Ministering to artists ministering through the arts.
If you are anywhere near Indianapolis, IN this weekend, you need to get to this event. Check out this video from Jessie Nilo from VineArts Boise that shares more about the conference and incorporating art in the life of the church. If you can’t make it to this one, there will be another in Boise in July. I wish I could be there. Several of my friends are involved in this conference and they are awesome both as artists and followers of Jesus.
Check it out:
http://vimeo.com/43935681#
The first thing you need to know about creatives should be the most obvious. Creatives must create, it’s in their DNA. They have a knack for seeing a better way and a better world and are passionate about bringing it into existence. For this reason, they tend to struggle with the status quo and the phrase “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” is practically an obscenity to them. Part of ministering to them is to give them an outlet to bring their visions to reality, i.e. to create. While the vast majority of this volume deals with how to do that, it is important that we establish the rudimentary fact that creatives must create up front.
A big part of ministering to creatives is seeing them through the frustration of the distance between their vision and the current reality. It involves knowing when to champion their vision to the rest of the group and when to help them rein it in. You will need to understand the culture of the church and/or community enough to help them find the battles they can win versus the ones that will cause unnecessary hardships. Ministering to creatives involves helping them to feel loved, learn the boundaries (because boundaries are not evil), help them to serve faithfully and under authority, so they can build the trust they will ultimately need to bring their vision to reality. Most importantly you will need to help them discern the voice and the call of God from just a really cool idea and how to honor God with the creative gift He has entrusted to them. It will not be easy, the tension between vision and reality makes that so, but few things are more rewarding than helping a God-given vision become the new reality.
An excerpt from Ministering to the Creative Soul coming soon from AMOKArts
I went to Broadway this past Saturday with my wife, Dawn, my son, Chris and some of my friends from Alpha Omega Players our local community theater. We were in town to see the revival of Godspell in the intimate Circle in the Square Theater. What a fantastic production!
We got into town a few hours early and were on our own checking out some of the stores and walking to Central Park, when my friend Missie, texted me a photo of what appeared to be an italian street painter. I knew I had to go check it out, but when I got there I was amazed, not just by the amazing art, but by the medium. You see when I got close I realized it wasn’t the usual chalk art. Instead the artist was working with colored sand gently and carefully poured from his fist onto the concrete. The work was astounding.
It turns out it was the work of Joe Mangrum. His technique is reminiscent of the sand mandalas often attributed to Buddhist Monks, yet the style he used that day and subject matter was quite different.
Check out the video and let me know what you think.
