Creativity Is a Divine Gift: Why I Do This Work

On the bridge of Khazad-dûm in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf stands between the Fellowship and a Balrog and tells it, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor."

I've loved that line every since first witnessing that scene in Peter Jackson's film trilogy, which was my introduction to Middle-earth. It's also where the name of my business comes from. The name usually needs some explaining, so here's what it means and why I do this work at all.

What Tolkien meant by the Secret Fire

J.R.R. Tolkien was a committed Catholic Christian, and his faith shaped the mythology of Middle-earth from the start. In The Silmarillion, the world begins with a creator, Ilúvatar, who gives life and being to what he makes. Tolkien calls that power the Flame Imperishable, or the Secret Fire. It's the life God gives to the world, the power that gives what he imagined real existence.

Tolkien himself is reported to have identified the Secret Fire with the Holy Spirit. So when Gandalf calls himself its servant, he isn't claiming power of his own. He's saying whose power he serves.

Creativity as a gift

Tolkien also believed that when people make things, whether stories, art, or anything else, they're reflecting the creativity of the One who made them. He called it sub-creation. We don't create the way God does, out of nothing. We make things because we were made by a Maker.

That idea has shaped how I think about my own work. Designing a website, writing clear words, and organizing information so a stranger can find what they need are all creative work. I don't think of that skill as something I generated. It was given to me, and gifts like that are meant to be used well and used for others.

That's the meaning I wanted the name to carry. I'm not the source of the fire. I'm a servant of it.

How I got here

When I graduated from Grove City College with a degree in Marketing Management, I knew I wanted to work in that field, but I didn't yet know what it looked like inside a life shaped by faith.

I started attending Orchard Hill Church in Wexford, Pennsylvania, and spent two years there as a member before a communications position opened on staff. When it was posted, I knew it was the chance I'd been waiting for: a way to put my marketing training and my love for the local church in the same place. I've managed Orchard Hill's database and web presence since 2017.

Over those years I've seen what a church website does well and what it costs a church when it doesn't. A church can be warm and faithful on Sunday morning and still lose someone in a search the night before.

Why a website is ministry work

There's a sentence I come back to whenever I think about this work: I don't want the website to be the reason someone doesn't come to church and meet Jesus.

That's why I don't think of church websites as marketing in the cynical sense. For many people, a church's website is the first place they meet that church. Someone who is curious, hurting, or new in town looks you up before they ever walk through your doors. If what they find is confusing, outdated, or hard to use on a phone, they may never come.

Getting that right is a way of stewarding the attention of people God may already be drawing toward your church. Clear service times, a warm Plan a Visit page, and simple next steps are small things. They can also be the difference between a visitor and a stranger who never comes back.

Why I started Secret Fire

I started Secret Fire because I kept seeing churches with websites that were leaving a bad first impression and costing them ministry opportunities.

I wanted to help fix that in a way that lasted, by building websites that are clear, warm, and easy for church staff to keep up to date, so the people called to pastoral work can spend their time on it.

It's a small part of something much larger than any one website, and I count it a privilege to serve it.

If you'd like to talk about your church's website, I'd be glad to hear about your church. You can schedule a free discovery call, or start with the Church Website Checklist to see where your site stands.