It’s time again for the weekly download of all the randomness I can fit into a single post.
All posts tagged Blaine Hogan
I’m Thankful for Willow Creek
Now I know what you are thinking.
“Really? You are thankful for Willow Creek?”
I know that for most next gen leaders the words “Willow Creek” may evoke some different opinions or feelings. It may seem a bit dated or corporate, or even representing a ministry model that didn’t work. But hear me out.
Regardless of your thoughts or opinions on Willow Creek, the seeker-sensitive movement, or megachurches, you can’t deny the impact Willow Creek has made on the lives of thousands of people and church leaders over the past few decades.
In a time where church was boring and irrelevant, Willow Creek gave many church leaders a glimpse of what was possible. And, beyond a ministry model or ideas, Bill Hybels has, at his core, been committed to helping leaders become their best.
In August of 2002, I was 19 years old I was less than a year into my first job working for my church as a communications director. I had decided against going to Bible college since most Bible colleges don’t pride themselves on their media programs. All I knew was that there was something in my heart to want to serve the local church and all I had to offer to the cause were my Microsoft Publisher skills.
All of the elders from our church were going to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit but a few of them had to back out at the last minute. So, I got to take one of their places. I had no idea what was in store for me.
As I sat bewildered a the size of the room [and the fact that I was with some of the key leaders from my church], I heard Bill Hybels say his infamous phrase, “I believe that the local church is the hope of the world and its future rests in the hands of its leaders.”
In that moment I realized what God had placed in my hands… my design and writing skills and tech savvy… could be used to build the Church. And, I realized that regardless of my title, I was a leader. That moment changed my perspective and the trajectory of my ministry. I realized what I was doing wasn’t about bulletins or websites, it was part of me living out my calling.
I heard many other great leaders speak over the next couple of days but that moment is one I’ll never forget. And I’ve been at the Leadership Summit nearly every year since.
There are many great leadership conferences out there but for me, The Global Leadership Summit is one of the best because it brings together voices from inside and outside of the church, has introduced me to leaders and experts I’ve never heard before, and reinforces that thought that we, as church leaders, hold a sacred privilege of leading the church forward. Fast Company even recently featured the Global Leadership Summit and shared about its size and impact.
Now, if you’ve attended The Leadership Summit before and think you’ve been there, done that, I have to tell you that it’s changed dramatically over the couple few years. This year, the Global Summit Leadership will be in 200 cities in 75 countries internationally-and is projected to serve more than 100,000 leaders. In many ways it seems like they are returning to the heart of what it’s always been about: practically inspiring church leaders.
Example: Check out this awesome piece Blaine Hogan put together for the Global Leadership Summit last year:
BE HERE NOW from blaine hogan on Vimeo.
So all of that to say, regardless of even my own preconceived ideas, I am thankful for Willow Creek and The Global Leadership Summit. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for that fateful August afternoon back in 2002.
Last year I was privileged to serve with the Willow Creek Association team as a blogger for the Global Leadership Summit and this year I helped organize a group of bloggers who will be helping share and extend the Global Leadership Summit experience online:
We’ll be blogging next Thursday and Friday during the 2011 Global Leadership Summit with guest speakers including: Seth Godin, Erwin McManus, Howard Schultz, Steven Furtick and more.
It’s not too late to register to attend at one of 185 satellite locations around the country. More info here.
Follow the madness here, on Facebook, on the WCA blog, on Twitter, or with the hashtag #wcagls.
And… I’ve got 2 tickets to giveaway for those of you who a) have never been to the Global Leadership Summit before or b) have been before but it’s been awhile. You’ll need to be available all day next Thursday and Friday, August 11-12 and be near one of the Global Leadership Summit satellite locations to win [the Barrington onsite location is sold-out].
To win, comment below and share how the ministry of Willow Creek has positively impacted you and indicate whether or not you’ve attended the Global Leadership Summit in the past.
I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday morning, August 5, at 9 AM.
Hope to see you at the Summit!
Echoes from Echo
Last week I braved the sweltering heat and onslaught of megachurches with big crosses to attend the Echo Church Media Conference in Dallas. This is the fourth year of Echo’s existence and I’m proud to say I’m 4/4 in attendance.
Billing itself as a conference for “geeks, artists and storytellers,” Echo is kind of like band camp for church nerds. You’ve never seen so many iDevices, black rimmed glasses, plaid shirts and man bags in your life. And, it’s one of the rare conferences where it’s actually a good thing if the audience is all looking at their laptops and typing away when a speaker is talking.
All joking aside, Echo is like a giant family reunion and one event I look forward to every year. Not only is the content practical and applicable, the relationships and connection that happen there are invaluable.
This year did not fail to disappoint and strangely, it seemed like all of the speakers seemed to be echoing the same message: DO THE WORK.
Having attended my fair share of church conferences [and many related to creativity/media] it seems like we’ve been on a journey as a group of church geeks, artists, and creatives.
A few years ago, we were seeking affirmation for our role in churches. We didn’t know many people like us were out there and we were just beginning to get our bearings and find our voice.
Then, we focused on creativity… where it comes from, where to find it and how to express it.
In the last couple of years the idea of story or storytelling has been central. We’ve all recognized that regardless of our craft and our day-to-day job title, that central to all we do is the narrative we express through our art. We’re all storytellers.
And, it seems like the message coming across the loudest and strongest lately is the idea of making all of our ideas and creative pursuits a reality. To stop talking and to start doing. To move from ideation to execution. To move from thoughts to action.
Jon Acuff reminded us that God has given us unique gifts and talents, and we can’t sit on them, we must use them to help rebuild people’s lives and build the Church.
Blaine Hogan, who has literally written the book on the creative process, challenged us with the idea that our art is our confession. “Your job as an artist is to journey through self-reflection and inner work and to take what you find and carry that light into the darkness.”
