It’s Finally Here…

Last week I did the long version of this program as a series of revival/spiritual renewal services at the church where I came to Christ in 1986. This morning I will be doing the “A Night AMOK” version of my new presentation Story: Parables of Jesus at St. Thomas Independent Church of the Brethren in Mt. Pleasant Mills, PA. I’m excited to finally do this thing. Here’s the outline of the presentation.

This is the gifts and talents part of Story. There will also be another one that deals with our relationships with others and God that contains the prodigal son and The sheep and the goats/lost sheep.

Jesus gave these stories to help us “live a better story.”

I’d love to bring either presentation to your church. It comes in a variety of formats from a single message to a full presentation to a series perfect for a retreat/camp/revival/Spiritual renewal meeting format. The presentations contain live painting, story telling and the Word and sometimes even a little drama. I’ve built this one to fly so I can take it anywhere. If you’d like to bring me in, contact me and I’ll tell you how.

How to Get a Free Painting…

No it’s not a contest but it is very cool. I had such a good week this week. I preached my last revival/spiritual renewal service at Mohrsville Church of the Brethren last night. This was a great thing for me. You see it was at a revival meeting at Mohrsville Church of the Brethren in 1986 that I came to Christ. I also got my call to ministry there, preached my first sermon there and it was there that the first “seeds” of AMOKArts were planted. It was like coming full circle. It was really nice to connect with old friends and make new ones. I had a really great time.
What was even better was a little boy asked me to pray with him to receive Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, which is always awesome. Pray for him as He begins his journey.

IN each of these meetings, I did a live painting based on the parable I was preaching, but I also set up several paintings on smaller easels that I painted in advance. I used all these paintings to illustrate the message and it worked pretty well. Last night as I was greeting the people as they left One couple came up to me and told me about their son. Evidently he set up his easel in their kitchen after the meeting the night before. He also took several of their kitchen chairs and set them up around the easel, with other drawings he did clipped to them. (He didn’t notice that I put tarps on the floor, so it seems like mom had a pretty substantial cleanup but she was smiling, so I’m guessing it was okay). A young boy was trying to emulate what I do. Needless to say, that put a huge smile on my face. Who knows? Maybe he will be the next generation of art ministry. I can’t say for sure, only God knows his path, but I do know this,

I gave him last nights painting. What a blessing!

The Parable of the Talents or “Don’t Be Skippy!”

I know I have been a little lax in posting these last few days. I have a pretty good excuse, I’ve been running A.M.O.K. at my first home church. I’ve been preaching a series of messages based on the parables of Jesus called Story: Parables of Jesus. It’s been going really well and I’m also compiling them into a presentation by the same name. It’s been a lot of fun. Tonight’s message is based on what is probably my favorite of all the parables, the parable of the talents.

You know it, right (if not it’s found in Matthew 25:14-30) A master gives portions of money to his servants to invest while he goes off on journey. It says he gave these talents to them, “each according to his ability.” In other words he knows what they are capable of doing and gives them an amount he knows they can handle, kind of like God does with us and our talents. He doesn’t compare us with others, he knows what we’re capable of (how He made us) and entrusts accordingly.

The first two guys, take their sums and invest them, doubling the investment while the third (the one who received the least) buries his in the dirt. When the master returns he settles accounts he’s very pleased with the first two, tells them well done and essentially invites them to a party. He then turns to the servant who buried his talent (we’ll call him Skippy) and to me this is where it gets interesting. The first thing this servant does is blame the master for his own disobedience. He then goes on to impune the master’s character.

You know what I see in this third servant, Skippy? I see fear, essentially fear of failure. The other two guys go to work at once, investing the master’s money. They take a risk. There was the possibility they could have lost. Skippy decided not to take the risk but instead to play it safe, after all it wasn’t his money. What if he loses? What if the master gets angry? What if? What if? What if? Skippy gets so caught up in his fear that he makes the master a villain in his mind and buries his gift. Do you do that?

The difference between the first two servants and Skippy, I believe is trust. The first two guys trust that the master will be good if they fail and so they get to work at once. In the process they obey their master. Skippy’s fear turns into disobedience and wasted opportunities.

