Adam Pomphrett is the Technology + Creative Pastor at C7 Church Glasgow in Scotland, and his involvement includes oversight of a variety of teams, including Musicians, Vocals, Sound, Lights and Media. C7 is one of the fastest growing churches in Scotland and their declaration “The Future Is Huge” really sums up the mindset towards the spreading of the gospel.
Having been a part of the church’s platform team for a number of years, Adam combines his love of music with his love of technology to use the latest advancements to further the creativity of the team. With his responsibilities at C7 Church and his role as a Judge in the UK Christian Chart we thought he is perfectly placed to give some advice on how to make a creative platform. Here are his Top 3 tips:
Don’t confuse financial & team restrictions with empty creativity
It is easy to say “If my budget was 5 times bigger I would be 5 times more creative”, but could it be our lack of creativity that stops our budget being 5 times bigger? With everything that we do as a creative team, including our lights and sound, we aim to maximise what is in front of us, instead of having a “If only I had this…” mentality. Don’t get into the habit of begrudging what is not yet in front of you, instead take what is in front of you and make something great with it.
Regularly ask yourself “What is next?”
We can find ourselves basking in the euphoria of a great intro or an absolutely awesome stage design, but if we don’t have a plan for what follows, our creativity will go stale. There are different shelf-lives for different projects. As creative leaders we need to be aware of this, otherwise there’s a lot of creative shooting from the hip going on! Regularly strive for more – it doesn’t always need to be a complete overhaul, it can be adding to what is already there and allowing the creative concept to reach its peak, but be sure to change it before it becomes yesterday’s news and no longer has that wow-factor.
Diversity is your friend, be open to it!
As Creative Pastor, and also as one of the Musical Directors for our platform team, it is my responsibility to keep myself inspired. Musically, this can come through listening to a wide variety of genres and artists – if I only ever listened to Elevation Worship, my output would be largely tuned towards the Elevation Worship sound, and if I only ever listened to Allan McKinlay, then my output would be largely tuned towards the Allan McKinlay sound – both are tremendous, and both are favourites of mine, but there needs to be a blend and a mixture. We are all influenced musically by what goes into our ears, so we have the ability to shape it – what comes out is definitely a result of what goes in.
Visually, it is about being aware of what is around you. Some of our best creative designs have been inspired by some of the most obscure things – being creative in your thinking is about translating what you have seen into a vision of how it would work for you and putting that into action. It only takes a momentary spark of inspiration to create something magnificent: it could be something as simple as a great chord progression in a song but the impact it can have is huge! The key? Always allow yourself to be open to new things!
Thanks to Adam Pomphrett of C7 Church for the tips!
