When I began developing the arts ministry at LVC, there was nothing like it going on at all in that church… Worship music was the only artistic medium being employed in any of the existing programs…

Uniqueness was not a problem for me.

Raising up any new program in a church requires attention to the uniqueness of the program. If the new program overlaps an existing ministry, you will find difficulty recruiting leaders and participants.

Years ago, I was Education Pastor in a medium-sized denominational church. I was tasked with revamping the Discipleship Training program, which was plagued by two problems. First, some classes didn’t draw enough participation and second, other classes got bogged-down and stretched their 12-week study into almost 2 years (not exaggerating).

The first problem was easily explained: the chosen topics were indistinguishable from the Sunday School themes. The DT program was not unique in it’s content and participants were subsequently disinterested in making the time investment.

The second problem was also an issue in uniqueness, but not with the DT program… In our structure, we intended for Sunday School to be more a place of community. The leader of the “longest-running, floating DT class” had done such a great job of creating community in his group, that the participants were loathed to finish that course and move on. Since his gifts were better suited to pastoring and building community, we moved him into SS leadership, preserving and enhancing the unique purpose of SS.

A unique Arts program will draw out participants who are unactivated in other areas of church life. For example, our current model for worship features a band that is purposefully limited in scope: leader (with guitar), drummer, second guitar, bass, and second vocalist. The number is also limited by the technical requirement: worship music is played from chord charts.

Our Arts Ministry projects activate keyboardists, symphonic instrumentalists and choral vocalists. We also generally need players who can read music. The result of our unique approach allows these artists (who would not have a place on the worship team) to be activated and contribute their gifts in the life of the church.

I have come to believe that the purposes of God for our ministries can be easily discerned by simply looking at the gifts of the people that God has given us…

Lots of thespians… do theatre.

Lots of vocalists… do vocal ensembles.

Lots of photographers…

Lots of graphic designers…

Lots of technical musicians…

You get the idea.

The uniqueness of your program should reflect the uniqueness of your team…

And if you are having difficulty drawing interest, do a “uniqueness check”… Ask yourself whether this activity or program is similar in scope, theme or practice to other programs offered in your church.

NEXT UP: A Finite Program…

LVC Cast of Godspell...

I’ve been working to develop an arts program at the LVC for about 2 years now… In that time, we’ve tried a few different kinds of things, but always seem to find ourselves falling back on theatrical projects that consume all of our artistic resources for months. I wouldn’t describe the program as ‘comprehensive’ but it has certainly been successful.

It might be helpful to give you a bit of statistical data:

The LVC is a small church (under 200 in typical attendance), with a small staff (1 full-time and 2 part-time staffers) and a rented, retail facility that I always describe as being ‘in a hole.’  We’re currently putting up a production of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, which will probably activate 30-35% of the total average attendance. Our Godspell production activated about 15%.  Our Facebook group (of individuals active in the program) has a membership of around 60 (more than 30%). Our Godspell production reached an audience of about 700 and our Night In Bethlehem event (which involves artists but is actually produced by our kid’s ministry) reaches an audience of about 1250 in the years that we do it. NiB has an activation percentage around 75%. We are prepared to reach an audience of around 1000 with our current production.

So, our focus on events and productions has been rewarded with good attendance, 3-1/2 to 4 times the typical reach of our church at-large.

Gallery presentations have activated 8-12 artists (<10% of attendees) and have required a great deal of work on my part.

Our current plan also calls for bi-annual ‘cafe night’ events that will include gallery presentations, art lessons for kids and adults and an open-mic forum.

That’s what we do because that’s who I am…

The form and focus that your arts program takes is largely dependent on your own gifts and artistic skills. It is essential, however, to recognize and embrace the basic qualities that make programs in church successful…

By my count, there are four… A successful program will be:

Unique… Regardless of how you organize your program, the opportunities offered by “Arts Ministry” must be unique within your church. For instance, our worship ministry is build around a five-piece band format, consisting of musicians who, for the most part, read charts or tabs and have little formal music training. Arts ministry offers opportunities for ensemble singing and musicianship outside of the worship team format.

