Friday, February 28, 2014

(Re) Making something NEW

How many versions of Godzilla have been made? According to my "research," (on the Internet), around THIRTY-ish. That's a lot of sequels since the original.
But will that stop me, or millions of other people,  from going to see the new one? Heck no! (Especially because it stars Bryan Cranston).


King Solomon said, there was NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.

Some preachers use that as an excuse to steal other people's stories and put them in the first person. Some artists use that excuse to do bad work, and still others roll their eyes at that statement and feel stuck, bored, and uninspired.

But others hear that, and hear an opportunity. They hear a challenge, an adventure, an outright MANDATE to CREATE, to TURN THINGS AROUND....and to find something new.


Making NEW stuff energizes me, and sometimes it exhausts me. It takes time. It takes work. Sometimes I am going constantly, non-stop with no breathing room to rest. There's always a deadline, another series, story, or branding to create. And there are some cheap and easy solutions. There are tons of "stock images" available to use for branding, canned videos, photos that other churches have used for their stuff, etc. (And yes, occasionally we have to use them, and not just because of time, but because they are good!).  I'm not bagging on using other people's stuff, because truly I hope other people use the stuff I create, just like musicians hope we sing the songs they write (and we do).

But when I'm tasked with casting vision for teams/events/gatherings etc, most times, I feel the need to make something new, that tells my story, OUR story, a NEW STORY, and with our people collaborating to do it.

It's a blast, and not only encourages me, but I see how all involved in making and consuming it get something out of it.

So, for me,  this next season if full of creating, or RE-Creating. Good Friday and Easter will hold some great new experiences for our faith community. Our  CREATIVE CREW,  an artistic community of Redwood City, will be trying some new projects together, too.

And THIS SUNDAY, 3/2/14,  we'll be debuting a brand new song written on the inspiration of Biblical wisdom, by David Cowart & Caleb Ibanez. An offering, if you will, of music and story.

Our church is studying the Biblical book of PROVERBS, we call it, THE GOOD LIFE, because it is full of truth to guide our life. I commissioned two creative musicians to tell a new story, finding something fresh to say with their musical abilities. I'm excited to share it (free), with our community.

I'll link the song to this blog, and we'll put it out on our social media handles, too. So you can download it for FREE!
So, until then...