Monday, September 29, 2008
Transcript:for the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast 9/28/08
Welcome to the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast for the week of September 28, 2008
Motivations...More or Less?
Well it started already. I had just sent out my first notice to the elists I belong to sharing my vision to minister to artists, helping them to find their way into using their gifts to serve the Lord. Serving as something of a pastor and a liaison between artists and churches. I went into pretty great detail abut what the Lord was showing me. How I saw this not as a substitute for artists being active in a local church, but rather a catalyst to help artists in the local church to be used to 100% of their God-given potential. I got some great feedback, some wonderful encouragement and even emails from a few folks who want to work with me. I had an awesome note from a pastor who wants me to talk with a guy in his congregation who is wanting to start using his gift. That email was a dream come true for me because it is exactly the vision God gave me, or at least a big part of it. I got an email from a minister in Africa trying to do the same thing I am which in a way confirmed the scope of the movement God is making. All this feedback was great, but then there was another email that showed some of the struggles that I will be up against.
First the person took me to task for the name of my podcast and I guess I better set the record straight on that one. The person thought that Running A.M.O.K. was anything but glorifying to God and edifying to the church. I guess maybe I could see that, after all God is a God of order not disorder, however A.M.O.K. is an acronym which stands for Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom. The title Running A.M.O.K. is sort of a play on that but my prayer is that it is more. You see I believe that the power of God is so immensely huge that it is pointless to try to control it. The Spirit of God goes where He wants and does what He wants. My prayer is that as artists submit their wills to the Lord, seek Him for ways their talents can be used to His glory and obediently carry out God’s will in their lives that God will use their lives and work in ways that are beyond their wildest dreams and that the Spirit will in a sense run A.M.O.K. tearing down strongholds in communities and drawing people to Jesus bringing revival. That the Spirit of God would explode out of the man made boxes we try to shove Him into and that His fire would spread like a wild fire all over this world. So when I say running A.M.O.K. I don’t mean I want to see artists running around like crazy people doing weird things to draw attention to themselves. No, I want to see artists submit themselves to obediently serving the Lord in word and deed to the glory of the Father and the Spirit running wild through this world taking back what the enemy has stolen. That’s the mission of this ministry, I hope that clears it up.
The person continued by saying things about how will the artists earn money and on and on and on. This is where it will get dicey. Let me first say that I know everyone has to earn a living and everyone has to eat and most have responsibilities like paying bills and supporting families and all that. I get that, I really do because I live in that world too, I’ve spent my whole ministry as a bivocational minister, in other words I have a church ministry and a job which should be another form of ministry which I will get to in a moment. But this ministry I am undertaking is not about earning and it’s not about selling art. It’s about using our God-given gifts and obediently serving and trusting the Lord. Some of you will be blessed by God to earn a great living using your artistic gifts, others will have to have another form of employment, but understand this, God will provide for us all one way or another, and God expects each of us to use what we’ve been given to His glory. If God has given you an artistic gift, he expects you to use it in some way to bring Him praise.
I’m not in this to try and help you to get rich in the fun-filled field of arts ministry, I’m here to help you to seek the Lord and be found faithful with the way you are using your gift. God gets to choose how He will use you and how He will bless you. Too often we artists get so caught up in our plan that we miss God’s plan and His is better. I know whereof I speak. There was a time in my art career where I was so sold out to my plan, living out my view of success, that my art was an idol and it was pushing God my family and everything else out. With me it got so bad that I had to lay art down on the altar and say that I would never pick it up again until I did it to His glory. For six months, I did no art and in that time God called me to the ministry and eventually He gave me my work back as a tool to be used to His glory. That’s why you’re hearing me today. The path is different for every person, but there is one thing that I believe is a constant. If you belong to God then your work belongs to God. Your job is to do what He gives you faithfully and to His glory and trust Him to define your success, trust Him to provide for your needs and trust Him with the results of your work. Being a Christian artist is not necessarily painting pictures of Jesus, writing songs about Jesus, it’s about your whole life being submitted to Jesus so that your whole live is worship and your whole life is ministry.
In the Bible we read about John the Baptist. John’s whole purpose in life was to prepare the way for Jesus and point people to Him when He came. In the process, John had amassed a large group of followers. Then Jesus came and the people started leaving John’s ministry and started to follow Jesus. (You can read the whole story for yourself in John 3) Well some of John’s followers saw the people leaving John for Jesus and started to get pretty upset. But John wasn’t, John was seeing the purpose of his life’s work fulfilled. John said it this way "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.
