure that the programming is clear and captivating. And no I didn’t say entertaining. We don’t have to put on a show, but we do need to make the presentation smooth. It does need to flow and make sense to them. It also needs to captivate and demand their attention. And that take planning.
And I could go many different places for this discussion, but I’ve decided to camp out in one small place — the place where many of our creative team’s minds go when they think of holiday programming — to the bad and ugly.
Why is holiday programming so dreaded?
Let me give you some of my brief thoughts and experiences. And I’m gonna break it up into four categories::
Lack of Planning — if your team has trouble planning ahead for the regular week, well, nothing will probably change for the holidays. But often times I see good planning for 50 weeks of the year and a hesitation when it comes to getting the plans made for holidays. I think I know why. It’s the same story every year. Easter and Christmas doesn’t change, but we want to think of a fresh way of telling these stories. OK. Then isn’t that another reason to get to planning early. And you know that the programming is often more intense — more crammed into the same time slot. Be careful of that, but if that’s what you always do — plan!!
Poor Process — and this has everything to do with the first, but in a bigger way. You just have to put more planning into holidays. Start earlier and work longer on the plan. But if your overall process is flawed, then you will not be able to leave yourself enough time to plan the big holiday program. Frankly, the other 50 weeks will squeeze the holiday life right out of you and your team. In short, you have to have your ducks in a row all year in order for there to be resources remaining for the holiday program.
Personnel — on Monday I tagged this as ill-informed personnel — and this an important tag and where I want spend my time. (but there are many other places I could go on this subject). So this is what I mean. Holiday programming is different. There is often a higher standard placed on these weekends. And often there is a different twist to these weekends and at the same time they need to be much like the other 50 weeks of the year. The pastor often has a special place in his heart for holiday programming. So as I blab on I’m really trying to say the leader of the creative arts will need to make sure the team is well informed on what is expected for these special weekends. Do they know the goal? the target? the sameness of the weekend? and the differences? What the pastor is communicating?
Your Pastor — of course the creative arts team will blame the difficulties on the pastor. That’s why I wrote my book — relationship issues. But let me explain why the creatives may be right this time. Read carefully. As I mentioned earlier, it takes planning to make holiday programming successful. The other difficulty mentioned is that there is a problem finding freshness in the same Easter and Christmas story. These two together can sink you. And what I often see is that these two paralyze the pastor. They have a problem deciding on a way to communicate the story in a new way and they often freeze. Which delays planning? Which delays planning? Which delays planning? oops — now we scramble and there isn’t enough time remaining. And now we have stress. And now we hate holiday programming — again.
Plan!
Force the Issue!
Plan!
Inform!
Get to it early! Very early!
I’ve said it many times, “The weekend comes every 7 days.” And that simple fact keeps a church creative arts team busy.
The ebb and flow of the year keeps us on our toes. And frankly, it seems that the rhythm of the year never seems to let up. We seem to always push ourselves to be better — much better.
The creative circle turns at a rapid pace. 52 turns per year.
And in that cycle are holidays. And I know what just happened when you read that — you felt a pit in your stomach or maybe you just rolled you eyes in an attempt to push away the obvious emotions the thought brings.
We know those holidays are coming. They’re on the schedule almost always at the same times each year and yet many creative teams dread them. Why?
Could it be :: lack of Planning? poor Process? wrong or ill-informed Personnel? of is it your Pastor?
In my opinion, there are some obvious things that cause the problems. And there are roadblocks that we don’t want to see. There truly is a good, bad and ugly to this holiday discussion.
On Wednesday, I’ll spell out my thoughts. Don’t miss it.
Creatives create. And it’s hard to turn it off, but we must. On Monday I wrote about a time when creating is inappropriate.
“What?” you ask. “Are you kidding me? I always create. I can’t stop creating.”
Well you must, because when you start to create, you almost always stop listening. And I fully understand how this can happen. I used to do it and I have to talk myself into listening and out of creating when the temptation presents itself.
This is how the scenario goes :: your Pastor starts to describe an exciting sermon series. As he describes his communication strategy you begin to construct in your fertile mind absolutely brilliant artistic ideas. And you can’t wait to to describe your genius.
So you stop listening.
