God's Creative Gift is an in-depth study for the creative Christian. It is intended for both professional and lay artists, for the casual crafter and hobbyist, and for those in both sacred and secular settings. It is for those who see things where others do not and for those whose imaginations cannot be confined by religious dogma and tradition. It is for musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, dancers, dramatists, writers, poets, carvers, weavers, film editors, photographers, filmmakers, architects, designers--anyone who finds inspiration in creativity. Focusing on the creative spirit within, it is designed to help you draw your inspiration from a Deeper Source. It is deeply rooted in Scripture--for the creative Christian must enter into the Word of God on a regular basis in order to know the choreographer of her steps, the crafter of her designs, the author and perfecter of her faith, and the sculptor of her creative heart, soul, mind, and body. And to know Him intimately.
Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs when you laugh, loves to play, and invites us to join the fun? In this book Christine Sine invites us to pay attention to childlike characteristics that have the power to reshape us, with fresh spiritual practices that engage all our senses and help us embrace the wonder and joy that God intends for us.
What if you could gather up all the shattered and scattered pieces of your broken heart and surrender them to a Master Artist who would then piece it back together into a BEaUtiful work of heART? ...a powerful kind of "Kintsugi of the Soul"...Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. When an object is broken, rather than discarding the damaged and broken, the pieces are mended, and cracks are filled with precious metal and, in many ways, make the object more beautiful than it was at the start. As a philosophy, it is rooted in the inherent beauty of all objects, no matter what they've endured. And the philosophy behind kintsugi is the same one that inspires this book.Kintsugi is a powerful metaphor of Jesus Christ, the Master Artisan, filling and healing the shattered places within. As the broken places are tenderly pieced back together and repaired with his golden healing balm, they become a beautiful place where God's glory is revealed in our weakness. In "The Creator's Healing Power-Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" you will discover a path to healing with a focus on artistry, beauty, creativity and worship. Based on the Formational Prayer Model developed by Dr. Terry Wardle, "The Creator's Healing Power" is an in-depth and interactive Bible study exploring the connection between healing and creativity, prayer and redemption, surrender and beauty, worship and wholeness. As an interactive workbook, each chapter includes "Digging Deeper" Bible studies to help you uncover more about each subject area, exploring what God's Word has to say to aid us on our healing journey. Additionally, each "Digging Deeper" Bible study includes reflection questions to use as journaling prompts, song suggestions, and instructions for stepping into a creative process as a path towards healing. Throughout the book you will also find movie clips, songs and videos to use as you creatively process all you have learned. Each chapter concludes with a "benediction" of poetry and a coloring page-graciously shared by fellow artists, wounded healers, on the healing journey themselves. Poems included are by creatives such as Sarah M. Wells, Jan Richardson and Tom Graffagnino. Also included are stories and testimonies from artists and creatives who share how they have used their creativity to heal themselves and others.Are you ready to begin a journey of reclamation and redemption with the Healer of All Healers? Are you ready for the Master Artist to take the broken, fractured, bifurcated and scattered places within and perform "Kintsugi of the Soul" in you? Let "The Creator's Healing Power-Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" be the place where you begin.
Why are we artists? How does God experience art? What is the artist’s calling in relation to God, the church, and the world? Drawing from his experiences performing Mozart, playing “dive bars", and leading worship and the arts in the church, author Manuel Luz seeks to answer the questions that artists often ask. Laced with humorous and sometimes poignant anecdotes, Imagine That is a thought-provoking journey through the convergence of art and faith. Luz has been a working musician, writer, pastor, and even amateur cartoonist for more than 40 years, and in Imagine That he lays out his case for a uniquely Christian approach to the vocation of artist, using theologically rich and artist-friendly language. In the end, Imagine That affirms and equips Christian artists for the special kind of ministry that only they can do.
Your words create and your words destroy. God created the universe with His Words, and He gave Christians that same authority here on earth. Many believers are not experiencing Gods absolute best simply because they dont realize the authority and responsibility they posses.
