Who are you going to be?
While I was reading this weeks book, Insight Out: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World by Tina Seelig, I was struggling with the fact that I have never been very creative. In fact, it is one of the hardest parts of my job as a pastor. Then in the introduction I read the following “Many educators believe that you can’t teach those skills.” (referring to creativity, innovation, etc.)[1] The author goes on to talk about education and it’s lack of teaching students to be creative. I have always heard and thought either you were creative or you were not, I am one of the “were nots”. Seelig does recognize the advantage other fields of study have “physics, biology, math, and music–have a huge advantage when it comes to teaching those topics. They have defined terms and a taxonomy of relationships that provide a structured approach for mastering needed skills.”[2] She then goes on to argue that creativity can be taught, she gives the example of the “nine dots” puzzle.
I have never been able to figure this puzzle out, it perplexes me to no end, and she then gives us the answer, you have to think outside of the box. I know most of you would probably say something like, “How did you not know that was the answer?” My answer to you would be it frustrated me, I quit trying and moved on. I feel like we should have read her first book inGenius before reading this book as it would have dovetailed nicely into this reading (just a hint Dr. Clark), I have ordered her book and intend to read it but I digress. I can learn to be creative. I can learn to be creative, in fact, l probably am already since I write a sermon every week.
In his review of Insight, Amal Chaaban argues “Businesses who are looking for a way to release all of the creativity they feel is locked up in their human capital should pick this one up and share it with upper management.” [3] He is right in saying this, but not just businesses, but any leader who is trying to help those who they work with to be the best they can be.
In the chapter Motivate Seelig recounts how former CEO of Juniper Networks, Scott Kriens, interviews candidates, he asks them “Who are you?”[4] I took this question and posed it to myself. Who am I? Well, I am a husband, father, pastor and friend. I love my wife with all my heart and am blessed to have her in my life. I consider myself a scholar of some degree as well as a theologian of some degree. I have an intense desire to live a better life than I did when I was younger and as part of that to follow Christ as best I can. I want others to know Christ and am willing to sacrifice my comfort for that to happen. I want the best for my sons as they grow and mature into young men. I do not desire for them to have it easy but for them to be shaped by their experiences by God. That is the short version. I wonder how many people have actually asked themselves this question. I wonder how many churches have asked themselves this question. In my dissertation I am trying to figure out why the North American church, specifically the small Southern Baptist church has such an inward focus. I believe this may be a great start for a church, look deeply into itself and see what drives it. Is it self comfort, or is it the Glory of God? If it is the later then what must be done to see this come into being. These are the first steps in making a change, and they are the hardest steps to take. Seelig reminds the reader it is alright to fail, in fact, it is good to fail because it spurs us onto greater things. The first time I tried to preach, let’s just say it was not what I would call a success. I ended it with this line “and that’s all I got”. Not the greatest job, but it made me want to get better. I am no Billy Graham but I do alright. If I had not let my failure spur me on, I would not be where I am today.
Seelig gives us the opportunity to learn to be creative, the ability to fail and move forward and this is a good thing. I know to many people who are so afraid of failing they will never try anything great. I always said I would never go back to school for a doctorate and yet here I am. I may not be the best but I will continue to try, anyone can do that.
[1] Seelig, Tina. Insight Out: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World. New York, NY: Harper One Publ., 2015. 3.
[2] Ibid. 3-4.
[3] Chaaban, Amal. “Book Review: Insightout By Dr. Tina Seelig.” Entrepreneur. January 02, 2016. Accessed September 13, 2018. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254404.
[4] Seelig, Tina. Insight Out: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World. New York, NY: Harper One Publ., 2015. 73.
About the Author
Jason Turbeville
A pastor, husband and father who loves to be around others. These are the things that describe me. I was a youth minister for 15 years but God changed the calling on my life. I love to travel and see where God takes me in my life.10 responses to “Who are you going to be?”
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Jason,
First off- God loves variety and nothing goes to waste in His economy. Therefore, you are perfectly gifted for the role and good works that He designed for you. Great personal reflection on “Who am I?” and transition into your dissertation on the inward focus of the Southern Baptist church.