Not a good idea. Your artistic idea might be, but it might be more brilliant if you listened to the entire story.
That’s what I’ve learned both personally and as I’ve observed other Creatives the last 27 years of ministry.
As I mentioned in Monday’s blog :: listen fully. His words. His description. His theology. His goals. His passion. And also what He is asking of you and the creative team.
In other words :: learn to listen louder than you create.
You will actually create more and create much more impactfully.
We continue our conversation about listening.
Reason Two: Creatives are too busy trying to create in the moment and are distracted from actually listening.
Oh, and this happens more times than most are willing to admit. All of us do it even on a daily conversation level. Someone is talking and we begin thinking of what we’re going to say before they are finished.
That isn’t listening at its finest.
But when we put it in the context of creating — and more precise, into the picture of listening to your pastor as he describes his desires for a sermon series. Now, there’s a real problem.
And here’s one of those times when it is not appropriate to create.
It is, however, an excellent time to listen.
- Listen fully to what he is saying
- Listen fully to what he is describing
- Listen fully to what God is telling him
- Listen fully to what he is asking the congregation to learn and take away
- Listen fully to what he is asking you to do
And then … pause … and think about what you’ve learned from listening.
And then, and only then …
Create!
Note: Wednesday, I’ll follow this conversation with how to listen louder than you create. See you then.
These are often the reasons I detect when talking with teams about their creative problems. Specifically when it comes to listening. Difficulties with the creative process or systems will often stem from one of these three.
Here are the listening problems:
- They truly don’t understand what the Pastor is saying. This means they hear a different language being spoken.
- They are too busy trying to create in the moment and are distracted from actually listening.
- They don’t care. Sometimes artist’s think they have a better and more culturally relevant way of communicating, so they a low opinion of the pastor’s position on the issue.
I posted an explanation for reason #1 in December 2012 and thought we’d start 2013 with an expanded explanation for the last two.
Reason #2 is very hard for a Creative to resist. Your pastor is describing what he wants to communicate in a worship experience or in a sermon series and your mind begins to race. You begin thinking of all the ideas that you want to talk about — ideas that would make the communication clear and interesting and artistic.
But there’s a problem. You’re thinking. Not listening.
Resist that temptation. Listen completely. Listen louder than you are thinking. Ask questions. Make sure you understand every aspect of what he is saying and the ideas he wants to communicate.
Then … and only then
You begin offering ideas.
Even after ideas begin to be shared, there will be tweaking. There will be clarification. And you will even more and better understand what he was saying after this added and augmented conversation.
Listening begins with … listening. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Try it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It was a very creative year for me and my team at Sun Valley. But more than that, 2012 brought us:
- Almost 500 Baptisms for 2012
- Sun Valley gave well over $200 thousand to local and foreign missions just during Easter and Christmas initiatives
- Over 100 said “Yes” to Christ at Christmas
- That’s just a brief sampling
We are very happy to see the Kingdom expand. Blessed! And we are looking forward to 2013. So, it’s time to get started — and I hope you’ll join me this year in this creative conversation.
CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
We spent most of December 2012 talking about listening. We also talked about the skill of listening.
The Main Point was :: Creatives may hear the pastor talking, but they’re not listening to what he is saying.
And here are three reasons I posted:
- They truly don’t understand what the Pastor is saying. This means they hear a different language being spoken.
- They are too busy trying to create in the moment and are distracted from actually listening.
- They don’t care. Sometimes artist’s think they have a better and more culturally relevant way of communicating, so they a low opinion of the pastor’s position on the issue.
These are often the reasons I see most when talking with teams with creative problems. Difficulties with the creative process or systems will often stem from one of these three.
On Wednesday I’ll continue the conversation on listening.
Last week I blogged about the importance of listening. In writing, I gave reasons why many creative individuals and sometimes entire creative teams have trouble with the concept of listening.
Reason One: Creatives truly don’t understand what their Pastor is saying. This means they hear a different language being spoken.
It is my opinion that this is the biggest reason why “listening” is compromised … by far. And this is a big reason I wrote my new book, The Blame Game . As a young worship pastor I finally came to realize that my pastor was speaking one language and I was speaking another. It took me a while to realize the true issue.
