Archive for Creative Process

The Power of Influence: Charles Wesley

2013-09-24 Creative Process, The Power of Influence No comments

As you read each post in this series,
I hope you’ll think with gratitude about those who have influenced you, and
I hope you’ll ponder your investment in the lives of others.

As a music composition major at the College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Cincinnati, I trained to be a composer of classical music. To learn our craft, we intensely studied the works of classical masters. In the years before sound recordings, composers used to learn the techniques of classical masters by hand-copying their scores.

One of the best ways to learn hymn writing is to employ the same strategy: study the hymns of the best hymnwriters. Immerse yourself in their work.

Before I had any personal designs on being a hymnwriter, the Lord exposed me to the hymns of many, many hymnists. Since I grew up in a hymn-singing church, hundreds of hymns were already engrained in my emotional memory. Then in my 20’s and early 30’s, I collected old hymnals and read many of them. While at the University of Cincinnati, I used to take old hymnals out of their rare books collection and photocopy entire hymnals on the spot so that I could read through them on my own.

In my early 20’s, before coming to Lillenas and before having any designs on music publishing or hymn writing, I bought numerous newly-published collections of songs and hymns. Some were contemporary collections from the “Jesus music” movement here in the U.S., while others were the hymns of British hymnwriters from the “Hymn Explosion” of the time—Fred Kaan, followed by Brian Wren, Fred Pratt Green, and Timothy Dudley-Smith. I read through each and every song and hymn. Often I would make notes on what I liked and didn’t like about each selection. What great training the Lord gave me! I had no ambitions. I was just following my interests.

During my first 12 years at Lillenas, I consciously prepared for the next denominational hymnal by reading through uncounted complete hymn collections looking for potential hymns. Some of the best of these found their way into Sing to the Lord (1993), which I had the privilege of editing.

I say all the above to make this point: in my formative years, I read many thousands of hymns from a wide variety of traditions. But I particularly studied the hymns of one particular writer: Charles Wesley. In addition to encountering his work in older hymnals, two projects intensified my exposure to his hymns:

1.  Around the late ‘70’s, scholar Carl Bangs went to Bud Lunn, then head of Nazarene Publishing House, and suggested that the company release a new collection of Wesley hymns. I was given the joyful task of compiling such a book, which meant combing through many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Wesley hymn texts. Wesley Hymns was released in 1982.

2.  During that same time frame, Wesleyan theologians were debating whether John Wesley associated entire sanctification with Pentecost. I contributed to the debate by doing a comparative study of the two topics as treated in the Wesleys’ hymn publications. The fall, 1982, issue of the Wesleyan Theological Journal published my study, “The Wesleys’ Hymns on Full Redemption and Pentecost: A Brief Comparison”.

As I immersed myself in Charles Wesley’s hymns, they became part of me. He wrote hymns for public worship, as well as more devotional hymns, and both were infused with his deep desire for the fullness of God.

He so beautifully and naturally balances the objective and the subjective. His fervent passion was fueled by both reason and emotion, by scripture as well as personal experience. As a result, notice the wide variety of protestant traditions that still consider his hymns a high water mark. The sheer quality of his work has taken his hymns far beyond their theological home turf.

I’ve long wanted to infuse my own hymns with his balance. And how the evangelical church still struggles to find that balance! The Apostle Paul could have been talking about Wesley hymns when he wrote:

I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15, NASB)

Father, thank you for providing the example and influence of Charles Wesley. Continue to keep our minds and hearts open to his lessons.

The Power of Influence: C. S. Lewis

2013-09-17 Creative Process, The Power of Influence No comments

As you read each post in this series,
I hope you’ll think with gratitude about those who have influenced you, and
I hope you’ll ponder your investment in the lives of others.

I am a huge fan of audio books and have been for many years. That’s how I first came to know the writing of C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). At present I own recordings of 25 books by him and another five books about him.  I’ve listened to most of them multiple times. He is easily my favorite extra-biblical author.

I’m including him among my major influencers, even though I never met him. I’ve written elsewhere about how his ideas on reason and imagination have enlightened me (see Reason and Imagination). But that’s only one of the ways his writing has enriched my thought and my life.

