Lord + King

Bible doodle, Psalm 10:16

“The LORD is King forever and ever;

the nations will perish from His land.

LORD, You have heard the

desire of the humble;

You will strengthen their hearts.

You will listen carefully,

doing justice for the fatherless

and the oppressed

so that men of the earth

may terrify them no more.”

Psalm 10:16-18

Ways Artists Can Interface with God’s Mission (part 1)

Dilemma of the Century

Lilias Trotter faced a fork-in-the-road ultimatum: do I become an artist or a missionary? In his incredible book, Rembrandt is in the Wind, Russ Ramsey explores Lilias’ encounter with this challenge. Ramsey says,

Ruskin’s [Trotter’s art mentor] pursuit of Lilias was not just about her art, but of her singularity of focus. The potential he recognized in her could only come to fruition if she devoted herself wholly to her craft. But he felt Lilias’s ministry was competing with her art, and in truth it was. He told Lilias if she would devote herself to art, “she would be the greatest living painter in Europe and do things that would be immortal.” He wanted her to choose between her ministry and her art—forcing her to face the crisis of her life: What role would her art play? (199)

Ramsey quotes her diary where she grappled with this in saying, “I see clear as daylight now, that I cannot dedicate myself to painting in the way that he means and continue to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

Ramsey goes on,

Lilias made up her mind—she would give herself to serving the poor, and in whatever role her art played, she would use her creative instinct and imagination to create places where the downtrodden would find respect, support, and, if God allowed, Christ himself. (199)

Here is the incredible thing. That was in the late 1800s. This dilemma—do I become and artist or a missionary—has plagued the 20th (and now the 21st) century. And it is the fork in the road I have wrestled with throughout my adult life.

I write this to relieve you of the pressure of that dichotomy: do I choose arts or missions? Take heart. God’s kingdom is not made up of such compartments!

Throughout three blogposts, I explore a plethora of ideas I would give myself if I were age 18 again—a wonderful age of ignorance and un-marinated dreams of an arts career. I will focus on three categories: first (this post), I will consider the essence of being a unique artist in God's kingdom; second, I will dive into the arts that contribute to the expansion of God's kingdom; and third, I will examine the role of the arts in establishing God's kingdom.

You, the Artist

The pressure is on! You’ve just begun art school and you love Jesus. What do you do?!

1. Focus on your Christian growth. For you as a person, Jesus must always be the center! Understand that being a Christian is not at odds with being an artist. The first attribute about God recorded in the very first book of the Bible is that God is a maker. And you were made in His image. Making is an attribute endowed to each and every person. The concept of “artist” is relatively new in the scope of world history. All are makers. Some are particularly gifted in what are called the “arts.” Regardless, those who follow Jesus ought to devote their lives to abiding in Christ…no matter the profession or hobby. Always growing. Always giving. Embed yourself in a local church community where you can interface with the gospel, the church, the mission, and Scripture. Be poured into. Pour yourself out.

2. Understand yourself in relation to various groups. Being a person, a Jesus-at-the-center person, requires us to adapt to all kinds of situations. God doesn’t just make us believers though. He places us (**see below) in all kinds of groups (mom, co-worker, elderly, etc.), gives us all kinds of statuses (foreigner, artist, Christian, etc.) along with a variety of roles (a group’s expected behavior for those statuses). Recognize you might be in one group one morning (playing music on the church worship team) and another group immediately after (in the studio with non-believing friends). We are constantly ebbing, flowing, dancing, dare I say “performing,” in these relational tides. Relax. Navigating this might be one reason you’re overwhelmed. Simply ask, “what does God require of me in this situation with these particular people?” And what does Scripture already explicitly say about each role (dad, child, worker, etc.)?

3. Hang around people you want to become. Be it: professional, spiritual, relational, etc. Cross-pollinating with those of different interests was monumental for me. While my creative posture would pull me more inward, toward myself, non-artistic community forced me outward. Surrounding myself with mature Christians helped loosen my idolatry of art-making and the romanticized ideal of the starving, isolated, woe-is-me artist propped up by larger society.

4. Be the person for others to become. Being a disciple of Jesus means it permeates every facet of our lives. It means a life of incarnational generosity. Over time, it means people naturally gravitate to you. Aim to be imitate-able.

5. Drop the comparison game ASAP-as-possible. There are a kuh-zillion different ways God has gifted artists. Enjoy and learn from other artists. Become known as someone who blows wind into other artist’s sails.

