I’ve never met Chad Jarnagin, but we have enough mutual friends that I became convinced I needed to get to know him a little bit. As it turns out, Chad is an insightful guy who faithfully serves a local church. He’s also behind the upcoming Luminous Project, so now seemed like as good a time as any to ask him a few questions.
ECHO HUB: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
CHAD JARNAGIN: I’m a songwriter, artist. creative ideologist who leads worships, dreams, and shepherds other artists and dreamers. I grew up around Cincinnati, OH, and have lived in the Nashville area for well over 12 years. I’m the Worship Arts Pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, TN, and Creator of the Luminous Project. I’ve toured more than 1,800 shows/events over 15 years. I continue to lead worship for conferences and such. I’ve been living a dream for years. My dreams continue to change and evolve as I attempt to pursue truth and live out my part of The Story.
You’re the Worship Arts Pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church — what does your day-to-day role look like?
My day-to-day is a little different from week to week. For the most part, I am one of the main architects of the weekend worship experience at RHCC. I’m also involved with the Communications area as well. From week to week I’m meeting with people from our Arts world, be it band, vocals, tech, or creative. We have a handful of staff meetings that I co-lead or sit in on. Scheduling and set lists usually consist of an entire day or so of attention and correspondence. In addition to my day-to-day, there are several staff type responsibilities that I am a part of. We’re a fairly small staff for a church of 1,000-plus people, and we have a very open working environment at RHCC, so it feels like the Arts department is bigger than the three of us.
Can you share something you’ve learned in your time at RHCC about what it means to serve the church through creativity?
From the years of touring to the culture of the local church, I’ve seen a tension in the way we share and process narrative. There’s a new breed of storytellers and curators rising up in hopes of retelling the gospel through different mediums. Like many new fellowships, our group at RHCC uses simplistic lighting and visual liturgy, while interweaving music and scripture. We’re not only trying to figure out what the culture is, we’re hoping to change the culture.
Rolling Hills is a fun community to be around. We’re growing rapidly at the moment, but we tend to be tight on budget. So we attempt to make the best of it. We piece projects together in phases with hopes that we will arrive at our goals, whether it be it lighting projects, audio additions (acoustic treatment additions as well—can I get an amen?), or environmental projection. Creativity is our closest friend.
For those who haven’t heard about Luminous, what can you tell us about it?
The proceeds from Luminous go toward one or two different missional projects that we are involved with — an orphanage in Haiti and Moldova. Both are affected by human-trafficking and poverty. In addition to these projects, Luminous is about conversing, communing, and being who we’ve been wired to be. We’ll begin each day with the Eucharist and worship, and we’ll have workshop environments with Q & A sessions, as well as tribal discussions (groups of 5-6), in addition to a Forum Panel discussion.
Creative tribes are pulled in many different directions and are given many sets of expectations. Luminous Project is in part, a conference experience for encouragement, discussion, ideation, and ministry. It’s not about programming, it’s about the experience. It’s not about competition, it’s about contemplation. So far, there are communication directors, worship leaders, lead pastors, church planters, creative directors, and writers that will be in attendance.
What moved you to create Luminous?
This has been a dream for several years. Two years ago I felt compelled to begin speaking about this idea with some friends that I trusted. After hearing and sensing an energy and resonance, we decided to move towards assembling an advisory group of older, wiser friends and mentors. From the constructive filters and affirmation of this group, we decided that it was time. The lead of the Holy Spirit was almost tangible at times.
To find out more about about Chad Jarnagin and Luminous, visit ChadJarnagin.com.
Scott McClellan is the Editor of Echo Hub and the Director of Echo Conference. You can follow him on Twitter: @scottmcclellan.