When I began reading and listening to his books, the first thing that struck me was how clearly he thought and wrote. He dealt with complex ideas and chains of reasoning with amazing clarity and simplicity. That’s what I need to do as a hymn writer. Hymns must express complex and lofty ideas in a way that is understandable and natural for the average lay person. C. S. Lewis shows that it can be done and points the way. For me, his apologetic works do this best, especially Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles.

I rarely read or listen to fiction, but Lewis is a shining exception. His fiction inspires me to see the world from a broader, loftier perspective. His stories give me hope. He unselfconsciously shows Almighty God working His loving will in the real, physical world in which we live. Again, this points the way for my hymns. His Chronicles of Narnia are justly famous along this line, but I love The Great Divorce for the same reason. And don’t miss his space trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. For years I avoided them, thinking that science fiction written before 1960 would seem primitive. How very wrong I was!

The Screwtape Letters is still unique after all these years. How could a book on so dark a subject as temptation be so whimsical and even funny? Writing can be both entertaining and profoundly meaningful!

But the main reason I find C. S. Lewis so enriching is his insightfulness. With most books, even excellent ones, you are likely to get fresh, provocative insights only every once in a while. With Lewis, the insights are an almost continuous stream. My impression is that this comes not just from his great mind and great heart, but from the fact that he read deeply and widely. He seemed to synthesize insights gleaned from the entire body of Christian literature.

It’s not surprising that Lewis has inspired a number of my hymns. To give them a look and listen, just click on the links below. Both the printed copies and the downloadable recordings are free (see the upper right-hand quadrant for the “Listen” link).

Christ Is Come
Ever Full and Overflowing
God My Father
Longing for Jesus
Our Lord I AM
See the Father Walk Among Us
The Heart of Christ
We Choose Joy
What Will You Do with Jesus?
You Came to Us

The Power of Influence: Tom Fettke

2013-09-10 Creative Process, The Power of Influence 3 comments

As you read each post in this series,
I hope you’ll think with gratitude about those who have influenced you, and
I hope you’ll ponder your investment in the lives of others.

Previously, he had taught high school choral music in Oakland, California. But when we started working together, Tom Fettke was selling pianos and organs out of a store showroom. When we needed to talk business, I had to call him there.

During the early years when he worked such full-time jobs outside music publishing, he sometimes wrote third shift, between late night and early morning hours. That’s how dedicated he was to his writing. When I met him in the summer of 1975, soon after I became music editor at Lillenas Publishing Company, he had already had a Christmas musical published by Lillenas, Love, Joy, Peace, as well as several anthems.

We hit it off from the beginning. Our ideas and personalities were radically different in many ways, but we were both secure enough to be completely honest with each other. That candid communication has taken us through all the years and all the situations since.

At that point, Lillenas was going through a changing of the guard, and by the late ‘70’s, I was not only director but also in charge of product development. Whenever I had an idea or needed a sounding board, Tom was my first stop.

He and I grew up together in the church music publishing business. Tom has always been a superb composer, arranger, and producer. But what made him unique was his avid interest in the behind-the-scenes aspects of publishing. Most writers only wanted to write—forget the business end. Tom was the opposite. He was insatiably curious about the rest of publishing—product development, marketing, song selection, copyright, and more. Thus he was absolutely invaluable to this young publisher who by now had more than he could possibly handle.

Basically, my 38 years in church music publishing have been more interesting, fun, and fruitful because of my close personal and professional friendship with Tom Fettke.

But he has also had a profound influence on my writing. Coming to Lillenas out of the Conservatory, I brought with me a handful of Christian songs, with original words and music. Tom quickly praised the lyrics but asked to be allowed to do his own musical settings. Thus our relationship as composer and lyricist began early and continued through perhaps 100 songs, give or take. A number of my earlier hymns, still in print, were written at his request.

