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Our next industry interview is with a close friend of ours and a church media guy who is making a huge impact in the UK. Caleb is a Canadian-born creative who, first and foremost, loves seeing the world touched by the love of Christ. He creates fantastic ways for people to see Jesus through design, video and digital content and ensures that everything he does it to the best of his ability and fitting to represent The Creator.

Caleb works at Living Rock Church and also runs Shmoofy Poof Creative. He is the creator of Seed Cards (more information about this will follow in an upcoming article!) and has a few other exciting projects in the pipeline. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Give us a brief history of how you got to where you are today?

I was made in Canada and met a girl from the UK on a GAP year in America (confusing I know). She pretty much fell for me right away and subsequently we dated, got married, and decided to live in the UK. After we got married I worked for a technology company for 5 years as Head of the Training Department and then landed this role at Living Rock Church as the Head of Creative Media in 2011. Over the last 3.5 years the role has developed, as have I, and we are where we are now which I think is pretty sweet. 

What does your role within church media consist of?

It’s better to ask what it doesn’t consist of, but in short, I am responsible for producing and managing all digital and print media for Living Rock Church. Video, photography, design & print, publicity, web, & social media, podcasting, IT Support and other stuff I won’t bore you with.

What tool, software or app could you not live without?

Photoshop and VSCO Cam are close rivals, but if I had to throw them into a fighting pit to fight to the death I think Photoshop would merge victorious.

Send us a picture of your workspace?

Workspace-2

Tell us about any side projects you have going on?

A few things at the mo. My wife and I run a creative design business on the side (going full time with it in September actually! #excited) of which we have a number of projects in action. One of which is a mini-documentary for a winter night shelter for the homeless in Milton Keynes. We’ve been down to film the amazing work they do and now we are editing like mad to get it done in the next few weeks.

How do you stay current and on top of design trends?

 Read blogs, following industry leaders, connect with other creatives and read more blogs. Websites like Designspiration.net or 99u.com are good ones to start with.

What piece of advice would you give to other church media people?

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [Colossians 1:16]

I think it’s sad when Jesus gets lost behind a fog of what we create, where people sort of see Him or sometimes don’t see Him at all.  We need to make sure it doesn’t become all about how many cool light leaks we used on the video was, how sexy the topography is on our latest flyers, or how hip the lighting at this morning’s worship was. Frankly, it’s not about us and our creative talent – everything we create should point to Him, His Kingdom, and the good news of the Gospel! Everything was and is ‘..created through Him and for Him’ so we need to go to Him first and pray for inspiration, listen, and then create something beautiful. All the time creating ‘..through him and for him’. PRAY, CREATE, REPEAT. (ps don’t worry, I have nothing against light leaks, typography, or hip stage lighting).

What’s your favourite bible verse?

John 14:12 – Oh man it’s good, look it up!

Send us the artiest photo you’ve taken?

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

Tell us a joke.

When I found the skull in the woods, the first thing I did was call the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.

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