Gabriel Lopez
We’re completely stoked to have our incredibly creative friend, Gabriel Lopez, with us for this week’s Dreamos Round Table. Gabriel is a brilliant creative entrepreneur based in Chicago with his lovely wife Karla and son Addison. As a songwriter, producer, illustrator, and worship pastor, Gabriel’s days are packed full of opportunities for influence.
Most days, Gabriel finds himself writing songs for their music project, “Little Parade,” illustrating his next picture book, offering early-childhood music classes at Good Manner (His family owned coffee roastery), or planning his next monthly worship event, “Deeperstill.” Gabriel is just as passionate about his God-inspired pursuits, as he is about using his creativity to make a difference in the lives of others. We hope you’re encouraged and inspired by hearing a little more of his heart, pursuit, and story.
What dream are you currently turning into reality?
Well, as of January I’m a published picture book illustrator, so I’m extremely grateful for that. That’s been a dream of mine for quite a while. Believe it or not, I’m more grateful for the mental challenges as I illustrated the book, than the actual book itself. Through the process, I had to wrestle really hard with learning to love what was coming out of me naturally. And, I mean “love” in the literal sense - Choosing to care, trust, and learn more about myself through the creative decisions I would make.
I needed to love my illustrations regardless of how I felt they compared to my hero’s work. It was a tough journey, but I’m looking forward to taking what I’ve learned, and putting it toward my next book. Aside from that, my wife Karla and I have been growing Little Parade (our early childhood music classes), and it’s been a blast. I’m proud of Karla for taking the lead in this venture, and I've definitely learned a lot from her in our years of running it together.
When did you first realize you discovered your dream?
I was either 13 or 14 years old. I distinctly remember laying in my room, staring at the ceiling, while listening to Passion’s OneDay Live CD, and audibly saying - THIS is what I want to do. At the time, I was already playing at church and had fallen in love with making music - But that was the moment I grabbed hold of the mission for myself, and I accepted the call to partner with Christ in raising worshipers. Fast forward twenty years, and I’m still saying yes to the call. I feel like my yes fuels the dream, because the longer I operate within it, the dream grows, and it deepens.
How does your faith go hand in hand with pursuing your dream?
In my experience, the only dreams worth dreaming stem from my relationship with Christ, because it’s by which that I’ve desired more to dream like Him. It’s driven me to love, disciple, and serve people in the most creative ways. Since I first discovered my dream, I’ve been motivated to love people well, and to see them encounter Jesus through every smile, worship gathering, song, illustration, record, meeting, or “thing” that I do.
What encouragement would you give someone who’s going after their dream?
In efforts to keep it brief, I’m just going to say, make sure you truly love what you do and why you do it. That may sound cliche, but I’ve seen a lot of people try to chase dreams they didn’t love and end up getting hit with loads of self doubt. Your creative value is not determined by other people.