jonnybaker

a sample GET from the app

someone asked to see a bit more of the GETSIDETRACKED app or what exactly is going on there. there are 54 GETS. think if it as a digital deck of cards with 2 jokers. each one is a prompt to help the creative process. each GET has an illustration, a short spiel, a quotation, and an example/story.

here's one by way of example, the title track if you like, GET SIDETRACKED. if you search for books using the word 'sidetracked' they tend to be on how to stop being side tracked and get focused as though it is a problem. whereas counterintuitively for creativity getting sidetracked is something to welcome.

this is the illustration and spiel

here's the quotation and story (which of course in the app simply flows down)

you tap or shake the phone to get a random one of 54 of these but also you can browse the list and find one that connects. or pick the one of the day (see below for some of the GETS and the look and feel of the app). in the about of the app we suggest a few ways it could be used. i have used it in discussion with people about ideas they want to develop for example. it wasn't planned that way but it's a useful coaching tool as well as good for individual or group use. 

the content is short deliberately - it's a phone app so you don't want long spiels but having said that it is distilled from reading multiple books on creativity and the creative process over the years. the thinking behind it is that lots of people assume creativity is a gift you have or don't but we think it's more like a muscle that can grow with use and that there are ways of helping people engage and develop that muscle. the prompts are hopefully that and will help get the creative juices flowing. we'd love to hear how it sparks or develops any ideas if you use it. hope that helps.

 

getsidetracked app is live

i have made an app together with jon birch and joel baker, partners in getsidtracked. it's a practical and fun app for creative thinking. tap or shake your phone and get a prompt to spark you. this is the blurb

This app is designed to help you think creatively with a series of 54 prompts. Tap, hold or shake for a random “GET” or browse through them to find the one that catches the moment. Many people see creative thinking as the preserve of a minority of ‘creatives’ or artists. They think you either have the gift or you don’t. They don’t imagine they have it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Creativity is for everyone. It’s a muscle everyone can exercise and it strengthens with use. There are quite simple processes and creative-thinking techniques that anyone can use. Then the process of creative thinking invariably encounters blocks on the way. It’s common to get stuck. But there are methods you can use to overcome them. The 54 prompts in this app are a mix of those processes, techniques and methods distilled down into a fun and user-friendly format.

Creativity is a way of being, a way of relating to your life. Thinking creatively can transform your life. We hope the Getsidetracked app helps you do just that.

you may remember it was due to be launched a year ago at greenbelt festival. well better late than never!

i am very into creativity and have a whole shelf of books on it. the app is simple. each card is a 'get' with an image, spiel, quote and story of about 200 words in total. there is a lot of thinking distilled into it. it is available for both apple and android and it will cost you £1.99 .

if you do download it and even better use it we'd love to hear what you think and any stories of how it might have helped your creative process. we have never done an app before so also have no idea how to promote one so do telly your friends and any influencers you know!

here's a few screens from it to give you the idea.

and as i say each prompt is a 'get...' this one is 'get interrupted for example which i love so much i want it on a t-shirt. watch this space as we may actually do that in due course.

settle - ambient prayer 2

the second ambient prayer at grace on saturday went really well. the whole thing is here - ambient prayer 2 - including the playlist, card, exercises, movie and slides. we have made sure we put everything up so if anyone else wants to try it out it's all there. feel free and let us know how you get on. i am hoping to develop say a series of 6 over the next year or so. it will be quite a nice off the shelf intro to contemplative prayer.

i have enjoyed thinking about a visual idea to go with each one. this time it was an old grace idea reworked - shake up a jar and watch it settle. i  loved how it came out orange which was to do with some christmas left over syrup from making candied grapefruit - it had a bit of campari in it which helped the liquid be a bit thicker! it definitely slows you down - you know it's slow when a drip of water falling from the lid feels like some action. it lasts around 4 minutes so the challenge is to watch it all!. the average length of viewing on instagram so far is 16 seconds which tells you everything you need to know about social media and attention span.

i am adding the jar as a worship trick - why not?!

 

just imagine - free webinars on being creative

i get asked a lot about how you come up with ideas. so i have set up a series of four webinars for one hour each exploring that question. each one will take one idea for exercising creativity and play with it. there will be three guests each time - an artist/creative, a church leader and a pioneer. whilst the ideas explored will be helpful to anyone wanting to think about how you exercise creativity, the challenges and exercises we do will explore church and the practice of the christian faith today. this is inspired by a comment that struck me from a friend that the church’s greatest challenge today is a lack of imagination. rather than bemoaning that fact this is an attempt to help get imaginative, get the creative juices flowing as it were. please do not think it’s only for people who think they are creative. the whole point is that it is for anyone interested and not just those who already think they are good at exercising creativity. 

it’s free - simply register and you will be sent zoom links nearer the time. if you sign up you're not obliged to come to all four! 

