We have moved to Tennessee!!
As of January our ministry is now based out of the TN area. We have really been enjoying the blessing of being able to drive to so many new cities. We moved here from Florida and could not drive anywhere from Orlando. I spent 3 or 4 days a week sitting in airports. We are sending out a regional mailer to churches and sponsors in all of our neighboring states. It reads:
Mike and his family have relocated from
If anybody has an event going on within a 5 hour drive and you think that I might be able to contribute please call.
Thanks,
Mike
posted by The JesusPainter at 11:19 AM
10 Comments:
Mike and Anne,
We are so excited for you two, getting settled and at home in Tennessee. We pray that it proves to be a huge blessing to the two of you. God bless you both.
Gary, Laura and Nathan Bull
3:23 PM
Hi Mike,
Your ministry sounds amazing. I have been reading the posts on incorporating the visual arts into worship, without really seeing any practical suggestions for making it happen.
I guess music is important. At least, everyone talks a lot about it. I happen to be one of the 3 people in the US who is not musical. In my world, the function of music is to be a background to what I am doing, not the focus of it. It's a gestalt kind of thing, and music may sometimes move into the foreground, but the experience is constantly changing.
Well, here is what I have tried in order to incorporate art into worship:
I helped lead a Lenten study in the spring and asked members of our small group to play with modeling compound, watercolors, pencil and paper as we talked. I asked them to express what they thought or felt without words. I created a mandala design and gave them colored pencils to color it in and make it their own. I talked about the ways color and form can express things for which we don't always have the words.
In an ongoing study I attend, we are asked to journal with our daily readings. At least half of my journaling is in the form of pictures.
I am a 57 year old woman, a writer and artist, and I want to use my gifts to worship God, not watch other people use theirs. My joy would be to enter worship and find it filled with tables and a variety of media, and be able to work with my hands while I listened to the sermon. This would integrate me into the worship process, instead of making me an audience.
2:05 PM
Mike,
Thanks for coming to Plum Creek last Sunday. You made our dedication service awesome! Thanks for using your talent for the Lord. May he bless you for your efforts and witness.
In Christ,
John, Debbie and kids
6:12 PM
hi mike, we met a few years back at an emergent convention (don't even try to remember, it's not important). but while my wife ponders & crys at grays anatomy i mess around on the internet. i saw that you moved to tennessee. just wanted to say welcome and i hope you have enjoyed your time so far. if you are around the nashville/hendersonville area and wish to go to lunch sometime drop me a line, i'd love to connect as a friend in ministry.
shalom
-gavin
9:32 PM
JesusPainter,
I am a senior in high school and attend Waverly Central (Waverly, TN)... which is nearly 60-70 miles from metro Nashville. My school, to many, including me, is slowly becoming an anthiest campus. The mentioning of Jesus or the belief in him seems to be so shameful because those of us who do are verbally persecuted and shut down. I feel as if I am a Christian in a cage the minute I walk into the school's doors every morning. Is there any possible way you could come before this year's graduation (May 18th, 2007), paint a portrait in the auditorium in front of the student body, and help us restore the faith that is almost forgotten? I know something needs to be done; if not, which is understandable, I ask you to please pray over our community and the people who don't know the Creator. Thank you for not neglecting your gift ---> you truly are a talented and beautiful child of God. in Christ alone, ~heart of faith p.s. i've been going to uplift [AR] for three years now, and your artwork/live performances have changed my entire outlook on faith; you've inspired me to strive for my dreams... my heart goes out to your ministry
7:00 PM
hey mike, it's been awhile since we've seen you. i hear "about" you through various people and know that God is blessing your family. we are moving to africa (from France -language school) in about a week...but brett's parents live in nashville so we'll be making stops there when we're back in the states. maybe our paths will cross one of these days. till then...God bless.
-april (gillespie) emerson
2:01 PM
I was just looking at your site and I was really impressed with your work. I am beginning the journey toward becoming a visual artist myself. I have no formal training, but God keeps giving me pictures. So I guess I need to make them. A friend who is not a beleiver recently said he doesn't see a new direction that art can go in. "It seems we have exhausted every avenue of 'freedom'." He said. I responeded that I beleive we need to return to a time of art as worship. It is funny that I had that chat with him this week and another friend gave me your site and asked me to visit it. I was really blessed by what you do! It just confimrs something that I think God is going to do in our culture and that is so good.
2:35 AM
I attend First Baptist Church in Benton, AR, and had the privilege of watching the "miracle" of Christ's face appear on an empty canvas this a.m., 1/14/07. What a marvelous, creative way to worship and honor our Lord! May God richly bless you and your unique misistry.
Robby
10:43 PM
Welcome to the neighborhood.
You'll be skipping church to watch NASCAR and taping the fishing channel before you know it.
-SG
3:32 PM
Hey there stranger!
It is Ella Wallis. I am glad to read that you and Anne are doing well. What else is going on with you all?
I am living in Benton, AR...Do you think you will be in Little Rock anytime soon? I would love to meet up even if it is just in the airport... Maybe even get a painting done at my church.
y.f.-Ella
emwallis@hotmail.com
PS- I still have the CD you burned me when I was down at HU... decorative cover and all!
10:58 PM
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