Hey — It’s Cass and Rich.
This week is off to a flying start. Rehearsals, Christmas Parties, 40th Birthdays by the pools amidst Sydney storms, hospitals, house cleaning, visitors arriving, decorating and deliberating. It really is the “silly season”. We’ve been thinking about how to maintain a creative edge and the right perspective in the middle of it all.
So here’s 2 ideas from us, 2 snippets from others & 1 spark of inspiration!
TWO IDEAS FROM RICH & CASS
RICH WRITES:
Do you ever wonder about what it really looks like to do something great?
A lot of talk about changing the world… and have dreams of doing great things… but not many stop to truly work through what that looks like for us as Christians creatives.
This week I have found myself in a random scenario with ministry friends. We’ve travelled the world together, lead services together, sought God together… and cleaned houses together. Yes, that’s right, you read that correctly, cleaned houses… literally on our hands and knees scrubbing floors, toilets and bathrooms for someone in need.
It wasn’t pleasant…
But in the middle of wiping who knows what off the bathroom floor, I kept being reminded of the words of Jesus… “Whoever wants to become great in the Kingdom must be the servant of all”.
Here’s what I tool away with me…
When we serve all, we enter into something great. When we’re helping others, especially those that can’t help themselves, we do great things. When there’s no upside for you, just acts of services for others, it could just be that you’re doing the “greatest” thing ever!!
(And you don’t have to enjoy the expereince for it to be true!)
CASS WRITES:
Recently the team from streams.studio and I sat down and had a conversation around leadership, creativity, worship, and one of the topics it seems everyone wants to talk about at the moment, being hurt.
So here are some of my honest thoughts as a leader in the church… (forgive the intense look!!!!)
To read more around these thoughts, keep reading my lessons learned from a life time of ministry in The Worship and Creative Leaders Academy.
TWO SNIPPETS FROM OTHERS
The simplest of quotes can provide real moments of profound insight. Like this one:
“I (almost) always come limping into Advent, desperate for light, but almost too tired to look for it. Then I remember: the Light came looking for me, and that’s the whole point.”
Source: Annie B. Jones - Instagram
This film was hand drawn and took over a three years to create!! It’s by “Brother Bear” director, Aaron Blaze. It’s won mulitple awards at film festivals, like the Santa Fae Film Festival, and has alot of buzz around it at present.
It’s amazing what one man’s committement to story telling can yield, particulatly around something he’s passionate about. In this case it’s climate change.
But how about you? What fuels your creative output? And how commited are you to seeing those stories come to life?
Source: YouTube
ONE SPARK OF INSPIRATION
Creativity takes focus, and focus takes intention. If you are anything like us, you find yourself scrolling, watching youtube videos, seeking inspiration, reading random things, and instagramming… sometimes for ideas and sometimes because you’re caught in the culture we live in.
I’ve decided in 2026 there will be less wasted time scrolling or fritting away my life on my phone - but how do I achieve that?
To be honest I’m pretty ready to try a new tool, The Brick. It disables apps and allows you time to reset.
We have a friend who has this at her front door. It makes home a space of sanctuary and connection. But for me the possibilities are endless... we could use it at the church office, for times with the team where we need peoples focused attention… or even in church on Sunday’s.
Imagine.
Decrease scroll, increase output.
Source: getbrick.app
Question of the week…
What’s your best tip for staying focused when working on a project?
Grace and peace,
Rich and Cass
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Watched Cass at Streams, it was really beautiful the way that she spoke truth without being dismissive and condescending