Welcome to AMOKArts.com: The Web Home of Dave Weiss’ Ministries

The church needs creativity now more than ever.

Each day people are bombarded by hundreds of messages…
but one is most important. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We in the church have been entrusted with taking that message to the ends of the earth. How do we stand out among the noise and get their attention? The good news is God has gifted people with gifts and talents designed to do just that. Some of them are in our churches and some are beyond our walls.

My name is Dave Weiss. I’m an artist, a pastor and a speaker, but it wasn’t always that way. Oh I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember, but I’m in the ministry today because of two things. Someone cared enough to introduce me to Jesus Christ, and a pastor found my gift of art as showed me how I could use my gift to serve the Lord. That was transformational.

My passion is to help people find and use their gifts to serve the Lord both in the church and in the market place and to help the church to embrace Creativity. I do workshops, Gospel presentations and more to creatively encourage and build up the Body of Christ. I’d love to work with you and your church. Contact me today!

The Blog starts below!

Bood Review: I Surrender All (Sort Of) by Michelle S. Lazurek

This book could help so many people. The book’s subtitle gives the reader the gist of it. Laying Down Our Agendas So God Can Do the Impossible. How many times have we as Christians sang the song, “I Surrender All?” My guess would be for most of us, many. The question is, is that really what we mean? Michelle S. Lazurek captures what it really means to truly surrender to God in virtually every area of our lives in this short, but oh so meaningful book. Using true life stories from her own life and the lives of others, combined with many examples from God’s Word, she explores areas of surrender from expectations, to elements of our spiritual lives, family lives and many more. I found this book compelling and convicting, all the while being extremely helpful. The author’s vulnerability and honesty in sharing her own struggles in some of these areas gives her immense credibility. This is a book from someone who has been there and wants to help. I sense this is a book I will refer to often both in my personal life and my ministry and I am very grateful to her for writing it. I highly recommend this book! 

The Road Less Traveled?

Poet Robert Frost once wrote:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

It’s a romantic notion, and many times it’s absolutely true. After all, Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Let’s face it. Following the crowd is very rarely a virtue, and very often it leads to destruction, especially in this day and age, but we have to be careful.  Just because not everyone is doing a thing, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily virtuous. 

In my late teens/early twenties, (I don’t exactly remember which) for about 15 seconds, I was in a band. It wasn’t really my kind of music, and I was not very good, hence the 15 seconds, but I wanted to be in a band, so I got out my electric bass and joined up. We were playing new wave/punk music, and while the music was alright, I quickly grew tired of the culture. My thoughts can be best described in a line I wrote for a song on which I was working. It said:

“Be a nonconformist, just like everybody else.”

The point is this. Sometimes there is a reason the road is less traveled, and sometimes what appears to be the road less traveled is really the one “everyone” is taking. Sometimes accepted cultural norms are anything but normal and should not be accepted. We want to feel like things are counter cultural, and so we (especially when that “we” are artistic, creative types) want to jump on board and that is not always the right move. After all the Bible also says, “There’s a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.” Maybe it’s time we realized our mother’s were right when they asked the question, “If everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you jump too?” Maybe instead of automatically taking the road less travelled, we should take the time to discern where the road leads, and seek one that has a bridge that we can cross rather than jump from. After all, most of the time jumping off a bridge is not a good plan. 

Better than automatically looking for the road less traveled, we should ask ourselves which road is Jesus on? The path Jesus takes is very rarely the path of least resistance, but the road He is on is the right path, and the only one that leads home. So how can we objectively know which road He would have us take? It’s not just looking for the road less traveled. It’s checking the path we are considering against the Word of God, and if the path we are considering is against the Word of God, it’s not the right road. It’s less about asking “What would Jesus do?” because in our pride, that usually ends up being whatever road we want to take. Instead, it’s more about looking at the Word, and asking “What did Jesus do?”  One quick rule of thumb: If your path involves sin, as defined by the Word of God, Jesus didn’t do it, so you know that’s the wrong road, no matter how many people are on it. 

The thing is the straight and narrow road idea is a metaphor. It gives us a general idea. Many times the road of following Jesus, AKA the right road, appears hard and bumpy, and often has many twists and turns. Some of those twists and turns are by design, but many of those twists and turns happen because we veered from the right path and made the road harder than it had to be. The good news is, when that is the case, God allows U-turns, and Jesus is always there ready to welcome us back. The right road is the one Jesus actually took. Follow that road, no matter what the prevailing culture tells you to do, because the road Jesus took, is the only one that leads where you really want to go. 

