Posted on

10 Written Resources to Boost Creativity

This week I had the opportunity to speak with a group of pastors about creativity. I know, I know. The word “sermon” has bad connotations in modern American society. But this is a group of guys who really wants their people to pay attention and be engaged in the saving message of the Gospel.

As I prepared for the presentation I poked around my library of books so that I could share some resources with the group. I discovered that I have quite a growing collection of written materials pertaining to creativity and the creative process. The pastors asked if I would share a list of these resources with them.

It occurred to me that if they wanted to be enlightened by these resources, you might want to as well. So here is a list, in no particular order, of books and materials that I have found to be helpful in my creative journey. If you are interested in purchasing any of them, you can just click the link and it will take you right to the place where you can get your own copy.

I promise that reading these books will enhance your creativity, whether you are a pastor, writer, teacher, fundraiser, non-profit executive…or whatever you happen to be. Check these out:

  1. A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young. Originally written as a presentation for advertising people, this classic applies to anyone searching for a formula for producing ideas. It’s simple…but I warn you it’s not easy.
  2. Caffeine for the Creative Mind, by Stefan Mamaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. Here are 250 exercises to stretch your brain and get the creative ideas flowing.
  3. Poke the Box, by Seth Godin. If you’re having trouble starting, heres a great little book from uber-blogger, Seth Godin. You’ll read it in one sitting and refer to it over and over again.
  4. The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. The subtitle of this book is “Winning the Inner Creative Battle.” Every creative person knows that battle. “The Resistance” does not want you to create. Here is an excellent treatise on overcoming that creative battle. Every communicator or creative of any kind should read this at least three times.
  5. Do the Work, by Steven Pressfield. This “sort of” sequel to The War of Art is an excellent follow-up. The back cover of this little book says: “A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with out big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” Read it. You’ll love it.
  6. Making Ideas Happen, by Scott Belsky. Sometimes coming up with ideas isn’t the hard part. Sometimes it’s actually putting those ideas into practice and making them happen. Belsky has studied creatives for years, and provides proven techniques to make sure that your ideas are turned into action.
  7. Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath. The Heath’s studied some urban legends, and figured out why they stuck around, even though they are untrue. How about your message? How do you get it to stick? Here are some fantastic ways to do just that.
  8. The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp. Twyla Tharp is one of the most famous and hardest-working choreographers of our day. But you certainly don’t have to be a dancer to get a great deal out of this book to enhance your creativity. Tharp gives great exercises for you to use when you need that creative spark.
  9. The Collaborative Habit, by Twyla Tharp. Sometimes the creative habit is done within the context of teams. This book is an excellent map for finding your way through creative collaborations in a harmonious, productive way.
  10. Thinkertoys, by Michael Michalko. This is “a handbook of creative-thinking techniques.” It helps you to “rethink the way you think.” The book includes hundreds of hints, tricks, tips, and puzzles. Enjoy!

There’s a start to my list. What books can you suggest for me?

Posted on

Engaging a Robust Community on Facebook

Our congregation, Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, recently hired PurePR to help us with our communication, evangelism, branding, and social media strategy. The experience was so beneficial, so rewarding, and so worthwhile, that we are still reaping the benefits.

One of the things that we did as a result of PurePR’s recommendation was to create a Social Media Ministry team. They are charged with taking over our church’s Facebook page and Twitter account. The group has enjoyed their task so much that they can’t wait to meet with one another and plan more strategy. They are doing a fantastic job engaging Mt. Calvary’s community…and beyond. Our statistics of engagement have dramatically increased since we have been intentional about our social media engagement.

PurePR’s suggestions were meant specifically for Mt. Calvary and our ministry, but by adapting them just a bit, I know they would be helpful to you and your ministry, non-profit, or small business, too. Try the following suggestions and I guarantee that your will see much greater engagement both virtually and in “reality.”

