You have worked very hard on a script for the church Christmas services, thinking through the flow of content, the visual themes, the music selections, every moment crafted carefully in your mind and heart.
His name is Stacy Brewer, and he served on the Willow arts team for the past few years, including a role as the driving creative force behind our Christmas outreach services. Recently Stacy made a transition and is going to serve at a church in the Scottsdale area. Willow contracted with him to continue the Christmas process he had already begun, so he either flies in occasionally for a meeting, or joins us via I-Chat on the computer screen.
Stacy had every reason in that meeting to get defensive (even a little bit) or to feel overwhelmed by all the input, some of which seemed to even contradict itself. But he was gracious, open, and a tremendous listener. When he heard someone ask questions about content or about his artistic choices, Stacy carefully weighed the input. If he wasn't clear on what was being communicated, he asked follow-up questions. But he never for a moment made us feel that we were out of line for offering our feedback. He respected what we had to offer, while still staying strong on the parts that he felt needed to stay the same. At the end of the meeting, he summarized what he was hearing and committed to rewriting based on all the input. He couldn't have been more gracious.
I wrote to Stacy commending him for his character, because I do believe it is rare. Whenever any of us makes a creative investment in crafting a message, a song, a drama script, a video, or any other work, it's as though we gave birth to a baby. So if we open ourselves to feedback - which I truly believe best serves the church and most often makes the work better - we risk the possibility that someone will hurt us, that someone might imply we gave birth to an ugly baby! It takes a centered person, filled with the Holy Spirit, to hold the gifts and the work loosely, to truly express an openness to those who might have ideas for taking it another step. So way to go, Stacy. This kind of character stuff doesn't get written about much or end up in the receiving of rewards. But it's the everyday kind of battle many of us wage, to display a Christlike attitude that holds as our highest goal the ministry toward the people in the seats. I want to model more and more of Stacy's behavior whenever I create and then receive constructive criticism...at least I think I do!