The Cost and Gift of Creativity in Relationships with John and Sue Cunningham
The Allender Center Podcast
The Allender Center
4.7 • 648 Ratings
🗓️ 12 September 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are made in the image of a wildly creative God—and that means creativity lives in each of us. Yet, while it flows freely in childhood, many of us lose touch with it as adults, buried under busyness and productivity. What would it look like to recover creativity—not just for ourselves, but within our closest relationships?
This week, Dan and Becky Allender sit down with longtime friends John and Sue Cunningham, who are both creative in their own right. John is a potter, Sue is a poet, and together they've discovered both the beauty and the challenges of nurturing creativity in their marriage.
Their conversation explores:
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The vulnerable (and sometimes costly) work of encouraging creativity in one another
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How creativity can be both communal and connecting, and also deeply individual and isolating
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The patience, generosity, and curiosity that can support your partner's creative passions
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Practical ways to offer meaningful feedback and engagement without shutting each other down
Whether you write, paint, play music, garden, or simply long to bring more beauty into your life, this episode will encourage you to see creativity not only as a personal practice—but as a vital part of your relationship.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for listening to the Allender Center podcast. |
| 0:06.7 | I'm Dr. Dan Allender. |
| 0:08.7 | And I'm Rachel Clinton-Centen. |
| 0:10.5 | We're fiercely committed to providing hope and healing to a fragmented world. |
| 0:14.7 | And restoration for the heart. |
| 0:17.2 | Thank you for joining us. |
| 0:18.5 | Let's get this conversation started. |
| 0:41.1 | Thank you for joining us. Let's get this conversation started. You know, a lengthy introduction is often not helpful, but I just want to warn you. This is a lengthier introduction before I introduce the esteemed guests that we have this morning. So let's start with two premises. |
| 0:49.7 | Number one, that we are created by a creative God, and that we're made in the image of God. |
| 0:57.6 | And as a result, no one, no one gets to say they're not creative. Everyone is creative. |
| 1:06.9 | Now, certainly, creativity, as research would indicate, is almost at 100% between the ages of 2 and 5. |
| 1:17.3 | But by about age 7, 8, particularly around age 10, it has dropped almost 70%. |
| 1:26.0 | So we live in a world where creativity seems like it's uniquely |
| 1:33.2 | part of certain unusual people's lives, the artists. And yet we all know that many of us don't really feel like we are that creative or that artistic. |
| 1:48.8 | So when we begin to have a conversation, let me tell you what we're doing today, we're going to |
| 1:53.5 | have a conversation with a remarkable creative couple. In fact, I think we talked about this, Becky, before. That is, |
| 2:04.8 | I don't think we have anyone that we know and have known for decades that we would actually |
| 2:11.4 | name as so remarkably creative. Absolutely. That is the case. |
| 2:18.4 | John and Sue. |
| 2:21.1 | When we talk about John and Sue Cunningham, |
| 2:23.0 | and I know they're going to defer, I know. |
| 2:26.7 | So I'm just setting you up, John and Sue, |
... |
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