A Silent Revolution!

I am currently enrolled in a liberal arts college for art education. You could say that the arts are rather liberal here, and often very difficult to handle. That being said, I know that I am here for a reason and that I have been placed in an envelope of time to be the most influential that I can be. This influence has caused me to take a very indirect approach to sharing my faith with the student body. I have had to literally reinvent the way to approach people who are anti-Christ by their own admission,or people who claim other gods all together. This environment has given me an ability to gauge the way I speak, act, and even love the fellow students around me.

The biggest issue that many of my friends who do not yet know Christ site as their biggest irritation with Christians are that we are not forgiving, honest, different, and most of all relevant. The idea of relevancy is something that I have been truly investigating in regards to my heart as an artist. Lately I have been communicating with my art and not as much with my words. The idea that we maintain credibility with our quality of work and passion for it still holds water among those who don't care about our Christian merit badge. Unfortunately this merit badge receives about the same amount of attention in the setting in which I have the privilege of being a part.

Inspired by Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz, I recently began a conceptual art sculpture piece titled "Confession." This piece was intended to be interactive with those who viewed it. For this work I had the student read a series of real life confessions that were gathered from my church family. Some of the confessions that were directed at the students themselves were incorporated into the piece as the interactive element. As the viewers were asked to read the confessions from the church, many of them were moved by the overwhelming self awareness of our judgmentalism, homophobia, lack of love, lack of truth, lack of a model that some of the students were moved to tears. Similarly as the 45 or so minutes passed for the presentation of the piece, it was followed by a completely spontaneous moment of silence for the classroom to process the event.

This moment made me keenly aware of our role as the church to consistently take a posture and indeed live a culture of forgiveness, honestly, humility, and holistic righteousness that is more than skin deep. We need to go soul deep in order to remain relevant. When we really love the world we rarely need our words. In fact if we resist the temptation to tell people about our savior and show them his miraculous intention among men, we will be the most relevant people on the planet.

I have included a short video clip and some photos of my latest project "Confession" as a sample of how I am trying to influence a generation through creativity inspired by a Creator. Pray for me, pray for those I encounter, better yet pray for yourself, and those you encounter...Those who seek an encounter with you because, well, you simply make them feel better. Lastly I want to encourage you to make those around you feel important, comforted, empowered, loved, and when you fail, and you will fail, Get up and ask for forgiveness. Live shamelessly!

Doing Church or Being Church

So the other day I found myself awake and beginning the process that I have followed for several years. Today however I was charged with a bit more excitement, enthusiasm, and life than usual as I prepared for another wonderful church service. Having a history of involvement in church for many years this has not always been the case. All too often church was the very last place I wanted to be, as it was the place that I watched my family suffer at the hands of well meaning church folk. Today it is my pleasure to be part of something of depth, substance and supernatural healing!

Knowing where I have come from may help to provide a bit of insight to my experience of a sunday morning not long ago. As many people do on a sunday morning, my wife and two beautiful daughters rushed out the door and into our SUV where we would rush to make it to church to fullfill our church responsibilities. Responsibilities that we love and are greatful to have. The challenge comes because of a man walking with a cane. It wasn't actually the man that was the problem rather the fact that I saw him walking with his cane barely able to keep standing as he walked from his mailbox to his home. As we raced past this man I was stuck by a deep conviction and sense of responsibility to this mans anguish. For days after I wrestled with myself and with God as to what I was feeling. I have conceded that sometimes our desire to go to church has kept us from actually being the church. Please understand that I am not a fan of "Home Church" as I believe this is a recipe out of spiritual authority and covering. However I do wonder if our efforts at church are sometimes less than Christ's original model of the church.

When church is not really measured by the building but the quality of life established among people, you know that you are part of a movement and not just an organization. It is my great desire to see men and women drawn into a movement that is the expression of Jesus Christ at work among mere mortals.

Impacting culture

Today while sitting in a university history class, I was randomly asked by the professor, "Are you afraid of the economic collapse, the environmental problems or your personal future?" I shocked myself with my candid response, given amongst 100 or so of my peers. Speaking clearly and assertively as I said, "When your life is composed of a series of undeniable miracles, things like economy, environment and even your future fade somewhere into the distance." I went on to talk about the real fears of my life, that consist of the thought of not seeing my beautiful daughters grow up to have children of their own, or not getting to grow old with my wife, or not having a great impact on the lives that are around me. I completed by saying the fear of all the other is really temporal and not something that guides who I am. I don't mean to sound cliché or arrogant, but this is honestly just what came rushing to the surface.

I didn't even actually address my real greatest fear, which is, that I am afraid of what my life would look like if I lived every day the way that God sees me living. Living boldly, without fear, as if every prayer is answered, as if every sick person is whole. This person the one that God says I am, terrifies me. Why? Because if I can be totally transparent, it is way bigger than my biggest goals, It means that nothing in my life would look the way it does right now, even though I think I live quite well. If all of us were to be honest, songs that we sing about "all I am is yours" would terrify us. We know that if God were totally given permission to own us we would live a life filled with risk.

As I walked from my classroom, The question still ringing in my mind, I realized why so many young people entering college find themselves dealing with depression, drinking, sexual experimentation and a great deal more. I understand why students would make these types of choices, given the standard that their aspirations, dreams and futures are nothing more than pipe dreams. I so clearly see why God has placed me where he has, and I pray that I will continue to be granted influence among such bright, and powerful people. If we lead people into encounters with God their faith will become realized, and their soul will hunger.