At the most basic level of what I do, I am essentially a storyteller. As a storyteller, I have the privilege of telling the greatest story ever told in man’s history. I teach from the greatest book that has been written. The story and the book are far from boring – but sometimes I am.

The best storytellers are those that live through the story they are telling and actually let it deeply affect them. They actually convince people that for a moment in time, they are actually transported to distant lands, different times, and are moved to do or become something larger than themselves.

The best storytellers are also something that strikes fear into my heart – they are CREATIVE. I am comfortable being “inspired” (another word for stealing or borrowing) by other’s work because I know that it has already been well received. Creative moments are by definition, things that have never been done before. It is scary because you don’t know how others will receive it. Will they like it? Will they hate it? Will it move them – or bore them to tears?

At a recent mission trip to Alabama, during a worship service I believe that God “laid on my heart” that our church needed to have a funeral service. We had grown complacent and apathetic in too many areas of our lives, and we needed to put parts of ourselves (behaviors, attitudes, sin, etc…) to death. So I pitched the idea to several people – and they said “you want to do what?” -- “Yeah, we can get a casket, flowers (wilted), a hearse, I’ll wear a ministerial robe, we’ll sing hymns, eulogies, low light, etc….”

We had the funeral service today, and at one point the thought went through my brain, “I’ve killed the church.” And to be honest I am not sure how things will work out. But creativity (even as a gift from the Lord) is not worth much if you don’t carry it through.

So, my first point is, give it a shot. You could fail, and they might hate it. But what if you succeed and they love it? You’ll never know until you try. For me, what if the funeral service is a turning point in our church? What happens to a church when it stops taking risks? What happens when its leaders wait until someone else does it first?

I am not naturally a creative person, but over the next couple of posts I wanted to give a couple of ideas of how I have learned to foster creativity. So that in whatever it is that you, at your most basic level, endeavor to do, you can take these ideas and apply them to your life.