“we’re putting your logo in lights”

As Dawn Nicole put it, “it was like watching my kids faces on Christmas.” I was thrilled and excited to see that come together. I was even more excited that my creativity led to someone else pouring out their creativity.

And it didn’t stop there…it was also drawn out in chalk in the cafe, and even given it’s own drink!

That’s how creativity works. It awakes areas of our brain as if to give it permission to explore and venture out. It opens up doors we never saw before. I see it all the time when a pastor allows us to speak creativity into a message; it’s not just about what we do creatively but it sparks new ideas for the pastor as well. I love the look on a pastor’s face as it hits them. They too have that Christmas morning look, ready to run and explore creative ways to bring the gospel.

It’s also a great example of how creativity builds momentum. It started when I poured out my creativity into the logo and continued as others poured out their creativity into bringing it to life in various forms.

And it comes in all shapes in sizes…it even finds its place in the men’s room.

What’s your story of creativity breeding creativity?

Microsoft launched a store. The store looks nice. In fact it even looks cool. People are talking about their store. Sounds like everything is a big win. All the requirements have been met.

But wait…they left out creative and original, and ended up creating a store that looks like they, like everyone else, wants to be just like Apple. The new commercial should be “Hi I’m a PC…and I want to be a Mac.”

The lesson: Don’t discount creativity and originality. Embrace creativity in your efforts to be effective.

Want to see creative + effective? Check out an unboxing of an Apple employee T-shirt.

But the top item on my to do list from the conference is something that wasn’t covered in any of the talks, not included in any of the handouts. It came from just being around some of the most creative people on the planet. Just being around them, sharing a lunch with them, watching them sparked my own creativity. My goal is to make the church the most creative place on the planet, what better way to do that than to be constantly surrounded by creativity. This to do list has the simple heading of Stay Creative. Here are some of the action items, for me, under that heading:

Take a pottery class
Take a Bob Ross painting class
Attend the architectural exhibit at MCFTA
Visit the Saginaw Art Museum
Make a sock puppet
Play with chalk art
Tour the Alden B. Dow house

Now this is just a beginning list for me and let me just say, if I can find this many outlets in my little town you can have even more fun exploring new perspectives of creativity in yours. For me it’s all about becoming a sponge for the creativity to soak in and surrounding myself with inspiring people and things. Then, later when I’m working on a project (which could be your project) I can squeeze that sponge and let the creativity drip all over it.

What’s on your list? Where do you go to find inspiration and creativity?

Surround yourself with happy when you’re brainstorming…surround people with happy when they experience your design.

Next month I will be speaking at the HOW Design and Creativity Conference in Austin, TX. This is the premiere conference for designers, creative directors, and communicators attracting people from around the world to learn and connect with others. This is a very different type of conference for me as it’s not ministry leaders, pastors, etc. these folks are the best of the best in the fields of design and creativity. I remember sharing an elevator with one of the attendees who was a major player at the Disney Channel. Talk about serving a HUGE God, these are doors that man could never open on their own, I absolutely know that it is God’s favor that has given me this opportunity.

In case you haven’t heard, this year I will be talking about vomit and ninjas…that’s all I’m going to tell you for now but I do hope you’ll consider joining me in Austin in June. (if you sign up and give me credit I’ll probably end up with some goodies to give away)

I’ll get a bit of a rest for traveling until September when I kick off a number of exciting conferences:

September: ministryCOM
October: Cultivate + Story (read more about this here)
October: The Anabaptist Communicators Conference (complete with Amish farms)
November: Dirt

I’ll talk more about all these as we get closer.

PLEASE if you are going to be at any of these, or in the area, I want to connect with you. The best part of all these conferences really aren’t the presentations, the best part are the people.

God deserves better than that. More than that, God desires better than that.

John Acuff has a great response to this. He thinks we’ve missed God’s love letter to the artist.

At the heart of it, the reason the church is not known as being a global leader in creativity and excellence is pretty simple. We missed God’s love letter to artists.

He’s talking about this verse:

“and I have filled him (Bezalel) with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

Do I have your attention? Go check out the full post at Stuff Christians Like. But please, don’t just read it and nod your head…spread the word and embrace the position God has placed the artist in His church.

P.S. This makes me wish I had a cool accent.

Eames designed some of the most beautiful, even by today’s standards, creations and this clip brings a number of bits of wisdom that we can bring to design.

The design based on attitude. They don’t try to fit to a certain fashion or trend. In a day when every church marketing piece has to have grunge, or copy pop culture it’s a good reminder that the best design, the best marketing, has a personality and is packed full of its own attitude. Their work is remarkable because they dug down deep and found the remarkable in their own creativity. Certainly they had artistic influences all around them (you should too…on purpose) but their work carried a uniqueness only found when you determine to find the personality in a piece of work.

Timing was on their terms. Now this only works when you truly want something remarkable, but they weren’t put into time restraints. Production wasn’t the goal, creating something so beautiful that it forced people to pause was. Sunday is coming and we most certainly have deadlines, but maybe we would be better off adjusting our process to give room for creativity than adjusting our creativity to fit our process. It’s essential if we truly want excellence.

They created thier own market. All of what they did and how they did it resulted in not just remarkable furniture but also in creating a market uniquely theirs. The people that made up this market would settle for nothing less than unique well thought out design with intent and purpose. You couldn’t create something to take its place. Sure, you could buy a lounge chair today…but it would never hold up to an Eames loung chair. Just being the church will draw a crowd. Sometimes we need to remember to stop serving a market and simple be the church.

We serve a creative God and I believe He pours creativity into us. And yet instead of setting the pace, the church chases other people’s ideas. They steal the title of a hot TV show, create a poor rendition of the graphic and call it creative. Honestly, it’s pathetic.

I’ve heard it many times, “nothing is new“, but that doesn’t give license to steal. Instead let it remind you to take ideas, be inspired by them, and create something new. Picasso once said that “originality lay in having the most obscure sources for your ideas“…Here’s a great example that I wasn’t aware of until today. The iPod started as a pocket radio, the iMac started as a speaker….and they were all inspired by Braun.

The difference between what Apple did and what the church is guilty of is that they didn’t simply copy the pocket radio, the took inspiration from it and developed something so “new” that it changed the way people listen to music. They didn’t simply copy someone else’s idea but they brought old ideas together with new ideas to create something remarkable.

So what? Why is this important to you, to the church? Why should you be original? Here are just a few reasons:

• Okay, there’s the obvious: “Though shall not steal.” That should really be enough, but let’s keep going.
• When you steal and idea and just return a cheap rendition you look…cheap. If it’s not better than the original idea why should anyone pay attention.
• Stealing an idea breeds laziness which blinds you to new and more effective ways to communicate.
• We are called to excellence…taking someone elses idea as your own produces lukewarm results.
• Your rendition of Desperate Housewives really only impresses yourself and maybe some other churches – those that you are trying to reach are just not paying attention because there’s nothing new to pay attention to.
• Copying the latest campaign by XYZ Church that worked so well for them? Well, they developed it, researched it … it may very well not go over in your neighborhood.
• There are too many places to go for inspiration. Try the Church Markeing Lab or send me a note.
• Because original ideas stick.
  

When Steve Jobs gets ready to announce the latest Apple products remember everyone is waiting for remarkable ideas and those ideas were created through inspiration.

I’d love to hear from you. What do you think?