News!

As of this morning, I have accepted a job as Student Ministries Graphic Designer at Kensington Community Church! I’ll be ending my internship, but will be continuing to do graphic design work, and I am so blessed with this opportunity. I will be updating more frequently now, and am excited for what the future holds.

Stations of the Cross/Easter

Most recently I was working on my church’s part of an event called “Stations of the Cross”. Many of the churches around town took part- it is much like our “Labyrinth”, but on a larger scale. I also think it lacked the seriousness and sober nature that the Labyrinth emphasizes. Still- it was cool! Our station was number 8 of 12, we were in charge of the “scourging and crowning with thorns” aspect.

Here’s a shot of our…booth, for lack of a better word. Maybe station?  Anyway, we were stationed on the sidewalk right next to the road. We built a light wooden frame and some stretchy black fabric. The wind was some 20 mph, we ended up using cinder blocks to hold it down.

Our station consisted of a video of the beating and whipping of Jesus along with the crown of thorns and a table holding replicas of both the crown and the cat-of-9-tails (the whip I made myself).

I brought up the idea of giving out water to people as they participated and walked through town. We added labels with the church’s logo (A design project of mine a few years ago) and handed them out!

We started with 3 cases and went through them quickly, went for 3 more, and eventually 3 more after that (9 cases total). It was great to be able to serve people in that way and also to show people that we didn’t have to preach to them, we were happy just to help. All in all, around 150 people took water and went through- great day!

And, as a bonus (YES!), here’s a shot of how I arranged the stage for Easter. I arranged the Easter lillies (a tradition I don’t entirely understand…) and some white candles- I thought it was a nice look!

I love this stuff…

It has been a busy week! My experiences as the intern at the church have been great so far- I’m learning a lot of useful things and also having a great time.

These first two are actually not at my church. Dad and I headed up to Grand Rapids to help my brother out with “The Labyrinth”- an event that we started at our church a few years ago. Basically it takes you through Jesus final days in a very experiential way. Using your senses to watch Jesus’ pain, feel the thorns, hear the mocking, taste the vinegar (they put wine vinegar into a sponge and held it up for him to drink on the cross). It is a very powerful experience- it puts a reality into the story that is hard to get from simply reading. We’ve done it at least twice at our church, people are led down a path taped on the floor through various stages, interacting at each one before exiting. It is actually similar to the “Stations of the Cross” that the ministerial association sponsored (next post). All of this is to say that my brother pushed an effort to have this event at his own church this year and we went up to help set up and give ideas. We also took some materials from our own event. From what I heard, the response was very good. People were very moved by it. These are photos of the tomb- one of the last few stages of the Labyrinth.

We covered stacks of chairs with landscaping fabric to create the tomb- it had a great effect.

 

Here’s a shot of another station- The curtain (torn in two)- you watch a clip from The Passion of the Christ and walk through the curtain to see the cross, it is a powerful moment.

So it was an good trip! I think the Labyrinth was a great success. I’ve talked with my brother and I may be editing a promo video with footage he took to promote the event next year! Looking forward to it.

Setup for Communion

I’m posting a couple pictures of what I worked on tonight, in preparation for communion tomorrow enjoy!

 

We have 4 folding tables around the cross in the center. We used some plaster collumns from around the sanctuary space for candles and such- very purposefully set at different levels. The whole idea was to put you, quite literaly, at the foot of the cross. I used a crimson-esque piece of fabric at the base of the cross for some symbolism- whether or not anyone will notice is yet to be seen : ). I wanted to use a lot of candles around the cross to both illuminate the cross itself and the tables, without creating a ton of attention on the people who are taking communion directly around the tables, and also to (hopefully) decrease the need for can/spot lights in the surrounding area. We’ll see how it goes!

And, as a bonus- here’s a quick shot of my “office” (nook…)

Yeah… it might not be much… yet. This isn’t a great shot, when I have more time, I’ll set up a tour.

Creative Media Intern

So, that is my new title- Creative Media Intern! I started about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been loving it so far!

I have been looking for media-type jobs for several months, but haven’t had a lot of success- but thats the job market right now, right? Add to that the ministry market- which is always suffering- and it is no wonder. I had one church tell me they needed a media guy who had more “real time church experiece”. They had me there! I needed some experience working in a church- so I talked to my dad (the Worship/Communications Pastor at my church) and asked if he was interested in an intern. He seemed really excited about the idea! So we worked out a plan of what I’ll be doing and put it on paper. I’ll post the list of my responsibilities later. I’ll be working with my Dad quite a bit. Lets hope we don’t end up killing each other.

