Create

Willing to Fall: Leadership, Creativity, and Play

2018-01-17T22:16:11+00:00By Joel|Create, discipleship|

This may be the most important collection of things that I hear this week. A creative effort that I've been following since my wife turned me onto it, is something called The Work of the People. It is an independent ecumenical platform that produces and publishes multimedia to stir imagination, spark discussion and move people toward discovery and transformation. Recently, I was turned on to a video of Brené Brown speaking on leadership, creativity, and the importance of play. Here are some quotes that are sticking with me. "You can't lead people if you don't understand your emotion in yourself, or in other people." "There is no one more dangerous than a person who is [...]

Holy Obsession: thankful for every step

2018-01-16T06:29:35+00:00By Joel|Abandonment, Create, Music|

"To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness." Brennan Manning Back in September, I wanted to teach one of the songs that I've written (for corporate worship) to the congregation where I lead. I've recorded this song a few times, and still wanted to give it a bit of a fresh touch, so we did a recording session with cameras rolling. The song is Holy Obsession, and as I dusted off the song, the Lord brought many things back to [...]

Melodies in the White Noise

2018-01-17T22:11:44+00:00By Joel|Christianity, Create, Incarnation, Jesus Christ|

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, due to many factors: processing a lot for studies, working hard, letting life be life and social networking less, and learning how to Sabbath rest. Really, it just seems like through the jumble of the social and political climate in the world, what I write on my little blog doesn't matter much. It's like there's so much white noise, why should I add to it? In a world of tragedy, people get bent out of shape over coffee cups. But that's not the point. The point here is to create. The point is that though there is a lot of noise in the world, there is still melody. [...]

The renewal of listening

2020-04-20T00:51:39+00:00By Joel|Create, Morning and Night, Music, Nomad Chronicles, prayer|

There are moments where everything changes, because you can hear so clearly. I remember in my exuberant teen piety, I would pray time and time again, "Lord, I give you everything I am. I am fully Yours." I would burn my 'secular' music in bonfires, and anything else that I felt separated me from God. I went on a mission trip to South America where I came face to face with real poverty, and it turned my world upside-down. I returned to the states with a flipped worldview: I couldn't go back to the way things were. A couple of months later I was helping to lead a youth lock-in at my church, and with little [...]