And it caused a lot of problems :: systematic problems, creative problems, and yes, relational problems. I wanted to listen. I really did, but what I was actually hearing was something far different than what he was saying. And it wasn’t that what I heard was far off, but different enough to cause a conceptual chasm.
In my book, I go into detail describing this problem. This problem will sink every creative effort. It will throw chaos into the communication between you and your pastor. This chasm will not be spanned until someone learns to interpret the conversation.
This is why there is a real need for a Creative Activist. This is someone who understands the role of the Pastor and the Creative equally well and becomes the interpreter (or go-between).
Their responsibility plays out in very specific ways: they receive the vision from the pastor and translate that to the creative arts team. This is critical. Another integral responsibility is to translate to the pastor, the often misunderstood, artist’s heart; continually expressing the feelings, the desires, and the struggles of the creative arts team.
This “interpreter” will also communicate in reverse; explaining the creative efforts and the plans of the creative team. It’s important to make sure listening (and understanding) happens in two directions.
On Wednesday I’ll also describe more of the difficulties you will encounter if Reason One isn’t resolved, but I’ll also point you strongly toward some fixes.
TO WHAT’S NOT BEING SAID
Yep. Listening is an art. And as I blogged this past Monday :: you need to listen to what’s being said.
I know that sounds stupid. You’re saying, “Of course I’m listening to what’s being said.”
Are you really? Are you picking up the emotion of the conversation? Are you hearing the passion behind what you’re pastor wants to deliver? Are you catching the details of the conversation and the truths he is asking you to help him convey?
He has a message to deliver. Do you know what the message is? Do you know what he wants the church community to walk away with?
Have you really listened? And that’s just a the half of it …
Another question :: Did you listen and hear what he didn’t say?
What? Yes, did you hear what he didn’t say? Were there in assumptions to this regard? How about filling information gaps with what you thought he meant or what you wanted with things you wanted him to say?
If he didn’t say them, he didn’t say them? You must ask for clarification on these things if you have questions.
No assumptions! Ever!
Unless …
It’s an unwritten rule or protocol that has already been discussed — those truths that the team has already discussed — they are items that have been decided upon and are systems the team wants to happen the same way every time. These things can go unspoken and they are still “heard and understood.”
So, when you listen, do you hear what’s being said …
and … what’s not being said ??
It will make your job much easier if you can learn to do these two things.
TO WHAT’S BEING SAID
This week I’m blogging about an important component of the Creative Process. Actually it’s one of the problems I detect when speaking to those struggling with building a strong creative system for their team.
The needed component is :: Listening
It’s an art — so you’d think creative types would be good at it. NOT!
And why not? I think it’s because they don’t listen to what’s being said. They may hear the pastor talking about the next sermon series, but they’re not listening to what he is saying.
And here are three reasons why I think they do this:
- They truly don’t understand what the Pastor is saying. This means they hear a different language being spoken.
- They are too busy trying to create in the moment and are distracted from actually listening.
- They don’t care. Sometimes artist’s think they have a better and more culturally relevant way of communicating, so they a low opinion of the pastor’s position on the issue.
These are often the reasons I see most when talking with teams with creative problems. Difficulties with the creative process or systems will often stem from one of these three.
I think I’ll finish this week blogging about the other “Listening Problem”. And then I’ll finish out the year talking about the above three reasons in much greater detail.
See ya Wednesday!
WET CEMENT
I’ve blogged about this concept a few times before. It’s a concept that any good creative process must remember and follow.
Wet Cement :: it’s important to make plans and nail down the specifics, however, the details need to be viewed as “wet cement” rather than concrete.
This means that anything can be tweaked along the way. If you have the opportunity to strengthen an idea or process, do it. It will increase the power of a communication initiative, a creative idea or complex system.
It’s true that timing is everything. And yes, this concept has it’s boundaries. You must be wise when implementing. In other words, there will be times when a change might strengthen an idea, but isn’t the right thing to do for the team. That is an important part of the picture.
And there’s one more twist to consider. Creatives will continue tweaking their creation for … well .. forever. If you let them. There is an appropriate time when you need to call it done — concrete. A creation has a point when any improvements won’t be noticed. It’s time for the Creative to move on and work on “perfecting” other projects.
Just a few thoughts for leaders of creative teams to consider!