Jonathan Malm helps people uncover creative options for their life and their church. He’s the author of Created for More, a 30-day devotional to help you develop a more creative mind. You’ll find him in San Antonio, Texas, roasting his own coffee beans and enjoying life with his Argentine wife, Carolina.

What I’m Learning About Telling My Story

I’m learning that discovering your story is a bit like searching Google. One particular story will result in thousands of details, but it’s up to me to figure out which of those details is important to the story. For instance, I’ve been writing a short story about my experience trying to get to India to…

The Blank Canvas for Your Mind

I must admit. Wednesday’s blog post was sort of phoned in. It was actually a chapter from an unpublished manuscript. I posted it because I couldn’t think of anything to post on Wednesday. Before I made the decision, I was wracking my brain trying to think of something I could write about. How did I…

Defend or Act

Stop. Pick one. You can either (1) defend your idea to everyone you encounter, or you can (2) act on your idea. Unless you’re one of the characters from Twilight, you probably won’t have enough time or energy to do both. We all have jobs, families, and responsibilities. And chances are, your dream has to…

Keeping a Long-Term Perspective

I swear I’m getting classically conditioned to feel rage every time I hear smooth jazz. Seriously. The only time I ever listen to smooth jazz is when I’m on hold with a poorly run company that’s making me wait while they figure out why they screwed up. Wednesday morning I was on hold with HostGator, my…

Why I Have So Many Projects

I’ve found the most successful things I do have incredible focus. Think about it. ChurchStageDesignIdeas.com. I’m not sure I could get more specific than that. And that’s by far the most successful website I run. The next most successful is another incredibly focused project. I find that whenever I try to incorporate all of my…

One Small Act = Big Effects

Most of a person’s future is lost in the little things. Call it a ripple effect, butterfly effect, whatever. But your small actions each day have a huge impact on your longterm trajectory. We’ve seen this in the negative. A young child makes the decision to steal a pack of of gum. He gets away…

Going to the Next Level

I’ve discovered that life doesn’t work like a sloping curve. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you won’t keep reaching new heights. You’ll eventually plateau. Instead, life works more like a set of stairs. You act one way, and you reach a new level. You’ll stay at that level, though, until you try…