The point is this. Your talents represent God’s investment in you. He wants you to put them to work to build His Kingdom. If you do that, win or lose (in the eyes of the world) the Lord will be pleased. He’s only really displeased when we don’t place our trust in Him and bury our talents.

Don’t be Skippy!
To bring Story: Parables of Jesus to your church, contact Dave Weiss.

What I’ve been up to lately…

I’ve been hard at work generating the paintings for my new presentation Story: Parables of Jesus. These will be displayed in conjunction with the live paintings I do every night. I am excited to say I will be rolling out the extended presentation of Story as a revival/spiritual renewal series from tomorrow through Wednesday night at Mohrsville Church of the Brethren in Mohrsville, PA and the one hour version next Sunday at St. Thomas Independent Church of the Brethren in Mount Pleasant Mills, PA next Sunday. If you’re in PA. I’d love to see you there. Otherwise I’d love to bring it to you.

Standing on the Promises

Hi everyone,
There are times in this creative journey when it is easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to look at the distance between your life and your God-given vision and your life right now and think it’s really far and wonder if you’ll get there. Friends, that’s kind of where I’ve been lately. I see it and I am continuing to make steps toward my vision, but other factors in life have left me more than a little discouraged. Have no fear, I am not going to make this a “pity me, whine fest.” I post this because I figure I can’t be the only creative who sometimes feels this way and I’ve found hope where I should always go looking, God’s Word.

I was searching the Word for a message I am preaching tomorrow and I found a verse in Scripture that gave me a lot of hope. It also brought another similar verse to mind and the two verses together bring forth an incredible promise. The real NIV (before they went and messed with it) says in Psalm 37:4:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”

Add to that Proverbs 16:3:
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.”

Those two verses are powerful against discouragement. Our plans can, and I believe will, succeed if we are committed to and delight in the Lord, because if we are committed to and delighting in the Lord, our plans and our desires will line up with His will. I see these verses as promises and today I stand on them in the fight against discouragement.

So here is the plan that is on my heart:
1. To travel the nation and the world using my gifts to introduce people to Jesus and help people to find and use their gifts to serve the Lord in the church and the world through speaking and painting.
2. To help churches to help all their people but especially their creatives to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
3. To use this vehicle and others to build up the creatives in the body of Christ to use their talents to reach people with the Gospel all over the world.
4. To earn my full living through this ministry by the end of the year and to have my family income covered in two years. I intend to do this through a combination of creating resources and offerings/honorariums for speaking. I really debated about putting the last one on there but I’ve already been doing some of numbers 1-3, but I want to make this ministry my total focus and give it all my efforts. Being bivocational sometimes feels like serving two masters. I’d like to stop.

All this is in God’s hands, because more than I want any of these things, I want to please the one in whom I delight. The plan can change if God wants it to, because while I am committed to fulfilling the vision the Lord has laid on my heart, I am more committed to the One who put it in there as long as I keep those tow things straight, success will come. In the midst of some discouragement, I stand on these promises. What are you standing on?

If you’d like to help me and AMOKArts to live out this vision, here’s how:
1. I need people to commit to being on my prayer team. If you will do that, please contact me at amokarts@aol.com My plan is to generate and e-list and do regular updates. This ministry needs to continue to be anointed and bathed in prayer.
2. Spread the word about this blog/site especially with creatives who might benefit from what’s happening here. Repost it, retweet it, blog it, share it with people who might like to interview me, event promoters, church leaders, etc.
3. Bring me in to your churches/events to speak and connect me with people you know who might be able to get AMOKArts out to more people.
4. Stay/get active with this community through discussions and comments.
5. Use your gifts to serve the Lord in your church/community.

Another Creation Station Video

A lot of my creative time recently has been consumed in creating pieces of art for my Creation Station Vacation Bible School curriculum. Here’s how the program came about… Some church leader friends I know have decided to give their VBS teachers a little break this year, so they’re having me come in and do the opening, closing and tag team with the pastor to do the teaching station, the teachers will be working with the students and taking them from station to station. There will be a teaching station, a snack station, a craft station and a recreation station. I’m really excited about this project. The theme of the teaching for this evening is God made you special. Each session uses a different animal (one of God’s creations) to make the point and this one uses the Zebra. The video will show you why. The opening each night will include a live painting of that animal.

