Gathering Crayons

http://2007artsconferenceblog.blogspot.com/

Thursday Session One: Efrem Smith
1.) "The problem is that most Christians view themselves as Batman instead of Superman. Batman has no special powers, relies on gadgets, and is motivated by revenge. Superman is from a different planet, and he just wants to save the world."
2.) Insecurity in Christian artists can cripple the spirit of God in a church.
3.) Frustration can be an onramp to a calling from God.
4.) Without storms, you would have no story."

(Um, this session is part of my "next right thing" before starting the job. Tackle insecurity and find a red cape.)

Thursday Session Two: Mark Miller
1.) "A lot of pastors see artists as vending machines of creativity, so how do we restock the machine? We expand our world.
2.) Fill your lives with random input. It's like coloring with the lame four crayon pack at restaurants versus the sixty-four pack. When you expand your world and pray for creativity from God, you'll see colors Crayola hasn't even thought of yet.
3.) You want to unleash endless amounts of creativity? Pray . . .a lot."

(Awesome, now my weird, unpredictable, outside the box, child-like activities can all be umbrella'd into "gathering crayons".)

Thursday Session Three: Jeff Berryman
This was a full-length one-man play called "Leaving Ruin" depicting the life of a Texan preacher and his struggles in ministry. Based on a book by Cyrus Manning with the same title, it was riveting from beginning to end. I was mostly moved by Cyrus' love for individual quirky members of his congregation and his transparent passion for his wife. It was truly an honest story of living in the contradiction.

(Inspiring, made me think I might have to write something like this one day. Lord, I'll give that one to You until further notice. That's a big elephant to swallow.)

Thursday Night film Festival
This night honored media artists from a handful of churches, including ours, and was an amazing gallery of creative minds. I cried during most of the category of "Stories" which included a woman who lost her father to cancer, a couple who almost lost their twin boys, and especially a girl who told about coming to church and not ever talking to anyone. Cody would have loved tonight because of the new techniques and ideas, would have added a few crayons to his box, though he's already coloring from a pretty big pallette.

(A great Matthew 6:1 opportunity. Shhh . . . don't tell. And Cody has got to come with me next year. Maybe we could hide Lauren in the suitcase . . . )


Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." Exodus 16:4