I didn’t think it was possible to surpass the Snuggie, but I was wrong.

As you may know, I’m trying to hire for a few positions. I’ve been tweeting about it a fair bit, so if you follow me, I offer my humble apologies.  The process is quite exhausting, but I’ve found doing it internally yields better results than using agencies.

The small win I’m celebrating is that I finally filled one of the positions. So just 4 more to fill. Yay.

Still, I’m blown away by the things people do to try and get noticed.  I’ve talked to some friends who are in human resources full time about good ways to benchmark people’s applications, and have also tried to help an awesomesauce friend in refining his applications by putting my experience on both sides of the recruitment fence to work.

Clever creativity is key in getting the attention of those who have the sometimes always painful job of trawling through the emails. And for me, it’s a good way of putting into action my constant prayer for more of patience.

I thought I’d seen most of the ludicrous attempts to capture my attention until yesterday, when I received an application typed entirely in a font very similar to the one below.

If you are the person who sent this to me…what on earth were you thinking????

I suppose I should be happy that it wasn’t snailmailed on parchment shouldn’t I…

This post is part of the spring challenge over at Our Creative Community to share our various creative processes.  So after you’ve read this, head on over there and check out everyone else.

I’ll be honest, when OurCC left us this challenge, the very first thing I thought was “well, that’s one post for the week I won’t need to think much about then”

Except…that would be wrong.

Defining my creative process proved more difficult than I had imagined.  I also wimped out on being truly creative with my blog response; I should have done a vlog, but didn’t want it to be just a little talky, unedited one…and…and…and… :/

Anyway, here’s what I came up with.  All things considered, this took ages to write :

What ignites that flame inside you to create?

Quite apart from the fact I feel like being creative nearly all the time, I get inspired by others’ creativity.  A play, a song, a sculpture, a book, a solution…a tweet, a blog post.  Etc. I think it’s at the root of my being, which makes sense since God is there, and He’s the Master Creator.

What sparks that passion inside you?

I kinda answered this already above didn’t I.  Actually, is this really the same question presented in a different way?

How do you channel your creativity into a finished product?

With great difficulty.  I often get into the middle of something and divert over to something else.  Being part of this community and having some clear goals has helped me be more focussed and target oriented.  Learning Garageband and therefore having more flexibility in how I present what I do has been great.  I can’t believe I had a Mac for over a year without touching it!

Still, not knowing how to play any instruments well is annoying.  As is my concern for my neighbours, which therefore restricts how much I’ll let myself go with my vocals.  I know I can do a lot more with my voice – I do it at church on Sundays, and have done in choirs for years…so I might need to find a place to let rip that’s soundproof.

And, importantly for me, the creative process of songwriting includes the recording and production.  It’s not just a song, it’s how it sounds, what synth is used, what bass sound, how many different drum tracks.  It’s all part of the process.  At the same time, I love how someone else could pick up the raw ingredients (music, lyrics) and create something entirely different in their interpretation.

What do you do when you struggle to create?

Usually this means I’m over-tired and need to step back and recouperate.  At one time, I’d push through.  This never yielded results, so I’ve learnt from that.

How do you celebrate your wins?

I’m not sure I really know what wins I’ve had.  Putting something out there that is enjoyed is a win I guess.  But a bigger win in my book is being satisfied with something I’ve created.  Coming back to it later and not wanting to change anything.  I’ve done that a couple of times.  Not many times, but it’s been done

Do you enjoy your creative process?

Yes.  If I wasn’t enjoying this, there’d be little point in doing it.  I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have my creative process and my income stream intersecting; some fatigue would be bound to set in at times.  However, it’s less likely to be an issue than when you feel your income earning is pulling you away from your creativity.

At the moment, I am blessed with a better crossover than some people I know…but I’d still rather be able to create all day than have to work.  So come on benefactor, I’m waiting

How do you share your creative elements with others?

For my congregation friendly songs – in church.

For my electronica & other noodlings – on my blog.  And it’s pretty diverse.  I gotta say, I’m really enjoying the self-imposed challenge of writing songs for/about other people.

