We’ll humbly offer advice, conversation, and mentoring every week to inspire hope, resilience, faith, and forward motion. Highly relevant for worship and creative pastors and valuable for those working in churches, or ministries.
Imagined by creative leaders and pastors, Cass and Rich Langton - previously Global and Australian Worship and Creative Pastors who built a thriving culture of innovation, creativity, and worship.
Let us introduce ourselves.
Hi, I'm Rich Langton, I follow the way of Jesus, and I'm passionate about the people of the local church. Over the years, I've served in many capacities at different times, from worship leader to preacher and teacher, creative pastor, and also department leader. I've loved pastoring and have a master's in Biblical and Theological Studies.
I hunger to see people equipped with truth on the one hand and whole-hearted worship on the other. I believe that the commission is still great, and there are creative ways to communicate the gospel that are both relevant and inviting.
I am equally concerned with “how” we do things and not just “what” we do. I love to innovate and aim to encourage an authentic community while also exemplifying passionate devotion to Jesus in my own life. I find fulfillment in helping others implement creative practices that inspire biblical alignment with the Kingdom of God.
I'm a husband and a dad, and we live at "The Farm" in Sydney, Australia... but I'm also at home anywhere thoughtful conversation is found. You may recognize my voice from your favorite Creative Podcast... at least, I hope so 😜.
With my wife Cass, we feel called to use all we have learned from our years of pastoring and whatever is in our hands to build and strengthen individuals, church teams, and congregations to the glory of God.
And ….
I’m Cass; I love to laugh, drink coffee, and am always up for a chat, text, or email!!! The truth is that even more than that, I love the Lord, and I am passionate about the People of God, His word, creativity, and His church.
People say I am a Shepherd, a creative, an encourager, and a storyteller. If any of that is true, I would want to combine these things to communicate God's word clearly and excitingly, reaching people's heads and hearts as they seek to follow Jesus daily.
I love to create things, start things, imagine, and dream - I see possibilities and want to live in a way that inspires and encourages people to live out their God-given purpose. To help them find solutions and ways forward. To become more godly in their leadership and more committed to the people that they serve. To use their creativity more effectively to announce to everyone everywhere the universal reign of God through Christ. I believe creativity can help reflect what God is doing in Christ and through his church to express how captivating His Kingdom truly is.
I am equally at home in rehearsals, team meetings, or speaking on platforms. Sitting around tables is a ministry in itself and reflects the value Jesus put on people. Food is biblical… and so is fun!
I am a wife, a mother, and a friend. I live in Sydney, Australia, and with my husband Rich, we feel called to “go” and to use whatever we have learned and whatever is in our hands to build and strengthen individuals, church teams, and congregations to be on mission to the glory of God.
We are looking forward to the adventure and are confident that through our time together, we will all grow and develop, create with awe and wonder, and be strengthened to go into all the world and build culture and society, the church, and our households.
We’re excited, and we hope you are too.
🎁 For Free Subscribers:
What To Expect?
"The Hopeful Rhino Rapid 5" - A rapid-fire weekly email with five inspirational thoughts, links & insights to help you create more intentionally.
🔒 For Paid Members:
What To Expect?
Insights from the desk of Cass and Rich Langton
With over 20 years in ministry and working with creatives, let us take you deep into the heart of authentic creativity and faith outworked in the community.
We want to help you explore how to find your sweet spot and grow as a creative in your craft and life of faith. We hope you will learn how to move on from the past without erasing it, discover your creative personality type, and lean into your unique strengths. We will give you access to our vast creative library of resources, relationships, and experiences. We'll talk processes and plans and be as authentic as possible.
Insider information from creative pastors who have done the work
Whether it's creating a thriving creative community, multisite church (with teams distributed globally), songwriting, worshipping culture, pastoring multitudes of people, leading leaders of leaders, organizing and running countless rehearsals and prayer meetings, managing tours and conferences, working with all kinds of pastors and leaders, or overcoming roadblocks, let us share with you our stories and the stories of our friends who have led creative teams and world-impacting ministries. All this will spark solutions, bring answers, inspire, and help you implement ideas that can add to your experience and develop your creativity and team - professional development at its finest.
Devotion and Biblical Insights
We have a passion for biblical truth in this space. Rich has a Master's of Theology, and Cass is studying her Master's of Divinity because we are passionate about sound theology at the intersection of faith and creativity. We know that we all need continual growth and input, and we can only stay at the cutting edge with others helping stoke the fires of faith. Here you will find regular devotions, white papers, thought-provoking links, readings, and insights to give you language and vocabulary to help you cultivate a Christ-centred life.
Actionable advice for creative pastors and creatives
We'll share tools and resources to help you stay inspired and do good, meaningful work. In the members-only chat channels, you can get answers from the community to help you move forward from your challenging problems. All this is part of the community section. We will happily answer questions, do our best to work with you, and provide coaching on building, leading, and training your teams or motivating you to keep creating and being envisioned yourself.