We were created by an infinitely creative God to reflect his love and character to the world. One way we do that is by continuing his creative work. In this energizing book, serial entrepreneur and bestselling author Jordan Raynor helps artists, entrepreneurs, writers, and other creatives reimagine our work as service to God and others, addressing such penetrating questions as - Is my work as a creative really as God-honoring as that of a pastor or missionary? - What does it look like to create not to make a name for myself but to glorify God and serve others? - How can I use my work to fulfill Jesus's command to create disciples? - Will what I make today matter in eternity? To answer these questions, Raynor shares compelling stories from an eclectic group of 40+ Christian entrepreneurs, including the founders of TOMS Shoes, Charity: Water, Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger, Guinness, HTC, and Sevenly, as well as nontraditional entrepreneurs such as C. S. Lewis, Johann Sebastian Bach, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Raynor's "show" rather than "tell," story-driven style makes you feel as if you are sitting at the feet of some of the godliest and most successful entrepreneurs of all time. Perfectly poised to reach today's growing creative class, this unique work restores God's position as the first entrepreneur, helping readers see the eternal value in the work they do today.
To every wounded creative or procrastinating dreamer... Discover the freedom to create again. The world needs you to shine. Creativity is a gift from God to each of us—including you. Is a message weighing on your heart or stirring in your soul today, but you're wondering how to communicate it? This hands-on journey will give you the tools and encouragement you need to discover your God-given identity, cultivate your creativity, and express your thoughts. You'll find fun, think-outside-the-box creative challenges that will spark your imagination and inspire you in fresh, new ways. You'll also learn the foundations of your creativity, find ways to overcome the obstacles that keep you from fully expressing yourself, and discover secrets to unleashing the courageous creative in you. Experience creative and spiritual freedom in this one-of-a-kind interactive devotional.
“For decades, people have been asking me to write this book. The Artist’s Way focuses on a creative recovery. We re-cover the ground we have traveled in our past. The Artist’s Way for Parents focuses on creative cultivation, where we consciously—and playfully—put our children on a healthy creative path toward the future.” —Julia Cameron Winner of the 2014 Nautilus Award represents “Better Books for a Better World”—the Gold Award (Best Book of the Year) in the category of Parenting/Family. From the bestselling author of The Artist’s Way comes the most highly requested addition to Julia Cameron’s canon of work on the creative process. The Artist’s Way for Parents provides an ongoing spiritual toolkit that parents can enter—and re-enter—at any pace and at any point in their child’s early years. According to Cameron: “Every child is creative—and every parent is creative. Your child requires joy, and exercising creativity, both independently and together, makes for a happy and fulfilling family life.” Focusing on parents and their children from birth to age twelve, The Artist’s Way for Parents builds on the foundation of The Artist’s Way and shares it with the next generation. Using spiritual concepts and practical tools, this book will assist parents as they guide their children to greater creativity.
"John Paul Lederach's work in the field of conciliation and mediation is internationally recognized. He has provided consultation, training and direct mediation in a range of situations from the Miskito/Sandinista conflict in Nicaragua to Somalia, Northern Ireland, Tajikistan, and the Philippines. His influential 1997 book Building Peace has become a classic in the discipline. In this book, Lederach poses the question, "How do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them?" Peacebuilding, in his view, is both a learned skill and an art. Finding this art, he says, requires a worldview shift. Conflict professionals must envision their work as a creative act-an exercise of what Lederach terms the "moral imagination." This imagination must, however, emerge from and speak to the hard realities of human affairs. The peacebuilder must have one foot in what is and one foot beyond what exists. The book is organized around four guiding stories that point to the moral imagination but are incomplete. Lederach seeks to understand what happened in these individual cases and how they are relevant to large-scale change. His purpose is not to propose a grand new theory. Instead he wishes to stay close to the "messiness" of real processes and change, and to recognize the serendipitous nature of the discoveries and insights that emerge along the way. overwhelmed the equally important creative process. Like most professional peacemakers, Lederach sees his work as a religious vocation. Lederach meditates on his own calling and on the spirituality that moves ordinary people to reject violence and seek reconciliation. Drawing on his twenty-five years of experience in the field he explores the evolution of his understanding of peacebuilding and points the way toward the future of the art." http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0616/2004011794-d.html.
From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity’s quintessential—and often overlooked—role in the spiritual life “Makoto Fujimura’s art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence.”—Martin Scorsese “[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art.”—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making.” What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman’s words, “an accidental theologian,” one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.