Hopefully combining the two at some point by doing some video-clips which can be played at church of the songs I’ve created which are currently only on the blog.  Though probably not the ones I’ve done for/about other people.  Or my “25 Things” song.

The ones I do for church are going to be recorded for our first ever worship album over the course of the year too.  V.excited about this

Ladies and Gentlemen…please welcome my first guest blogger…the very wonderful, Diane !

Well I’ve caved to husband pressure in order to provide my first ever guest blog! David has already supplied his perspective on the Bill Johnson conference @ Dayspring last weekend, but as I was the one taking notes the old-school way, he thought I may have picked up on something else. And since I get told that I look at things from a different angle most times, I thought, ‘why not’.

First things first, I don’t think I was mentally prepared for a conference, but I find I seldom am. Busy, tired, distracted; I’m sure most of you know the drill. I also don’t ‘do’ crowds at the best of times. I needn’t have worried – the team @ Dayspring know how to welcome and make people feel comfortable from the get-go, and one of our Pastors had kept seats for us, so it was easy. And it was PACKED. So many people with expectation in a smallish room. It was tangible how hungry people were for the Word.

The Dayspring worship team kicked everything off – they were tight, volume maybe a bit low (or it could be that my hearing has been permanently damaged by ear-bleedingly loud sound elsewhere…), but the most important thing was that the Holy Spirit was there. An hour of full-on worship is a wonderful thing, but my note to self was to not wear heels next time…hard to enter in when you can’t feel your toes.

I just could hardly wait to hear Bill Johnson. You have to understand that I’d never heard of the guy until a copy of ‘Dreaming With God’ caught my eye in a Christian bookstore, and told me to buy it. It did, really. When I read that book I felt something shift in my head, heart and spirit, and the repercussions of that are still being felt today. It was the catalyst to rediscover my creativity – something that had been shoved down as ‘not practical or worthwhile’ and ‘only a hobby’. Since then, God has opened doors for me to try my hand at video editing, animation, graphics and to have people like it. A big boost to the old self-esteem.

I’d heard some podcasts from Bethel Church, and I liked what I heard, so I knew the content of the conference would be good. However, it’s like David said, being able to watch and share the move of God as it happens is something else.

Some of my highlight quotes of the weekend:

“People who feed on bad news can never become part of the solution.”

“The world is crying out for an example of the goodness of God. He’s better than we think.”

“Everything and everyone before Jesus pointed to something they could describe, but could not demonstrate.”

“We each represent an aspect of God’s character that no-one else on earth can.”

“The problem with the church is that we have exchanged ‘the Kingdom of God is near’ for ‘the end of the world is near.’ “

“God isn’t looking for an answer, but a testimony.” (LOVE this.)

“We’re told to ‘grieve not’ and ‘quench not’ the Holy Spirit. We grieve Him when we do wrong things. We quench Him when we don’t do the right things.”

“We have to learn not to be offended at God, and unimpressed with us.”

“The Holy Spirit is imprisoned in unbelieving believers.”

“The church spends a lot of time praying for what we already have.”

“God may ask you to sell your house and give the proceeds to the poor, and the next day ask you to open a savings account. When you ask “Why? God, you’re confusing!!” He says, “That’s why you need to stay close.”

David Crabtree – “When there is no Holy Spirit, we are governed by externals.”

I could go on, and on, and on, but space and a blog reader’s attention span may be limited!

I talked of a shift in my heart, mind and head after reading the book. Well, after this weekend it feels like I’ve been rotating on a certain axis – it was a perfectly fine axis as it was still going round – but there has now been a shift of degrees. I can feel it, and I know it. Without getting too esoteric on youse all It feels that I can see things clearer and am stronger. And totally non-hyped.

I was prayed for by one of the team – I didn’t go forward or anything, we were to pray for those around us, and she turned to me twice – I recall her praying for me to have ’sharp teeth’ like a lion, to be given wisdom as I walk into what God has for me to do, and that I would be given the right words to say, because God has given me the ability to speak and create a new atmosphere, as my words contain weight and make people listen. I certainly hope so.

