How Do You Look for Creative Partners in Ministry?

HOW THEY SEE

I’m sure there are many valid answers. But when I look at any creative, I don’t first look at skill. I look at what God has done in their heart and how it shapes how they see...which becomes evident through what they create. 

How they see will determine how they ultimately design. 

HEART FOR SHEEP

I look at their heart for sheep and how they handle lions...not just their ability to draw animals (1 Samuel 17, John 10). A growing love for sheep motivates creatives to increase in skills needed to fight for the flock vs. making a platform for themselves or finding identity in the craft. It prioritizes lanes they take and how God is wiring them to engage. Love breeds diligence and fosters a humility. When caring for sheep, humility and tenacity are key. What’s designed for sheep isn’t always designed comfortably for shepherds. 

It will matter later. 

If someone just wants to make art for self-expression, I don’t fault them (there is a place for pure fun for the sake of it...God is generous in that), but I won’t enlist them on that alone for the work at hand. 

In a world needing to know the heart of God expressed along enemy lines, I look for Davids. How else will they discern what needs to be captured...or how to capture it...and who it is for? They need to have a heart for sheep and God’s glory in mind. Or they risk missing the point.

RELY & DEVELOP 

I also look for what creatives rely on. When you stand on a battlefield, it won’t be a good look, sword, clever speech, perfectly devised strategy, composition, or slingshot that ultimately determine the outcome of the battle even if it wins a design award. 

God often uses what we don’t expect because He knows the true context at play and what is at stake. Maybe it’s why God creatively used a boy raised in nowhere fields to bring courage to armies to make sure we remember that. David sought the Lord, and God led him to use some creative approaches in battle not always a slingshot (2 Samuel 5).

Tools are great and God uses them. But they don’t produce courage to engage enemies, provide creativity needed to solve from different angles, know how to course correct, or determine what to prioritize or which advice to follow. Tools alone can’t motivate artists for very long. Design loses power when it strays from its intention and disconnects from the Source. You got to rely on God in planning and in real time. God often inspires inside relationship.

TEAM

I look at how creatives play on a team and how teams play with creatives. Folks surrounded David. Sometimes it was great. Sometimes it went sideways. Sometimes he chose them. Sometimes he was stuck with them. Watching how he responded whether good or bad teaches me a lot. So whether creatively exposing Saul in a myriad of ways or responding to Nathan creatively challenging him, we see David did not fulfill all God planned for his life in isolation. God used a team.

SO WHERE DOES GOD GROW CREATIVES?

Same place as shepherds. On hillsides, battlefields, caves, thrones, quiet waters, and places on the run...in high and low places...in dark nights and at sunrise...wherever He wants songs to be...where life happens...wherever He plants the seed. Often it’s where they get their weight, shape, and clarity. God is always revealing His design. 

TRAINING

So to train as a designer (or find one), first trace His hand. Be inspired by what increases joy in God’s heart. Train your eye. Sharpen technique. Work on helping it translate. Create together as a team.  But all for the aim of inviting others to see Jesus better than they do so they can know what God does in places no one initially looked. 

Your goal is helping folks understand the gospel and respond wholeheartedly to His call.

So it was with David. So it is with us. The only weapon that ever matters is the one in the hand of God. Don’t despise a pile of rocks in the middle of a stream because they don’t look like Goliath’s sword. At least one is headed to the battlefield tomorrow to meet the enemy. God is creative that way.

I’m still learning. Still growing. Still being humbled to see. God is patient and still moving in shepherd fields. It is all part of His design.

He is growing our faith.