Ben Cotten » creativity

Innovation: Learning From Facebook and Diaspora

Ben — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:01:05 +0000

Pete Cashmore of Mashable wrote an interesting column at CNN this week. He talks about the new “Facebook killer” on the block, Diaspora. Specifically, Cashmore says that Diaspora will be no threat to Facebook for one simple reason: it is foundationally an improved Facebook clone, not an innovation. I think he is right, but even if you don’t care about such things, there is a huge lesson to be learned here for the Church.

The Christian Church has always been good at mimicry. We can take just about any successful technology, idea, method, or style and create a Christianized version of it. Ever hear of GodTube? Yeah. YouTube + Jesus. Christian search engines? Wouldn’t want to come across any sinners, right? The problem is that as long as we are mimicing and not innovating, the Church will be an obscure, parasitic sub-culture instead of becoming the transformative counterculture that Jesus called it to be.

I’m not calling for a re-creation of the wheel, nor am I saying that history cannot teach us. Rather, I’m saying that history DOES teach us. It teaches us that it is the innovative thinkers that in the end lead the culture into the future. Innovation changes the culture, not parasitic mimicry. This is the potential danger that I see in the current push for cultural relevancy. It’s not just that we could lose the message of the gospel. We must be careful to not only refrain from compromising the message, but we must also refrain from falling into the trap of cheap mimicry that seeks to beg, steal, and borrow the most superficial aspects of current culture. In the end, it just comes off as, well, cheap.

We should be students of culture so that we can see the holes in it where innovation needs to happen. Cultural savvy is important not only to help us communicate in the vernacular, but more importantly it should give us insight into how those who worship the Creator can enter the culture and transform it with ideas born in the mind of God.

I’m praying that we all learn to be led by the Spirit. When we mimic Him, we will tap into the ultimate Innovator and we will cease to be irrelevant.

Uncovering the Image of God in Creativity

Ben — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:02:16 +0000

I discovered a cool new blog today, and consequently this TED Talks video. This is author Elizabeth Gilbert talking about the source of our creativity, that denying that there is a “divine source” to our creativity actually stifles the creative mind of the artist and may be at the heart of why so many of our most talented artists have self-destructed.

Obviously, this is not coming from anywhere close to a Biblical world view. However, I think the application here is obvious.

I loved what she said at the end about the performer who “transcends” in the moment as though there is something (Someone…) divine being displayed through that person. My opinion: Art for the Christian ultimately is about uncovering the image of God in us, and then displaying it in such a way that God is glorified and the artist is all but unnoticed. The artist (Christian or otherwise) feels angst when he/she gets confused about who gets glory.

I would love to hear your reactions in the comments.

Bobby McFerrin and Richard Bona Improvisation

Ben — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:35:17 +0000

Many don’t know that there’s a lot more to Bobby McFerrin than “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.Â A lot.Â Not only can he sing well, he uses his voice like an instrument (lots of them, sometimes playing all at one time).Â This is skat singing x 100.Â This is true, live, improv.Â Awesome.

And, of course, Richard Bona is incredible as well.Â Enjoy.

The audio and video is a little out of sync, sorry… I didn’t make the video.

Innovation and Creativity in the Church

Ben — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:05:03 +0000

I saw this video and immediately thought, “Why don’t I see this kind of innovation and creativity in the Church?”.Â How is it that we know the Creator personally, but tend to kill creativity and innovative, out-of-the-box thinking?

What qualities would a church culture have to possess in order for this kind of thing to come from it in a way that is impregnated with worship and the gospel?