Weekly:

  1. Share one original article pertaining to your unique mission and/or focus.
  2. Share one idea or activity for your constituency.
  3. Ask two “frivolous” questions (not necessarily pertaining to your ministry or business) to engage interest.
  4. Ask for prayer requests or other input.
  5. Highlight one aspect of your non-profit, ministry, or business using photos, video, or personal testimony. 

Twice a Month:

  1. Feature one testimonial told via a note or video that tells a story about your ministry, business, or non-profit.

Monthly:

  1. Post an engaging discussion that speaks to the deeper mission of your ministry, business, or non-profit.
  2. Post a video blog from the leader of the organization talking about how things are going and recasting the mission/vision.
  3. Post useful articles and tips on 20 other Facebook pages related to your ministry, business, or non-profit.
  4. Spend 30 minutes “listening” to conversations on other Facebook pages and observing behavior (good/bad) in social spaces.
  5. Seek and “fan” five new pages per month.
What would you add to these lists?
Posted on

Are You Jumping or Falling?

Rarely have I ever finished a book, put it down, and wanted to pick it right back up again and read it. That was the case when I finished Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me, by Ian Cron. It’s funny, touching, sad, and poignant. And it ends…well, it ends…in the place you would want anything and everything to end.

An especially engaging part happens late in the book. It’s a riveting story about a quarry-turned-swimming-hole where a family adventure takes place. I won’t give it away. You’ll have to read it for yourself. But the story includes these wise words:

There is a big difference in life between a jump and a fall. A jump is about courage and faith, something the world is in short supply of these days. A fall is, well, a fall.

Are you jumping today…or falling? It seems to me that falling is:

  • lacking control
  • letting it happen
  • losing to the force of gravity

On the other hand, jumping is:

  • having control
  • making it happen
  • defying the force of gravity

Taking a leap is scary because, as Cron says, it requires courage and faith. But a fall is even more dreadful. There’s no courage. There’s no faith.

Courage and faith overcome the terror of falling and make it instead an exhilarating, exuberant jump into the unknown or only semi-known. It gets the blood rushing and the adrenaline flowing. It’s exciting and inspiring.

A fall often ends in injury.

A leap ends with the idea to push the proverbial envelope and do it again…or do even more.

A leap means moving to New York City, Nashville, or New Orleans if that’s what it takes to fulfill a dream. It means having the courage to do what others only think of doing. It means having the faith that no matter where the path leads there will be the gold of growth at the end.

Don’t settle for falling.

Take the leap.

You have the courage and faith.

You know you do.

What leap are you taking today? Please share your exhilarating jump in the comments below.

Posted on

Tim Sanders Teaches How to Be Rich with Confidence

Tim Sanders wrote Love is the Killer App and Today We Are Rich. He was one of Mark Cuban’s first employees and Broadcast.com. Tim was also Chief Solutions Officer and Leadership Coach at Yahoo during their hey day.

Tim Sanders deals in the commodity of confidence. It flows from him like water spewing out of Chicago’s Grant Park fountain. I know. I saw him and heard him speak at this year’s re:create conference in Franklin, Tennessee.

Creativity is fed by confidence. Sanders recommends investing a couple of hours a day into building confidence. It starts with the proper mind set: get to instead of hope to. A woman with cancer demonstrated this by the attitude she took each day: “Today I get to…..beat cancer, get a chance to live, have another opportunity, be with those beautiful nurses who care for me…”

Sanders gave us a taste of his “principles of confidence.” They apply not only to creativity, but to most other areas of life:

Feed Your Mind Good Stuff. Put yourself on a “mind diet.” Don’t listen to or watch negative news or voices. Feed your mind good stuff. Just like breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the first 45 minutes of each day is “breakfast for the brain” time. Get up every day and eat slow food for the mind: Read books. Contemplate them, take notes. Use this reading time to crowd gossip, jealousy, and negativity off the plate for the day.

