There are 6 mountains that you must summit that stand between you and the creative that you wish to be.

“In the beginning God _________”
You know, how you finish that statement really changes everything. If it’s in the beginning God created or in the beginning, well, if it’s God counterfeited or God plagiarized or God made copyright infringement, then it changes the rest of the way that those that are made in His image would create.

So, if it’s “created” how do you think His followers or the creation of this God should create? I think that a Biblical sage once scribed, “There is nothing new under the sun.” That’s true. There is nothing truly original. Except for maybe your finger prints. Except you. Except everything God has made.

So, the question then really is not, “What is original?” because any good artist or creator knows this. Curators of creating borrow with honor to transform, but they know that at some point they are not fully original. They are a representation of originality that has been sown into them. So, let’s talk about that for a little while.

Let’s talk about these 6 mountains that I think are plaguing the creative process as you try to make what you are going to make. There are six summits that we have to get through.

The Mountain of the Adjective
The Mountain of the Adjective, it really stands in the way of us becoming the creative. We are not adjectives. We are a noun that loves verbs that sends, restores, repairs, and creates. My thought is that if you ever hear the word ‘christian’ as an adjective you have to be aware of that. You have to have your spider senses kick in because what that is speaking to is the mountain of the adjective. It’s the small little bubble of “christian content” versus the larger bubble of just “content”. You gotta be aware of the two concentric circles and what and where you’re creating, and why or why not it’s receiving resonance.

Let me just give you an example the first little concentric bubble. Let’s just talk about Christian things: Christian music, Christian T-shirts, Christian art, Christian fill in the blank, Christian movies. The larger bubble or the world at hand, they’re not really waiting with baited breath for Fireproof 6. Let’s just be honest, they’re not really worried about the books that I’m writing. At this point, they’re not really concerned, if you will, with anything that’s designed or created within the context of the adjective, that is the church, that is Christianity, that is not coming into the concentric circles that we live in very often that if you are a follower of Christ.

However, those of us that are followers of Jesus, we are always going to go out to what the larger context is creating. I cannot wait to go see the new Star Wars. I have literature and other things that aren’t in the little concentric circles and it’s not necessarily one that’s spiritual one that’s secular. It’s that one is an adjective and one is noun and I think that you have to be really aware of where you’re creating that resource for.

I meet a lot of people that are creating that resource or they’re making something and they’re making it in their concentric circles and they’re frustrated because it doesn’t have resonance to the whole. It doesn’t have legs or wings outside, and I think that we have to be aware of those things within the inner concentric circle. Take this example of Christianity, and I think it’s actually something that is a resource, a discipleship resource, if you will. Some of those other things that are outside of those scopes we can put other labels on it, but for me, I’ve always wanted to have what I’m making have legs or bridges or waypoints into the larger conversation that exist outside of the adjectives of whatever the subculture may be or the people group that I’m speaking with. I always want to create bridges in my content and in my art and my delivery, that’s pulling people from the outer court into the inner court and into a place where I would consider it to be an encounter with the Creator.

So when you’re making something, be aware of the mountain of the adjective that’s going to stand in your way. You’ve got to be aware of the concentric circles. You’ve got to be aware of the larger whole and where you’re creating and why you’re creating it. The mountain of the adjective, if you’ve got something to say, something to make, I like to think of it as an onion. Does it have layers? Does it have something where there something beneath the surface and you keep digging and digging and digging? I think that is some of the greatest art.

The Mountain of Relevance
I think people are trying to be relevant and then they create a work of art. They create art, if you will, that is just simply relevant. Relevance is never simply your goal. Effective should be your goal. Relevance is really being effective and I think a lot of times we confuse the two. We try to make these things that are relevant or trendy or neat or you know “that’s really on fleek”, but the truth is, is it effective? That should be your question, because you can be effective with a tape player, you can be effective without social media. You can be effective without a coffee bar in the corner of your church, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not relevant. It just means that we have to focus on being effective, not relevant.

Relevance is never your goal, effective should be your goal.

I think that the Mountain of Relevance gets in the way of the creative process because that becomes the destination that we’re choosing versus effectiveness of the creation that we want to see. I think relevance, just right off the cuff here, is kind of like a bridge and there’s no word for bridge in the Bible. You know, I think the arts are a bridge and we can have that bridge literally going to nowhere because it is not effective. It might be the coolest most amazing bridge that is ever made, but it’s not letting people come across to hear a message. That’s the Mountain of Relevance.

The Mountain of Duplication
I think the mentality here is a spin in the creative process. I think we start using words like “copyright infringement,” “counterfeit,” and “duplication” and for the sources of creation, and then it doesn’t become a footnote that inspires and becomes something that we change and spin to make it a new creation.

I see this a lot, to borrow this very poor, elementary, if you will, example in T-shirts that are Mountain of Adjective. Christian T-shirts that read instead of “Sprite” it says “Spirit.” Instead of “Abercrombie and Fitch,” it says “Breadcrumbs and Fish.” Creativity breads creativity, and plagiarism breeds plagiarism. When we sow seeds of duplication, that’s what we are going to get. It’s like planting seeds of corn and expect apples.

The church, specifically Christianity, is frustrated at times in the creative process because we allow these things to seep in. Where part of our process is to just put a spin on it and now it’s Jesus-fied, and now, it’s a new thing. We are sowing these seeds of duplication and all along, what we want, is to be creative. That even happens too at times, way off the subject, during a church-plant or multi-site. We can really borrow what some other church is doing or some of the best business practices, rather than really taking the effort and time to tune into, “is this what God has for me?” Is this what God has for us? You know, He is the creator of the creative force in the world and this is what we can tap into.

So, be aware of the Mountain of Duplication and when you are duplicating, be aware of what you’re duplicating. Be aware of this mountain because it well plague your creative process if you’re not aware of that mountain.