Creation Station: The Aye Aye and God’s Love

The latest video from my new VBS Curriculum Creation Station. This one is about God’s love. I’d love to bring Creation Station to your church in 2014. For more information contact me at AMOKArts@aol.com.

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!

Don’t Forget to Check Out BewareofArtists.org

I’d love for you to check out my other site BewareofArtists.org. It’s all about art and creativity. Make Something Monday, Technique Tuesday, Wild Card Wednesday, Thought of the Day Thursday, Philanthropic Friday and “One Liners” seven days a week. If you want to build your skills and creativity, this is the site for you. Watch the video and then go check it out.

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.

Two Sides of Deadlines

Deadlines can be both friend and foe.

On one hand a deadline forces you to finish a project and ship it. Without deadlines some of us would never finish anything. In this case a deadline is your friend.

Other times, and I can be really guilty of this, a deadline can cause stress, aggravation and fear. In my life, this type of deadline is almost always self-imposed. I set a goal for myself, often an unrealistic one, and then stress myself out trying to do the impossible. Actually maybe calling the deadline the foe here is misstated. If the deadline is self imposed and unrealistic, the foe is the one who set it, in other words, I’m my own worst enemy.

How we handle deadlines matters. Often a deadline will feel unrealistic because we have waited too long to begin or because we focus on the whole job that needs to be done, rather than working incrementally, chipping away at the job a little at a time. I hear people say that they work better under pressure all the time. I’m not convinced that’s true. You may feel that, but if I asked your family what you’re like under pressure, would they have the same response?

If you are in the place to set your own deadlines, I highly recommend it. Meeting goals is a wonderful thing and as artists, without a drop dead date, some of us will tweak forever, especially if you have tendencies toward perfectionism. Just make sure the deadline is realistic and attainable.

No one will want to be around you if it isn’t.

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?