Why Are We Here?

We’re a small team of five part-timers and one full-timer who get to focus on the Arts Ministry of the Willow Creek Association. I know that many of you would be thrilled to have that many people dedicated to your weekend services. However, there are many days when I’m discouraged. I feel like we all work so hard, and yet I don’t always know what we’re really accomplishing. So in the last few weeks, I’ve been reflecting on why our team is here and what we are really doing.

In truth, the answer is simple. We are here for you…artists and teachers in the church! Why? Every one of us on our team has been touched by what we have experienced in church, and we’ve heard story after story of how God has used the arts and teaching to transform lives and draw people closer to Him.

In addition to that, we’ve all served or are serving on the arts team in a local church. We’ve watched writers struggle with dialogue so the drama scenes they’ve written will truly touch the heart of someone in the audience. We’ve heard the worship leader playing the keyboard and praying through his worship set days before he’ll be on stage. We’ve seen the scenic volunteers serving late into the night, painting the set for the upcoming message series. We’ve said goodbye to the lighting director at 10:00 pm, knowing that he’d still be there aiming lights for another three hours before he’d get to go home.

Being an artist in the local church is difficult. Each week you pray that God will inspire you as you face a blank sheet of paper. It’s hard to be creative and relevant every seven days. It takes the right team of volunteers to put on an excellent service each week. It takes more time, energy, and money than most of us have.

Our team knows that, and that’s why we’re here. We want to serve you and help make your job a little easier if we can. We try to encourage you to stay connected to God and feed your soul, because we know that only through that connection will your ministry bear great fruit. We want to provide training that will help artists and teachers grow their God-given gifts. We want to offer opportunities for you to connect with other artists and teachers so you remember that you are not alone. We want to provide resources that will give you ideas and maybe even the exact tool you need to do your next service.

We may not do all these things perfectly, but it is our goal to improve everyday. Tell us what you need, and we’ll do all we can to make it happen. You are the reason we are here!