each week there will be a mix of stories and interviewing guests around exercising creativity and how they come up with ideas. there will be creative exercises for the guests to engage in live each time that explore the theme of the week. you will be invited to contribute via chat if you would like but will not be put in small groups to do any work or anything so you can relax about that - you can sit back and enjoy it. i hope it will be fun, generate ideas and give you some tools and approaches to exercise creativity yourself.

if you like the ideas and want to explore further i have written six short pieces on exercising creativity at the end of each chapter of imagining mission with john taylor.

go here to register 

• Thurs 7 Jan 8pm: Intro: “But I’m not creative!”
• Thurs 14 Jan 8pm: Provocations
• Thurs 21 Jan 8pm: Play
• Thurs 28 Jan 8pm: There are no rules

 

out of the box cards kickstarts

out of the box is kickstarting today. go visit to read about it and watch a video which explains all. in a nutshell it's a new company designing greeting cards you would be proud to give your daughter, niece, friend's daughter with playful and positive messages rather than the clichés and stereotypes that seem to dominate. i am quadrupley excited because 

• i love the idea
• jen (my wife that is) had the idea and i am her no 1 fan
• grace my duaghter in law is part of the team
• it was first brought as an idea 3 years ago to make good, the missional entrepreneurship week we run and is the latest project to turn from idea to reality

 

bog on the blog - 12 years on!

in jan 2004 i blogged a photo of our downstairs toilet under a blog post bog on the blog that we had stencilled with a couple of pippo lionni inspired stencils. we recently have painted over the walls as it was getting a little tired and were sad to see the stencils go so after a family discussion settled on a different pippo lionni inspired stencil and the bog is on the blog once more!

harry hairy head

jen's latest knitted odd bod - harry hairy head!

god said she likes it when we create

latest wisdom from munsons. do you prefer your wisdom in colour or black and white?

a day of silence - photography and contemplation

grail-8, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

on saturday a few of us went to the grail, a retreat centre nearby to spend a day in silence. this was mainly inspired by watching the tv series the big silence. i found it a really good experience and i hope it's one we repeat. the lounge there was full of books. in a section called spiritual writings i was looking at a few by thomas merton. i vaguely knew that merton was a photographer which was somehow close to his being a contemplative. but i stumbled across a chapter in a book called thomas merton: a master of attention by r waldron which has a chapter on merton's photography. i had taken my camera with me because for me it is very suited to silence or contemplation - it is about paying attention, it helps me look at things. so i was re-assured to know that my own sense about photography was shared. i jotted down a few quotes from the book...

to become a contemplative one must develop the spiritual eye of attention and what in modern life symbolises more fully and exactly what the life of a contemplative life entails than the camera

solitude and silence are the sine qua non of being a contemplative. in fact a photographer is a contemplative in his own right: he too must become a master of attention

if we had to reduce merton's 'a vow of conversation' to one theme it would be 'learning to see'

for much of the world's beauty we have only one chance to look

all that by way of an intro to this set of photos a day of silence - i took these in the silence on that day trying to capture something of that silence and attention. no idea if they succeed...

your kingdom come

your kingdom from jonny baker on Vimeo.

grace last was a wonderful mix of stations for our christmas nine. just to recap 9 artists/groups took a reading from the traditional nine lessons christmas service and created an installation in response. they had to a) choose a piece of music to play and b) use a 2m square frame. for mine i laid the frame flat and filled it with soil and wrote the words your kingdom come with candles in response to the prophecy in isaiah 9:2, 6-7 - the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. above the frame i had a screen projecting the video unwrap our darkness that i made last advent. the tune i played was robert plant's satan your kingdom must come down. lots of people were taking photos of the various stations which will follow at some point but here's a movie i took...

advent on proost

it's the first of december - wow! i am so not ready for that... here's our proost news for advent which has links to advent and christmas resources

Ten Thousand Places is this month's proost release. It's a delightful collection of poems from Chris Goan spanning themes of humanity, faith, wilderness, community, mission and family. Chris is part of the community Aoradh in Dunoon, Scotland. It's available as a pdf download or as a physical book.

Today is the beginning of advent. Just a quick reminder of some of the resources on proost for this season...

9 lessons is flash animation . Run the flash file (in a browser or flash player) and there are 9 animating loops corresponding to each of the nine lessons and carols from the traditional Christmas service. But here's the brilliant part - each one loops for as long as you like while you do the reading and whatever else. Then you simply click on the play button in the corner to move on to the next image.

nine- nine artists interpret the traditional nine readings with 6 movies and 3 songs. 

25 - Si Smith's cut out and make nativity characters and advent calendar and comic

wait - Vaux's simple but powerful movie and liturgy on waiting in advent. 

silent night - a movie that's ideal for pretty much any Christmas service 

If you are a subscriber the movie Unwrap our Darkness (inspired by Cheryl Lawrie's Christmas confession in hold this space which has some lovely advent prayers in) is a free bonus movie in the downloads section.

