A New Song

This week my intern and I are in Chicago, IL attending the Willow Creek Arts Conference. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. The arts conference has become a yearly ritual for me. This conference comes at a key time of the year for me. I find myself, after Easter, spent and in need of being surrounded in an environment of creativity and other artists. Today, Nancy opened the conference by speaking about creating a new song. We all have to "fight" to be creative every week. To be fresh, not stale. To be alive, not dead. To plan every week as if there were no rules binding our creativity and to create "New Songs" every week. When Nancy talked about "new songs" she wasn't just talking about music, she was talking about newness in every creative element. Nancy also talked about new songs being birthed in intimacy and surrender. Intimacy and surrender is the starting place for creative greatness. It's where God can speak and inspire our spirit. If any from my church is reading this, I owe you an apology. The last few months I have been running on fumes. I have planned worship out of routine. For a creative person routine is one step next to creative death. Tomorrow is full of break-out sessions which equate to practical stuff. Yeah!