How would you teach a child about his or her own “specialness”? The memory verse for this night is Ephesians 2:10. That may be a good place to start.

I plan on doing this VBS as a presentation is churches on 2014. If you would like to bring me in to teach your VBS, contact me at amokarts@aol.com.

Looking Forward to a Fantastic Opportunity

Today Saturday March 16, Dawn and I will be at the Vision Conference in Lancaster, PA. We will have a vendor table and I will be doing two workshops called The Art of Story. My prayer is that I will be used to encourage many people to use their gifts and talents to serve the Lord. Secondarily, my prayer is that God would use this event to open more doors to get out to do this kind of ministry for more churches and ministries. I really just want to see our Lord glorified and I want to show people the beauty of the gifts our Lord has invested in them and the amazing life that can be found in putting those gifts to work for His purposes.

Please pray that God uses this time to do some amazing Kingdom building in the hearts and minds of all the young people who attend. Then ask yourself (or better yet, ask God) how the gifts God has invested in you might be used to His glory!

My new project…

This June, I will be  doing the Bible School for Conewago Church of the Brethren. It will be a station format VBS where the students will go from station to station to do the craft, recreation, snacks and of course teaching. I will be doing live art in the opening and the opening teaching, and the I will be helping with the teaching station each night. I am writing the curriculum now. If this goes well, I plan on taking this on the road in 2014. The evening themes are God made everything (Gen 1:1), God made me (Gen. 1:26), God made me special (Eph. 2:10), God made me to love me (John 3:16) and God created me to be a new creation (2 Cor. 5:27).

If you’re looking for something a little different for next year’s VBS, maybe I can bring the creation station to you!

 

My Test Drive…

Did not look like this…

Last night Dawn and I became the owners of a Dodge Grand Caravan. The faithful Trailblazer was getting up in years and we needed a little more room to run AMOK (or at least haul all the AMOKArts supplies from place to place). I really like it so far and my prayer is it will see a lot of work helping us to spread the Gospel and build up the Body of Christ. (If you can help in that mission, contact me at amokarts@aol.com)

When I test drove my van, I didn’t drive it like my favorite NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon did in the video (for which I am sure my salesman Jose is very grateful), but I’m still pretty happy with it.

I posted this video partly because it’s funny and partly because it gave me a thought. I don’t know if this was a real prank or if the salesman was in on the joke, but let’s say it was real. There are thousands, maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands of people who would pay good money to have Jeff Gordon drive them around like he does in this video. They would laugh and want him to go faster and crazier (frankly, I’m one of them, if I had the money.) Had this salesman known who was driving him, he would have been having the time of his life, instead he was terrified and I think that’s the point. How we experience the wild and crazy rides in our life depends on our confidence in the one behind the wheel.

Who’s behind your wheel? I know someone who can handle your life even better than Jeff handled that sweet Camaro. His name is Jesus. Put Him in control of your life and hold on.

Decisions, Decisions

We’re in one of those places at the Weiss house. A time of decision. My faithful Chevy Trailblazer is getting up there in mileage and I have a decision to make. Do I stick some money into it and keep it or take that money and put it toward a newer vehicle? A van would work better for getting my presentations from place to place. On the other hand, not having a payment has been kind of nice. With a thousand mile weekend coming up, I’m leaning toward something new. We’re praying and would appreciate your prayers for this decision.

In other news, I am busily working on my new presentation, Story: Parables of Jesus. It will be ready to go in May. I am really liking where this is headed. The basic concept is to use the stories of Jesus to teach people to live a better story. This presentation should be about an hour long but I am also working it out into a five message series, perfect for retreats, revival/spiritual renewal series.

I’m also working on the vacation Bible School presentation Dr. Dave’s Creation Station. Which is all about God and His creation, His relationship with us and finding the purpose for which we were created.

I would love the opportunity to bring my ministry to your church. Please contact me at amokarts@aol.com I basically ask for a free will offering and a night’s lodging. For churches requiring extensive travel, please consider teaming up with a few churches in your community and make it a weekend “tour.”