Does Forced Creativity Kill the Desire to Become More Creative?

Ryan Egan —  August 25, 2011 — 10 Comments

Image of a man holding a canvas in front of his face with words "Not creative enough"

Something got my wheels turning.  I am placed in a strange juxtaposition of two different cultures.  The culture I serve, my home congregation is a beautiful and wonderful place; a place I so enjoy serving, but I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface of how to be creative.  We’re making excellent strides there and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

On the other hand, the online world of church creatives that I daily take part in is a place of bold innovation, extreme creativity, and fresh thinking that, at times, might even be offensive to some within my congregation. Continue Reading…

In For Worship Leaders, Leadership
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Association Free Lutheran Family Camp and More

Ryan Egan —  July 28, 2011 — Leave a comment

We’ve been enjoying a lovely week at the AFLC (Association of Free Lutheran Churches) family camp this week.  I’ve been blessed with the privilege to lead worship and it’s going quite well!

Since I haven’t had much time to write or much of a connection I’ll point you to a couple places I’ve guest posted recently:

I’ve been part of Chris Vacher’s Summer Mix Tape here, writing about how God is using Let Your Kingdom Come in our church.

I also wrote on Ashley’s blog here, writing about living intentionally by faith.

What exciting things have you been doing this summer?

In Family, Music
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The Hour Before Church; Is it Lovely or Ludicrous?

Ryan Egan —  July 25, 2011 — 3 Comments

Image of the hour before - what happens the hour before a worship service

For many church leaders, the hour before a worship service can be lovely or ludicrous. For me, the hour before depends on the week before.

If the week before has gone well (that is, communication was efficient, people prepared their part for the service, and my heart has been regularly fed in God’s word) then the hour before is always lovely; a time to get ready for corporate worship, enjoy the company of my fellow church members, and look forward to the Spirit of God moving in worship. Continue Reading…

In For Worship Leaders
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How to be an Offering – Banishing Pride in Position

Ryan Egan —  July 20, 2011 — 6 Comments

Anyone who is on some type of “platform”; being a pastor, worship leader, or even having a lot of social media followers, can quickly and easily run into a problem:

“Wow.  Look at this, I have some influence.  People listen to me.  This is pretty amazing.”

Now, the problem isn’t with people listening to that person, or even that they have influence.  The problem lies with how that influenced is used.  Will it be used for God’s glory or for personal gain? A new worship leader and blogging friend of mine says today that it’s possible and quite clear from Scripture that it could be used for both (think Moses, David, Solomon, the Apostle Paul), but there will always be a danger to take pride in the position we’ve been allowed to be placed into and forget about our call to magnify the greatness of God. Continue Reading…

In Leadership
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Come and Drink, a Declaration for our Generation from Matthew Reed (Review)

Ryan Egan —  July 1, 2011 — 5 Comments

Cover art for Matthew Reed's Come and Drink EP

First, you should know that I feel incredibly inadequate to do album reviews.  I have no experience recording or producing an entire album.  Yet, I keep getting blessed by several folks asking me to review their recording.  I hope someday I’ll be the one asking for the review, but until then, I’ll give my honest and raw opinion about what I hear. Continue Reading…

In For Worship Leaders, Music
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