And we’re off…

What I call the AMOKArts “World Tour” is in the works. The speaking ministry has been a little slow in the early parts of this year, but I am making up for it now. It’s not really a world tour, but it is four states, and a lot of miles, Lord willing. I just finished a really fun and fulfilling week in central PA, painting for a family camp at Summit Grove Camp Meeting Sunday night and then leading a Vacation Bible School for my friends at St. Thomas Independent BIC Church in Mount Pleasant Mills, PA. Next up is Haven Camp, a camp for adults with Special needs at Delta Lake Bible Conference, then to Ohio for revivals, a day at retirement community, a music festival, then back to Delta Lake after church, and that’s not all.

I am really hesitant to post this. I am fully aware of James 4:13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

In light of this passage, Why am I posting? Because I am asking for prayer for three reasons. First, I have a van that has very high mileage. It’s not necessarily in the budget to replace it right now, so please keep me in prayer for traveling mercies. Secondly, I’m not as young as I used to be. There is still a good deal of work to be done for a few of these events, and in addition to all of this, I want to make sure I am also being a proper, faithful pastor to my congregation, not to mention husband, father and grandfather. Lastly and most importantly, please pray that the ministry would be effective and that many souls would be reached and touched during this time. I know none of this is possible without the power of God being upon it, and I need prayer.

Lastly, I’ve gotten to the point where I feel the need to start a prayer team. If you’d commit to praying for me on these adventures, please let me know.

I love what I do and am blessed to be called to this ministry and I thank you for your prayers.

Prayer Request

Hey everyone, I’m a booked pretty heavily this weekend and it looks like we could have some interesting weather. I have a class Saturday morning a presentation Saturday night and I start spiritual renewal services on Sunday. Lots of driving coming up and I really could use decent roads for it. Could you pray for safety and/or/both good weather for me? I would really appreciate it.

And of course if you ever need an artist speaker for your church, I can be contacted here.

Thanks for Praying

I wanted to let you know, I am now able to share what I was asking you to pray for. Today, my congregation voted to install me as their pastor. I am now the pastor of Springfield Church of the Brethren. It is a 3/4 time position which will allow me to continue my speaking ministry as well. The church affirmed their call as well as affirming the creative arts ministry. I am extremely blessed. I am looking forward to seeing where God will lead through all this.

I have a vision for where we are headed, but the details will be revealed as the people step into their gifting and callings, which is incredibly exciting. I guess the best way I can describe this time is to paraphrase something the late David Bowie said, “I don’t know what’s next (exactly), but I know it will be exciting.
Thanks for your prayers.

I Could Use Your Prayers

I have what some call an unspoken prayer request here. Saturday and Sunday could be a pretty transitional time for me in my ministry. I am just praying that God will do His perfect will. God is good. Please keep me in your prayers.

Also I would love your prayers and help to find a few places to minister between Pennsylvania and Orlando Florida on the dates of March 7 and 8, and 14-18. If you have any opportunities for me, you can reach me at AMOKArts@aol.com.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
God bless

Praying for Open Doors and Closed Ones

I find myself at a point of major transition. The way I have supported myself for over a decade is about to change dramatically. I’ll be the first one to admit, my faith is being tested and my calling, questioned. First, let me state that I have no doubt I am called to be a minister of the Gospel. I also have no question that I am called to help the Church of Jesus Christ to embrace creativity and empower the people to use their creative gifts to serve the Lord, both in the Church and in the marketplace. I do not waver on either of these things. The question is in how does that manifest?

Should I attempt to do this while pastoring a local church while continuing to minister in other churches as the schedule allows? Should I press harder into being an itinerant minister, doing AMOKArts full time? Is the answer somewhere in the middle, or something completely different? I don’t know and not knowing can be tough. What do you do when you find yourself knowing God can and living with the uncertainty of what He will do?

The thing I know is to trust. Even though I don’t know what He will do or the direction He will take, what I do know is He is good and He has me in His hand. Secondly, while I don’t know the whole journey, I can see enough to take the next step and try to be faithful with every opportunity.

