My wife does not consider herself to be creative.

During her days, she works full-time as a special education teacher.  It’s her job to take the curriculum that the State mandates, and turn it into something that a group of K-thru-2nd Special Needs children will be able to learn.

My wife does not consider herself to be creative.

During her late afternoons and early evenings, she figures out how to get our three daughters to the doctor, the dentist, the orthodontist, the school event, the softball practice, and the drama rehearsal.  And somewhere in the middle, she makes dinner happen.

My wife does not consider herself to be creative.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, if you ask my wife about her creativity, she’d tell you that her husband is the creative one.  She’d tell you that her husband is the one who designs stuff, makes videos, writes, and plays music.

She, along with millions of other people have equated being creative with being an artist.  The two are absolutely not the same.  And most artists I meet are unknowingly perpetuating the myth.

I am unknowingly perpetuating the myth.

Theologically speaking, everyone is creative.  It’s simply math, really.  We were fashioned and formed in the image of God.  God is a creative God.  So we’re creative too.  We bear the divine imprint of our Maker.  Our Creator.

With God, there is a void, and He fills it with himself.  For God to be creative, He fills a void with Himself.  The creation account speaks to this (it’s called the “creation” account for a reason).  The law and the prophets attest. Jesus becomes the ultimate fulfillment of God’s void-filling activity, and His Spirit fills the void every day in our hearts.

Creativity, in the Divine sense, is when we see a void, then fill it with ourselves.

Some of us fill that void with our art – our words, our clay, our paint, our 3-D effects.

But others fill these voids by adapting curriculum so that Special Needs children have a fair chance at living long and full lives.

I feel like I need to repent here.  For years, I have drawn a line between those who are creative, and those who are not.  And the line I’ve used is art.  Artists are creative.  Non-artists are not creative.  But it’s not even close to God’s understanding of what it truly means to be creative.

We artists really need to be careful.  Because when we make creativity and art the same thing, we unintentionally dehumanize another human made in the image of God.  By our misunderstanding of creativity, we build up our tribe, while tearing down people like my wife.

Does an artist need to be creative?  Yes. But does a Creative need to be an artist?

Absolutely not.

Related posts:

EASTER REWARD - 1:54 What if the reward of seeing people come to Christ this Easter was worth the personal risk of rejection. Use this mini-movie with your congregation during the weeks before Easter.

COME AS YOU ARE – 3:07 No matter who you are. No matter what you’ve done. No matter what you’re going through. All are invited to come to the cross. Music by The Violet Burning.

SPIRITUAL CAFETERIA – 2:47 It’s become popular for people to pick and choose the components of their belief system. But the greatest gift ever offered to the world is, in Christ, free for all.

THE EASTER 45’s – A series of 45-second videos designed to stir up your congregation, then leave them with an unanswered question for the teaching pastor to explore more fully. Topics include:

You can also save some money and purchase the entire Easter 45’s Value Pack.

FLOODGATE: Tell us about CMD’s beginnings. Why did you start it?

BRAD: I started ChurchMediaDesign.tv because I saw a big gap in the church. Many Churches had a desire to use video and graphics more, but no one had the proper training. So pastors and leaders in the church would ask sound guys, youth pastors, and others to create media because they were the most creative people on the team. They did not, however, have the resources or the knowledge to get started. And even when they did get started, they had no support. It seemed like they were lone rangers.

I also had the opportunity to be a part of a Media Teams for an 11,000 person mega-church. And I also served in a 300-person church plant. And in these small churches I would see many people try to emulate what they would see at the mega-churches or conferences, but it would never be the same as they experienced at places like Willow Creek or Hillsong. So I wanted to help these churches take ideas and principles from these huge productions and big budgets, and help make it transferable to their unique context.

So I started throwing around ideas of what I could do to help with all of of these issues, and I landing on a podcast that teaches Tips, Tricks, and How To’s, for the church media designer.

FLOODGATE: You’ve got a weekly Podcast that’s full of great stuff. Tell us about that.

BRAD: The CMD podcast is a weekly podcast that is available on iTunes, Miro and our own website. CMD has been around for over two years, with almost 100 episodes. In every episode we cover a main “How To” segment, that’s surrounded by a ton of other great resources. We also feature some inspiration for the week – usually a video or motion graphics piece. We also give away a free video background or graphic each week. In the midst of all the technical training, I try to remind everyone of why we’re all doing this – to share the message of Jesus Christ. Because media for media’s sake is empty and worthless but Media + Jesus = awesome!

