Friday, May 27, 2005
Hands on versus demonstration
I was speaking to an online friend about the different types of arts ministry conferences and things that are out there. There seem to be two different kinds, hands on conferences and dsemonstration conferences. These are my thoughts on the subject.
There is room for both. The last seminar I did, I did workshops all day long and then in the evening I would do worship presentations. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first is that some people are very uncomfortable and intimidated by art, they were told at some point long ago that they weren't good at it and so they have given up. They can be more inspired by seeing than doing as doing makes them feel inadequate. What I like about events like that is they may not take the specific idea but they feel released to do what they do in service and worship of the Lord. That is the point I always try to make. I often say You may not be able to paint like I can, but I would have traded my own ability many times for the ability to fix my own car. If you can fix a car you can have a ministry that far surpasses mine. In the end it's all about making disciples and showing people that whatever gift they have can be used for the Lord.
(0) comments
I was speaking to an online friend about the different types of arts ministry conferences and things that are out there. There seem to be two different kinds, hands on conferences and dsemonstration conferences. These are my thoughts on the subject.
There is room for both. The last seminar I did, I did workshops all day long and then in the evening I would do worship presentations. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first is that some people are very uncomfortable and intimidated by art, they were told at some point long ago that they weren't good at it and so they have given up. They can be more inspired by seeing than doing as doing makes them feel inadequate. What I like about events like that is they may not take the specific idea but they feel released to do what they do in service and worship of the Lord. That is the point I always try to make. I often say You may not be able to paint like I can, but I would have traded my own ability many times for the ability to fix my own car. If you can fix a car you can have a ministry that far surpasses mine. In the end it's all about making disciples and showing people that whatever gift they have can be used for the Lord.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
How to prepare
On one of the lists I belong to, the question was posed how do we as artists prepare to enter into the presence of the Lord so that our work is annointed. While I will readily admit I never really thought of it like that, this was my response.
I don't know exactly how it happens other than to say whatever things are good and pure and true think on these things. Let me explain, sometimes it comes after long periods of prayer and other times I will be listening to a song or I'll see something in nature and before I know it there is an idea that is burning a hole in my heart. The key is getting away by myself to have the time to think. I tend to believe that God has created me to be a visual learner and so often he sort of speaks to me in images. I'll give you an example, I was out prayer walking one morning and it was very quiet it was one of those great times of prayer where I am not the one doing the talking, but rather listening. I began to think about Jesus on the cross, and the sacrifice he made for me. The next thing I know there is this image in my head, I call it the point. It is painted on a full length mirror. OI covered the whole thing with while latex paint except for a cloud shaped piece at the top. Next I painted a full body picture of Jesus on the cross below the cloud. All you see in his face and his torso and some of the wood and so it is nearly lifesize. The cloud shape became a cartoon thought balloon. I mounted it on the wall so that the balloon is at about eye level. When anyone looks at the piece they get the point, when Jesus died on the cross you were on his mind.
Another morning the sun was coming up and a crescent moon was still visible. God used it to show me how we are the light of the world, that we are like the moon. I painted that scene in my worship service and did a sermon called John the moon. The scripture for it was from John Chapter one where John writes how John was not the light but bore witness to the light. That's how we are. We have no light of our own like the moon, we reflect the son.
I think the big thing is to be open to hear from the Lord and when the Spirit, (who sometimes seems to come and go as he pleases) is ready to move we need to be ready to go along.
(0) comments
On one of the lists I belong to, the question was posed how do we as artists prepare to enter into the presence of the Lord so that our work is annointed. While I will readily admit I never really thought of it like that, this was my response.
I don't know exactly how it happens other than to say whatever things are good and pure and true think on these things. Let me explain, sometimes it comes after long periods of prayer and other times I will be listening to a song or I'll see something in nature and before I know it there is an idea that is burning a hole in my heart. The key is getting away by myself to have the time to think. I tend to believe that God has created me to be a visual learner and so often he sort of speaks to me in images. I'll give you an example, I was out prayer walking one morning and it was very quiet it was one of those great times of prayer where I am not the one doing the talking, but rather listening. I began to think about Jesus on the cross, and the sacrifice he made for me. The next thing I know there is this image in my head, I call it the point. It is painted on a full length mirror. OI covered the whole thing with while latex paint except for a cloud shaped piece at the top. Next I painted a full body picture of Jesus on the cross below the cloud. All you see in his face and his torso and some of the wood and so it is nearly lifesize. The cloud shape became a cartoon thought balloon. I mounted it on the wall so that the balloon is at about eye level. When anyone looks at the piece they get the point, when Jesus died on the cross you were on his mind.
Another morning the sun was coming up and a crescent moon was still visible. God used it to show me how we are the light of the world, that we are like the moon. I painted that scene in my worship service and did a sermon called John the moon. The scripture for it was from John Chapter one where John writes how John was not the light but bore witness to the light. That's how we are. We have no light of our own like the moon, we reflect the son.
