Guest Blogger: January

The start of the new year is always filled with such interesting, exciting, and fresh things - why should a blog be any different? Instead of the regular guest blogs I post each month, this one varies a little from the norm. Looking for a new desktop background, I stumbled upon this girl’s tumblr page full of beautifully designed words. Interested in what she had done I contacted her and she was happy enough to share her story and reasons behind her words. 

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I’m Sara, an aspiring graphic designer from Budapest, Hungary. I started this journey 4 years ago, when I left my hotel management studies and started to pursue this dream that I believe God has put in my heart. Long story short, today I’m working as a freelance graphic designer.  
I love to create, design and use it as a tool to show the grace, love and the life that’s full of adventures and joy. A joy that’s not necessarily about being unrealistically happy all the time but a joy that comes from  within, no matter the circumstances.  
Being a creative person doesn’t mean you always find the right solution or always know how to create something that works design wise. You have to spend many many hours to make it work. But if you’re a 100% sure that you’re on the right path you’ll also get the strength and patience to finish and finish well.  
 
I always loved typography. Somehow the way letters are formed and how they connect to each other always had my interest. Lettering - hand-drawn words and letterforms -is something that I always enjoy doing. It simply makes me happy. So this past December I wanted to challenge myself to do a series. I decided to make one each day until Christmas day. About that time I was struggling with being content and believing that God is with me through everything. The reason this could’ve happened is because I kind of forgot His word. The promises that he said. So that gave me this idea of starting to collect the promises that he has made. This is how #theprmsprjct (The Promise Project) started.  
‘To encourage and remind in this advent season.” - That how I described this project on my website. I knew that this could help others as well as it would help me to remember.  
 
Sometimes life gets complicated. We forget, we can’t see clearly. We need to be reminded of what God said about us, and what he has promised for our lives. We face hundreds of lies each day. You’re not valuable. You’re not worth it. You don’t have a future. You’re a failure. You’re not enough.  
But that’s not what the Creator of the universe says about you. If we don’t spend time in the Word of God we can easily be deceived. We need to hear the truth, and remind ourselves of it.

 

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

 
2 Peter 1:4 
 
 
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I am all for creating, using your hands, taking full advantage of your mind, and then sharing that gift (through collaboration or exhibition) with others. That’s why this month I am more than excited to share Sara’s story and her work with you.

See more of her incredible work here: 

Guest Blogger: August

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Here are a few random things I enjoy: I love waterfalls because the very presence of them says “peace”. My favorite flowers are sunflowers not only because they are bright, bold and beautiful but also because they also have purpose, their seeds are used for food and for oils. I truly adore being at the beach at night; ocean waves overwhelm and bewilder me because of their depth and captivating ferociousness. I’m not a huge wilderness person but I truly enjoy walks in the park or mountain top views. I am constantly asking myself the same question whenever I am surrounded or in the midst of nature. What is it about nature that we are just enthralled with? We can sit for hours and talk about the colors in a sunset or sunrise, the beauty of the way the stars trickle themselves like freckles across a sky, and compliment over and over on the various types of flowers that we see. But when someone asks us what our favorite physical attribute is about ourselves we take forever to answer them back. This baffles me, even though I do it all the time. I am a huge advocate for “beauty”, I think I have secretly made it my personal goal to make sure that every women I come in counter with will know that they are beautiful inside and out, created so intricately and with a purpose. But when it comes to myself, I sometimes come up short in this area. I am quick to compliment one of my friends or affirm someone in their physical attributes but once it comes back to me I shut it down or deny it. I know I can’t be alone in this, why do we do it? Nature astounds us because the beauty we find there is simple yet breathtaking, it is not tainted by everything around it trying to compare beauties, it just is beautiful and that’s that. Nature reminds us that we are small and maybe sometimes a seeming insignificant part of a big story. Nature seems not only bigger but also better than us. But it’s not. All things have purpose; I would dare to say that we as human beings have one of the biggest purposes. We were created to bear the image of Christ here on earth… good gosh THAT’S HUGE.

Let’s take a quick look back through the creation story, shall we?

Genesis 1:9 says, “And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:12 says, “The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:21 says, “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:25 says, “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Lastly Genesis 1:27-31 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Do we not realize that God created the ENTIRE WORLD, universes, galaxies, waters and dry lands, animals, insects and us, the human race. It was good, it was good, it was good and then finally it was VERY good. WE are the very good. These creations that he created are so minuscule in comparison to US who were made in the IMAGE OF HIM. We are the only creation made in the image of God WHAT?! How awesome is that?! We as human beings are majestic; we were created with set aside and diligent time, and the breath life from our very creator. We stare in awe of his creations; waterfalls, flowers, beaches, mountains and forget that we too are his beautiful, handcrafted, breathtaking creation. Let us rejoice in that today.

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Every last Thursday of the month I invite different bloggers to write their own pieces specifically for you guys, my readers! This month I have the incredible honor to host guest blogger, Arielle Estoria Wilburn. She runs the blog Chronicles of a Lioness so after you read her heart-warming post here, go check out her page for even more amazing stuff.