Move the Conversation Forward. As you deal with people, focus conversations on solutions, not problems. Ask the questions: What have we got? What are our assets? Don’t fix blame. Make a list of assets! If someone wants to be the devil’s advocate realize that he or she is over-subscribed. The devil’s advocate doesn’t need you! The devil’s advocate is threatened in some way, shape, or form! Allowing the devil’s advocate to play that game is giving “permission to bully.” Instead of playing the devil’s advocate yourself, ask a question instead of criticizing. Answer questions with a sense of positivity. (And recognize that many of the things that bug you are you; often your problem is that you didn’t have the idea.) Beware of “The Sky Is Falling” Chicken Little’s in your organization. Stamp out that attitude. Challenge people: “Where are you coming from?” And don’t hire people who criticize their last boss. They will inevitably end up criticizing you.

Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle. Gratitude is not a feeling, it’s a muscle. Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Fill up and infuse a sense of gratitude in your life. The word “gratitude” means “gracious attitude.” As a way of exercising it, give thanks today to two people who helped you in your work yesterday. Be thankful for people in your life who are helping you achieve your dreams. People help you either because they love you, or they are on board with the mission. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Champion the champions in your life. Be the opposite of the haters. Be appreciative for the people who contribute to your success. Then turn it around and help them.

Give to Be Rich. Find opportunities to be generous. Giving is a wonder drug. No ailment can withstand its healing power. When you help the helpless you believe in humanity even more. Be part of the solution instead of the problem. Good will is the original viral marketing. Respond to tragedy with generosity.

Prepare Your Self. Preparation will change everything. “The readers of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” Anything done well takes time. In fact, it takes 4 hours to get 1 our of creative work done. Rehearse writing before you write. Rehearse being creative. Do the prep and then give yourself time to let the idea incubate. When you’re in doubt, relive a successful experience. Your self-image defines how high you can fly. Store success at your front door. We store too much doubt, negative energy, problems at the front door. Remember the victory, the success. Relive it!

Be confident today. Be generous and thankful. Feed your mind, prepare, and move conversations forward.

Here’s a suggestion for today: think of a person who is helping you achieve your dreams. Get on your phone right now and send them a text telling them why you are thankful for that person in your life. Do it. Now.

In addition, tell a story in the comments below of a person who has been your champion.

Posted on

Philip Yancey’s Keys to Presenting the Most Important Message Ever Spoken

Over the years Philip Yancey has been one of my favorite authors. He has written books like The Jesus I Never Knew, What’s So Amazing About Grace, and Disappointment With God. I had the privilege of hearing him speak at the Re:Create Conference in February of 2012.

His topic at the conference was sharing the Gospel in a post-Christian, media-driven, success-oriented, beauty-worshiping world. The United States is rapidly becoming more and more like France. Yancey related that it is no longer at all effective to ask people: “If you were to die today, and Jesus would ask you ‘Why should I let you into my heaven,’ what would you say?” France is so far post-Christian that the question doesn’t make any sense. Instead, the question has been changed to: “Do you believe in God?”

The response to that question, more often than not, is: “What a fascinating question! I’ve never thought about that before.”

Sooner than we think (and in some places even now), that’ll be the question we will be asking post-Christian people here in the United States. We live in a time when what matters is how beautiful, how wealthy, and how successful people are. We live in a time when Kevin Garnett, a basketball player (read: entertainer), makes more money than the entire U.S. Congress combined.

And along comes Jesus (and His disciples) who say: The first shall be last. The top will be at the bottom. It’s not the rich, it’s the poor.

So how do we get across the message of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, to a people who treasure, value, and idolize beauty, wealth, and success? Yancey relates that the world won’t listen to the Christian message because of Christians. Unbelievers won’t listen, because, they say:

  • You don’t listen to me.
  • You judge me.
  • Your faith confuses me.
  • You tell me what’s wrong instead of making it right.

The message will never be heard by people who confront us with these statements unless we first love them. Think about how both Jesus and Paul first showed love to outcasts and then proclaimed to them the good news of the forgiveness of sins.