My first week was spent editing a video for the children’s ministry at the church. This week has been spent planning my church’s part of “Stations of the Cross”, which should be great! I’ll try to put some pictures up when I have the chance!

Hopefully I’ll be updating much more frequently now that I’m in the ministry!

Bible Studies on Purpose/God’s Will?

First of all, yeah, it has been over a year since I last updated. I have recently been thinking about a lot of things that suddenly relate to the reasons I started this blog, so here we are.

I’m now a graduate of a Christian university and have quite frankly no clue what to do with my life, but that is another entry altogether. When I got back to my home church, I found myself missing the community I had at college- people who could be up in the middle of the night to talk about anything. I realized that my age group- the “Post high school through age 30” group, had no real micro-community in our church. So, with a to be the female leader and my second in command, I started a group to fill that gap. We  have been meeting since New Years Eve, once a week for Bible study and here and there for fun stuff. And it has been going pretty well! Praise God!

So this is where the title comes in- I’ve been leading this study for a while now and I’m having trouble coming up with good Bible studies to go by. One of my main selling points for this group is that it is “topical”- studying specific issues that people my age are going through, rather than studying one book of the Bible at a time. Here is the list we made of topics we deal with: Relationships (friends and “friends”), Faith/Purpose/Future/Direction/Decisions, Careers/Jobs, Stewardship of time/money/etc., Motivation, Love (various meanings). I have come up with something for each week, finding a study online or a devotional that, when expanded, did what we needed. However, I have yet to find a good “Purpose/Direction” Bible study- do they exist? I’ve had a lot of trouble finding them, despite the amazing resources that the internet provides.

So, I don’t know what to do, exactly. It becomes harder each week to find a good study. I have been a leader in a lot of situations, but I’m having trouble leading this study. Apparently “topical” studies are few and far between. Let me know if you find a good one.

Christian Art in the World Arena

Is it possible for Christian art to make it in the world? Or should I say, compete with the world? In the last few years I’ve gotten more and more into comicbooks of all things, and I have to admit 97% (thats an exact statistic) of all christian comic books are lame to say the least. Unfortunately the culture of today simply doesn’t connect with anything too “preachy”, something that we Christians need to get a hold of. This applies to art, music, conversation, etc. What the world does respond to, is love. Again and again I hear about how people love the idea of Jesus and the things he said, but they can’t stand Christians. Why? We’re judgemental, among other things. But this is getting into another topic. Lets stick to art for now.

I’ve been working on a comic book story for several years now, and I struggled with how “preachy” to make it. I brought it up on a Christian comic book forum, and was answered with everything from “don’t water down the gospel” to “You can just tell your story and have a ‘good’ message”. I’ve wanted to be somewhere inbetween. I want it to be fun to read for both lifetime Christians and those who’ve never heard of Jesus. How do we settle this dillema? I don’t want to write “Christian Comic” all over the cover, because people have learned time and time again that if “Christian” is on the cover it must be lame. I’ve thought about this thoroughly for a long time and still am unsure. I have come to the conclusion (I think…) that I don’t want to publish it with a Christian comic book company, at least if I can help it (not that I’ve had any offers). As sad a thing as it is, I don’t think people go looking for those kind of comic books, at least not non believers, who are really the larger audience I want to reach.

I’ve talked about comic art, but really it goes for any kind of art. Does it compete? Can it compete?

I still don’t think I have any readers, but if anyone passes by, what do you think?

Introductions

My name is Nate, as you probably figured. I am a senior graphic design major at a Christian university. I suppose I ought to give the few (if any) readers that I may one day have a little information about myself. I have always been interested in art, and when it came time to go to college (I didn’t think there were any other real options), I thought I might as well study art! I checked out a couple schools, including an art school that is fairly well known in the state, and probably in the art community overall. I decided, ultimately that in this time of spiritual development and growth, I wanted to be in an atmosphere that fostered that growth. So I ended up at a Christian University. I shortly after found out that aparently in order to make money in art, you need to be either a teacher or a graphic designer, so I chose the second. I wasn’t a real “I want to be rich” kind of person, but I didn’t want to be selling paintings on the streets. I thought over this decision for the next few years, and as a junior realized that I didn’t even really like graphic design, at least in the corporate world. So, I switched to ministry, which lasted a single depressing semester before I switched back. I decided that God can use me for ministry even if I don’t get the major. All this to say, I still don’t want to be a corporate graphic designer, I want to work for a Christian organization of some kind, probably a church. So, I’m starting this blog to write about my developement and growth as well as my frustrations in the coming years as I try this out. I’ll be bloging a lot about churches, and how art and design are (or aren’t) incorporated, so if you’re interested, let me know! Maybe we can learn from each other.