FLOODGATE: How can Teaching Pastors benefit from CMD?

BRAD: I hope each week they will learn how to use media to tell the message of Jesus, and even learn how to create that media. And as they understand this creative process, they’ll be able to use this in their message planning and prep, so they can bring great ideas to other Creatives on their team.

FLOODGATE: You also work for a church. Tell us about that.

As I mentioned before I have worked in a few different churches since I was 14. Currently I work for a church plant in Michigan called “Watermark”. I am the Creative Communications Director, which basically means anything that needs to be communicated goes through my hands, from the website, to handouts, and everything on the screen. I love my job so much, and I get the chance to work on so many fun projects with some truly amazing people. I think I work on the best team. I am so thankful for their support of me and my ministry through CMD. I love the local church, and I love to see it help expand the kingdom of God.

FLOODGATE: Do you have a special message for media creators in the church?

BRAD: Yes. I know that many of you spend countless hours each week, setting mixes, making slides, printing bulletins, and editing videos. I also know that many of you don’t get thanked for all of your effort. I want to say a big THANK YOU for the time you put it in each week. What you do matters, and without you your church would not be the same. Stay strong with these words from Scripture:

My dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. – 1 Corinthians 15:58 (MSG)

With that in mind, we’ve created an Easter Promotional Mini-Movie to help stir the hearts of your congregation.  We’re thinking that you could show this video in your services leading up to Easter.  You could also make this available to Small Group Leaders, Sunday School Classes, and any other groups.  Why not provide a direct link from your website to the Floodgate site?  Just do anything you can to get people to watch it, and then to let God do His thing.

And if this video is too soft or reflective for you, make sure and check out our Easter 82 video – developed with a little more levity and humor.

AN EASTER WELCOME VIDEO – Use an Easter Mini-movie early in your services as a “welcome” video. Our “Easter-Welcome to Our Church” video was one of our most popular videos last year. Another great welcome video is our “Easter Quotes“.

AN EASTER PROMO VIDEO – If you’re looking to inspire your congregation to invite their unchurched friends, then consider using a specialized video to do this during the weeks BEFORE Easter. Check out our best-selling “Easter 82“, and our 2010 release “Easter Reward“.

AN EASTER WORSHIP FOCUS – If you’ve got a segment of your service devoted to worshipping God through music, consider showing “The Cross of Christ” before or during the worship music.

AN EASTER INVITATION VIDEO – If you’re planning on giving people a chance to place their trust in Jesus, then consider showing “Come As You Are” (new for 2010) or “Redeemed” at the end of your sermon.

PROMOTING EASTER IN YOUR COMMUNITY – At Sermolicious (our sister company), we’ve designed some Easter Graphics Packages for you to use on all of your Easter promo and teaching materials. Consider sending a direct mailer or newsletter to your community, creating posters and banners, even renting a billboard. Pick up the original .psd file and customize it with your own title and unique church information.

AN EASTER MOTIONS PACKAGE – If you’re looking to let people experience consistent coloring and feel at all points in your service, consider our Easter Motions Package, or our Easter Sills Pack.

Our prayer for your church is a simple one – that your hardest, most diligent work for Easter would be to lift up the name of Jesus. And that, as a result, HE ALONE would draw all men and women to Himself. May you stand and point to empty tomb, and invite people to live outward from there (oh yeah… we created a video about that too).

If you’d like to shoot Tony a “welcome” email, he’d appreciate it (tony@floodgateproductions.com).

Welcome Tony.  We’re really glad you’re here, and we can’t wait to see what God’s gonna do now!

Discount does not apply to One-Year Subscription, Website Licensing, or Small Church Discounts.

Every church leader knows that these distractions are real.  So we created a video that highlights each of these distractions, then points them toward Jesus as, not on the answer, but the object of our worship.

Because when it’s all said and done, He’s the only Person in the entire room who’s worthy of worship.

Happy Valentine’s Day, from the Floodgate Creative Team.

“Today” is one of those videos that can be shown at any time during your worship services – as a service opener, a worship introduction or insert, or as a sermon-starter.  The script comes from the heart, and the voice-over is a new voice for Floodgate.