And now for something completely different…
Saw this posted on Facebook. It’s a Coca-Cola commercial from a few SuperBowl’s ago. I’m captured not only by the story and animation, but by the technical skill involved.
Be inspired. Be refreshed.
And go have a Coke.
(Just don’t fall asleep with it next to you.)
What will inspire and refresh you this weekend?
Recently, the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version Bible occurred. One of the ways that is being commemorated is through an amazing art project commissioned by Crossway. Contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura is using an ancient Japanese painting technic to express the beauty of the gospel as an expression of faith, truth, and worship.
Check out this mini-documentary as this week’s creative inspiration…
How can spirit and truth be combined to express worship and illumination through art this week?
Is worship transformational? At the church you attend? In your life? What does that even mean?
With the extra time I’ve had lately, I’ve been able to catch up on reading, blogs, podcasts, and videos that I had collected. One of the ones that I took time to watch recently featured Ed Stetzer (of LifeWay Research) and Mike Harland (of LifeWay Worship) as part of a monthly series LifeWay does called “The Choir Room”. In this episode, they spend time talking about and answering questions about the transformational aspects of worship and what that might look like. The topic came out of a book that Stetzer released in 2010 called Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard of Congregations (my Amazon link).
I’ve long believed that worship should be transformational in our lives and in our churches. Part of worship is the recognition and response to God and the aligning of our hearts with God. Each time we worship (which should be often), we should encounter God. And each time we encounter Him, we are hopefully becoming a bit more like Christ.
Enough of my thoughts, though. Continue Reading…
Granted, I may be a little biased, but I think one of the most consistently demanding jobs in the area of creativity is that of a worship leader/pastor/planner. What other field requires the consistent output of creativity on such a regular schedule with such regularity?
Anyway, I’m going to try and start posting something creatively inspiring on the Monday of each week. Whether you’re a part of the worship planning at your church, or involved in some other creative expression, I hope these things are inspirational as you begin a week.
This week, the video you are (hopefully) about to watch is one featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma doing a number with LA dancer Lil Buck. Had to imagine, you say? Perhaps, but it is a great partnership and expression of the fusion of various art styles done to introduce the arts into schools.
Enjoy and be inspired this week.
(Thanks, Chris)
You may, or may not, know that I like legos. Still.
Recently, I saw this and thought it was incredibly cool. Folks in Brazil built the tallest lego tower ever.
It’s just over 100 feet tall and used over 500,000 legos. 6,000 volunteers of all ages were involved.
There’s a brief news report, too.
How cool is that. A whole lot of legos and a whole lot of people working together to do something creative.
What’s something creative you can do with others?
(Thanks, Eric)
One of the things that I have longed believed and tried to pass on to others is that being a worship leader is more than just getting up and singing songs. Much more. I ran across this video on The Worship Community of an interview done with worship leader/artist Aaron Keyes. In it, while talking about the current state of “worship”, the question is asked, “Are we really worshiping?” Check it out.
I have to say that the following line really resonated with me: “We’ve got to do more than lead song – we’ve got to lead people.”
What do you say?
You may remember the volcano that went active in Iceland in May 2010. It disrupted air travel, especially in Europe, for a while. You may have seen some of the pictures or even some video.
This was another video I had seen before, but ran across again. Sean Stiegemeier captured and put together some amazing footage of the event. Probably some of the best put together. Enjoy.
One of worship leader/songwriter Brenton Brown’s latest songs is called “Joyful”. (Amazon link) It’s built on the base of the classic “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” It’s a great expression of the joy and worship we offer to Christ because He is the one who saves and forgives.
Recently, painter Scott Erickson painted a picture to go along with it and capture the joy of it.
On this Monday after Easter, be encouraged that Christ is risen, and because He is risen, we can place our faith, hope, trust, and joy in the truth of who He is and what He has done.
Enjoy the creativity and expression of worship.
