A Call To Create

For most of my life, I never thought to call myself a creative. It has only been in the last 5 years that I have come to realize that the ability to create is a gift from God and that it's needed in the world, especially in a world where there is suffering. I always thought that my crazy ideas were just that - crazy things that sensible people would never do or try in their right minds. My off-the-wall ideas were at best fun, but nothing to be taken seriously. I was wrong, and now I believe we live in a world where creatives are desperately needed.

Don't get me wrong - my ideas have indeed been a challenge to many because many of my brilliant ideas have failed miserably, but the ones that last have been incredible and live on way beyond the initial idea.

I have seen some key similarities in the ideas that have succeeded:

Do something. This may seem pretty simple, but sometimes the hardest thing to do is to act on the idea. The small distance between idea and creative is implantation.

Let it go. The ideas that grow and become incredible seem to be the ones that I know when to turn over to someone with passion to live in the idea long term. I am decent at starting things and taking them to a point, but when they begin to move forward, a more organized and systematic approach is needed, and when I recognize this in time and let them go, God has done some mind blowing things.

Let it come from God. Although we should know this, I think it needs to be stated because ego can do some really dumb things when not stroked. Creatives remember that these ideas come from our Creator for the world, not for us, and not for our glory, but His. It just needs to be said.

Find the maintainers. It has been my experience that not many people enjoy the uphill process of getting something started. It's ok to use "starters" at first, but when your project reaches a point where it no longer needs starters, they need to give way to maintainers. Maintainers have the skills to grow things well.

Do not fear failure. Not all of your ideas will work, and the sooner you accept that the better creative you will be. Fear of failure and embarrassment are the enemies of creativity; if you can push through those fears you will be incredible. To be able to recover quickly from a failed project will help you toward greatness.

You need scalers. Some projects work best in a small local context, and maintainers will be key in this success. But if a project is one that can be duplicated, and will be able to work in many different contexts, the "scalers" will know. Maintainers need to allow scalers to test this. Sometimes maintainers and scalers can clash. But if the roles are understood, scalers can bring resource and new creativity to the context.

This is all a process that happens over time, and I think the beauty here is that creatives can start incredible things out of nothing. In today's world where resources are becoming more limited, it's those that don't need major dollars to get things going who have the advantage. I have learned that if I do my part as a creative and it gets handed off well to maintainers and scalers, the world becomes a better place, God is glorified, the message of the gospel goes forth, and our souls are filled. So creatives, please bring your ideas. Let them go. Offer them to the world.

You can't overdo it.