So yes, I’m still experiencing a little conference-sickness. It was an awesome time full of hope and joy, now it’s the hard yards of applying it. I do know one thing – after being a bit non-plussed by the noisy and ‘big-bang’ ministry experiences in the past, I’ve realised that when correctly applied, there is NOWHERE else I’d rather live than in a life where the prophetic, and the tangible and frequent intervention of the Holy Spirit is expected and experienced. I want to hear amazing stories of the miraculous power of God for healing and not just say ‘wow’, but to also go “yep, that’s what happened when we prayed too”. People who live in that way don’t need to shout and scream, they just allow God to move, and there is a closeness in their relationship to Him. They KNOW Him.

I want that, please.

This post is part of the weekly Sunday Setlists blog carnival over at FredMckinnon.com.  Make sure you check out the other setlists too!

I’m still actually lost for words to describe what happened in our church services yesterday, so I’m not going to try too hard.  I’ve also not got a lot of time, but if I don’t do this now, it won’t get done.

Music
All the music was great today – band was tight, AM harmonies & feel were great, the Ablaze guys in the PM (singers) are getting better musically while their enthusiasm still makes for a powerful time – it’s all about the heart. The music set the atmosphere for what followed today, and I don’t think anyone saw it coming…

AM
1. Let God Arise (Tomlin)
2. The Freedom We Know (Houston/Hillsong)
3. Lead Me To The Cross (Fraser/Hillsong)
4. Redeemer (Murgida/Harbourside – ours again, this is the first song we’re recording next month)
5. Now Is The Time (Delirious?)

PM
Walk-in (which is something we never do, but today we did) : Fire Fall Down (Sampson/Hillsong)
1. Run (Houston/Hillsong)
2. This Is Our God (Morgan/Fielding/Hillsong)

Worship+
1. Fire Fall Down
2. Mighty To Save (Morgan/Fielding/Hillsong)
3. Let It Rain (Farren)

Message
Both AM & PM planned messages were scrapped. Our pastor had a vision early Sun AM and re-wrote his messages. This never happens. They were based on the four horns outlined in Zechariah 1; the things which hinder God’s people from seeing/hearing/walking in the vision He’s planted in our hearts…that doesn’t even begin to explain the message really. People were getting convicted and dealt with right there and then during the preaching. It will be on TV (as all our msgs are) in a few months, but that doesn’t help non-’Oz’ers. We might get a decent website with podcasts, etc someday.

Service Summary
I know I’m not doing a good job of this today. There is too much to explain and too much going on in my head. The total time we were at church yesterday was 8 hours…yes, eight. Sure, that includes pre- & post-service, but that’s still about 3 hours more than usual. Why? Because the Holy Spirit moved, there were prophecies, baptisms (which almost got forgotten because of the move of the spirit), people dancing, people weeping…it was…wow!

During these times (which basically took up most of the AM service), we free-worshipped over the bridge of Redeemer – for, um, 80 minutes, I think. I really don’t know, no one was clockwatching, hardly anyone left. Our pastor had to tell people to go home eventually. No-one wanted too.

We came back for the PM service a couple of hours later, with probably double the number who are usually at that service. The ministry / Worship+ time was … um … wow. That’s all I can say, truly.

Funny Moments
More pastors linguistic anointing:
1. Apparently, you can cut down on words by combining metaphoric and methodical into metathodical.  Who knew?
2. From Zechariah 1:21, the logical conclusion is that we should be Holy Ghost Terrorists (cue raised eyebrows, laughter and “did he really say that?” whispers).  This brought to mind Manic Street Preachers’ debut album Generation Terrorists…that’s how my brain works, everything is linked back to music in some way. 