The big struggle for me rests in what to do. I desperately want to stay in the center of God’s will and not make a reactive move that sets me back in the journey. I want to keep moving forward in faith. My prayer is that God will open the right doors and that I will walk through them in faith. I also pray He will close, lock and bar the wrong ones (because I can be bullheaded). In those moments when faith is weak, I want to press in and draw close to Him, not do what I instinctively tend to do, which is try to take control of the situation. I don’t want to be that double minded guy tossed back and forth by the waves, but my confession is that guy is closer than I’d like to admit sometimes.

I know I can’t be the only one who experiences life like this. I’d appreciate your prayers and know that you are in mine.

Trusting and Holding on to the Promises

There are times where the future is so bright you’ve got to wear shades… and then there are those other times when the path ahead is as clear as mud. There either seem to be no good options or a billion choices of which precisely none feel right. What do you do in times like that?

You make the one right choice. You choose to trust God and walk out your faith. You choose to do the next right thing and you pray. The Scripture says “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” If you look at it right something becomes clear. We are usually not going to see the big picture, but God will light the path enough to see the next step. After that, it’s all trust.

I can’t speak for you, but I am in this place right now and I could sure use your prayers. Last night, my wife and I went to a Chris Tomlin concert and before we went in, I asked God to speak to me, and I believe He did. I feel like what He spoke is something to keep to myself for now, but I will say this. I have no idea how He will so what He said He will do. There seems to be no earthly way, and I will confess, I wrestled with it a little, and yet, I choose to believe in the One who is far beyond the Earthly way. I cannot wait to see how He pulls this off and I look forward in great anticipation.

He is God. He is good.

Taking It On Faith…

I could use your help. I talk a lot about faith, about overcoming fear of failure and on and on. I mean every word of it but now it is being tested. In a few months, there will be a major shift in my life and ministry. I can’t really go into details yet, but my prayer is that I have my sign and the timing is right. The truth is I’m excited and scared at the same time. I’m all about practicing what you preach, and it’s my turn to look fear in the face and do it anyway. I determined to do what it takes, and follow God one step at a time. I don’t know most of what will happen, I just know the one who does. I’m taking it on faith…

But no man is an island as the saying goes. So I will confess it. I could use your help. What do I need? Largely three things.
1. Prayer. Please remember me in your prayers. My dream, my vision and my calling is to do three things. a. Use my gifts to introduce people to Jesus. b. Help the Church of Jesus Christ to become more creative. and c. Help people in the church to find and use their gifts to the glory of God.
2. People to be on my prayer team. I want to assemble a formal team who will receive a regular email newsletter, keep me in their prayers and help me with accountability.
3. Bookings. For this to work. I need to create more presentations and get them out there to a wider audience. This is more than just financial though finances are important at this stage of the game. Beyond that, my prayer is that in every church there is at least one person who needs to hear the message who will take it to heart and roll forward in their gifting. That’s important to me because it’s what happened to me. someone showed me I could use my gift to serve the Lord.

It’s what happened to me. Contact me if you want to help in anyway.

An Artist’s Prayer

Thank you Lord for this insanely beautiful, incomprehensibly awesome world. What is almost frightening is we know this is only a shadow of what it was supposed to be, and just a taste of what is to come. Lord help me to never be too busy to take it in or too frightened to try to express it. Lord use me and the abilities, ideas and work that you give me to draw people into that beauty until it every eye looks to you. Then help me to disappear so all they see is you.

To you be the glory. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

What is your prayer as an artist?

Quick Update

I am back from my procedure. Things went very well. I got a clean bill of health from my  Dr.

No tumors, or other problems. God is good! Don’t get me wrong, He’d be no less good if there was a problem, but I am really happy that there isn’t

Thank you for your prayers,
Gonna rest for the day today and then back to making art!

God bless,

Dave

 

Prayer Request

Hi everyone,

I haven’t said a lot about this, but I am struggling with a health issue. I don’t believe it to be life threatening and all of the tests I have had so far have had very favorable results. Tomorrow (10/27/14), I will be having a minor surgical procedure to eliminate the last possibility. It should be really minor, but I will be under anasthesia, which has only happened twice in my life. I’m not scared, and I’m okay but I would appreciate your prayers.

God bless,

Dave