Defining Moments in My Life as a Creative

We say in Dream Year that there is a history to your dream. All of us have "defining moments" that helped shape our creative potential. Here are a few of mine:

• When I was a kid, my children's pastor was a Barnum & Bailey-trained circus clown. The events he put-on for our community were nothing short of spectacular. Circus tent, carnival rides, staged productions with an "arch nemesis" trying to shut it all down unless we brought enough friends. It has ruined children's ministries for me with my own kids

• When I was in college, I got to work backstage at a Newsboys show thanks to a friend interning with the band's production director. I got to help set-up the video projectors and load-in the big giant microphones on the Step Up tour. It peeled back the layers on high-end concert production. Made it doable in my mind.

• In my first job as an advertising writer in Dayton, Ohio, I asked the art department to help me launch a summertime event series for teens in the community. We rented out an grist mill that had been converted into a theater and saw hundreds of kids come out each week. I was hooked on gatherings and produced events.

• In my first church job, I produced a multimedia program with a 30-foot video screen, live band, actors, performers and interwoven narrative. By some freak twist of circumstances, it came-off flawlessly. That was totally unforseen. =)

• In 2002, Mark Batterson paid for me to attend Catalyst Conference in Atlanta with his team. I was greeted in the parking lot and unbeknownst to me, my name was radio'd-ahead to a throng of cheering paparazzi. I fell in love with the systems of delighting people.

• In 2008, while church planting, I invited 8 pastors to come to Reston, Virginia to speak at the first Whiteboard Sessions. It was a viral success, drawing nearly 1,000 people purely by word of mouth. Humbled by God's provision and affirmation.

• I went on to work for Catalyst and have since had the privilege of helping to shape the Elephant Room, Chick-fil-A Leadercast, JD Greer's Gospel Summit and other events.

• Ainsley and I started STORY which is the culmination of every bit of inspiration and theory that resides within us. Our team is growing larger and better every year. The tribe that is coming around the brand is remarkable. And the plans we have for 2013 are pee-in-the-pants frighteningly good.

• Next week, I'm headed to Montreal for C2MTL, which is hosted by Cirque Du Soleil, Fast Company and Sid Lee. Am expecting another defining moment...

Would love to hear a bit of the history of your own dream. What events have brought you to where you are?

Comments

[Wayneomite]

- getting told by a very senior saint that 'one day you'll be a mighty preacher' roughly 12 hours after I responded to the gospel and told my church how grateful I was for them
- not getting accepted in the education Masters program at the University of Florida that I had set my sights on for 3+ years (I relented to the call to vocational ministry and got hired by a church 3 weeks later)
- meeting Randy Singer - his daughter and my sister did a year-long mission project in Lebanon and their family lived barely 10 miles from ours in Georgia. 4 years and many dreams after we met, I went with him to start Trinity in Virginia Beach
- starting a high school bible study/discussion/argument with referees in a coffee shop in Buford, GA. Birthed a yet-to-see-happen dream of starting a coffee shop as a place for the community to encounter the Gospel
- hearing John Ortberg teach on 'shadow missions' (it's easy to see when someone is 180 degrees from where they are supposed to be; it's imperceptible - and therefore far more dangerous - when it's only 2 degrees). That lesson changed my heart for ministering radically and for ever
- Skype-ing with my old friend Bethany Edwards around Thanksgiving 2008. Next Tuesday we'll celebrate our 2nd year of marriage

[Thea Nelson]

Loved reading this. It's been such an amazing thing to trace my dream--being asked to speak at an end of summer banquet way before speaking was on the radar, taking a storytelling class because it was the only elective that fit my schedule, getting to plan all the elements of an entire worship service and making it all tie together. God's hand has orchestrated all of it, and what I've done makes so much sense in light of what I'm doing. Only God could so perfectly weave it all together. :)

[robb overholt]

One of mine was in my first church job with a guy who produced an event with a 30 foot video screen :)

[Linda Yoder]

Loved reading this Ben. Especially the beginning about King's Kids. Every time you share about that time in history it brings back so many great memories.

[Ben Arment]

Robb our timelines certainly crossed =)

And hey Linda! I actually forgot the name of it =)

[Mitch]

• There was a moment in 3rd grade when I realized I could draw better than most of my friends.

• In high school I discovered something called "commercial art" (now it's called graphic design). You mean I can get paid to do something I love?! Sign me up!

• In 2003, I remembered how much I enjoyed doing design, and decided to pursue it again. 8 months later I was hired at MY CHURCH to do design.

• Then there was the time this guy commented on my blog and said he'd been following my work online for 2 years, and asked if we could talk :)

• Then, last November, I became "the boss", and it's changing the way I look at what we do.

[Ben Arment]

Mitch your timeline is just beginning =)