I imagine none of us would be enrolled in the George Fox University, Leadership and Global Perspectives program if we had not failed forward a few times. You are in good company my friend. Obedience and faith; knowing God and reflecting Christ are the motivators for me. What are yours?
Love and grace to your sons. Life happens, and they will get plenty of opportunities to grow their character in God’s sovereign plan for their lives.
M. Webb
Mike,
I will be honest with you, my motivators tend to be the desire to honor God and be an obedient follower. Of course, I do fail from time to time (more often than I would like to admit. I appreciate you and your encouragement.
Jason
great job Jason.
My dad used to always through the dot puzzle at me, but i could never remember it. And I thought there was only 1 way to do it by going past the line. what blew me away was that there were like 10 ways to solve it!!! that really inspired me.
it may not be dots or squares for you, but I think we are all facing problems that have another 9 solutions we have not even thought about.
Kyle,
I would be happy if most things just had 9 different ways to solve ;). Most of the time it feels like an SAT question, which of these is the most right answer. That can be so frustrating. I hope all is well, look forward to seeing you in HK.
Jason
Hi Jason,
Loved reading your reflections for this week; thanks!
I don’t know if I’m imagining this, but somewhere in Seelig’s book did she mention the example of gazing into a painting for several hours to see what you see over time as you sit with it? Over time as you sit, various aspects of the painting will reveal themselves to you. At any rate, when you mentioned you didn’t think you were very creative, I wondered if it’s a matter of learning to be more patient. (Our culture is not a very patient culture so it isn’t easy, at least at first!) Learning to sit with something and letting creativity emerge in its time is necessary; and then when it does emerge, we can run with the changes.
One of Pope Francis’ favourite icons is Mary the Undoer of Knots. See here for an image: http://luisapiccarreta.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Mary-Undoer-of-Knots.png
We are often tangled up in complicated situations that entrepreneurial creativity would help resolve.
Seven years ago I had a personal family situation that was complicated and to me seemed “impossible” to reconcile. I saw no way forward, no solution presented itself. I was counselled to let it go and just wait, and trust God would work it out. Like the Mary icon above, the untangling took a long time. This week, a family member gave me a gift that to me was a complete change of heart and brought beautiful resolution to a tangled mess.
I’m not saying the tangles are all unknotted, but at least this week one knot was untangled!
And that’s all I got. 😉
Mark,
I do believe you are correct, patience in waiting for God to move can be one of my greatest challenges. I reread Seelig’s section on the art work and tried it, I could only go about 20 minutes and at that point felt like I was going nuts. I would imagine it is something to work up to, like strengthening a muscle. Like waiting on God take time to learn. I appreciate your response and I really like that picture you attached. What a great picture of working out our issues with God.
Thanks
Jason
Jason,
Great post this week. I believe you are more creative than you think you are. I too struggle to see myself as particularly creative. 30 years in youth ministry has not done much to quell those thoughts surprisingly. I wonder if there are specific ideas you read in Seelig’s book that you feel you can apply immediately to stir your own creative juices. I also wonder how you will help your church begin to develop creative ways to open themselves up to the wider world and meet needs of the local community. Well done my friend.
Dan,
To be honest the thing that stuck with me most was the fact that I can learn to be creative and I don’t have to listen to that inner voice that wont let me take chances. I mean I should know that but man it is good to hear it from someone else.
Look forward to seeing you brother.
Jason
Jason, I appreciate the self-reflection and openness by which you shared this post. I heard once that a true piece of art is never finished (not sure where I heard that); because the artist can always find somewhere for improvement. I guess I always took that too mean that my best is still being produced. If God is my Artist, I am confident in His ability.
First of all I’m super surprised to hear you say that you’re not innately creative. That’s just surprising to me given your nature and kindness and empathy. Secondly, the fact that you said ‘yes’ to a calling that requires you to be creative every week as the primary part of your job also indicates to me that something is off. I hope this book helps you grow as I hope it does for me too, if nothing else, to accept and expand the creativity that is within us by teaching us some good skills. I think you are more creative than you let on.