Awakening wonder, creating clouds, and tips for supporting volunteers
5 things worth sharing this week
Hey — It’s Rich and Cass.
We’ve been creating indoor clouds, preaching on the end times, playing pickleball and getting ready for a pretty special baptismal service this Sunday… how about you??
Now, here’s 2 ideas from us, 2 snippets from others & 1 spark of inspiration!
TWO IDEAS FROM RICH & CASS
RICH WRITES:
“I was inspired when Cass showed me the cloud by Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde on the left… so when our preaching series ended last weekend with a message about people’s misconceptions about eternity being spent floating on clouds, I knew we had to make one!!
Smildes cloud was actual vapour… ours is pillow stuffing and paper lanterns… but the effect was the same, and it definitely got the point across.
The idea here? Just because you can’t replicate an idea exactly doesn’t mean there’s not a way to utilize the concept.”
CASS WRITES:
They are culture-setting moments.
They shape identity.
They become the language your team uses.
They build imagination, expectation, and spiritual formation.
For more on this, here’s something for you in The Academy.
TWO SNIPPETS FROM OTHERS
If you implement these simple functions, your pastoral leadership will be so unexpected and uncommon that people will literally tell all their friends!!
3 Tips for Supporting Your Volunteers
Celebrate often. Thank volunteers regularly with handwritten notes, shoutouts, or quick texts that remind them of the impact they are having on eternities.
Communicate clearly. Share expectations, schedules, and feedback early so your team always knows what’s coming and how to prepare.
Care personally. Pray for one another, check in when life gets hard, and make sure every volunteer feels valued beyond their role.
Source: Life Church Open Network
Don’t be discouraged friends…
“The Church needs artists because without art we cannot reach the world. The simple fact is that the imagination ‘gets you,’ even when your reason is completely against the idea of God.
‘Imagination communicates,’ as Arthur Danto says, ‘indefinable but inescapable truth.’ Those who read a book or listen to music expose themselves to that inescapable truth.
There is a sort of schizophrenia that occurs if you are listening to Bach and you hear the glory of God and yet your mind says there is no God and there is no meaning. You are committed to believing nothing means anything and yet the music comes in and takes you over with your imagination.
When you listen to great music, you can’t believe life is meaningless. Your heart knows what your mind is denying. We need Christian artists because we are never going to reach the world without great Christian art to go with great Christian talk.”
Source: Tim Keller - 2017 (Facebook)
ONE SPARK OF INSPIRATION
Can you believe Advent starts next week!?!? We’re going to be reading through this book… why not join us?
Darrell Johnson is a master communicator and we will all be richer for slowing down this Advent and reflecting on the Wonder of God incarnate.
“Rooted in Scripture and drawn from decades of preaching, these reflections help us see again the surprising beauty of Jesus’ arrival and the way it continues to reshape our lives today.”
Source: Darrell Johnson - Awaken the wonder - Advent reflection
Grace and peace,
Rich and Cass
P.S. We’re adding things to the Worship & Creative Leaders Academy all the time.
⏩ Forwarded this email? Get it straight to your inbox instead 😊.