A pulse on the worship and creative world
Friends and experts share their tricks, tips, journeys, and wisdom. We will look at the things happening globally in the worship and creative space and how creativity is changing and morphing. The impact and realities of a post covid world, AI and creativity, and the unique challenges that come with this cultural moment. As Dostoevsky said, "Beauty will save the world." We want to help you keep creating in a way that influences and shapes culture to the glory of God. Because that is part of why we are all here, right?
An outsider voice - perspective for you
We'll be that someone outside of your day-to-day to keep spurring you on, encouraging you to pick yourself up again, a voice to believe in what you bring, to be in your corner, to help you deal with the specks and the planks, to see the beauty and the joy. We'll keep you smiling and laughing regularly and be light on the inside. The creative gift doesn't always have to be dark traumatic, intense, or lonely. Life can be fun, especially when we're in it together!
A global network of like-minded creatives
Everyone needs friends, mentors, peers, and cheerleaders. Iron sharpens iron, and rhinos sharpen rhinos 🤣. So invest yourself here and see the benefits of a global community. We have watched this happen repeatedly and trust that this online community can lead to real friendships that will surprise and delight you.
In simple terms
As a paid member, you can expect to receive advice, conversation, and mentoring in the form of;
"The Hopeful Rhino Journals"
Weekly long-form in-depth articles, "how-to's," and reflections from the desk of Cass and Rich.
Full Archives
Access to the entire archive of content, tools, and resources.
Access to a creative community
Inclusion in our members-only real-time community and chat channels.
Special offers and other goodies
Things like live zooms, exclusive podcast episodes, meet-up invitations, and more as they happen.
Plus...
"The Rapid 5" - A weekly rapid-fire email with inspiration, links & insights to help you create more intentionally.
All of this is designed to connect us with you and you with other members so that together we will be full of hope and resilience, faith, and forward motion.
Group discounts
We’re pleased to offer groups of more than two people discounted membership. We’d love to see entire Worship and Creative Teams join as we can see the benefit to groups of being on the same page and learning together.
You can buy a group subscription here.
For groups larger than ten people, please get in touch with us for a special discount.
✍️ Posting Schedule
Paid members receive the “Rapid 5” (with inspiration, links & insights to help you create more intentionally) on a Tuesday, a brand new long-form article every Thursday morning (USA Eastern time). Unpaid subscribers receive the weekly “Rapid 5” only.
As a member, you also get an invite to the member-only real-time community chat channels, where you can ask any question and have access to all the collective creative input. You also gain access to the comments section and access to the entire archive of content, tools, and resources. Both these resources are available 24/7.
💰 Expensing Your Access
Creative Pastors and creative professionals can often expense their access out of their learning and development budget. Here’s an email template you can use to send your oversight. As soon as you become a paid member, you’ll receive a receipt to expense the cost of your subscription.
⏰ Time Off Policy
Each year, we take four weeks off. During those weeks, you may receive no new posts. The time off is vital in helping us recharge and ensure we can bring you our best for the rest of the year. We believe all creatives benefit from periods of rest, solitude, and stillness.
🙋🏽♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you charge money for this?
We wish we didn't need to, but at the moment, 'The Hopeful Rhino' is our only form of income. We passionately believe in resourcing creatives with things no one ever told us or helped us with. We think you will find the content and community more valuable than the small subscription cost. We have kept it as affordable as possible - around two fancy coffees a month - which we all buy flippantly, right? So not only will your subscription help us greatly, but it will also cover the costs of bringing you the content you will receive. (If you can't afford it - please email us, and we will see if we can sponsor you, but there are no promises).
Also, you can probably expense it if it helps you professionally. So ask your boss to purchase you a subscription for your professional development.
Do you offer group subscriptions?
Yes! Group subscriptions are available at a discounted rate for groups of 2 or more subscribers. To sign up as a group, click here. If you have a group larger than ten people you'd like to join, don't hesitate to contact us for a special discounted rate.
Can I share your emails?
Yes, please share any of “The Rapid 5” emails; that’s what it’s for - inspiration and motivation.
As for The Hopeful Rhino Journal articles - Occasionally forwarding an article you find helpful is excellent (we love that), but please don't overdo it, as subscriptions are our sole source of income. So if you forward some emails, please encourage the recipients to subscribe or become a member.
Can I read the newsletter in my browser?
Yes! As a subscriber, you can read all newsletters on TheHopefulRhino.com and access all the content in the archives.
Hey Cass and Rich, do you know how to spell?
Hopefully, you will spot only a few spelling mistakes while reading The Hopeful Rhino. Although we're Aussies through and through, we've decided to opt for American English spelling, so if you see a "z" where an "s" should be, please realize (look, there's one, haha) it's on purpose. If you spot a genuine mistake, please let us know so we can correct it. Thank you so much for your attention and participation.