My fellow artists the point of John’s life is also the point of all who call themselves followers of Christ. We are in this world to point people to Jesus and prepare them for His return. Remember He is coming back. Since this is the point of our lives, it’s not about us and it’s not about our art, it’s about submitting our wills to the Father and pointing to Jesus. And so each day, He must become greater and we must become less until when people look at us they see Him.
I did a video this week which you can see at the amok youtune channel www.youtube.com/amokarts that illustrates this point. In it, I don’t say a word. I simply paint a picture of Jesus. Usually in my videos you rarely see my face just my arm and my brush. This video is different. I am doing a kind of painting called reverse glass painting instead of a canvas I am using an old window. In the beginning all you see is me, but as the image of Jesus becomes more and more complete I become less and less visible until I can’t be seen at all. That’s how our lives as Christ following artists should be, that if we love Jesus, every aspect of our lives should show His image to the world. Our lives should be worship to the Lord and ministry to the world. I’m not all the way there yet either, but that’s what I want to grow into. If you’re a Christ follower, you follow Jesus and that was Jesus’ life. In your relationship with Jesus, who is really greater? Do you need to become less? Give it all to Jesus, serve Him faithfully and trust Him. He is faithful, he wants to use you in this world and He has an awesome plan for your life. He loves you
That’s if for now. Remember the Bible says each one should use whatever gifts He has received to serve others... That verse is the foundation of A.M.O.K. which stands for Arts Ministry outreach for the Kingdom. I want to highlight the Running A.M.O.K. blog which contains all the links and things mentioned in this podcast as well as a transcript of the podcast that you can use in publications, newsletters and such free. You can see the video that relates to this podcast at our youtube video channel at www.youtube.com/amokarts while you’re there, check out the other arts ministry videos we’ve created for you. Share them with your friends and help to spread the word about Jesus and His love. Remember, there are all kinds of arts ministry ideas, tips and tricks for you to use on the A.M.O.K. website at www.radicallyreal.com/amok and lastly I want to hear from you. Contact me at amokarts@aol.com
May God bless you as seek to serve Him with the gifts He has given you. This is Dave Weiss reminding you to use your gifts to Run A.M.O.K. for Jesus.
The running A.M.O.K. Podcast is a ministry of New Creation Fellowship in Reading Pennsylvania and A.M.O.K. Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom. Donations to support this ministry can be made to New Creation Fellowship, 3646 Pottsville Pike, Reading, PA 19605
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Welcome to the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast for the week of September 28, 2008
Motivations...More or Less?
Well it started already. I had just sent out my first notice to the elists I belong to sharing my vision to minister to artists, helping them to find their way into using their gifts to serve the Lord. Serving as something of a pastor and a liaison between artists and churches. I went into pretty great detail abut what the Lord was showing me. How I saw this not as a substitute for artists being active in a local church, but rather a catalyst to help artists in the local church to be used to 100% of their God-given potential. I got some great feedback, some wonderful encouragement and even emails from a few folks who want to work with me. I had an awesome note from a pastor who wants me to talk with a guy in his congregation who is wanting to start using his gift. That email was a dream come true for me because it is exactly the vision God gave me, or at least a big part of it. I got an email from a minister in Africa trying to do the same thing I am which in a way confirmed the scope of the movement God is making. All this feedback was great, but then there was another email that showed some of the struggles that I will be up against.
First the person took me to task for the name of my podcast and I guess I better set the record straight on that one. The person thought that Running A.M.O.K. was anything but glorifying to God and edifying to the church. I guess maybe I could see that, after all God is a God of order not disorder, however A.M.O.K. is an acronym which stands for Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom. The title Running A.M.O.K. is sort of a play on that but my prayer is that it is more. You see I believe that the power of God is so immensely huge that it is pointless to try to control it. The Spirit of God goes where He wants and does what He wants. My prayer is that as artists submit their wills to the Lord, seek Him for ways their talents can be used to His glory and obediently carry out God’s will in their lives that God will use their lives and work in ways that are beyond their wildest dreams and that the Spirit will in a sense run A.M.O.K. tearing down strongholds in communities and drawing people to Jesus bringing revival. That the Spirit of God would explode out of the man made boxes we try to shove Him into and that His fire would spread like a wild fire all over this world. So when I say running A.M.O.K. I don’t mean I want to see artists running around like crazy people doing weird things to draw attention to themselves. No, I want to see artists submit themselves to obediently serving the Lord in word and deed to the glory of the Father and the Spirit running wild through this world taking back what the enemy has stolen. That’s the mission of this ministry, I hope that clears it up.
