Does Anyone Know What Creative Means?
Fred Smith
Those who may rightly be called creative show the following characteristics: Wide association. While most new ideas are conceived by a single person sitting alone, such a moment does not tell the whole story. The truly creative people I know stay in touch with other creative people. Bright ideas may hit them at three in the morning, but they come out of an environment of creativity. You have to set up an almost constant discipline to maintain your vitality through association. Creative people ask you the right kind of questions. They probe you. So you stay in touch with them. Special areas. Ralph Carmichael, the Christian musician, and I were talking about marketing one day, and he said, "Fred, if you want to talk fast to me, talk music. I can talk music fast, but I have to talk business slow." I know exactly what he meant, because it's the opposite with me! In the area of a person's gift, he can race along. His pores are open; he knows all the nuances and ramifications; problems in this area excite him. When I find individuals trying to function in an area that threatens them, I usually say, "This must not be your area." People who battle stage fright shouldn't be public speakers. All good speakers have nervousness, yes, but they are able to use it. It creates energy; it revs up the mind. Christian leaders who are immobilized by the big problems of their lives should question whether they're working in their area of strength. John R. W. Stott says expository preaching is chewing on a verse like a dog on a bone. I'd advise most ministers not to spend their time in that way because they're not John Stott or G. Campbell Morgan. If you're not creative in finding new meanings in the nooks and corners of Scripture, then put your energy ...
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