Anyone who knows my children say that they come by it honestly. They can come up with some of the coolest stuff to do. Games, drawings, songs, and who knows what else to occupy themselves sometimes. I like to think they get all their creativity from 'ol Dad, and some of it they probably do. I would say the biggest influence, however, is that I create an atmosphere that allows them to be creative. Trust me, I believe in structure.... but I also believe in just good old fashion "hang out" time. I believe in it for my kids, for me, and for my worship teams. My kids come up with awesome crazy things to do and make use out of some of the most odd everyday house-hold items to accomplish their leisure time activities. So if you want to get creative: Take some leisure time!
Another thing I do with the kids that probably influences their creativity the most is "thinking BIG." When riding in the car somewhere, I can keep them occupied if we are all involved in something more structured since we are confined to small quarters. If not, fighting breaks out. Usually things are fine until one of them gets punched at the first sight of a VW Beetle. So we tell stories (this whole approach to a car ride is pretty creative in itself I've been told.) We tell made up CRAZY stories. They all know they are "made up" and there is a difference in having some fun making up FUN stories and telling lies. So off we go, telling some very creative stories to each other. It teaches them to dream (and dream BIG!) Every so often I can tie in some pretty unbelievable stories from the Bible into one of theirs and their little eyes just light up with amazement. They often ask if the story I'm telling or they have come up with could "really be true." I hope I am correct when I say, my children won't be held back by small ideas as they grow up. They can DREAM BIG, pray, and seek wise counsel. They know of the BIG things God has done and that if it's His will, their BIG THINGS will come to pass too!
I said all that to say this:
If you want to be more creative....
1.) Take some time away from your regular routine. Just do something different today!
2.) Be Still. Take some time off. Just relax and THINK of the biggest, craziest, and unreachable things that you can think of. Include your ministry, your family, your friends, and God. You might just come up with a worthwhile creative idea.
3.) Share your ideas with others and see if they can expand on it. (or possibly bring you back to reality) Seek wise counsel!
4.) If you work as part of a team, create an atmosphere where they are allowed to share ideas and thoughts. Not only that, encourage them to be creative. (Just do it in a creative way and they WILL become involved!)
5.) Be open minded, pray for Gods Spirit to be in control, and for Him to influence your creativeness. I know just by looking around at the beautiful and wonderful creations I see on earth and in the heavens that God's imagination is much larger than mine. Ask Him to share some of that creativeness with you and USE YOU to accomplish something creative and God honoring!
YOUR CHALLENGE: GET STARTED TODAY!
Daniel Whitaker
Have you ever thought to have your picture made on a dumpster in the woods? GET CREATIVE!
Another thing I do with the kids that probably influences their creativity the most is "thinking BIG." When riding in the car somewhere, I can keep them occupied if we are all involved in something more structured since we are confined to small quarters. If not, fighting breaks out. Usually things are fine until one of them gets punched at the first sight of a VW Beetle. So we tell stories (this whole approach to a car ride is pretty creative in itself I've been told.) We tell made up CRAZY stories. They all know they are "made up" and there is a difference in having some fun making up FUN stories and telling lies. So off we go, telling some very creative stories to each other. It teaches them to dream (and dream BIG!) Every so often I can tie in some pretty unbelievable stories from the Bible into one of theirs and their little eyes just light up with amazement. They often ask if the story I'm telling or they have come up with could "really be true." I hope I am correct when I say, my children won't be held back by small ideas as they grow up. They can DREAM BIG, pray, and seek wise counsel. They know of the BIG things God has done and that if it's His will, their BIG THINGS will come to pass too!
I said all that to say this:
If you want to be more creative....
1.) Take some time away from your regular routine. Just do something different today!
2.) Be Still. Take some time off. Just relax and THINK of the biggest, craziest, and unreachable things that you can think of. Include your ministry, your family, your friends, and God. You might just come up with a worthwhile creative idea.
3.) Share your ideas with others and see if they can expand on it. (or possibly bring you back to reality) Seek wise counsel!
4.) If you work as part of a team, create an atmosphere where they are allowed to share ideas and thoughts. Not only that, encourage them to be creative. (Just do it in a creative way and they WILL become involved!)
5.) Be open minded, pray for Gods Spirit to be in control, and for Him to influence your creativeness. I know just by looking around at the beautiful and wonderful creations I see on earth and in the heavens that God's imagination is much larger than mine. Ask Him to share some of that creativeness with you and USE YOU to accomplish something creative and God honoring!
YOUR CHALLENGE: GET STARTED TODAY!
Daniel Whitaker
Have you ever thought to have your picture made on a dumpster in the woods? GET CREATIVE!
Once I was leading a worship band "start-up" and things were getting "dry" as the week of rehearsal went on. The same songs over and over. Much of these young people's enthusiasm and creativeness (as a result in the disappearance of enthusiasm) began to vanish about mid-week. All the songs we were adding started to sound the same, their stage presence was just mediocre, and nothing really catchy was going on by this point. Without them even realizing it, I re-energized these young people into being more enthusiastic and creative in their approach in one simple creative idea of my own. We just stopped rehearsal and took silly pictures of eachother and as a group. It was spontanious, FUN, crazy, different, relaxing, and exactly what they needed to finish that week of rehearsal. I still don't think they knew exactly what my purpose was for telling one of them to grab the camera and everyone else go outside for some pictures.... but they did it anyhow and came back in read to JAM like I've never seen or heard them before. Check out those crazy pictures at PhotoBucket.com.
If you would like to see the photos, please just email me and I will be happy to share. :-)
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