Tom was and is a perfectionist. He would ask for a lyric to fit certain criteria, or I would offer one I had written, and I could count on the fact that he would call me and name multiple spots he wanted “re-examined”—which meant redone. He forced me to be much tougher on myself in every area of lyric writing, but especially when it came to the singability of my words. I learned that I had to be unflinchingly aware of the flow of the sounds of the words, how easy and natural it was to sing those consonants and vowels to those notes, in that context. If I didn’t iron out those problems before I sent him the lyric, he would force me to address them. Over the years, I came to examine the exact motion of the mouth required to say or sing each sound and each syllable. Could that sound be easily and naturally sung to that pitch, at that tempo, in that context? If not, it had to be replaced, no matter what the sense demanded.

That training in Tom’s school of lyric-writing has proven invaluable in my later years as I’ve focused on hymn writing. Hymn writing is like building a ship in a bottle, with every word having to be exactly right in relation to a long list of criteria—denotation, connotation, singability, meter, rhyme, etc. Anything I know about writing singable lyrics was learned under the tutelage of this dear and very exacting friend.

Thank You, good Lord, for Tom Fettke!

The Power of Influence: Dr. Thomas Scott Huston

2013-08-27 Creative Process, The Power of Influence 11 comments

As you read each post in this series,
I hope you’ll think with gratitude about those who have influenced you, and
I hope you’ll ponder your investment in the lives of others.

Bigger than life—those are the first words that come to mind when I think of “Doc” Huston. He was over six feet tall and slightly hump-shouldered, with thinning, wispy red hair. Some of his ways would have seemed brash and uncouth in a younger, less authoritative man. His smile was warm, his gestures often broad and dramatic, and his voice could boom with unapologetic passion.

He was given to definitive pronouncements, almost theatrical in their fervor, and when the situation demanded it, he had a temper to match his red hair. As he strode down the hall with his distinctive gait, everyone knew he was there, and when he arrived at class, he “made an entrance” without even trying. But he had a twinkle in his eye that seemed permanent, even in his wrath.

During my senior year in high school, I attended a Saturday music theory and composition class in the College-Conservatory of Music building at the University of Cincinnati—part of their preparatory school program. The teacher of that course introduced me to Doc Huston. Knowing I was about to enter the Conservatory with an interest in composition, he offered to let me to sit in on one of his composition classes during my freshman year. When school rules allowed me to switch my major to music composition at the beginning of my sophomore year, I officially studied composition with him for four more years, including one year of master’s study.

His composition classes were always held in his office studio. When he played one of his students’ compositions for that week, he would attack his studio grand piano with an energy totally unbridled by correctness. I remember once when a younger student tried to tell him he was playing his masterpiece incorrectly. Bad idea. His more experienced students knew that Doc was hearing far more than he was playing.

He always had a cup of coffee and a cigar in composition class. The coffee was often a victim of his passionate gestures and would end up inside the grand piano. A cursory mopping up was all the attention it got. Cigar ashes regularly fell on a student’s precious manuscript. Doc would brush them away without missing a beat.

How many times did I hear him rant about the five perfect compositions in music history! Bach’s B Minor Mass…Brahms’ Third Symphony…there was a Stravinsky in there, but I’m ashamed to admit I don’t remember the rest.

As a student, there were some younger profs I respected more when it came to knowing the technical details of music analysis. By comparison, Doc seemed more of a broad strokes guy. Sometimes I even wondered if Doc wasn’t using theatrical proclamations to cover his lack of detailed familiarity with the literature. Forgive me, Doc.

But 20+ years after leaving the Conservatory, when I turned from writing lyrics alone back to composing my own music, it was Doc’s oft-repeated broad strokes about music composition that proved unforgettable. Doc had majored on majors, not on minors, and I reaped the rewards of his wise investment. His basic principles lie behind every good hymn setting I’ve ever written. (I’ll take the blame for the rest.)

Externally, he was not a poster child for conservative evangelical Christianity. But he was outspokenly, unapologetically Christian in a place and time when profs more often sneered at God and openly mocked belief in Him. For a college kid struggling with his faith in a very atheistic environment, Doc was a light in a dark place, a homing beacon on the shore of a safe and welcoming harbor.

Working as a Member of His Body

2013-07-23 Creative Process, Devotional No comments

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:3-5, NIV)

As I focus on the ministry God has given me, I tend to get self-centered in my thinking. I forget that my ministry is actually our ministry. 