The message will never by heard by people who confront us with these statements unless we awaken the thirst that is present in people. Think about Jesus meeting the woman at the well in John 4. He doesn’t say to her, “Stop being thirsty.” You can’t stop desire. But Jesus says, “The water you’re drinking doesn’t satisfy, would you like to know a different kind of water?” He awakens a thirst (for forgiveness…see John 4) already in her.

The message will never be heard by people who confront us with these statements unless we live holy lives, lives that are different, lives that look less like the world and more like Jesus. We think the reason fruit is delicious is to please us. From the fruit’s perspective all it cares about is producing more fruit. When St. Paul talks about The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), we are reminded that one of the side benefits of “fruit” (things like goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness) is that it attracts people and it reproduces.

What we’re really talking about here is (shhh…don’t say it too loud) evangelism. Yancey offered up an interesting definition of that word. He said it’s “conveying the good news of life as it’s meant to be.”

In the end it’s about the grace and strength of the Word of God itself. But no one will ever listen to that Word unless they are loved, have an already-present thirst awakened in them, and see a holy life in us.

What can you do today to break down barriers and share the Word of God’s love and forgiveness? If you have further ideas, leave them in the comments below.
Posted on

God’s Holy Angles

Today’s guest post is by my friend, Peter Mead, a “creative” in the best sense of the word. Peter has started a new venture. Read on to find out what it is and how it will benefit you.
 

So, I’m a creative writer working as a happy servant of the Word of God. And pretty much on a daily basis I have to deal with the trapeze act of balancing creativity and hard (even eternal) fact. Sounds like oil and water. Maybe even flame and kerosene.

I’m not the only one in this predicament. Courtroom lawyers have to present the facts as they are while punctuating them with creative, captivating argument. Journalists report the facts. Good ones do it with a creatively emotional spin that send those facts careening into your awareness.

And let’s face it, the solid fact of your loves, your admirations, your appreciations, your awes of those you love, admire, appreciate and awe call your creative resources to communicate them in new ways.

We all live in the nexus of fact and creativity, I’d say.

But that’s speculation on my part.

I can speak to how I deal with my peculiar situation: I’ve been in the Christian publishing business for a quarter of a century, working mostly at the company my father, Arden Mead, helped to found in 1977. I learned the ropes from him, a master at connecting God’s ancient Word to today’s human heart with a creative bent that was stunning. And later he and I, working and writing together in a rare and wondrous collaborative relationship, were a force to be reckoned with.

And so I’ve learned to live at the corner of Creativity Ave. and Truth St. Oh, it’s not a nice Chicago corner. Or a mathematically plotted Milwaukee triangulation. That’s the thing about the corner I live on. It’s all “catty-whompus” as my mom used to say. And it changes: sometimes acute … sometimes oblique.

What I’m getting at here, in a metaphor that’s obviously squirming out of my grasp, is that God’s Word begs to be approached from different perspectives. It requires us to look at it from many angles—God’s holy angles. The perspective is alive with creativity … the Word remains the same.

Even a cursory glance at Scripture affirms the point. God’s message of faith and love remain unchanged, throughout. But to Adam and Eve they were communicated with the tough love of punishment. To Abraham and Sarah the Word came as a beckoning midnight whisper. For Moses and the slaves God’s faith and love were bellowed with “a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” … with thunder on the mountaintop. The Word came to (and through) David in the melody of ancient hymns.

When time was finally pregnant, God’s Word was delivered in Christ, and communicated in baby’s cry, in Jordan’s splashing waters, in demoniac’s cast-off scream, in wedding wine, in the leap of the paralytic, in the soft sighs of Jairus’ daughter, in the clip-clop of donkey hooves, in the breaking of bread, in the lash a whip, in the pounding of nails, in one final dying breath …

… and in a forever open tomb.

I’d say that’s a pretty creative way to get One’s Message across.

