TheIdeaMan

Christians in the Arts

My wife and I have been discussing this topic for several years. We're recently back to it en force as we try to map out what's next for our family. I hope to be posting more on this topic soon, but for now, here's a link dump of some recent sites I've found:

• Transforming Culture: A Vision for the Church and the Arts - this was a symposium held on the 1st-3rd of this month in Austin Texas. They'll be making audio downloads available for purchase soon. The general information they provide is interesting and encouraging.
• Space for God blog's write up on the Transforming Culture symposium
  
• the author of Diary of an Arts Pastor was one of the speakers at the Transforming Culture symposium
  
• Imago Dei Community - a Portland, OR based church with a focus on the arts both in worship, as ministry, and as a vehicle for the communication of Truth.
• International Arts Movement - Makoto Fujimura who came to Christ because of a search for Truth in art has begun this group to promote similar exploration by other artists.
• Art for God's Sake by Philip Graham Ryken - a short but effective introduction to Christian art and the need for involvement. The introduction features information on Makoto Fujimura's work.

Along with these more national and international efforts, action is being taken in the Upstate of South Carolina as well:

• Silver Chair Books - a local book store in Greer, SC is hosting a Christian in the Arts discussion group in the next few weeks.
• Another group is going to be hosting an presentation on the Transforming Culture symposium this Friday night at Snapshot Café and Art Bar. Details provided by the organizer are below:
• Where: Snapshot Café and Art Bar
  110 Poinsett Hwy at Rutherford Rd.
  Greenville, SC
• When: Friday, May 2, 6-7 PM
• Who: Any Christian in the visual arts. Bring a friend!
• RSVP: stgeorgeapa [at] bellsouth [dot] net

Learning by doing...

This quote comes from the development/programming side of my life, but it likely has farther reaching application:

"when you learn something new by using it, the application you build
will contain all the mistakes produced by learning, and you don’t
always get a chance to return and fix those mistakes."

from REST and Resource Oriented Architecture