Creativity Unleashed

At the age of 12, a young boy named Herman Haan found himself caught up in the world of drugs and alcohol after enduring intense family altercations and abuse, eventually landing him on the streets of Holland where he lived for the next few years. During his time on the streets, Herman adapted to the lifestyle that often accompanies life on the streets and became involved in burglaries, street crimes, and other activities that would leave behind years of regret. By age 15, Herman had earnestly sought out meaning and purpose in life, even trying to find "God," but his unsuccessful attempts only led him to plan to commit suicide with one of his friends one weekend. Wandering the streets only a few days before the plan was to be carried out, he heard some interesting music coming from a group that was singing and performing on the streets. As an avid music lover, Herman couldn't help but drift near the melodious sounds to figure out what it was.

Herman soon found out that his interaction with that group would change his life forever. They were a group of church students out doing ministry on the streets, and when the students gathered around Herman and prayed for him, he had a heavy encounter with God that set him on a brand new journey into an incredible life he had never imagined.


Tragically, Herman's friend went on to commit suicide that weekend, but Herman continued on, looking at his life with new vigor and passion. Thirty five years later, Herman Haan has now lived a full and abundant life, doing more things than I thought were possible for one person to accomplish in a lifetime. After marrying one of the girls in the group he met on the street, Herman went on to attend Bible school and later become the director of his own Bible school specializing in the creative arts. At 24, he started pastoring a Pentecostal church that saw huge revival and complete life-change of over 200 drug dealers from the streets and surrounding areas. As a talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Herman was also a member of a Dutch band that toured across Europe with much success and fame. In addition, he has become a wine sommelier and owns and runs his own vineyard, as well as working as a chef, restaurant owner, and TV host of his own cooking show. If that's not enough, Herman has also written five books and is presently working on his sixth. He currently works as a video journalist, filming documentaries for HBO and one of the biggest TV networks in Holland, which has sent him traveling all across the world to places like Pakistan and Haiti. Along the way, he's had the opportunity to interview some pretty important people and be in some pretty important places, like being the first European journalist on site at Ground Zero on September 11. Overall, Herman has created over 400 programs and 40 documentaries, several of which have won national awards and acclaim.

So who exactly is this man and why am I telling you about him? Herman Haan was our guest teacher last week here at G42 and we had four incredible days of soaking up all of the life wisdom that he came to share with us. As I mentioned before, last week we were stretched beyond what we believed we were capable of and got to see a new side of each other that we hadn't shared with each other yet. This all happened because of the gifting and prodding of Herman, who was able to keep us on our toes at all times in anticipation of the next challenge that he would throw at us on the spot. Sometimes he'd call on a person and tell them to immediately speak encouraging words to the person across from them, sometimes he would have us a write a story based on an action or short skit he demonstrated, and sometimes he would have us write a poem on the spot. We analyzed the lyrics of a meaningful song, sang together, wrote poems and short stories, performed one minute skits with no words, learned interview principles, held mock interviews with a "famous author," watched documentaries, studied the Bible, and discovered all sorts of creative talent within us that surprised the whole group. Herman's teaching style made me realize how much potential exists within each of us and how much we are capable of doing (even when we are convinced we just can't do it) when we are challenged and stretched a little bit further than we would normally go. 

Needless to say, it was an awesome week, and I'll soon be sharing with you another one of the creative works I somehow produced through the encouragement and nudge of someone who truly knows that the impossible is possible!