One of my favorite secular songs

It’s Triumph from the 80s mainly because it holds a key principle to be a successful creative and repeats it over and over again. Hold on to your dreams.

Keep moving forward in your vision and don’t ever give up!

At the Intersection of Art, Ministry and Commerce

Have I mentioned lately, that I love what I do? I love creating art, I love telling stories, I love encouraging the body of Christ to “use whatever gifts they have received to serve others.” It’s my life’s work and even thinking about it just excites me. I am a blessed man.

Here’s the issue though. I want to do it all the time. I want it to be my livelihood. I want to be in the position where my expenses are covered, I can feed my family on what I earn from my ministry, so that I can devote my whole life to developing and creating and sharing this gift without having to worry about whether or not I can get a day off from my day job or running out of vacation days, not to mention having to stop in the middle of a creative burst to leave my studio and go to a “day job.”

Now please don’t understand, I am not complaining. God has been faithful to meet all my needs, always every time. More than anything I wrestle with balance. How do I balance my need to create, my calling to do this ministry with the realities of everyday life? Have you been in this place?

I have read a fair amount of books lately that talk about how the whole world of work has changed. About people creating their own opportunities, about the need for new, creative, business plans that address the needs of a new world. I see this need as I talk to churches about bringing me in to do my ministry. Budgets are not where they used to be, many don’t have much of a budget for special programs even if there would be a real spiritual benefit for the church.

At the moment this is the crossroad at which I stand and I’m not sure of the direction to take except to keep moving toward Jesus, which is wisdom for any of us. I want to get to as many places as possible, I want to serve and reach as many as possible and I continue to trust God to make that happen. I am looking for wisdom from the body at this point as well.

Any thoughts? Is there some sort of model that would make this ministry beneficial to the church that would take the financial issue off the table or even maybe make my ministry fiscally beneficial to both me and the host congregation?

Any thoughts are appreciated.