I think the big thing is to be open to hear from the Lord and when the Spirit, (who sometimes seems to come and go as he pleases) is ready to move we need to be ready to go along.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Objections to arts ministry
A friend of mine alerted me to the fact that my ministry had become the topic of conversation on a message board. Of course I went over to read what everyone had to say. The topic of the thread was does your church have a visual arts ministry? I thank everyone for their kind words, but the one thing that struck me was that there were several people that seemed to face quite a bit of opposition to the thought of visual arts ministry. Here is my response.
For those of you who have people who shave objections to visual arts ministry, show then 1 Peter 4:10 which in the NIV says "each one should use WHATEVER gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (emphasis mine) At one point the church was the main patron of the arts (can you say Michelangelo?) but around the time of the reformation we seemed to have turned from all of that stuff.
I don't really want to get into a deep theological discussion on this, because I'm not sure I can, but what I will say is this, there is an old saying in education that says what I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand. We have been entrusted with a message of salvation and commanded to take that message to a hurting world. We have been given gifts and talents to be used to that end. To me as a minister, it is not good enough for me to give people a forgettable message, because these truths are far too important to be forgotten. To my mind I need to use every tool I have been given. We live in a very visual culture full of visual learners and the more people can see as they hear the better.
I use painting in my speaking at least once a month. I use my cartoons in power point as often as they are relevant. I use puppets to give a brief humorous look at the topic I am going to be preaching on. It's amazing how many times an image will come to me in prayer as I am preparing a sermon. I paint these images sometimes in completely in church (if I can complete the piece in 5-15 minutes) or at home in advance. Sometimes I do what I call progressive revelation paintings. On these I hide things on the canvas and mask them over. I finish the image in church and then at just the right moment strip the mask away and sum up the point of the message. You'd be amazed at how many gasps of amazement I hear from the congregation. That's the kind of thing they remember. I've done participatory pieces too where the congregation creates the art.
The nice thing about all of this is, my church has very plain walls and so we use the finished paintings to decorate the church giving a gallery feel. I make these little cards that explain the paintings to people who haven't heard the messages. I have visual reminders in my church that people see every weeek to remind them of biblical truths. I can't say any of them are great art, but that's not their purpose. Their purpose is communicate a truth.
We also have a biweekly art night called Studio New Creation where the people come together to create and fellowship. I use visual arts in outreaches such as Italian Street Painting and sometimes we do real elementary stuff like face painting which is the best way I have ever seen to have a captive audience for three to five minutes, lol.
Of course I am in a new church plant that is really open to this stuff but as the pastor, if I am using all my gifts it gives the people permission to use theirs. The best advice I can give people for arts ministry is just do it. The next thing I am planning is to place easels around the room so that other can get into the "act." Offer your bodies as living sacrifices this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give our everything to God, that is the Worship He deserves
(0) comments
A friend of mine alerted me to the fact that my ministry had become the topic of conversation on a message board. Of course I went over to read what everyone had to say. The topic of the thread was does your church have a visual arts ministry? I thank everyone for their kind words, but the one thing that struck me was that there were several people that seemed to face quite a bit of opposition to the thought of visual arts ministry. Here is my response.
For those of you who have people who shave objections to visual arts ministry, show then 1 Peter 4:10 which in the NIV says "each one should use WHATEVER gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (emphasis mine) At one point the church was the main patron of the arts (can you say Michelangelo?) but around the time of the reformation we seemed to have turned from all of that stuff.
I don't really want to get into a deep theological discussion on this, because I'm not sure I can, but what I will say is this, there is an old saying in education that says what I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand. We have been entrusted with a message of salvation and commanded to take that message to a hurting world. We have been given gifts and talents to be used to that end. To me as a minister, it is not good enough for me to give people a forgettable message, because these truths are far too important to be forgotten. To my mind I need to use every tool I have been given. We live in a very visual culture full of visual learners and the more people can see as they hear the better.
I use painting in my speaking at least once a month. I use my cartoons in power point as often as they are relevant. I use puppets to give a brief humorous look at the topic I am going to be preaching on. It's amazing how many times an image will come to me in prayer as I am preparing a sermon. I paint these images sometimes in completely in church (if I can complete the piece in 5-15 minutes) or at home in advance. Sometimes I do what I call progressive revelation paintings. On these I hide things on the canvas and mask them over. I finish the image in church and then at just the right moment strip the mask away and sum up the point of the message. You'd be amazed at how many gasps of amazement I hear from the congregation. That's the kind of thing they remember. I've done participatory pieces too where the congregation creates the art.
The nice thing about all of this is, my church has very plain walls and so we use the finished paintings to decorate the church giving a gallery feel. I make these little cards that explain the paintings to people who haven't heard the messages. I have visual reminders in my church that people see every weeek to remind them of biblical truths. I can't say any of them are great art, but that's not their purpose. Their purpose is communicate a truth.
We also have a biweekly art night called Studio New Creation where the people come together to create and fellowship. I use visual arts in outreaches such as Italian Street Painting and sometimes we do real elementary stuff like face painting which is the best way I have ever seen to have a captive audience for three to five minutes, lol.
Of course I am in a new church plant that is really open to this stuff but as the pastor, if I am using all my gifts it gives the people permission to use theirs. The best advice I can give people for arts ministry is just do it. The next thing I am planning is to place easels around the room so that other can get into the "act." Offer your bodies as living sacrifices this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give our everything to God, that is the Worship He deserves