Also, the 2nd week of the video intro was hilarious.  We practised it really well, but for the service, the tech guys started playing it before we gave the signal, so the band had to RUN to get setup so there wouldn’t be an uncomfortable gap after the end of the video intro. It was actually great for the energy of the opening praise songs, and no-one tripped on a cord or anything! Amazing  :)

Next week, we should have our new MacBookPro running the visuals – hallelujah – which will mean Diane will be stepping back from the music team to lead that for a while uintil everyone is trained up…so she might be permanently stepping back, in other words

Annoying Moments
1. We had two new Sennheiser Evolution G2 mics (and one more is still on order). Lovely. I set the levels perfectly (no really, I did) and practice was great. Then, we get out on stage for the service and the gains had been taken OTT. Why???
2. I spent the evening service down at the sound desk making sure everything was a little less earbleedingly shrill. I’m convinced our willing sound tech volunteers are deaf as well as well as having even less knowledge than my inconsiderable knowledge (?!).  I do love’em though

I receive my emails on my phone, just like everyone who doesn’t live in pre-history these days.  Yeah, I’m rude, you knew that but just didn’t want to admit it.

That doesn’t mean I do anything about them, but it does mean I can keep track of the hundreds that are piling up there when I don’t do anything about them.

Like what is happening right now…

One email I did do something about on Saturday was from Stickk.com.  These emails tell me one of five things :

1. I need to lodge a report on my own commitment progress (if this means nothing to you, head over to stickk.com and find out…).

2. One of my commitment partners/friends/fellow loons needs a nudge to lodge their report.

3. One of the above has lodged their own report, be it failure or success.

4. Someone has written on my commitment wall – usually telling me to get my butt into gear and report.  Or me making excuses.

5. Finally, it also congratulates or consoles me when I’ve made a report, depending which is appropriate.  Um, yeah, thanks stickk.com.

Anyway, this month, all was tracking nicely for my song (or rather, pile of songs…I always have lots on the go) when it all stopped to take part in some really fun stuff.  I also then forgot about some less fun stuff I needed to do for my church board meeting (I may have mentioned that before in today’s glut of posts).  Note: while it’s less fun, it does pay me cash, so I’m not complaining. Cash is useful. You heard it here first.

So, I get to the end of the month and my ambition has surpassed my reality.  But, as Mandy so astutely noted as she caught me out, I managed to fool stickk.com into letting me have success.  I feel so ashamed.  Please forgive me. 

No really, forgive me.

This is no longer a request.

Seriously, aren’t we all a little bit like this at times?  We get all feel-good about accountability with each other, but still manage to pull the wool over someone’s eyes (not everyone’s) about the reality.  It’s not exactly authentic is it, or imitating Jesus. Boo to me.

NB: I’m fine, btw, just snowed (oh the irony in an Australian summer), and I’ve also forgiven myself for this heinous lie.  Jesus has too.  You should now as well.

Oh, yeah, I’ve done the guilt-trip-on-my-readers bit already haven’t I…so next up is ”pour out the pity you feel for me in the comments”…it will give me more emails to do nothing about for another day or so.

“…is there somebody out there, is there someone to hear my prayer?…”

Sorry, I’m coming over all Midge Ure…

This post is to apologise to you, dear blog, blog readers and commenters, for the neglect I have given you in the past week.  It is inexcusable, and when I work out a way to add extra hours into each of my days, I will ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Until then though, it may be another 24-48 hours before too much of what should be happening on here really happens…like…a song for Our Creative Community… *hangs head in shame*

At least it’s not quite as dire as my neglected Google Reader…I last looked at anything on Friday night (I think…)  It now has 198 unread items.

What are you people doing posting so much on the weekend? Do you not have lives? (says the guy who forgot to update his church accounts for the board meeting, even though he knew it was on…what’s that about??)

Whinge over. As you were. Thank you

Yes, I know it’s February already…I missed it by just over a day, so you’re gonna have to extend me a little grace.

Here’s my first “submission” for the Our Creative Community accountability club (or whatever we are Thankfully, the showcase post where this will be linked to isn’t there yet, so I’m in the clear for the moment – haha! EDIT: it’s definitely there now, so head on over and share in the creativity!

