Podcast 079: Storytelling, Imagination & Invention (with Manuel Luz, Author & Creative Arts Pastor)

March 21, 2019 by Kent Sanders | Leave a Comment

In her excellent book Walking on Water, the author Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.” Storytelling was not only a major focus of Jesus’ ministry, it’s also a significant part of our calling as artists and creatives. Today’s guest helps us expand our vision as creative storytellers as we talk about music, imagination, invention, worship, and writing. This is one of those interviews that will expand your mind and leave you thinking for days.

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I’m honored to bring you this conversation with Manuel Luz. He is a songwriter, author, inventor, arts advocate, and creative arts pastor. He has served with Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California for over 25 years, which is an eternity in creative arts ministry.

Manuel’s new book, Honest Worship: From False Self to True Praise, addresses the critical intersections between spiritual formation and worship. Manuel’s published book, Imagine That: Discovering Your Unique Role as a Christian Artist, is a practical and personal theology of the arts. I highly recommend both of them.

Manuel is also the inventor of the patented musical instrument, the WalkaBout™, which was wildly received at the world-renowned NAMM Show recently.

In our conversation, we explore several themes from his two books, such as humility, imagination, storytelling, and honest worship. We also dive into the behind-the-scenes process of inventing, manufacturing, and marketing the Walkabout, which is a new kind of percussion instrument. As as drummer myself, this was incredibly interesting! Finally, you’ll learn practical tips about writing from Manuel’s own creative process.

Episode Highlights

In this episode, you’ll discover:

A summary of Manuel’s new book, Honest Worship.
How to maintain humility while you’re on the stage or in the spotlight.
Practical ways to be more transparent and authentic.
Why we have lost our imagination, and how to regain it.
The power and importance of storytelling in worship and communion.
The greater story of God in worship in art.
Behind the scenes of the Walkabout, the guitar drum that Manuel co-invented.
Manuel’s process for writing books, and the opportunities that books have given him.
Habits and practices that have helped Manuel in his faith and leadership.
Manuel’s insight that we interact with our art twice: first as a creator, then later as an audience.

Key Takeaways

1. Practice speaking the “language of grace.”

Toward the beginning of our conversation, Manuel mentioned a phrase that really caught my ear: “the language of grace.” He was talking about switching our default response from judgment and anger to that of grace.

Wow. This hit me right between the eyes. It is so easy to rush to judgment of others and to assume the worst about them. But what if we assumed the BEST? What if we assumed that our information is incomplete? What if our default response was to extend grace, kindness, and understanding?

This kind of insight is exactly why I do these podcast interviews. I guarantee that I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while!

2. Use your blog to write a book.

I was happy to hear Manuel talk about a strategy that I have used as well, which is using your blog as a way to write a book. The advantage of having a blog is that it gives you a platform and a reason to write regularly in small chunks. It’s very “do-able” to write a 500- or 100-word post. When you put enough of those together, you have a book.

That being said, keep in mind something else Manuel mentioned: you don’t just slap a bunch of blog posts together to create an excellent book. They need to be edited, re-written, and probably need to have additional material created in order to produce a solid book.

Manuel also mentioned that he batches his writing on Mondays. This is a great strategy and a great reminder that you don’t have to follow someone else’s process for writing. Do what works for you.

You may have also noticed that Manuel said, “I don’t write a book, I’m a writer.” This was a great insight that reminds us how our language shapes our identity. If you start calling yourself a writer, then you will begin to act like it.

3. A question: Why isn’t more creative art invented in the church?

As a drummer and musician, I’m very interested in the process Manuel followed in creating the Walkabout. But I’m also inspired by this on a cultural and philosophical level. In our conversation, he mentioned that he wanted to create an instrument that came out of a church setting and would then be used in other settings.

It struck me that this kind of thinking, and this kind of creativity, rarely happens today. I’m not sure why. Maybe it comes down to a simple lack of imagination.

Think about the Middle Ages. This was a period of history when most of the great art came out of the church. It was a time when the church was at the center of cultural influence. I hope and pray that as a collective body of artists and leaders, we can help the body of Christ return to a similar place of influence.

That’s why I encourage young artists to not just consider careers the church world, but also in film scoring, television, theatre, directing, screenwriting, and so on. We can’t stay within the comfortable walls of our churches and expect to make an impact. We have to get out there and learn from the best artists in the world. Then we have to create the best art from a perspective that is informed both by our faith and also by the best craftsmanship.

We can’t have first-rate influence if we’re creating second-rate art. Manuel has reminded us to reach higher and use our imagination and creativity to serve both the church and world with our very best.