We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Apple recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ryan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As soon as I started playing guitar in high school, I had dreams of joining a band and making it big. While studying music in college, I had the opportunity to form a band with some friends, tour around the state, and even record an album of our original songs. But the band broke up in my senior year, which forced me to think about other things I might do after graduation. It was around then that I started to realize that a career in music or the arts can take many different forms, and need not be accompanied by fame, which is a dangerous thing anyway. Today, I’m grateful for my humble life and that I have many more friends who know me than strangers who know of me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After college, I served in a small church as a youth minister while pursuing a master’s degree in music. Seven years later, I was invited to come back and teach at my alma mater, Great Lakes Christian College. I’m in my 19th year now as a GLCC music professor, and I primarily teach guitar, music theory, and music history.
Through all these years, I’ve continued to develop my own creative pursuits. I’ve performed four solo faculty guitar recitals, recorded a full length classical guitar album, and published a chapbook of poetry. It’s good for my students to see me continuing to learn, but honestly, I don’t need that motivation. The wonder of music and poetry, like the wonder of any part of creation, is motivating enough.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of creating art is discovery. Whether I’m arranging music, practicing the guitar, or writing a poem, the magic arrives when I’m surprised by something. That’s when I know I have something to share with others, because it’s something that I’ve been delighted by or surprised by myself. Robert Frost said it well: “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”
Of course, such moments usually only come after a lot of hard work and wrong turns. Giving attention to craft is necessary because it’s how we get better at looking for and finding new angles from which we can approach the big and small particularities of being human.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am a Christian first, so any creative pursuits I have are subservient to my pursuit of Jesus and his kingdom (Matthew 6:33). The Lord has given each one of us different talents, experiences, and skills in order to make his goodness and his ongoing work in the world known to the people around us. That is my primary mission, and it drives how I speak to my neighbors and coworkers, how I raise my family, how I relate to my fellow church members, and how I create art.
This does not mean that I only perform music or write poems that are overtly “religious”. What it does mean is that I am learning to be content with the creative abilities and outlets I have been given and that I am learning to keep my creative pursuits in perspective as something to express and enjoy without disparaging or deifying them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ryanapple.net
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoD6H_5i8yIo4XoTP7dk3TQ

Image Credits

Darcie Apple
Christian Baker
Ruelaine Stokes