For the few of you who actually know me, you’ll know that this song doesn’t really fit with much that I’ve done before…but it is probably more the kind of thing you should & would expect from me. That includes anyone who’s found my music lurking on Worship The Rock or MySpace, or (years ago), on radio in Australia and a few web stations from time to time. What’s been posted there doesn’t really prepare you for this I don’t think…though there were pointers along the way

For everyone else, including those who read my worship blog, who knows what you expected?!? Probably not this in any case…

Musically, it’s much less complicated that I usually go for…perhaps lacking in variation. The mix is also lacking a bit in bass it seems. It had way too much in an earlier version. At least it’s less muddy vocally now…

Lyrics are below, and most of you will probably recognise that they are drawn from Genesis 1 and John 1, specifically the Amplified Bible (which I read quite a lot as it’s the translation I chose for my phone). It was originally inspired by Ecclesiastes 7:8, which paraphrases to “the end is better than the beginning”. But that didn’t end up in the song anywhere, and neither did the title, which was the starting point for the song. I thought about calling it “Unchangeable Truth”, but I like “In The Beginning”, and it’s even more appropriate considering it’s the beginning of this creative accountability lark.

So, let me know what you think…the good, the bad, the ugly – even if you don’t like the genre, etc, I want to know because it’s this critiquing business that helps us (me) grow and become greater at what God’s put in our (my) hearts to impact His kingdom!

When earth was formless, when all was darkness
Life hovered, brooded o’er the waters
The Word was spoken, and all creation, was made through Light
This has been and will always be unchangeable truth

The Light shines on in the darkness
The Light shines on in the darkness
For the darkness has never absorbed it
The darkness cannot absorb it
This has been and will always be unchangeable truth

The Light shines on…

EDIT: after having some sleep, and then getting the comment from my wonderful sister Cee (nearly typed your name…lol), I’m convinced of good reasons to rename it “Unchangeable Truth”. Do let me know if you think this was a silly idea

In Australia, when you’re crossing the road you need to look to the right first because (clearly) we designed it based on being seated at the right hand of the Father to ensure you always look right first…or not, but it sounds good, hey!.

When I tried this on my first visit to New York about 15 years ago, I was nearly bowled over by a big yellow taxi. Never mind the fact looking left had the same result

Back on topic though

…if you look to the right of this post, you will see a funky new badge for Our Creative Community. It truly deserves being described as ‘fabulous’.

Click on it and you will be taken to far-away and mysterious land where people who were somehow lacking in stuff to do decided to commit to doing more in areas that really matter to them, and remain accountable to others for that commitment.

And yes, I’m one of them.

AGH!

Since this is what I was referring to in my last post, I thought I’d post to let you know that this is actually serious – we have a badge now!

Update 20 Feb 2009: now that I’ve changed my template and moved to WordPress, the badge is now in my page footer.   This may change again, but for now, looking to the right just won’t work for you…

You know how some days begin well, progress well, peak early, maintain the high (like walking on a ridge), then stay there right through to the end?

No? Just me then?

Well, today was one of those days. Nothing mind-blowing, but “A Good Day”.

Selected highlights:

1. The flexibility in my new job came to the fore today when I took 3 hours off in the middle of the day to meet with my pastor and get my sadly neglected hair cut…my fringe was half way down my cheek, and considering I’m a short(ish) hair person, that’s pretty bad methinks.

2. Talking of the job, I’m loving that I have the space to take in all the minutae from the outgoing person, create goals and plans for change that is both needed and wanted, and generally being able to ease into the role – rather than being dropped in the deep end.

3. An opportunity for further creativity has come up that I’m excited about, but I have to share with some others before I blog more.

Meanwhile, my wife and I are believing for a house where we can “increase the scope” of our hospitality to our church and beyond. We are taught to speak out the dreams God has placed in our hearts, so we are, even when it feels a little selfish. I’m going one step further and blogging about it here too! At the moment, it feels like a dream, but in many ways it feels closer than we can fathom as well. We’d have some serious praying to do as we removed the Buddha statues if this was the one though

That’s it then. A Good Day = A God Day.

“It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.” 1 Peter 5:10, 11 – The Message