Over the years, I have hired many church staffers in worship, production, video and communications. A key trait that I look for when hiring these key team members is curiosity. There are certain characteristics that I have found to be universally present in people who are still growing – they want to know more about what they do, they are passionate about expanding boundaries, and they are always on the lookout for ideas.
These ideas can pop up anywhere. When we are children, we are constantly observing, combining ideas, innovating and imagining. In many ways, this makes kids much better at ideation than we are. The boxes in which we adults place things don’t exist yet for them – for instance, an adult looks at a zoo and an amusement park as two different things, whereas combining them is the most natural thing in the world for kids.
Part of the secret of maintaining this curiosity is simply not to buy into the lie that work is a negative experience. Our culture inundates us with messaging that work is something to be avoided, when it actually provides a key part of our makeup as humans. Feeling useless leads to depression and anxiety – the next time you’re going down that road, spend some time with a kids or two and learn how to get curious again…
“The most sophisticated people I know – inside they are all children.” – Jim Henson
Hmmm - well, let's see...
I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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