The first step to creating an environment where people can experience the power and the presence of God is to find what it is that seems good to the Holy Spirit and your team.  I love that phrase in Acts 15 where Luke simply states that the decision the leaders were making "seemed good" to them and the Holy Spirit.  This comes in a couple of different forms depending on your role in the process:

• The gut feeling that the senior Pastor gets about what the next series should be.
• The ability the set-design leader has to just create a feeling with simple pieces.
• The pithy series name that a team member says and everyone just knows "that's it".
• The worship song that is picked in advance of the series that then fits like a glove.
• The worship song that is written for a series and serves as a great lasting reminder.

These are all integral products of a first step of the planning process: seeking God.

You want to be really creative? Seek God. Before you go to "How" magazine, or look and see what other churches have done, or even tap into pop culture (all things you should do), seek God! He created the earth and all that is within it in six days. That is pretty stinkin' creative! I think that makes Him an expert. 

Here are some practical ways to seek God for creativity in your environments:

1. Pray that he would give you a vision for the next series (hopefully the series a couple of months away at a minimum!)
2. Read scripture and ask God to illuminate a phrase or paint a word picture for you.
3. Pray with your volunteer teams that God would give you all creative inspiration.
4. Ask God to break your heart for the people who need to experience his power and presence.

Once it seems good to you and the Holy Spirit, now you can move forward in confidence that God will have his hand on your planning.