Day One of the Creative Arts Summit was an amazing way to spend a Friday night (or any other night, for that matter). I was glad to hear McNair Wilson cover some similar ground to his previous Koinonia monologue: "If you don't do you, you don't get done and the world is incomplete." I think I got that scribbled down accurately. McNair will be performing "The Fifth Gospel" at Koinonia, and the preview for it sounds, at once, daunting and entertaining. While much of the intro segments tonight were geared toward performance arts, there was a lot of wisdom to be shared. Naturally, I'd brag about Michael & Carrie Hodge for an eternity if I could. They did a full two songs, with a little bit of teaching inbetween. Michael covered a bit on improvising within a worship setting. As one who tends to stick around to watch the choir & orchestra close out the service, I've come to appreciate those opportunities to catch an added flair or two in Michael's playing. One of the first things that made me take notice of the quality in the orchestra was noticing the small, but noticable ways Michael adds some similar moments into the worship service.

Ironically, though, I also got a good deal of usefulness from Randall Flinn, the director of Dance Ad Deum. It's unfortunate that creativity isn't something seemingly encouraged in more churches. Randall spoke of his early experiences being told what was allowable "Christian dance" and I can immediately relate as one who's grown up on the music of a lot of Christian rock and metal artists of the 80s.

Saturday is a long day at Lakewood. I'll be in some workshops during what I understand will be daytime. Will I develop a better creative process? ... will I be a better video editor? ... and will I finally get around to pretending that I can give Neil Simon a run for his money as a playright? Hmmm. Let's put the odds of the first two as somewhat better than that last one.