Musement is an art-thrashing experience driven by inspiration and community. It’s a playground for the imagination.
“You are both; a work of art and an artist at work” – ERM
BUILD
CAPTURE
MOVE
Posted in Art/photography, tagged art, Art/photography, artist at work, artists, build, CA, capture, creativity, Erwin McManus, Fashion, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Mosaic, Mosaic church, move, Musement, Pasadena, photography, work of art on March 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Musement is an art-thrashing experience driven by inspiration and community. It’s a playground for the imagination.
“You are both; a work of art and an artist at work” – ERM
BUILD
CAPTURE
MOVE
Posted in Art/photography, Spiritual Growth, tagged Art/photography, church, Downtown Phoenix, Forgotten God, Francis Chan, Holy Spirit, light rail, Missio Dei, mission, New City Church. New City Studio, photography, Spiritual Growth, vision on January 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
“Cities are the center of culture. Often, they are the intersection of art, politics, and business. New City exists to engage culture where it’s created, weaving the story of God into the story of Phoenix.”
I love Brain Kruckenburg. He has really helped bring a vision to the local art scene in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Whether that be with New City Studio on First Friday’s or with the aaa program (action, advocacy, arts) at ASU’s College of Public Program, he has used God’s gift of creativity as a witness tool to the community. I was invited to attend New City Church this morning by some friends and I have always been encouraged by Brian’s support of what I got going on in my life. I love this church! Right now, Missio Dei is where God wants me and it’s my home and where I need to be to grow in my walk. But NCC taps right into my heart for the arts and photography. I try to stop in when I get a chance to say hi to good friends and to stay in touch with some of the local community events that they do. I’m looking forward to their next First Friday as they are displaying work from behind the scenes of local films.
Brian talked about us being humble leaders and how we need to keep advancing forward. This is done through both mission and vision. We need to always know our mission and stick to it. Vision is inside the mission and sometimes it can change and that is ok. Vision is both biblical and timely and the strategy is us. I sometimes find myself getting caught up my visions and forget the overall mission. I love to dream and God has blessed me with lots of passion and talents in different areas. Even now, God has opened up the door with the arts, photography, cooking and missions in several different areas of my life. But I want to make sure I follow the Spirit’s guidance and only follow the visions that lie within my own personal mission – which is to live a life that reflects the Kingdom.
I finished reading Erasing Hell by Francis Chan on the light rail today. There was an excerpt in the back of the book from a chapter of Forgotten God on the Holy Spirit that hit me:
I think we can all agree that living “according to our sinful flesh” is not what is intended for us as children of God. Yet even so, we often choose to face life’s issues and circumstances in exactly the same way as someone without the Spirit of God. We worry, strive, and grieve no differently than unbelievers. While it is true that we are humans like anyone else, it is also true that we are humans with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Yet, whether consciously or not, we essentially say to God, “I know You raised Christ from the dead; but the fact is my problems are just too much for You and I need to deal with them myself.”
This has been the story of my life many times over. I can tell you countless of stories of when I was filled by the Spirit and God used me in amazing ways. But then, there are many times life was ‘too hard’ for me to handle and I ended up dealing with it on my own and the result was failure. You see this in the life of Peter. He denied Christ and made all sorts of irrational decisions during Christ’s crucifixion, yet he was filled by the Spirit and spoke a message that saved the lives of thousands of people not too long after that. This is why we have an amazing God who gives us grace. Our mission can only succeed with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. My life has changed so much because of grace and I have so much peace and direction because the Spirit is alive in me.
Posted in Art/photography, tagged Art/photography, Christians, Four Holy Gospels, Good Friday, Makoto Fujimura, New City Church, New City Studo, New York, Paintings on October 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I love how God created us to be creative human beings. I love it when Christians use their creativity for the Kingdom. I was down at the First Friday artwalk at New City Studio looking at art and being inspired by some creative artists. Makoto Fujimura is an artist in New York that will be coming to New City church on Good Friday next year (which also happens to be the same night as the First Friday artwalk here in Phoenix). His work on the Four Holy Gospels has really inspired me. Check out this video about his work and how God is using him in the art world.
Posted in Missions, tagged Art/photography, Missions on May 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Today I was writing a paper for my final project in my photo class at Chandler-Gilbert community college. I was thinking a lot of what I want to do with this love of mine now that I’m all done for the semester. I do know I want to further pursue taking pictures. I love how God has give the time and opportunity for me to embrace creativity. I blogged my first mission trip when I went to Kenya in 2009. Little did I know that my site address got out and many people followed my blog those two weeks. They not only loved the stories, but the pictures I posted.
As I have traveled around the world, I have seen much pain and poverty. God has given me this heart of mercy for people who are in need for him. One of things that I love is capturing on film people’s reaction to their circumstances. Sometimes I see a lot of pain and suffering. But at the same time, I see a lot of joy. I especially see this in the smiling faces of children. I’ve seen people in the worst of circumstances just happy as can be because they have Jesus in their life. I love capturing these moments in photographs and on video. The cool thing is I know God is wanting me to combine these two loves of mine and making it a big part of my life.
I’m looking at upgrading my camera and computer equipment these next few months so I can take better pictures and edit them to look better. It is something that I enjoy and I am just following my heart.
Posted in Camber Young Adults, Rhythm, tagged Acts, Art/photography, Camber Young Adults, College Briefing, Forest Home, James Patterson, Myspace blog entries, Passion, Rhythm, Ron Merrell on August 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Art/photography, Camber Young Adults, tagged Art/photography, Camber Young Adults, creativity, gifts, Myspace blog entries, photography on March 21, 2008| Leave a Comment »
“From the fullness of his grace we all recieved one blessing after another.” John 1:16.
I have always had an appreciation for music and art. Yet I really don’t have any major talents in the art or music. But you can find me hanging at art gallerys or lost in somebody’s photograph or painting. Especially when I travel. I usually look up the nearest art gallery when I’m in a town that I’ve been in. I love reading into other people’s expression of life.
One of my favorite night’s at Camber (our young adult program) is our “Art of Life” nights. They do such such an amazing job with those nights. Paintings, photograghs, hair stylists, music, etc. We had a huge turn-out last night. The cool thing is all of this is the expressions of people in their 20’s. But the sad thing is I think that most people lose their freedom of expression in art as they get older. This is usually due to jobs or families or just plain business. Our minds are so busy that we don’t take time to enjoy and take in what God has created for us.
I was trying to remember some of the things that I have done growing up that involved art. I took a drawing class in third grade(My mom lost all of my art work though). I took drama and choir in high school. I played guitar briefly in college. And I doodle a lot..
I guess the area I am most creative in is photography. More video than still. I made a lot of home movies back in the day. But now I usually do all my video at my church on their production team using a lot of cool equipment. I shoot a lot at home as well (Mostly of my kids. They will have a library of home videos for when they are older). I then decided to try and learn more about lighting and shading and took a black and white film photography class last semester for fun. I really enjoyed that class. It got me back in touch with my creative side.
I really hope I don’t get so busy that I lose my creative edge. Just watching Ty draw or Jake play in band gets me excited. God gave us the gift of creativity and expression. We are to use these gifts and talents to the fullest just as we are with our spiritual gifts. I love that the verse in John above on how he uses the word all. We are all to use these gifts and blessings. And he gives us all these blessings, whether we think we have talent or not. And He gave us the freedom to express the gifts and abilities so others can see them and He can be glorified through them.
Does Jesus appreciate our creativity? Pretty clear He was an artist… “through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Colossians 1:3. And all things are created by Him and for Him for His glory. “appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” Hebrews 1:2-3.