You’ll find this true no matter what your area of Christian service. For me, it’s publishing. God has called me to communicate His truth through the written and recorded word. And publishing is definitely a team effort. It involves a wide range of people: writers, arrangers, producers, performers; product developers, editors, managers; artists, computer operators, printers, packers; promotions, marketing, and sales people. If any one of these does less than his or her best, the whole ministry is weakened. 

This can sometimes bring a feeling of frustration and helplessness. But the fact is, God designed the Body this way. Whatever our task, whatever need we are addressing, it is bigger than any of us could ever handle alone. To meet that need, we must work together. We must hold each other up. In His wisdom and love, God has made us dependent, not only on Himself, but on one another. 

God is patiently teaching me to work as a member of His Body. He has already shown me several lessons. 

First, I need to think of each task as a team effort, not as a one-person show. That changes my mind-set as I approach the work. What can I do to help the team? How can I help the others be at their best?

Second, I need to think of others as team members and treat them that way. Even in Christian ministry, it’s easy to think of fellow workers as obstacles, adversaries, or competitors. But such a spirit only betrays our self-centeredness. The truth is, we can only succeed as those with whom we work succeed.

And that leads to point three. An important part of my investment in any project is praying for the others involved. I’m learning this more and more. Such prayer fills several important functions:

1.       By praying, I reach beyond myself and acknowledge that this is God’s project, from beginning to end. As I prayerfully depend on others, I am depending on Him.

2.       Praying for team members helps them be more productive. It is exciting to pray for fellow workers, then watch the miracle of God working through them.

3.       Prayer keeps my attitude right toward my fellow workers. Prayer draws me to them and helps me love them as people. It strengthens my sense of our unity in God. As I pray for my fellow workers, I begin to see myself, not as the center of my field of ministry, but as a small part of a broad and wonderful whole–as broad and as wonderful as God himself.

Whatever your ministry, begin to think, work, and pray as a member of the team–the team that God himself assembled to accomplish that work. When you work as a member of Christ’s Body, You are working in Him. And for the servant of God, there is no higher goal.

Ministry by Numbers

2013-06-25 Creative Process, Devotional No comments

I spent 34 years working for a major church music publisher, with most of that time spent in management in one form or another. Numbers were an integral part of my job. We constantly measured our ministry by numbers—sales, profits, overhead, budgets, projections, etc., etc.

I carried that mindset over into my personal ministries and was concerned when the numbers just wouldn’t come. After all, isn’t “numbers” one of the reasons we writers want to get published? Publication helps us reach more people with the message, right?

But several years ago, after failing yet again to connect with a book publisher, the Lord clearly told me, “Focus on the people I have already entrusted to you.” I was teaching a Sunday School class at the time (I still am)—15 to 20 mostly-older adults. So I started a weekly email to them which included a devotional reading that led into a recording of one of my hymns. The email was called, IMAGES OF CHRIST in Word & Song. In surveying what people God had already entrusted to me, I sent the email to family and friends as well. That weekly email ran for over four years before becoming this blog.

Still, much of my creative work starts with my modest-sized Sunday School class. I not only provide them with weekly Bible lessons but with a hymn, a devotional piece, and daily scriptural readings, all interwoven with our Sunday lesson. Sure, I’d love to see the material reach beyond them, and I follow the Lord’s leading in that regard.

But God has been weaning me off the numbers game as a measure for His ministry. Remember, He created the universe from a word. He doesn’t need more “stuff”. He can make more of that anytime He chooses. What He prizes are not quantities but love and trust. That’s what I focus on giving Him.

Whom has the Lord already entrusted to you? Focus your ministry on them.

Reason and Imagination

2013-06-18 Creative Process No comments

As a believer, and especially as a creative communicator, consider the truth that you are called to communicate:

We are caught up in the love of a Father for His Son and the love of a Son for His Father. They have poured out their Spirit upon us so that we can share their union—not in a theoretical or someday sense, but now, in our minds, hearts, and lives. The Father, Son, and Spirit all interact with us and draw us into themselves.

Art serves these truths well…and by art, I mean not only music and graphics but any means of creative communication, including speaking. Art is an emotional expression. It marries

the objective and the subjective,
truth and personal experience,
fact and emotion,
information and inspiration,
analysis and passion,
reason and imagination. 