Then of course lots of liturgies and songs on the advent theme elsewhere in the books and audio sections...

If you subscribe of course you can access the content in the downloads area as part of your subscription. if not you can buy the individual items or subscribe now...

Have a great season of Advent!

Jonny, Jon, Aad

tips on designing stations

cheryl shares some tips on designing stations

opening collect - remix

andrew mccracken has done a remix of padraig's opening collect. padraig e-mailed me to say proost could make it available as a freebie. opening collect is from the amazing poetry/spoken word album hymns to swear by

animated parables

we have 3 amazing new animated parables on proost this month. they are the lost son by joel baker, benny the boss by jon birch and the gaga samaritan by andi mac. watch the promo below to get the flavour. this project is a partnership with stapleford house who will be producing lesson plans for secondary schools to use with the movies at the beginning of 2011. you can download the movies through proost and if you are a proost subscriber they are in the download section on the site.

animated parables promo from jonny baker on Vimeo.

 

festival annual 2010 first glimpse

you may remember i took photos for festival annual at the big chill festival this year. the launch party is in london on monday night but it has just landed at the designers back from the printer - nick kindly sent me a few snaps. it looks like i have a few photos in there which is great! looking forward to seeing it on monday.

grace zines

way back when (late 90s) steve collins produced a few grace zines - in print. they were beautifully designed and had various reflections, articles. he has added them to smallritual. you can download the pdfs from there - there were 5 over a couple of years...

more reviews

i said that every so often i would update the reviews of curating worhsip in one place which i have done. thanks to those people who have read and reviewed it so far. if you review it or see a review do let me know. these are the latest...

james porter says it's the finest book about religion/worship/Christianity he's read this year (though does point out he hasn't read many!)

dave pollendine suggest that i have curated a book about curation

rach's blog picks up on what seems to be the most quoted quote so far -

In many church circles the only gifts that are valued for worship are musical ones (and even then of a small range of music) or the ability to speak well (preferably in a  good English accent). This attitude needs shattering, and opening up so that poets, photographers, ideas people, geeks, theologians, liturgists, designers, writers, cooks, politicians, architects, movie-makers, storytellers, parents, campaigners, children, bloggers, DJs, VJs, craft-makers, or just anybody who comes and is willing to bounce ideas around, can get involved.

rob ryan likes the notion of creating space for others to discover god as an approach which counters his experience (and frustration) of something very different with someone controlling the message and the outcome.

silent pilgrimage and pall singh mini albums available on proost

the silent pilgrimage was a site-specific sound installation at greenbelt that took the participant on a reflective journey around the festival site. you donned a set of headphones and a transmitter meant you could listen to the track at the appropriate place. five groups were commissioned to write the meditations: frunt, molten meditation, beyond, spirit walk and gloopy music. the meditations, of both words and music, provided a unique soundscape for the festival site. the good news is that if you missed them they are available on proost this month in the audio section or in the download area if you are a subscriber. ben edson has also secured some funding so that meditations are going to be used around the city of manchester in the mind body spirit festival which is another move to take alt worship typr stuff into public space - exciting stuff!

also on a meditation/reflective theme pall singh of sanctuary in birmingham has recorded three meditations sabctuary peace in his unique fusing of asian music with alternative worship. again these are available in the audio section of proost...

really bad powerpoint and how to avoid it

i don't quite know how i missed this before but maybe seth godin posts so much stuff it's easy to do! anyway via mark sayers i spotted this very short e-book/pdf - really bad powerpoint and how to avoid it. what he says is so obvious that it's amazing! the one thing it made me realise that i hadn't realised before is how much i dislike giving people my presentations - because they are best experienced. so that's it - in future you have to be there and you'll get a handout summary...

visions pocket liturgies

it's three years now since we relaunched proost at greenbelt 2007 diversifying content and artists involved. i can't quite believe that we've managed to put out new content every month bar one (where we had a computer theft) since then. proost now has 13 books in the pocket size, around 60 movies or movie loops, maybe 30 albums or mini albums and a few other bits and pieces. thanks to anyone who has been part of the journey so far enjoying, creating, sharing, using, or creatively remixing content. subscribing which gives you access to all the content is so much better a deal now than when we re-launched!

this month we have a new addition to pocket liturgy from visions put together by sue wallace. it's available as a physical book (and will be in the greenbelt shop if you are there) or as a download.

here's a prayer from it called generous god to give you a flavour and that sums up our thanks...

Beloved God
You have done so much for us.
Yet sometimes we feel
We have very little to give You back.
Snatches of our time,
Our money and talents,
Yet we own nothing
That wasn’t already given us by You.

And yet God, we know
That when we give the little we have to You
You multiply it!
You take the tap-water
Of our songs, our prayers
Our love and our worship,
And change it into vintage wine.
 
You multiply everything we give to You
And turn something small into
something amazing.
Thank You!
For all You give us
For all You inspire us to give You,
For Your multiplying miracles
Thanks.