Finite… The scope your program must be purposefully limited so that events and activities meet the goals of leadership. Our tendency is to jump off into major projects because these productions meet the goals of leadership. In most cases, these projects stretch us to the very limit of our capability, but the scope of the overall ministry remains limited.

Duplicatable… While the specific activities or the program may change with a change of leadership, the show must go on. In our arts group, there are 2 people who could take up leadership of the ministry and continue the same or similar emphases if I were to go away.

Open… Becoming a part of your program should be explicit and simple. Newcomers should be able to find their way into the program easily. By embracing a project approach, we are always announcing open auditions and vying for new recruits from within the church and from the community as well.

In the coming weeks, we’ll explore each of these factors in more detail…

I’ve had the site on hiatus since spring as I have been up to my ears in purchasing and remodeling a house. As I begin to see the light at the end of that tunnel, I’m looking forward to finding some more great artists to introduce to you and sharing some more of the seed ideas that are forming the basis for chapters in my book.

Talk to you soon!

I’m not very good at multi-tasking.

Lately, it’s been on my heart to really focus my attention on the site… on encouraging artists… on encouraging leaders and pastors… I feel like this is the vocation that God has called me to and specifically prepared me for in giftedness, in talent, in interest and in heart…

But I do have a wife, a 5-year-old and a Honda.

As I begin to shift my focus away from the busy-ness of my life and toward this calling, I hope that regular readers will support that shift by checking out some of the programs that I am making available… I’m working to pick good stuff that artists like and need: resources for sheet music, musical instruments, art supplies and personal development; books and music that inspire or encourage me; tools for ministry…

No diet pills or matchmaking sites…

If you find something objectionable or if one of the merchants behaves in an unseemly way, let me know…

Thanks for hanging out and making it possible for me to continue this ministry.

"Hope" by Mary Freeman

I was really encouraged by my chat with FeaturedArtist: Mary Freeman last week. Mary uses her art to poignantly impact the lives of people… And I love to hear stories like that…

Stories about God using people are the absolute best kind… The Bible is FULL of these stories. We need them in the church today to encourage others to do the same and to remind us that the stories didn’t just end in the first century…

After I published the interview, Mary sent me a note that expressed her own surprise at the way that I had summed her up…

“I am reading it and saying, ‘This is not me…’ But then I realize it is.  This is what God has been doing… continues to do in my life.”

I think that most people need to hear that what they do has a significant impact… I know I do… When you give from your heart and gifts to serve God, it’s nice to know that the offering is going somewhere…

When you see someone else giving and serving and making an impact, it’s probably a good idea to tell them. The encouragement might come at a critical time in their life… It might inspire them to dig in when they were thinking about giving up. It might confirm to them something that they already knew. It might just help them see their ministry from a different perspective.

I know, without much doubt, that God has called me to encourage and equip artists to use their gifts in ministry… When an artist (in this case, Mary) tells me that they’ve been encouraged, it confirms that calling, inspires me to press on and helps me to recognize what it looks like when I’m walking in my own gifts…

And this is true of everyone who serves… not just artists.

Give encouragement freely… It won’t cost you anything.

Accept praise authentically… It isn’t prideful to recognize the work of God in your own life.

Every two weeks, the site promotes a new FeaturedArtist… Not just some karaoke singer, but artists with unique and often visionary approach to using their gifts to glorify God… For example:

Jason Tockey is an amateur photographer who’s gorgeous sunsets first caught my eye back in the spring. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Jason about his art and a vision he has to connect artists in an online community…

And coming up:

Mary Freeman is a mixed-medium artist who created striking collage work for visual journaling. She also does seminars to teach her techniques to other artists and hobbyists in her community… September 6.