And I’m humbled by the invitation to continue to come at God’s Message from every perspective today’s world and the wily human heart requires. I’m happy to live at the axis’ of all of God’s holy angles.

Today I’m doing it in new ways. At ArdenMeadia.com. The site may not be up when you read this. Still, come visit me there!

So, what are creative ways you’ve approached God’s Word? What are creative ways you’ve communicated your own faith and love—in God and in others?

Posted on

Everyone Loves to Be Cheered Like a Hockey Player

The first time I watched this I felt chills running down my spine. My eyes welled up just a little bit. I had to watch it a couple more times.

I posted it to my Twitter account and my Facebook page with the question: Why does this give me the chills? I had to think about that. What was it about two rec league hockey teams being cheered like they were playing for an olympic gold medal?

Did you see the looks on their faces? Go back and look at the guy sitting on the ice toward the end of the video. He sits there in disbelief. Is he almost in tears?

Why is this ad so effective? It is a Budweiser beer commercial, you know.

It’s because everyone likes to be (needs to be?) cheered. We all need a little affirmation. We appreciate it when people pat us on the back for a job well done. We are vicariously experiencing that feeling as we watch this video. We are the hockey players. We know how they must feel.

And we all dream that one day we will be cheered like we are olympic gold medal winners. 

You can fulfill a dream (big or small) today by:

  • cheering someone on
  • patting a back
  • writing a note
  • expressing appreciation
  • delivering a surprise
  • placing a phone call
  • sharing an affirming text message
  • making a big deal
  • speaking a compliment

I can remember just a few times in my life feeling like the hockey players in that video: A couple of times when I was on tour with Joy, Inc. (a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away); receiving applause and compliments when I was a graduation speaker; seeing the audience on their feet during the curtain call of The Sound of Music when I played Captain von Trapp.

I’d love to share that feeling with others. How about you?

Share in the comment section below a story of a time that you felt like the hockey players in this video. Then pass that feeling along today to someone who really needs it.

Posted on

Living the Lesson of a Typographical Error

Sometimes a typographical error changes everything. I was at an event the other day where we were singing a form of the Kyrie. Kyrie means “Lord, have mercy.” It’s a form of prayer that focuses on our undeserving nature and God’s abundant grace. As we sang the prayer, the words were projected so everyone could follow along.

“For the peace from above and for our slavation, let us pray to the Lord.” Yep. You read that right. Slavation. A typo.

But it got me to thinking. Isn’t that the way we far too often treat our involvement in the church? Slavation.

People get the attitude of being “slaves” to the church instead of servants of Christ and one another. A slave to the church:

  • Considers it drudgery to get up on Sunday mornings and get to worship
  • Likes to take “time off” from church
  • Expects the church to be there to meet his or her personal needs, but is rarely seen on Sunday mornings or serving in other ways
  • Thinks the “institutional church” is just a bunch of hypocrites
  • Brings a child to be baptized, but is never seen or heard from again
  • Writes nasty emails when decisions are made with which they don’t agree

Slavation. Lord, have mercy.

I recently heard that Orthodox Jews see the living out of the Torah, the fulfilling of The Law, as a gift. It’s not a burden to them. It’s a delight.

Would that those who have salvation in and through Jesus Christ find worship and service not to be slavation, but a delight. It was Jesus’ delight to be a slave who gave Himself up on the cross so that we would be saved (Philippians 2). Because of His sacrifice we are no longer slaves but heirs (Romans 8:14-17). It is our privilege to come before Him in worship, receive His gifts, and serve Him and our fellow human beings with great delight.

Instead of being burdened with slavation we are gifted with salvation. And it shows in our attitude and service in the local church.

“For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.” Indeed.

What evidence do you see of slavation? Please leave a comment below.

Posted on

The True Meaning of “Public Servant”

Sometimes we take our public servants for granted. They are sometimes even derided and maligned, sometimes with good reason, and sometimes without. But this week I heard a story that reminded me why we call our public servants, public servants.