6. Cultivate your usefulness: this skill will compound into a generous well of blessings to others with your talents over the course of life. It’ll tee you up for serving others.

7. Pursue excellence with your craft. Excelling in an artistic craft is one way to cultivate usefulness. Get further training. Western society tends to suppress the curiosity itch. Youtube alone has so many free resources for artistic development. Whether you consider yourself a professional artist or arts are a “hobby,” keep scratching.

8. Expand your vision of how God uses the arts. I found Todd Saurman’s, The Worship Wheel, valuable for this. How could you make art for yourself? For God? For others? Is there a need in your community your arts can meet? You don’t have to always stay in one lane.

Todd Saurman, The Worship Wheel, Mission Frontiers

9. What kind of person (cough…I mean artist) are you? Being an artist is simply the journeyed expressed overflow of who you are. Are you more apostolic, pastoral, evangelistic, prophetic, or a teacher (see Ephesians 4 and APEST)? Do you have a passion for expanding or establishing God’s kingdom ? Do you feel more at home with academics? Or alongside the outcast? What do you secretly brag on about yourself or hope people discovery about you? One way to find beauty and freedom as an artist is to lean into your natural gifts, not away from them. I have found the Five Fold assessment useful. Additionally, spending time list all the gifts from Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, and Romans 12:3-16. Which do you naturally enjoy doing and gravitate towards without anyone telling you? Are you more of a leader or follower?

10. What is your story? The more you dive into your stories, the more you cultivate your unique artist vantage point. How does your story inform you as an artist? What high and low life moments shaped the person you are today? Who have been the hero’s and villains of your life? And how has that impacted you? Situating yourself in an overarching narrative provides the rationals behind why you do what you do and think the way you think.

11. Multiply yourself. God gives to us so we can give to others. Don’t be an arts hoarder. Train others in what you know. Give away everything you know.

In part 2, I will look at arts to extend the kingdom.

Five Roles of Redemptive Artistry

Portion of American Windows (1977), Marc Chagall. Stained glass window panels in the Art Institute of Chicago

After reading Calvin Seerveld for several years, here is my attempt at restating what I believe to be five roles of what he calls “redemptive artistry.”

In his book, Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves, Seerveld says redemptive artistry can speak a “modern language that both an orthodox Christian and a hard-core secularist can understand” (112). For him, redemptive artistry is like,

“what the dove did for Noah in the ark. Noah was wondering whether the punishing flood had receded and the earth was now habitable again. The dove came back bearing fresh olive leaves (Genesis 8:6-12), a token that the faithful LORD was giving new life on earth after the awful judgment on world sin. Maybe we could consider artistry by the redeemed for their neighbor as simply giving a metaphoric promise of life and hope at the gracious Rule of Jesus Christ on earth, firmly aware of the brokenness within which we live and build, suffer, expect, laugh and cry. Redemptive artistry will be bearing fresh olive leaves.” (112).

With that said, here is what I believe redemptive artistry accomplishes in the world today:

1. Imagines the kingdom of God through nuance

2. Rebukes injustice, summons obedience

3. Stories a nation's imagination

4. Binds wounds, gives allusive riches to poor saints

5. Lures the senses to Jesus

Which one is your sweet spot?

956 Charro

956 Charro (gouache, 8X8)

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I find painting to be challenging. Though I studied it for many years, merging multiple disciplines (color theory, values, color temperature, medium nuances, etc.) is incredibly difficult. Good painters are excellent for a reason.

Sometimes, people are more natural at it than others. But, all need practice. No tree produces fruit without nourishment over time!

I always gravitated toward graphite drawings. I found safety in drawing black and white hyperrealism. But I grew stale over years of compounding, what felt like, the same drawing over and over again.

During the pandemic, I made a choice to relearn and repractice color theory. I knew I wanted to work within limitations:

• Paint small paintings: to force me to paint the big picture and not get stuck in details.

• Post everything I paint: to get over my struggle with perfectionism.

This resulted in painting being a joyful learning experience. It has opened up new doors to exploration. And the fact that I have gotten to do this alongside my family has been an incredible blessing.

With that, here are a few snippets of my process behind my gouache 8X8 of 956 Charro.

First, I had this idea of painting something from Brownsville’s Charro Days. This annual celebration is too good not to represent in paint form. Everything from the colors, dress, decor, and food spark local unity between Brownsville and Matamoros.

I asked my friend, Daniela Loera Gonzalez (owner of Border Creative Co.), if I could paint her wonderful photo of this charro. She was gracious enough to grant permission.