Culture-maker Andy Crouch admonished us to remember our goal isn’t to make culture safe for people, but to rather, embrace the full catastrophe, showing God’s grace amidst the chaos.
Focusing on our desire to be known, Bianca Olthoff (formerly Juarez) said, “Our identity changes when we encounter the living God. Our art should reflect that.”
Scott Belsky brought the house down in a rapid-fire dissection of his book “Makig Ideas Happen,” which is a must-read for anyone in the creative field.
And Kem Meyer challenged us with the idea of gaining more influence by giving up control.
There were many other great session and voices at Echo this year. Here’s a link to more notes and I highly encourage you to check out the recordings from this year to get the full dose of awesome from Echo.
My personal take-away from this year was to define my process. Instead of having scattered ideas or thoughts, I need to define my process and create the mechanism to capture and catalog my ideas. And, most importantly, to articulate the process to get those ideas into action.
What we all do matters.
The day and age we live in demands we all do the work of the creative process for the Cause that’s greater than ourselves.
Our world is waiting and it’s longing and we, through our various creative endeavors, can bring the light of hope into the darkness. We just have to do the hard work of cultivating our skills and talents to bring that light to bear.
We can have all of the right tools and talents but unless they [along with our pride] our surrendered and committed to Christ, we’re hopeless to do the work that truly matters.
Echo is a unique and fitting name. While it seemed like a lot of the speakers were echoing each other, they were all communicating a message we need to hear.
We’re called to echo God’s truth, grace, beauty, and love to our world. In order to make an echo, we have to speak. We have to work. We have to do something.
So, I hope those of you who were there or those who followed online will chose to act and be an echo to your community and your context.
The work we all do matters too much for us not to act.
A huge thanks to Rob Thomas, Scott McClellan and the entire team behind Echo… hats off to you for creating space for us church geeks, artists, and storytellers to learn, grow, connect, and be inspired to do the work!
Blaine Hogan :: #Echo11
- The blank page is terrifying.
- As an actor and creative director he’s tried to write something about the creative process every single day.
- His new book, Untitled, is a manifesto.
- It’s the artist’s job to accept that the work will be very, very hard; to understand the importance of deep reflection and to fight the forces of fear and resistance, all in the name of filling blank pages with beauty.
This is Hard Work
- Creating on demand is very, very hard.
- There’s no magic to making inspired and meaningful arts.
No one cares about your ideas. – Paul Arden
- No cares about your ideas, they care about the execution of the vision.
- Execution is everything.
- Never, ever ever under-sell something so that you can over-deliver.
- It’s counterintuitive.
- We want to self-protect.
- Great art is only made in the face of fear.
- Really great ideas come at the cost of many other good ideas.
- Creativity is work.
- It’s a discipline.
Scratch When You Don’t Itch
- Establish a discipline of cultivating ideas even when you don’t need them.
- Hunt for ideas.
- Gather them together.
- Catalog your thoughts and ideas.
- Make a routine of cultivating ideas.
- You can’t afford to not have a practice of cultivating creative ideas.
- Always let the back of your mind be working so when the front of your mind is asked to work there are a cache of ideas waiting.
- For blogging, write down phrases that could be a blog post.
- Even though it feels tedious, your work will never be done.
- Do the work now so you’ll have the ideas later.
- Inspiration comes to someone who is available.
- It has nothing to do with ideas, it’s about practicing the idea of being available.
- Creativity is more about being than doing.
- It’s a way of thinking.
- To think differently you need to still yourself to hear.
Remove
- Our tendency is to add more.
- For some reason artists in the church are rarely OK with mysteries.
- We want facts and clarity.
- We think to clarify we need to add more, and more, and more.
- Remove everything but the essential bits.
- Take all of your ideas but as you get closer to execution ask what are the absolute essentials to telling a story. Toss the rest.
- It’s not about being simplistic.
- You have to have all of the content to start with before you can whittle it down.
Constrain
- “Full creative freedom” really means that we won’t submit to a creative process or deadlines.
- There needs to be something to contain your work.
- We need something to push against to make something really good.
- To create meaningful work, artists need constraints.
- Creativity and art-making only happen in tension.
- Tension happens when we give ourselves something to push up against.
- Creativity is not a noun.
- Without constraints, nothing grows in me – or the art.
The Importance of Inner Work
- The best art in all of the world comes from a place within the artist.
- If people skip on their inner work, their outer work will suffer as well. – Parker Palmer
- Most people don’t put themselves in uncomfortable situations intentionally.
- Awkwardness creates space.
- There’s something about putting yourself in a situation that makes you uncomfortable that can free you.
- Example: Happy Friday Dance Parties
- Increase your capacity for discomfort.
Your art is your confession.
- The word confession has a dual meaning.
- Your job as an artist is to journey through self-reflection and inner work and to take what you find and carry that light into the darkness.
- Art is a spiritual experience.
- Art seeks to tell the truth in dark places.
Content Before Medium. Don’t Prove a Point. Tell Me a Story.
- There are many artists who have great tools but don’t have anything to say.
- Tools should be used in the purpose of telling a greater story.
- Have something to say.
- Use the tool to say it.
- The lack of tools can be a blessing… you have constraints.
- Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, focus on the story you’re telling.
- The medium must always be in service of the content.
- You are storytellers not salesman.
- We confuse that in the Christian world.
- It’s easy to sell people something, it’s something completely different to get them to believe.
- Great stories don’t tell us what to think.
- Great stories help us believe.
- Don’t prove a point.
- Dont’ talk for people, talk to them.
- The creative process is like making a wild animal human.
- We get to make something beautiful that changes people.
- What we do is worth it.