C.S. Lewis, my favorite extra-biblical writer, said

Poetry calls passion to the aid of reason.

I apply that to my own writing:

Hymns call passion to the aid of reason.

But I think it could apply more generally as well:

Art calls passion to the aid of reason.

For my taste, too much art today—particularly music—focuses on temporary and shallow emotional stimulation. Don’t settle for that! Our truth deserves and demands more! Art can and should do so much more! Art can stimulate mentally and spiritually as well as emotionally. It can grip the mind as well as the heart.

Paul urged the Corinthian church to focus on content in their shared worship, not just emotional outpouring:

I will pray with the spirit and
I will pray with the mind also;
I will sing with the spirit and
I will sing with the mind also.
(1 Corinthians 14:15, NASB)

Whatever your medium of expression, study and absorb those in your field who have best touched both mind and heart. For me as a hymnwriter, that is Charles Wesley. Learn from the best! Let them inspire you to find your own means of expressing the truth and beauty that is Jesus Christ.

Give Them Jesus

2013-05-14 Creative Process, Devotional, Evangelistic No comments

In our ministries,
in our creative communication,
we wrestle with words and ideas,
with music and lyrics,
with paint and canvas,
with materials, technologies, and more.

But let’s face it:
what the world needs is not
another artist,
another book,
another song, or
another star.
Its problems are far too deep and too serious.

The world needs Jesus.
When you sing, give them Jesus.
When you write, give them Jesus.
When you speak, give them Jesus.
Every day,
through everything you create,
in every encounter with another human being,
give them Jesus.

Create out of Love

2013-04-30 Creative Process, Devotional No comments

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NASB)

Whatever your ministry, whatever your medium of communication, make sure you’re driven by love for your people, not love for your ideas. If you are motivated by love for your concepts or your creative material, rather than love for people, you are liable to become dry, impersonal, and abstract, a “clanging cymbal”.

This is true whether you’re communicating directly with people, or you’re communicating through something you create—a song, a book, a painting, or whatever. Your heart will show.

Remember, love is the greatest force for innovation. Not ambition or intelligence. Not curiosity or the thirst for discovery. Not the hunger for money, power, or glory. Love is the greatest innovative force in the cosmos.

It’s been true since the beginning. Read Genesis 1, and hear the Creator’s joyful love bubbling through every line. Love motivated the creation of this world. Love motivates His every redemptive act. Love motivated Jesus Christ, and love motivates His Spirit as He works through you.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God…God is love. (1 John 4:7-8, NASB)

If you want the Creator God to speak His Word through you, share His heart of love. Among God’s communicators, the medium varies, but the Spirit and the motivation are the same.

Creative Communicators, Make Prayer a Priority

2013-03-19 Creative Process, Devotional, Prayer No comments

If you are a creative communicator in any sense of the term—artist, writer, pastor, teacher, parent—remember this key fact: the only thing you will ever have to communicate is what you personally know of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ and your relationship with Him is the substance of your life, then start right where you are, today, this moment, and make prayer a bigger part of your daily life. Many years ago God challenged me to do that, and nothing…absolutely nothing…has been as vital or as fruitful in my life as prayer.

Your opportunities for prayer will vary in the different seasons of your life. Don’t be discouraged by what you can’t do. Focus on what you can do. No matter how tight your time, look for the opportunities your schedule affords and take them. Ten minutes in the morning. Your drive time. The quiet moments when you first wake up and after the lights are off at night. Pray for opportunities to pray!

Whatever prayer time you set apart, it’s even more important that you turn to Him throughout the day, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Nurture the habit. Let every concern draw you to Him. Immediately bring each need and anxiety to Him. Immediately thank Him for each joy and blessing, including little daily blessings: each meal, each conversation with a friend. The more you love Jesus, the more you will want to share your life with Him. You will want to stay in touch with Him through the day. You will be drawn to Him by hunger, not driven by guilt.

Remember, whatever happens or doesn’t happen in your life, through time and eternity your greatest joy will always be the pleasure of enjoying Jesus Christ in the present moment. Don’t let anything rob you of that treasure.

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