Troy Rowe is a professional portrait and event photographer who is using his considerable gifts to serve children at a local foster-care home. I’ll be talking with Troy about this unique ministry and other ways he uses his gifts… September 20.

Hannah Krohn is a dancer and dance teacher. I’ve worked with Hannah in some of my own projects at LVC. She has a great gift and heart and we’ll be talking together about unique ministry and missions opportunities that dance has opened up for her… October 4.

Jim Holt is sketching his way through the Bible… I found his pen and ink sketches on Tumbler.com. I’ll be talking with Jim about this project and his insightful visual blog… October 18.

Philip Davis is a graphic artist and photographer. We’ll be talking about an interesting project that he’s working on as he designs through the book of Psalms… November 1.

Every FlickrFriday, the site features an image from a member of our Flickr group… You can join the group here and submit your images too.

I’m currently developing a series on Cultivating Discipline for artists… You can start reading that here.

You can receive regular updates from the site by Liking WOP on Facebook, or by following us on Twitter or Tumblr…

Thanks again…

purplenoel added this image to the WOP photopool, inspired by Hebrews 9:12:

…but he (Jesus) entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

I really love the broad range of visual art that people are submitting to the WOP group on Flickr… If you photoshare on Flickr, why not join us?

Everybody gets lucky once in a while, but success in imaging and in LIFE requires purposeful focus.

I shoot pictures with a nice digital SLR… It has a deep well of features to draw from but, for the most part, I keep all of the dials and menus set to “auto” so that I can just point and shoot.  I do this because I have a 4-year-old and I don’t want to miss any of the impromptu moments that happen in our family life…

I also do it because I’m kinda lazy…

In general, I don’t take the time to really dial-in my technical skills in photography.  I have a pretty good “eye” for capturing good composition, but I am limited by the automatic choices that I set by default.

Auto-focus is a funny thing… particularly when you shoot macro-stills.  For example, an image of a flower:  the camera might select the edges of the petals as the focal point… or the end of the nearest stamen or the nearest flat surface or the dead twig in the lower right corner of the image that you didn’t even notice… I have come home from photo-walking with a hundred images in my camera and no more than 3 that were properly focused… I suppose everybody gets lucky sometimes…

When you let the technology select the focus, it could be anywhere.

If this isn’t an obvious life-metaphor, then you haven’t lived long enough:  Focus doesn’t happen by default.

In life, I often wander around with all of the dials set to auto.  I get by largely on talent and intuition but fail to capture the real potential because I slack on skills development, discipline and focus.  Sometimes, I get a lucky break: a great image, a singable song, an interesting story… but mostly, I get a camera full of bad images, a notebook full of unused ideas…

And most of the artists I encounter seem to be floundering in the same way…

Except for the successful ones.

The “professional” artists that I know… the ones that play regular gigs, appear in multiple plays simultaneously, open their own art shows and make a living with their talents… These guys are all focused on specific goals.  They spend hours dialing-in their skills.  They have a camera full of great images, albums of great music, awe-inspiring portfolios… This is the legacy of living with purpose.

I saw this on a t-shirt:

Talent and discipline will always beat talent, unless that talent becomes disciplined.

That's Jack on the right...

Last summer, I wrote a post about a missionary that I know named Jack Fairweather.  I’ve followed his ministry closely and eventually became involved in the parent organization, LifeChange International, that supports the orphanage that Jack and his wife are running outside of Manila in the Philippines.

Jack was in a gas explosion on May 11 that left him with 3rd degree burns on both of his legs and 2nd degree burns on his face.  He is under the care of a doctor but is more than 1 1/2 hours from the nearest hospital.  He has to remain lying down and that is pretty uncomfortable in the heat and humidity of the Filipino summer.

The greatest danger right now is infection… Fortunately, Jack has a friend who is a doctor and is visiting him at home and keeping his bandages changed.

Please pray for Jack’s quick recovery and for his wife, Tammy, who is here in Colorado for a month and very concerned that he may need help.

Thanks!