What’s In a Name? AMOK

Why name a ministry AMOK? It is, after all a name that has gotten me some grief over the years. One person said I should change the name because God is not a God of disorder. That’s true, but totally irrelevant. Another said AMOK is defined as a murderous rampage, I’m pretty sure that’s also not where I was going. For the record the name AMOK appears in the Bible twice, both time in genealogies referring to the name of a specific person, but even that’s not why I picked it. And then there’s the fact that so many people don’t know how to pronounce it. There have been times when I wished I had picked something different, and yet the name is fraught with meaning, so From time to time, as much for me as for you, I like to take a little of time and look at this name I’ve taken for this ministry and what it means. This allows me to tell new people a little about the story, encourage my long term readers and remind myself of the vision behind what I do,

So let’s start with the basics, AMOK is an acronym, it stands for Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom. AMOKArts.com is the domain name I chose, largely because AMOK.com was unavailable, The idea for the name came from the phrase running amok. Now while can have connotations of disorder, that’s not how I see it. You see I believe the current world system is not as God intended and I long to see God’s Kingdom “running amok” through this world, changing things for the better. I believe the best way to achieve this goal is by spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which I see as, among other things, the antidote to the mess we’re in. You see the Bible says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV) I believe transformed lives cannot help but transform culture. But there was a problem.

I’m just one little guy, and I’m an artist. What can an artist do to change the culture. Well that’s where my favorite verse comes into play. “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in it’s various forms.” (I Peter 4:10 NIV) I began to see ways to minister using the arts, that would encourage other people to find and use their gifts to the glory of God, and this thing I call AMOKArts was born.

What I envision is helping the church to embrace creativity and creative people to accomplish their ultimate mission of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Equally important I want to help creative people to embrace the church. I desire to see the church become the most creative place in any community, because as children of the ultimate Creator, creativity is in our DNA. I want to resource and equip creatives and the church to find new and creative ways to take the unchanging Gospel to an ever changing world. I believe when this happens, people will see Jesus in us, find Him for themselves, be saved and transformed into their best selves, living lives to His glory and continuing the process. In short, I echo Paul’s sentiment from Romans 1:16 (NIV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…

This then is what I desire to see. The Gospel changed my life. I want to help others find what I have found. The arts are the tool God has given me to use. I think there are many gifted people out there, and I want to help them to use those gifts to serve others to the glory of God and from there, watch God work. That’s the meaning of AMOK.

Want to run AMOK with me? Let’s go!

Daily Bible Challenge: January 5, 2019

I apologize. I thought I had posted this yesterday. My mistake.

This year, I am going to post creative challenges from God’s Word, the idea is simple, read the passage and create something based on it.

This is the guiding verse for my ministry

1 Peter 4:10

It speaks to using our “whatever gifts” i.e. anything God has given us to serve others. When we do, we become instruments of God’s grace. How would you express this verse to someone else.

Breaking Down the Scriptures: 1 Peter 4:10

Talents: Are Yours Invested or Buried?

This morning I will be speaking on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25). It’s a story Jesus told to help us understand our relationship with God. There are a lot of things in this parable that creative people need to know.

A master, a ruler is about to go away on a journey, but before he goes, he gives a portion of his wealth (called talents, a biblical measure of money) to three of his servants. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, to another, one. Before we go further I want you to notice something. I don’t think the use of the word talent is accidental. The master gives some of what it his, and something very valuable to his servants. If the master represents God in this story (and he does) and the servants represent us in this story (and they do) then maybe our talents are given by out Master (God) to be used to His glory. More that that, our talents are representative of a great spiritual truth. The fact that God gives these things of great value (talents) to us, shows something pretty cool. God believes in you. God has entrusted you and he knows you are capable of doing great things with them. God is invested in you, God loves you.

Another telling thing in this passage is the way God distributed the talents. It says he gave the talents to his servants, “each according to his ability.” This means God knows what you are capable of and gifts you accordingly. This is tremendously liberating. After all, if God knows what you are capable of and gifts you accordingly, you no longer have to compare yourself with anyone else. You simply have to be faithful and use what you have been given to the best of your ability. Comparison is deadly to us all anyway. Think about it. Comparison will either leave you discouraged (“I’ll never be as good as her”) or prideful (“He’ll never be as good as me”) both of which are counterproductive in God’s Kingdom. How much better would life work if we “kept our eyes on our own papers,” did the best we could with our strengths and used those strengths to help others in their areas of weakness?

Lastly, we have to say a word about the one talent guy. The first thing I want to call out is that I run into so many people who seem to honestly believe they have no talents. I believe that is a lie. I believe Jesus is showing us in this parable, that we all get at least one, and we need to find it and work it. Secondly, where the other two servants went to work at once, then talent servant, buried his gift in the ground, allegedly to keep it safe. Where the other two servants were praised at the master’s return, this servant was called wicked and lazy even though the master suffered no loss. Why? I believe it was because he did not trust the master to be good. The master invested in him, and he didn’t trust the master enough to use what he had been given to advance his master’s kingdom. The question is, do you?

To serve the master is to trust the master. Are you using your talents, God’s amazing investment in you, to His glory, or is there something buried that you need to dig up and put to work.

1 Peter 4:10 says “Each One should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” The things God invests in us, our gifts, talents, etc. are given so that we might serve and help others and through that help that they may receive God’s grace in a multitude of ways. To quote another verse that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in Heaven.

Time to dig those gifts and talents up and put them to work for our master.

Gos has invested in YOU!

Creative Challenge Monday: Christmas Present

If you’ve been around this blog any length of time, you know the guiding verse of this ministry is 1 Peter 4:10 which says, “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others…” Each of us with a creative artistic gift has a responsiblilty to use that gift to be a blessing. For today’s challenge, I want to take that to the literal.

Use your creative gift to create a creative gift for at least one person on your gift list.

Find someone who would be blessed by what you do and create something just for them. I have two in mind for this year. I can’t tell you what they are, but I will try to post photos after Christmas.

Who could you bless with a gift from your gift and a gift from your heart?