Someone came up with the cheeky idea that if there’s a Stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell, it shows anticipated traffic volumes, and there is some truth to that, but if we’re on the road of following Jesus, we who have been given creative gifts are supposed to be using our gifts, our talents and our time to mark the path as we walk it and show the way, working with our Lord to make His way (AKA the ONLY right way) the road MORE traveled. 

Gifted!

I was about ten years old, maybe 11, fifth grade and I was a human target. Bullied and worse than that believing what the bullies were saying. Useless, loser, and a bunch of other things my prepubescent peers were hurling at me, some of which I wonder to this day if they even knew what their cruel taunts even meant. But then one day, the school administration threw another title at me—gifted. It seemed like such an honor, but as much as it was easy to believe all the negatives, it was this positive one that I had the hardest time believing. Why is that?

Why can it be so easy to believe the negatives and so hard to believe the positives? Why can we miss a thousand accolades but hear and focus on one disparaging remark? In my life as a man of faith, I think I know. It’s because we have a powerful enemy who wants to keep us from walking in the glory of God and living out our God given mission. 

As the Lord called me to ministry, I believe He put something on my heart. Tell people they are gifted, and help them to believe it. And so today, that is what I am going to try to do. So let’s start there. You are gifted! Believe it! 

As I think back to those days, about the time my age was just approaching double digits. I remember what I really wanted to do with my life. Basically I wanted to make art and tell stories, I didn’t know if that meant being an actor? an artist? and entertainer? a musician? The thing is, all those require some mixture of bravado and vulnerability and frankly the bullying more or less beat that out of me. The last thing I wanted to do was stand out. The safest thing seemed to be to hide and I did for a long time. I never stopped making art, but even in that I held back. 

Then something amazing happened. I met Jesus. I started going to church. A pastor found a use for my gift of art. It turns out I really was gifted after all. A few small projects opened the doors for me to try new and different things and slowly I began to see what I was created to do. Today my gift has taken me all over the country, doing what I do in front of large and small crowds. It’s put me in a place where I get to sow into a wonderful group of people day in and day out. 

Today, my main job title is pastor, but I also answer to speaker, painter, and writer.  Do you know what that means? I ended up earning my living making art and telling stories—the very things I wanted to do all along—the very thing I was created to do in the beginning. I’m gifted and I am blessed. 

Does it bother you to hear me say “I am gifted?” Does it sound prideful and less than humble? It shouldn’t, because so are you. God gave me a gift at an early age, and for a long time I suppressed it, thinking I was unworthy. How about you? Understand, it’s not about being worthy, it’s about being loved. The God of all creation created you on purpose for a purpose. He gave you a gift, maybe many gifts, and those gifts can be used to do great good in our world and maybe even bring you great joy. It’s a gift in the truest sense of the Word, given by a loving God to His beloved child. To you. You are gifted because God has given you a gift, and He gave you that gift because He loves you. The question then is not whether or not you are gifted. The answer to that question is yes. The question is do you believe it?

Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in it’s various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 (1984 NIV)

Things I am Learning As I Write My First Novel

I’m learning a lot in writing a novel. The first thing I learning is that fiction is hard. Historical fiction is harder, and Biblical fiction is harder yet. I think it’s the balance. There is a made up story but it’s based in truth. You have to balance the two. You want to make a compelling story without straying from the intent of the text. It’s a line that can be easy to cross.

Sometimes it’s as simple as getting the timeline right. In one chapter of my book, I wrote a whole chapter about an event that happened between two biblical events. I really liked the chapter, until I did a little ore study and saw the the two biblical events happened back to back with only moments in between. At that point I had to rework the chapters and move it’s position in the timeline. 

Then are there are the times when you have to make sure to get the tone right and the characters’ personalities right. Writing about real people who really existed, especially people who are deeply integrated into the teachings of your faith is both huge and vital, its especially vital when working with Jesus as a character in the story. Getting Him right as much as you possibly can is not just important, it’s faithfulness. I was okay with writing teaching but under no circumstances did I want to stray into false teaching. 

Finally, I’m discovering that characters grow as you go, not unlike actual humans beings. As I continued writing my protagonist, he became more three dimensional, developed a personality and generally came to life. All through the writing process, I had to think about things I need to adjust in the edit, which is still to come.