I was visiting one of our members who lives in a nursing home. He and his wife live a couple of doors apart from one another, but spend most every day together. One afternoon they were in the lounge down the hall from their rooms. They were only there a couple of hours.

When the poor man returned to his room he discovered that his brand new flat screen TV was gone…vanished…disappeared. He immediately called the nurses station and reported that his TV was gone. They were concerned and told him that they were going to call the police.

Next thing he knew, the man was being questioned by the police. As the policeman was doing his questioning, he noticed that the man is a true hero. He is a veteran. He had served our country in World War II.

The policeman said it was bad enough that someone would steal a TV from a person in a nursing home. What was worse, he said, was that they stole the TV from a veteran who lives in a nursing home. That’s the lowest of the low.

Right then and there the public servant decided to do something that would define the term “public servant.” He went back to the police station and took up a collection. All of the police officers at the station contributed, and the next day the policeman came to the man’s room with a brand new TV. It was identical to the one that had been stolen.

Now that’s a good cop. That’s a public servant.

Do you have a story of a public servant going above and beyond the call of duty? If so, leave it in the comment section below.

Posted on

How to Generate Ideas in Five Simple (But Not Easy) Steps

Thanks to Jon Acuff’s InstaGram feed, I learned about a little book called, A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young. Acuff indicated that every time he needs an idea he goes through the process outlined in this book. I had to order it immediately.

The book only cost about $7, and it’s a mere 48 pages long. It came in the mail yesterday and I immediately sat down and read the whole thing. You see, as a pastor, I have to come up with new ideas on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Every week I crave ideas that will help me present the Word of God in new and interesting ways. It’s not easy to do that week after week. I also need ideas for ways to promote and publicize, for teaching techniques, for illustrations, and for outreach efforts.

One thing in the book affirmed something I told my son, Ben, just last week. He is a songwriter, and is constantly on the hunt for ideas to be included in his songs. Not often, but on occasion, he has complained about certain “core” classes that he has to take in his college curriculum. I have told him in the past that even “core” classes are a way of generating ideas.

Right now he’s taking an art class. He loves it. He especially loved visiting an art museum last week. While he was there I texted him: “Remember. This is a great way of generating ideas for songs.”

Here’s where this is affirmed in the book A Technique for Producing Ideas: The first step in generating ideas is gathering raw materials. That means that information comes from every facet of life. A creative person is interested in how things work, where they come from, how people react, where Cambodia is, or what it’s like to fly on a plane. Recently, Ben and his friends have been watching documentaries of all kinds, especially ones about North Korea of all things. He has been fascinated, and even got me interested in the subject.

Here’s what Young says about gathering raw materials:

Every really good creative person in advertising whom I have ever known has always had two noticeable characteristics: First, there was no subject under the sun in which he could not easily get interested — from, say, Egyptian burial customs to modern art. Every facet of life had fascination for him. Second, he was an extensive browser in all sorts of fields of information.

The internet has given us the greatest tool ever to be able to explore almost anything we want. At the touch of a key we can learn, grow, and become wiser.

You’ll have to read the book for yourself to understand completely how these techniques work, but here is Young’s five step process:

  1. Gather raw materials.
  2. Work over the raw materials in your mind.
  3. Let it all incubate (Let something beside the conscious mind do the work of synthesis).
  4. The actual birth of the idea.
  5. Final shaping and development of the idea to practical usefulness.

One note: Probably the hardest part of the whole process is doing the sometimes tedious work of gathering “raw materials” and information. Everyone wants great ideas, but they don’t want to spend the time learning and growing. But that’s the fertile soil from which ideas take root, and sprout, and grow.

Start gathering raw materials right now. You never know how those materials will give birth to an idea later on.

What’s one thing new you have learned today? Please share it in the comment section below. I’d love to use your responses for my own gathering of raw material. Thanks!