I had the chance to Skype with Blaine Hogan. Blaine is the Creative Director at a little church called Willow Creek. He recently released his first e-book, “Untitled“. Here’s the first part of our interview.
I did some research and saw that you were in prison. And you actually tried to hang yourself?
I did. I guest starred on Prison Break. It was the first season. Maybe 3 or 4 episodes. My character had been thrown into prison for stealing a car with a kid in the back seat. It was the worst prison inmate situation you could imagine–with the show’s evil character. Through many bouts of torment I decide to take my life. I didn’t actually do it. It was a stuntman. I did the close-ups.
It’s a thing with the screen actor’s guild. Some sort of liability issue. It was all fake. As you can see I’m very healthy.
I’m glad to hear I was misinformed. Next question. Do you see yourself as being creative?
I’ve only been working in the church for three years. Most of my artist work has been out of the church. So I’m constantly fascinated by the use of that word. Creativity. It’s used often as a noun. “We need more creativity in the church.” When I hear that I think people mean, “We need more different ways of thinking.” But I think what they actually mean they need more painters on stage.
So I view myself as creative because I see it as a way of thinking–having an alternative point of view. It’s sort of the prophetic voice. Which is always offering and alternative.
When did you start thinking in that different way–creatively?
It actually happened really young. When I was growing up I lived in a lower income suburb of Minneapolis. In my elementary school they had this program called the “Gifted and Talented” program. They identified kids that were different. It was the “weird kids”. They pulled us out of class and every week they would give us a project to do. The whole point was to solve interesting problems. So they told us to solve world hunger. And we were in 5th grade.
Very immediately they were saying, “It’s ok to think differently.“ So it was fostered in me at a very young age.
So what’s your primary role at Willow Creek?
I started as a contract video producer. Willow hired me on 3 years ago. I was pretty up front from the beginning that I’m much more of a multimedia artist. I don’t just think in video. I think of what story we’re telling. Then I think “this could be a short video, a dance, or a spoken word.” So over the last 3 years I’ve been moved into the Creative Director role. I view my role as creating spaces for people to connect with God. And I do that by telling stories.
Tell me about Happy Friday Dance Party.
I am probably more goofy than I write about on my blog. And I came to a realization about a year ago, that everything I was writing about was serious. That’s just one facet of my personality. So I started thinking, “I need to do something that’s risky.” I’d been revealing some of the darker parts of my story on my blog, but I wanted to do something funny too.
My wife and I call them awkward dance parties. I’m a big fan of awkwardness. I think if you are willing to be awkward long enough it frees you. I learned a lot of that from acting.
So I started thinking about what would be risky, fun, funny, and awkward. So I started Happy Friday Dance Party.
I put a song on and I gave myself some rules. I would only get one shot at it. I wouldn’t smile. And I whatever I recorded I would post.
So I did that. That’s the theory behind Happy Friday Dance Party.
Now check out the second part of the interview! And pick up Untitled at Amazon right now! It’s worth 20 bucks but it only costs 5!