Overall, I learned a few things. First, I did this book as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with the goal of writing a whole novel of at least 50,000 words in the month of November. I made the goal with one day to spare, but in truth, it’s really not enough time for historical or biblical fiction. I likened it to the speed painting I do in my ministry. You’re rushing so hard to get it done that you don’t really have the time to step back and make adjustments. Instead, you just keep plowing through. There’s not a lot of time to get the research done and editing will become extremely important. Come to think of it, this project was a lot like real life. If you want to live well, you have to slow down and step back and look at what you’re doing. Sometimes you really just need to take your time and look things over carefully, and get more information if you want to live a good story. 

Overall I loved the experience of writing my first novel, but now the hard work begins. Setting the goal to be done in a month kept me on task and helped me to cross the finish line. Having a metric to chart my progress also helped a lot, and I can see the need to do that type of practice in all the work I do, but now the first step is done and I have to step back and polish/edit/adjust this thing into a book people will actually want to read. Maybe we should treat all of our lives that way. Get things done by working hard, tracking your progress and making the necessary edits all along the way. People like characters grow and change as the author of life does His good work in our lives. This means you won’t be today what you were yesterday and if you’re moving forward that’s okay. Just be sure to be patient as the Master Storyteller, makes the edits of change in your life. Fix your eyes on the author and keep moving forward. 

Is Cost Benefit Analysis a Kingdom Value?

In doing some of the work that I do, there are times I wonder if it’s really worth it. Is it worth all the time, thought and effort I put into what I do? Take this blog as an example. I know I am in a “niche market” if you will. I know there aren’t a huge amount of people who are really interested in creative ministry, but sometimes these posts get as few as five hits and I start to wonder if it’s worth the effort. (I’m not complaining, and if you took the time to read this, thank you! I have a point here, so let’s keep going.) 

The temptation here is to do a cost benefit analysis. That’s where you look at your output versus income to decide whether or not a product is worth making or an effort is worth continuing. How many hits does a blog post need to make having written it worthwhile? How many paintings do you have to sell before you decide it’s worth it to make art. How many people have to read your book to make you see it as “successful?” Maybe we’re looking at the wrong metrics. 

I know someone will want to point me to the Scriptures and show me where Jesus instructs us to “count the cost” and while there is certainly some validity to that point, that verse is about deciding whether or not we should follow Jesus. Once we have decided to follow Jesus, I believe a different metric comes into play. That metric is trust and obey. I don’t write these posts just because I want to, although I do want to, but there is something more. I believe God has led and called me to minister to creatives and to help the church to embrace creativity. If that is the case, and I believe it is, then my “hit count” is to some degree irrelevant. Surely I could benefit by learning ways to get my message out to a wider audience, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that I was faithful to do what God has called me to do. From there it’s all in God’s hands. Who knows? Maybe it will be one of you that reaches the masses, and my whole calling in doing this was to inspire you. 

I serve a small church. Could I preach to a mega church? I think so, but at the moment that is not where God has me. He has given me a small group of people for me to love and who have demonstrated over and over again that they love me. CBA tells me I should be looking for a mega church to pastor, because it takes roughly the same amount of effort to preach to my 60 as it would to preach to 60,000 at least from a preparation stand point. My heart tells me that I should bless this amazing group of believers, serve them well and help them to grow by serving and reaching our community. Faithfully serving and trusting God with the increase, is a kingdom value to which I am not sure a CBA can compare. Only God knows what He will do with what He has given me to do. The most important measure of success in God’s Kingdom is faithfulness, because it is He that does the real work. 

If this blesses you, spread it.     

Struggling? Wisdom from C.S. Lewis

Today I heard a quote from C.S. Lewis. They were asking him how he felt about the threat of nuclear war. Here was his response. I think this is a great thought for all the things we face in this life. Lewis said,

“This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

We have little to no control over the things that will happen in this life, so the best thing we can do is to bring our best to each day, living memorable lives and memorable days.

Book Review: Moses: The Making of a Leader by Cleland Thom

I was given this book to help me to prepare for our church’s Bible Study on Moses. It is wonderful. The author is a gifted storyteller and tells the stories in the life of Moses as if we were viewing them from within. It’s like reading the story of Moses in novel form at times, followed by teachable takeaways. The focus on this book as the subtitle suggests is leadership and that is evident throughout. I really loved how this book was put together and would highly recommend it for Bible studies, people entering leadership and more. This is a thought provoking book on one of the greatest leaders in history. It reads like a novel, but the reader will also learn a lot in its pages. A great read.