I didn’t really know the direction this would go but I first needed to get values on after my initial sketch. I call this the “poo-poo” phase. As you can see…it looks as such. For all the years I’ve been an artist, this is the phase I call it quits on a piece. It is easy to understand why!

The poo-poo phase lasts, for me, about 60-70% of the painting process. This is why art-making takes resilience. You’ve got to push through the poop.

There we go. This is looking a little better. I still felt the colors needed some harmony. In Daniela’s photo, I love how those reds pop out from the horse’s straps and saddle as well as its textured fur. Time to bust out my handy color mixing guide…

In order to make the reds pop, I painted the background a blue-green color. Let’s see what that does.

There we have it. After that 60-70% hump, its time for some details. And there you have it. Now, let’s keep practicing!

The 95% Rule

We’ve missed people’s hearts at the cost of precision (getting our words accurate).

What if we assumed we don’t know 95% of what people (even our closest family members) intend when it comes to the use of their words.

What if our response were characterized by restraint rather than reaction, with a focus on patiently seeking understanding? And upon what we believe to understand, what if we then asked twenty more questions?

Commended Laborers: Others

The “lone ranger” concept is foreign in the New Testament. One last qualifier for anyone in ministry is the validation of other believers.

Before we learn of Barnabas, the minister, we understand his reputation, character, sacrifice, and personality. Luke initially introduces him, not as Barnabas, but as “Joseph” in Acts 4:36-37. No need to learn Greek here as Luke tells us “Barnabas” translates as Son of Encouragement (Acts 4:36). The apostles referred to him by this name, expressing their opinion of him.

Following Paul’s conversion, many of the disciples feared him but Barnabas vouched for him (Acts 9:26-27). Although Christ set Paul apart for the mission at his conversion, it wasn’t until he was already a leader in the church at Antioch the Spirit said, “Go” (Acts 13:1-3).

In Lystra and Iconium, the brothers spoke well of Timothy (Acts 16:2).

Similarly, Paul vouched for Epaphroditus to the Philippians (Philippians 2:25-30).

Paul considered Titus trustworthy enough to oversee the order of all the churches on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5).

The apostles, elders, and entire Jerusalem church chose Silas, recognized both as a leader among the brothers and as a prophet, to accompany Barnabas in delivering their letter to the Gentiles in Antioch (Acts 15:22-23, 32). Also of a commendable nature, was the fact that Paul chose Silas to join him once he and Barnabas parted ways (Acts 15:39-40).

Before Philip’s evangelizing and Stephen’s preaching and martyrdom, the church recognized them, along with Prochrous, Nicanor, Nimon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, as “men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” The whole company of disciples in Jerusalem appointed them to serve as deacons (Acts 6:3).

For a church of 3,000 people (and growing daily by God) (Acts 2:41, 47), the character of these seven men must have stood out.

For a church of 3,000 people (and growing daily by God) (Acts 2:41, 47), the character of these seven men must have stood out.

This pattern of commending is repeatedly observed. None of these individuals commended themselves; rather, it was God working through both them and the church that guided them into more specific missions.

In today’s ministry landscape, the world needs seasoned disciple-makers to train those with less experience. Affirmation from others, especially during hardships, becomes crucial for ministry leaders, who serve as visible pictures of God's commendation and assurance of His enduring presence.

One way To Make Mic drop Culture

One way to get a “mic drop” culture is from sticks-and-stones-may-break-my-bones-but-words-will-never-hurt-me slogans.

Beauty for the Collective and individual

I listened to a Chinese-American describe his joy upon discovering his innate talents and skills, distinct from his national heritage. Coming from a collectivistic background, where one’s value is measured according to their group, he struggled to see his unique purpose.

On the other hand, the individualist, born into a group where one’s value is achieved, not ascribed, might struggle with the opposite challenge. Surrounded by messages of “find your own path!,” or “if you just follow your dreams…,” this inward focus becomes white noise on the journey towards discovering one’s purpose.

Might both perspectives be true?

Perhaps it is more like a cycle. What if the individualist needs more encouragement to define their gifts in relation to their usefulness for others? Likewise, for the collectivist, maybe a joyful splash of “how did God uniquely wire you?” could be beneficial.

God did endow each of us with specific good works AND, at the same time, placed us in communities who need the gifts, talents, and skills we have.

So, which purposeful nudge could you use more of today: discover more of yourself or discover more of your group’s needs?