Do you think the church is in a creative rut?

In a recent podcast, Nancy Beach challenged worship leaders to think beyond just corporate worship songs as it relates to the gathering of God’s people. “We’re in a rut,” she said.

I often wonder if creativity is the goal of our gatherings. How important are creative elements? How important is songwriting? How important are videos, drama, stage design, and creative lighting?

I know, you’re waiting for me to condemn it all and call us back to the heart of worship. But I’m not going to do that. I simply want to invite you to a conversation.

None of us set out to make creativity the goal. Of course, we want it to serve people in seeing Jesus clearer. But are we accomplishing that?

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Have you ever had a week go by and wonder what you’ve done? Oh, just me?

I know the weekend is game time. It’s the most important event for any local church. It’s when the church gathers together. It’s when the Word of God is preached. It’s when the saints come together to encounter the presence of God.

But it’s not everything. Matter of fact, the work that a Worship Pastor does beyond the stage is what will make those weekend experiences even stronger. We oftentimes just get by on the weekends because we’re not practicing particular rhythms. Our weeks aren’t spent on what is most important.

I understand you may not be full time at your church. You may not even be part time. You work early mornings, lunch hours, and late nights to organize your team and serve your local church.

But these habits apply to any leader – whether full time or volunteer. What will be different is the amount one does at any given time. All you need to do is pick one and focus on it exclusively.

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Stephen Miller is no stranger to Beyond Sunday. Great to have him back to talk about his beautiful family, adoption, new music, a new ministry, worship ministry, and more.

Also, don’t miss out on our Beyond Sunday Survey. We’re giving away a $50 Amazon gift card to one lucky completer. Just head on over to beyondsundayworship.com/survey

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Today we welcome guitar extraordinaire Michael Pope to the podcast. Michael has played on numerous Bethel Music recordings and has traveled the globe, doing ministry with the Bethel team.

He has nice guitars. And pedals. And amps. But he’s also a great player and an even better human. We talk about all things creativity, guitars, pedals, amps, practice, coffee, and more.

Enjoy!

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What do you think of when you hear the word innovation? I immediately think of Apple products. Airplanes. Skyscrapers. We think of the grand scale result. But do you know where those grand solutions began? Within the courageous heart of an individual who overcome the fear and shipped their vulnerability out the door.

We all love the word innovation. It sounds exciting. Potential. Possibility. But how many of us actually foster and encourage innovation in our teams?

Did you know that Google allocates 25% of an employee’s hours to work on whatever they want to? It’s paid company time to be curious, to explore, to see what happens. Do you know what came out of that? The Google search engine.

Sometimes I fear many of us are paying our employees and team members to maintain the status quo – to simply get work done and not create problems for anyone. But innovation comes at a cost. Breakthrough teams need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

I’m not going to give you a long list of steps in this post. Matter of fact, I want you to do one thing. Innovation doesn’t need to be grand. Actually, starting simple is best. Because then you don’t get overwhelmed before you start.

Get a piece of paper and a pencil. Of course, you can use a computer. But I’m a firm believer that disconnecting from the digital will open up new pathways in your brain. But I’m no neuroscientist. In one sitting, I want you to come up with 15 new ideas for your team. Not what you’re currently doing, but something brand new. Don’t judge your ideas. Don’t evaluate if they’re possible. This isn’t a tasklist. It’s a way of giving your brain (and heart) permission to dream.

Now, do this every single day for a week. No pressure to do anything with these ideas. You’re simply collecting them in a notebook. After a week, you’ll have written down 105 innovative ideas. Of course, you won’t implement all of these. But you’re 105 ideas closer to breakthrough than you were before. 

Now, take that list and pick one single item that you’re going to implement this week.

This is an incredible, simple way to break out of a creative and cultural rut. Creating a discipline out of this will cause you to find innovative solutions to problems more often. You won’t be reacting to problems, you’ll be proactive about them. And you’ll have a handy dandy list that you can always refer to.

Are you ready?