The person continued by saying things about how will the artists earn money and on and on and on. This is where it will get dicey. Let me first say that I know everyone has to earn a living and everyone has to eat and most have responsibilities like paying bills and supporting families and all that. I get that, I really do because I live in that world too, I’ve spent my whole ministry as a bivocational minister, in other words I have a church ministry and a job which should be another form of ministry which I will get to in a moment. But this ministry I am undertaking is not about earning and it’s not about selling art. It’s about using our God-given gifts and obediently serving and trusting the Lord. Some of you will be blessed by God to earn a great living using your artistic gifts, others will have to have another form of employment, but understand this, God will provide for us all one way or another, and God expects each of us to use what we’ve been given to His glory. If God has given you an artistic gift, he expects you to use it in some way to bring Him praise.
I’m not in this to try and help you to get rich in the fun-filled field of arts ministry, I’m here to help you to seek the Lord and be found faithful with the way you are using your gift. God gets to choose how He will use you and how He will bless you. Too often we artists get so caught up in our plan that we miss God’s plan and His is better. I know whereof I speak. There was a time in my art career where I was so sold out to my plan, living out my view of success, that my art was an idol and it was pushing God my family and everything else out. With me it got so bad that I had to lay art down on the altar and say that I would never pick it up again until I did it to His glory. For six months, I did no art and in that time God called me to the ministry and eventually He gave me my work back as a tool to be used to His glory. That’s why you’re hearing me today. The path is different for every person, but there is one thing that I believe is a constant. If you belong to God then your work belongs to God. Your job is to do what He gives you faithfully and to His glory and trust Him to define your success, trust Him to provide for your needs and trust Him with the results of your work. Being a Christian artist is not necessarily painting pictures of Jesus, writing songs about Jesus, it’s about your whole life being submitted to Jesus so that your whole live is worship and your whole life is ministry.
In the Bible we read about John the Baptist. John’s whole purpose in life was to prepare the way for Jesus and point people to Him when He came. In the process, John had amassed a large group of followers. Then Jesus came and the people started leaving John’s ministry and started to follow Jesus. (You can read the whole story for yourself in John 3) Well some of John’s followers saw the people leaving John for Jesus and started to get pretty upset. But John wasn’t, John was seeing the purpose of his life’s work fulfilled. John said it this way "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.
My fellow artists the point of John’s life is also the point of all who call themselves followers of Christ. We are in this world to point people to Jesus and prepare them for His return. Remember He is coming back. Since this is the point of our lives, it’s not about us and it’s not about our art, it’s about submitting our wills to the Father and pointing to Jesus. And so each day, He must become greater and we must become less until when people look at us they see Him.
I did a video this week which you can see at the amok youtune channel www.youtube.com/amokarts that illustrates this point. In it, I don’t say a word. I simply paint a picture of Jesus. Usually in my videos you rarely see my face just my arm and my brush. This video is different. I am doing a kind of painting called reverse glass painting instead of a canvas I am using an old window. In the beginning all you see is me, but as the image of Jesus becomes more and more complete I become less and less visible until I can’t be seen at all. That’s how our lives as Christ following artists should be, that if we love Jesus, every aspect of our lives should show His image to the world. Our lives should be worship to the Lord and ministry to the world. I’m not all the way there yet either, but that’s what I want to grow into. If you’re a Christ follower, you follow Jesus and that was Jesus’ life. In your relationship with Jesus, who is really greater? Do you need to become less? Give it all to Jesus, serve Him faithfully and trust Him. He is faithful, he wants to use you in this world and He has an awesome plan for your life. He loves you
That’s if for now. Remember the Bible says each one should use whatever gifts He has received to serve others... That verse is the foundation of A.M.O.K. which stands for Arts Ministry outreach for the Kingdom. I want to highlight the Running A.M.O.K. blog which contains all the links and things mentioned in this podcast as well as a transcript of the podcast that you can use in publications, newsletters and such free. You can see the video that relates to this podcast at our youtube video channel at www.youtube.com/amokarts while you’re there, check out the other arts ministry videos we’ve created for you. Share them with your friends and help to spread the word about Jesus and His love. Remember, there are all kinds of arts ministry ideas, tips and tricks for you to use on the A.M.O.K. website at www.radicallyreal.com/amok and lastly I want to hear from you. Contact me at amokarts@aol.com
May God bless you as seek to serve Him with the gifts He has given you. This is Dave Weiss reminding you to use your gifts to Run A.M.O.K. for Jesus.
The running A.M.O.K. Podcast is a ministry of New Creation Fellowship in Reading Pennsylvania and A.M.O.K. Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom. Donations to support this ministry can be made to New Creation Fellowship, 3646 Pottsville Pike, Reading, PA 19605
