Starving Artists?

I’ve heard it, so have you, the phrase starving artist. Most people feel it’s a necessity some wear it as a badge of honor. I remember being 17 years old looking at my parents, telling them I wanted to go to art school, and hearing “No son of mine is going to starve in an attic.” For the record, I did become an artist (without the benefit of art school) and I just signed up for a weight loss program. Starving and artist do not necessarily belong together and I’m not the only one who thinks so.

My family and I sponsor three Compassion children. One of them, Estephania Bertrand, lives in Haiti and attends the Anse-a-Galet Church of God Child Development Center. Every year, I receive a letter from her pastor, Joseph Louis Roosevelt, that tells how things are going there. Here’s a portion of his letter:

“Children and parents are learning many things in the project (what they call the Child Development Center). We make some non-formal classes for them such as: sewing, cooking, floral art, painting, music, computing, embroidery and more. I have to tell you that all the artwork on the walls of the church and school are made by our registered children. These courses help them to make money to respond to their needs…”

It seems Pastor Joseph and his staff see creativity as a path to a better life for the children and their parents, which is kind of the opposite of “starving artists.” Reading this letter really touched my heart. They are in the process of raising funds to make the church larger as the project is outgrowing the size of their current facility. It makes me wonder if there is a way we can help them???

In the mean time there are things I know you can do to help a child somewhere.
1. Pray
2. Sponsor a child through Compassion or the ministry of your choice. $38 a month can really change a life.

You don’t have to be a starving artist and there should be no such thing as a starving child. You can make a difference today.

Just Cause I Love This…

I know I have shared this before, but it bears repeating.

How would you introduce Jesus?
‘Cause that is a big part of what we’re called to do, thanks Steve Harvey!

FTC Challenge… Are You In?

My friend, Artist’s Suitcase Founder, Kent Sanders posted what I consider to be a very worthwhile challenge: The FTC (Fit to Create) Challenge. It’s not a diet plan or anything like that, it’s encouragement to meet your fitness goals which should give you more energy to create. As a person who has always struggled with weight and who has used the excuse that I am too busy working to exercise, this is something I really need, so I am signing up. My total goal is to lose 50 pounds. This is only a 40 day challenge so I know I won’t lose over a pound a day without doing something crazy or stupid, but for the term of the challenge I am setting the goal of losing 15 pounds. That might be aggressive but that’s what I’m working toward.

Are you in?
You can sign up at http://www.artistssuitcase.com/are-you-ready-for-the-ftc-challenge/

By the way, you should really check out Kent’s site. He is doing some great stuff and his podcast is really well done. http://www.artistssuitcase.com/

Turning Liabilities Into Assets

Some of you have seen Phil Hansen’s story on this blog before but since he is one of my favorite artists and he recently appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly, I thought I’d tell you again. Phil always dreamed of being an artist but doing massive amounts of pointillism caused him to have permanent nerve damage in his drawing hand, which caused his hand to shake. It could have been the end of his art career but instead he decided to “embrace the shake.” In the process, he became (in my opinion) one of the most inventive artists of our time.

What in your life feels like a liability? How can you turn it into an asset?
For more on Phil Hansen go to Philinthecircle.com
To be a part of his latest project, click here.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I wanted to take the time to wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day, especially my mom Beatrice Weiss, my Mother-in-law Ruth Good and my lovely wife Dawn. This song is one of my favorite songs about moms. Grab a tissue and have a listen.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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.

Hearing from God?

There have been times in my life where I’ve heard the phrase “hearing from God” and I’ve gotten a little bit skeptical. There have been a few times in my life and ministry where people have told me that God says I should do something and they have been right, while other times there is absolutely nothing in my Spirit that confirms it. In times like that I remember how Paul commended the Bereans for checking everything against the Word that and prayers for discernment are key and crucial. That’s pretty much what I do.

Now don’t read this wrong. I do believe God speaks to and leads His people and I know there have been many times in my life when I felt the leading of the Spirit, and many times where I have heard from God through His Word, prayer and others. I’ve also often heard people ask how to hear from God or why they don’t hear from God. I drew this cartoon some time back to give you something to check…

Do you get quiet long enough to hear from God?

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!

Forgive Me As I Rant…

Hi, my name is Dave and I am a work in progress. I usually try to keep this in the realm of the arts and ministry but occasionally I feel the need to jump in on a topic and today I have two.

First is the rescue of Amanda Berry and the two other young women that had been kidnapped (along with Berry’s daughter). First did anyone else find it really eerie that this event happened on the date that Hawaii 5-0 aired an episode about a young girl abducted and held captive for ten years. I thought that was a little freaky, but I digress. I try to live my life peacefully, never desiring to do harm to anyone. Folks in my denomination would love me to be against capital punishment, and for the most part that is where I stand, but every time I almost get there, someone does something like this and really makes me question my convictions. This is hideous and horrible. Amanda Berry’s mother died not knowing whether or not her child was alive or dead. I just have to keep reminding myself that God is bigger and knows what He is doing.

Then there was the man that aided her escape. This man is a hero as far as I am concerned and I am really disturbed with the way people are making fun of him. Is he incredibly well spoken and eloquent? No, but did he bravely step up to help and rescue another human being? Absolutely and bravery should be praised, not ridiculed.

And then there is Abercrombie and Fitch. Their founder, who I am sorry is not on the attractive A-list, recently had this to say about why his stores do not stock women’s clothing above a size 10.

“He doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,” Lewis said. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.’”

I’m sorry but as if their soft core porn ads and signage weren’t enough, this is reprehensible. I am the furthest thing from an activist that there is, but I am calling for a complete boycott of this company. In a day and age where so many young people, especially young women, are dealing with eating disorders trying to attain an unattainable physical standard, this is the ultimate in irresponsibility. The hatred this man is spewing (the rest of the interview is worse) would not be tolerated were it directed toward any other group. It shouldn’t be accepted here either.

If you care about people at all, do not buy Abercrombie and Fitch!

Now that I’ve vented we will return to what we’re supposed to be all about.
Thank you for your time.

A Nice Video on Start. by Jon Acuff

As you know I am reading Start. by Jon Acuff and I’m really enjoying it. I find it stretching and challenging and it’s making me really look at who I am and what I do, as well as how I can be and do better.

He posted this video review that was made about the book. (For more on this service, click here.) I thought it explained the concept of the video very well.

Check it out.