Bullied By the Bible

If you think this is going to be a piece against Scripture in any way, you’re going to be disappointed. I love the Scriptures and believe beyond being the Word of God (which is primary) they are a force for good in our world. I have often lamented society’s and at times even the church’s desire to bend the Word to the will of the people, political correctness (is that an oxymoron?) etc. We are not supposed to change the Scripture, the Scripture is supposed to change us. I love the Bible.

So what is my complaint? Well when I was searching, I decided to try to read the Bible. The one we had in our house was the King James and, at that point in my life, I found it almost incomprehensible. Eventually I came to Christ in 1986 and when I did the church gave me a Bible—The New International Version which came out in 1984. I loved it, finally a Bible I could understand. I devoured it and I memorized a lot of verses. I’ve used the 1984 version of the NIV ever since all the way through my ministry to this very moment.

Over the years the folks who put the NIV out have dabbled with rewording it and updating it. The TNIV that they tried to make gender neutral comes to mind. Some people were up in arms about it and frankly I didn’t care. TNIV was an additional translation I could ignore. I kept right on rolling with the 1984 NIV. Recently, they changed it again, I didn’t like it either. They changed the wording on some of the verses I’ve memorized and to my mind the meaning has changed.

Case in point, one of my life verses and the naming verse of the church I planted 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone and then new has come.” now says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Somehow it looks different to me. What is this new creation that has come? In my version, I am the new creation and to me that’s far better.

That’s just one of many. Again I didn’t like it, but that was okay. I could still use the 1984 version on Biblegateway to download the scriptures for writing sermons, etc. and I was happy. Then a few months back I noticed it no longer appeared. When I checked into it, it appears they feel that this translation is the latest and the greatest, most accurate translation of the text. It appears they have taken this approach with most if not all of the Bible software companies. I’m frustrated and aggravated by this and frankly feel a little bullied. It feels a little like, “you will use the newest version and like it, resistance is futile.” Let’s put it this way. I will use my 1984 version until it wears out, and then I will search out a new translation.

But it won’t be the NIV.

Please forgive the rant we’ll be back to arts ministry tomorrow.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge II: Children

The other thing I thought of when I saw that the challenge of the week at illustrationfriday.com was children was how coincidental, because I am going to be teaching children all week this week. I am finally getting the opportunity to present something I have been working on for the better part of a year. My Creation Station Vacation Bible School curriculum.

The themes for each night are:
1. God Made Everything

2. God Made You

3. God Made You Special

4. God Made You to Love You

5. God Made you to Be a New Creation

This presentation will be available for booking in Summer 2014. I’m also considering publishing it as a curriculum available for sale. This station based VBS presentation combines a high speed painting of the “animal of the night”, a story about the animal and how it relates to the theme, the above videos, an interactive art project for the students, a Bible story, craft ideas and more.

I know I have mentioned this several times before, but I am really excited about doing this and also desiring your prayers. It’s always a challenge to present something for the first time and this has a lot of components but I am so excited about it.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge I: Children

When I saw the IllustrationFriday.com Challenge of the week was the word Children, this was the first thing that popped into my mind. This one is for my friend Mary. I spoke at a youth event for her once and I kept calling the youth “kids.” It’s a habit of mine and of many others. Eventually Mary lovingly challenged me on it. This may seem like a small thing, or like Mary was just being picky, but it’s a lot more than that. We aren’t goats, we are the children of God. In a sense, Mary was trying to remind me not to pull down that which God has elevated. Whether or not you use the word “kids” don’t forget who you are…

You are a child of God.

Top of the Totem

The other day one of my young friends of Facebook stated she felt like the bottom of the totem pole. She’s a wonderful and kind young person and I really don’t like to see her feeling that way, but who of us hasn’t? There are many things that can make us feel low, relationship struggles, being overlooked and sometimes just feeling lousy. For creatives (at least for me) it happens when the distance between the future dream or vision and the present reality seems huge. Yes, sometimes it’s easy to feel like the bottom of the totem pole. The problem is, it’s just not true and that inspired this piece of art.

The truth is, the Bible tells us we are the head and not the tail. It tells us we are loved. It tells us that God gave is perfect Son as a ransom for us. You’re not the bottom of the totem pole, you’re the apple of God’s eye. In those times when we feel low, we have to remember that God is still alive, still at work for us and in us. Sometimes we just have to wait to see him come through.

What is at the bottom of the totem pole varies, but the most common animal at the top is the eagle. So remember next time you feel like the bottom of the pole, look up and remember Isaiah 40:30: “those who hope in (or wait on) the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Sometimes we have to wait, but God comes through so keep being faithful and keep moving forward while you wait.

Amazing Photorealism

Believe it or not, this is a pencil drawing not a photograph.

Buzz Feed ran this article, complete with examples, and video tutorials. Check it out!

Really Cool Arts Community

I was totally unaware of this arts community though it is not far from my home in York, PA. Special thanks to DeAnn Roe of Infused Arts for bringing it to my attention. It’s what happens when artists go beyond just making art and become arts ambassadors to their communities.

How could you band together with other artists to do something great in your community. Yes my thoughts mind is going a million miles an hour right now. The video is really inspirational. Take a few minutes and watch it then do something.

I loved the motto at the end of the video. “Here in York, we are ALL makers. These are your streets. Build something.
For more information, go to downtownyorkpa.com

Thinking About Entering the World of Podcasting: The 60 Second Creative

I’m experimenting with the idea of creating a podcast. I wanted to come up with something I would always have the time to generate. I decided on a short format one minute creative prompt. I’m curious what you think of it.

If I can come up with enough content, it will go live in September on our sister site BewareofArtists.org.

The future belongs to those who create it. Creativity is what it takes to create a better future and a better world. Do you need a creative kickstart? Welcome to the 60 second creative.

Check out this sample episode:
Episode 1: Create a Reminder

The Value of Creative Community

I was posting a new piece to my gallery on DeviantArt.com when I noticed an ad for a project called Otto and Victoria by artist Brian Kesinger. I was really impressed by the quality and style of the art, but at the very bottom of the page was a video where Kesinger talks about the value of “community” to an artist.

I thought it was a really valuable video for my readers so I thought I would share it here.

WHo is in your creative community?

Great Stuff from Thom Rainer on How We Help Visitors at Church

Thom Rainer is a church growth expert, and the CEO Lifeway so as you can imagine, he speaks at a lot of churches. I’ve been a guest speaker too and I can attest to the truth of the post he recently posted on his blog. You see even though we are there to teach and preach, we are, for all intents and purposes, visitors. And so we see things at your church from a visitor’s perspective.

Let me be clear. I love the churches that I speak to and I hope to add a lot more in the months to come but there are things that are I notice that churches could do that would make it a lot easier to gain visitors, make them feel welcome, help them to fit in and join in the mission of the church. Rainer gives seven crucial things in this article.

So why do I post this on a blog for creatives in the church? It’s this simple, I am hoping you read it, look at your church through a visitor’s eyes and go to your church leadership with creative ideas to solve them. This could be a really important ministry for creatives in the church, maybe for you.

Thanks to Thom Rainer for an outstanding ministry. You should really have a look at his blog. It holds some really great stuff for the Church.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Sweet

It’s kind of funny how the word sweet has taken on a different meaning lately. I’ve also found that some of the things that people call sweet are anything but. So when I saw that the IllustrationFriday.com Challenge for this week was Sweet I decided to create a decidedly “unsweet” character just saying “SWEET!”

What’d'ya think?