Reblog: Creative Team Night 101

    There are many teams that act as the gears to my church but I think the one I feel the strongest towards is the creative department. That probably has something to do with the fact that work in that department but whatevs.
    Recently I came across Hillsong's blog called Hillsong Collected. Being a creative myself, when I read this post I found it inspiring and down right awesome! So awesome I thought I would share it with you guys.

Happy Readings,    
Teniola

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There’s something pretty unique about Thursday nights at Hillsong Church. It’s the night that our creative community gathers, first in Australia and then slowly as the clock moves, right across the globe. It’s one of my favourite nights of the week, and I look forward to it with great anticipation and excitement.

Our creative team has an incredible responsibility within our church to help create a picture of who God is through using the gifts and talents that we have been given. Within our church, the creative department encompasses many areas, not only worship music and singers, but spans production, TV, filmmakers, artists, writers, costumer designers, youth and kids worship teams, stage managers, designers, and regular people who choose to belong to this beautiful melding pot of people.

Often I get emails about why our team gather weekly from people outside of our context, and so I thought that I would share just a few of these reasons with you.

1. We gather to rehearse and prepare for the weekends.

It is our firm belief that God deserves our very best. We have a responsibility to lead the church in worship as best as we are able. As a result, there is a need to practice, to hone our crafts, to steward our gifts and to learn how to better work together in a team. Rehearsals allow us that opportunity. We make mistakes, modifications and then continue to rehearse until we know that what we will bring on Sunday, as people gather to seek God, is the best we are able to. Our aim is that we want to play a small part in helping people to encounter God, and by getting better hopefully people are helped by what we bring, not hindered by it. That’s what excellence is, a commitment to bringing your personal best to the table, and a commitment to ongoing improvement.

2. We gather because we love hanging out.

The truth is that our creative community actually likes each other. We find a sense of commonality in our quest to worship God with our gifts and talents. We find a commonality in our love for The Church, in our love for Jesus and in our love for the people of God. On Thursdays we are seeking to build a community that makes a big church seem smaller. That places value on each person who calls Hillsong Church their home, and that allows everyone to find a place to belong.

3. We gather to inspire each other and instil courage.

On Thursday nights we “have a go”. Sometimes we bring new songs, we try new ways of worshipping, watch our dancers let loose, or hear from artists endeavouring to capture beauty on canvas. We are inspired by pieces our writers craft, or moved by photos or music that our team is creating. Thursdays create a place where we can try things and fail, or try things and succeed, whatever way, we watch each other take steps toward becoming more and more creative. We find each other looking for words and ways to describe God differently to inspire worship and adoration from others. We want to find ways to help people see God is working amongst us and on the earth.

4. Gathering together shapes our culture.

On Thursdays we come together to worship. We are not performers on a platform, but people transformed by the love of God and living in response to this love. We listen to people within our team encourage us from the Bible and their own lives, which is causing leaders to rise up from within the ranks of our own team. We give to see the Kingdom of God advance, which is creating generous people. We serve so that others may encounter Jesus, which is allowing people to realise that life is bigger than themselves, and one of the greatest blessings in life is to give our lives away for the sake of others.

We attend master classes, coaching groups to refine our talents, unearth new gifts, and practice in preparation for what may be required of us. We laugh, we cry (some more than others), we share life and hopefully little by little become more Christ like. When we gather together we find ourselves united around a common goal, we are able to articulate why we do what we do and who we do it for.

If you ever find yourself at Hillsong Church, our creative community is open to you. Join us in Australia at our Hills, City, Southwest, Brisbane and Melbourne campuses at 7pm Thursdays. You’d be welcome!

Cass

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I can’t tell you how much this excites me. It’s invigoratingly entoxicating. I could live off of it all day. To be present when someone’s passion is igniting is one of the most beautiful things in the world that a person can witness. Whether it be about chess, jewelry, carving wood, drawing, saving lives, taking photos, what have you, it’s just a gorgeous site to see. 

I can’t tell you how much this excites me. It’s invigoratingly entoxicating. I could live off of it all day. To be present when someone’s passion is igniting is one of the most beautiful things in the world that a person can witness. Whether it be about chess, jewelry, carving wood, drawing, saving lives, taking photos, what have you, it’s just a gorgeous site to see. 

I can’t tell you how much this excites me. It’s invigoratingly entoxicating. I could live off of it all day. To be present when someone’s passion is igniting is one of the most beautiful things in the world that a person can witness. Whether it be about chess, jewelry, carving wood, drawing, saving lives, taking photos, what have you, it’s just a gorgeous site to see. 

I can’t tell you how much this excites me. It’s invigoratingly entoxicating. I could live off of it all day. To be present when someone’s passion is igniting is one of the most beautiful things in the world that a person can witness. Whether it be about chess, jewelry, carving wood, drawing, saving lives, taking photos, what have you, it’s just a gorgeous site to see.