Book Review: Risking It All: One Woman’s Adventure Giving Away Her Income by Jill Marie Thomas

I had the pleasure of meeting Jill Marie Thomas several years ago at the Montrose Christian Writer’s Conference (a great conference by the way) and we have kept in touch from time to time. After a recent online chat, I decided to download two books from her rather large catalog. This book was extremely well written, challenging and a very good read.

This is a thoroughly challenging and wonderful book. It tells the story of the author feeling led by the Lord to give away her entire personal income for a year. She decided to support a different worthwhile cause each month out of the year, and then in journal format she explores each month’s cause as well as the thoughts and feelings of giving it all away. It is honest and thoroughly enjoyable, and includes a fair amount of information the reader can use to help some of these causes as well. I can’t say I felt led to give away a year’s worth of income, but this book challenged my views on charity, and the way I am investing not just my resources, but my life. Jill Marie Thomas did a great work here and I think you’ll be blessed if you read it.

The Blind

It’s probably no surprise for me to say I have a soft spot for the arts, and especially for the arts that glorify God, and it’s likely you do too or you wouldn’t be reading this. Well last night I got to see a prime example of artists bringing glory to God. Last night I saw The Blind. 

The Blind is the true story of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson and his wife Miss Kay. Now I am a regular listener to their podcast, Unashamed, so I was not surprised by what I was about to see. I knew it would not be the light hearted humor of Duck Dynasty. No this was at times gritty and raw. The fact that Phil was as vulnerable as he was in this film makes me respect him all the more. He showed us the bad and the ugly before pointing us to the One who makes us good. This film was honest and touching. The film starts with two men, Phil and a man who we come to know over the length of the film as Big Al sitting in a duck blind, as Phil begins to tell his story. From there we are transported throughout Phil’s life. His difficult childhood to his rise to football stardom in college, where Phil was the quarterback and his backup was a guy named Terry Bradshaw. When Phil walked away from football, Bradshaw became the football legend we know him to be, or as Phil states it, “Bradshaw went for the bucks and I went for the ducks.” From there it went to his fall into alcoholism and more. In the midst of it all was Miss Kay, doing her best to keep it all together, even when Phil was letting it all fall apart. In many ways this story is as much about Kay as it is about Phil, but really it’s not about either of them. It’s about Jesus.  

There are times where the film is downright depressing, but unlike real life, we know the end of the story. This is a story of redemption. This is a story of how Jesus can change a life and it really blessed me, and not just because of the story. You see there is as story behind the story. 

We all know about the Robertsons because of Duck Dynasty, a light hearted show about a family of outdoors people who lived off the land and ended up making a fortune selling duck calls and other hunting equipment—a rags to riches story in which each episode ended with with the family around an amazing table full of food, thanking their Creator for His provision. In an era of cancel culture, this family made something clean and light hearted that unashamedly pointed to Jesus Christ, and a lot of us loved it. Similarly, this film was a family affair, put together by many members of the family, with some of the children even appearing on screen, portraying their parents and grandparents. It’s not a perfect movie but it is really well done. I think what touched my heart most is the fact that these people made this movie, for the purpose of pointing people to Jesus. 

The title of the film is a double entendre. A blind is a shelter duck hunters use to keep the ducks from seeing them, fitting for a man who made his fortune off of duck-hunting. Of course we all know the other meaning of the word blind. Phil was blind to his own sin and the harm it was doing, until Jesus came into his life and he saw the light, but that was not enough for Phil, nor should it be enough for us. It’s not enough for us to see the light or even to come into the light. Jesus also called us to be the light of the world. This film is Phil Robertson saying “I once was blind but now I see. Look to Jesus and see the light.” My prayer is that every person who meets Jesus would be willing to do the same, starting with me, and that all Christians with a platform would use that platform to shine the light of Jesus. 

This film shines. What are you making? 

Book Review: Christmas: The Rest of the Story by Rick Renner

This was a really interesting book. As a pastor, I was very familiar with the Christmas story, including some of the “rest of the story” elements Renner shared here. That being said his discussions of the story of the Magi and the ways of Herod the Great, provided really unique insights. Renner is really informative and well read, and his expertise in the Greek is clear. He also relies heavily on extra biblical sources such as Josephus. Some of these had me scratching my head a little bit and feeling the need to do more digging, but overall, I found this book to be enlightening and informative. This was a good read.