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By Richard Hamilton, November 4, 2011 7:49 pm

For the first time in a long time, I felt absurdly motivated to create last night. My brother and I are at a conference and we went back to the hotel relatively early, and he fell asleep. I did not. So, at midnight, I decided to throw on a hoodie and venture out with my backpack and too much energy. Eventually, I found myself in the hotel lobby, ready to write. I fired up my notebook and got online ready to write a provocative series of posts. But first, as per my usual routine, I checked my email, even though I could do so much more easily on my iPhone and honestly, didn’t need to. Before I knew it, Resistance had set in. The kind of personified Resistance Steven Pressfield warned me about. I crawled back into bed with nothing to show for my narcolepsy.

What I should have done was brought a blank notepad. A computer can never provide actual blank space. It is designed to provide access, information, and distraction, but not a blank canvas for creation.

Jesse Jacobs, former tech guy and founder of Samovar Tea in San Francisco said, “Only in emptiness can we be truly creative and imaginative. Like an empty teacup or a blank sheet of paper, emptiness is unlimited potential. In emptiness, literally anything can happen. An idea, a scribble, a masterpiece, a to-do list, a mind map. It’s when clutter and noise and distraction fill us up that there is little room left for greatness.”

There is a lot to learn here. All aspiring creatives should practice distraction minimization and embrace endless potential.

Time to pick up a new Moleskin.

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By Richard Hamilton, October 30, 2009 11:41 am

I have formulated a new mission statement for epicdialogue.com:

Our mission is to globally facilitate leading-edge collaboration and idea-sharing in order to create ‘outside the box’ thinking with 100% on-time delivery.

Okay…actually I didn’t. I was playing with a free app on my iPhone called “Mission Statement Generator” by A2rt. This app helps get the “creative” ball rolling for those writing organizational mission statements. Here is another one I generated with the app:

We have committed to holistically create alternative catalysts for change and continue to promote ‘outside the box’ thinking while maintaining the highest standards.

I’m sure many of us are involved with organizations (i.e. churches) that have developed a missions statement strangely reminiscent to the ones above. Most I have read (or written for that matter) are are poor copies of the trendy church of the month and shed little light on the actual identity of the organization in question.

This makes sense in some ways. The cards are stacked against the statement writer. It is a daunting, dare I say impossible, task to sum up a community, organization, or movement in a few short phrases. Words are woefully inadequate. Add to this the fact that people’s expectations are so bland and formulaic.

So, why do we do it? Partially, because it was all the rage in businesses 25+ years ago. But also because people want to know what they are getting into. We want to know what to expect of our churches, organizations, employees and the like. And of course, what they expect of us.

This makes the mission statement dangerous territory. If we say we are a community that loves, we sure better love. Or, if we say we exist to serve our community, that should be something we actually do. We are tempted to express our goals and ideals in these type of statements, but they must be tempered with a dose if reality. Unfortunately, many organizations have a skewed self image.

How does your church (or whatever) approach the “all important” mission statement?

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By Richard Hamilton, September 14, 2009 10:13 pm

Peter Rollins recently held a parable writing competition (in conjunction with Paraclete Press). He has announced the winner, “Footprints” written by Kester Brewin.

The second place entry was Constantine’s Conversion by John Janzen. It isn’t a long read, but I really like it.

The Emperor Constantine, facing the biggest battle of his reign, looked into the setting sun at the Lilvian Bridge and saw a vision of the Cross of Christ. As he gazed at the cross he heard a voice say “By this sign, conquer”.

The next day he gave up his reign as Emperor, surrendered all his many possessions, and went to live and work among the poor.??And forever after he was known as one of the greatest heroes of the faith for his obedience to the voice of God.

Rollins explained his selection of this piece saying, “I chose this short parable for second place as I liked how it took a central moment in the development of Christianity and employed it to explore the importance of interpretation.”

The “historical” conversion of Constantine ushered in a dark chapter in the history of the Christian faith. The fresh breath of liberty to worship was smogged with complicity and the new cross symbolized empirical might instead of self sacrifice embodied by its predecessor.

Oh how things might have been different if Constantine had embraced the way of the cross rather than mutilating its message.

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By Richard Hamilton, May 8, 2009 8:56 am

This past weekend, our teen ministry video team met for the first time. We wanted the students to get some hands on experience with digital video cameras and editing software. After lunch, a quick discussion of what we were hoping to do, and a crash course in videography, we let the student loose. Here is one of the videos that resulted.

Fun With Film: World’s Most X-Treme Baller from richard hamilton on Vimeo.

Obviously, this video was not intended to convey some deeply spiritual or religious message. We are hoping though, that our students will be given a new avenue to express themselves. Video is much more accessible today than it has been in the past. As a result, we find that many students are interested in it.

For us, this is only one piece of a much larger scheme. We want students to feel free to be creative and expressive. Some students will find their voice in the arts and media. Our student ministry hopes to cultivate creativity.

I’m interested in how other faith communities are equipping people to be creative and expressive. Please chime in and let me know; I want to hear from you.

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By Richard Hamilton, January 27, 2009 2:53 pm

Business and marketing guru Seth Godin recently posted his thoughts on creativity. The highlight to me was this quote: “If you want to be creative, understand that you’ll need to get to the edges, even if the edges have moved.” To be creative is to constantly reinvent yourself.

Click here to read Seth’s blog post.