Jesus Photographed in Italy

A recent presentation by photographer Michael Belk has revealed the fruits of his inspired photographic work in Italy, in the form of a collection of beautiful sepia images and striking video footage, reports an article of 20 February published on Ocala.com.

It’s some years since the former fashion photographer headed for Italy with a large cast and crew to create his monumental project ‘Journeys with the Messiah.’  As might be expected, the results are stunning. He recently staged a presentation of the photographs at his own church, Ocala’s First United Methodist Church at 1126 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala.

“Shot in seven days with a 100-plus cast and an Italian actor playing Jesus Christ, ‘Journeys with the Messiah’ merges the modern world into the world God created. More specifically, ‘Journeys with the Messiah’ places Jesus Christ in modern scenarios to make scripture more relevant,” says the Ocala reporter.

As well as the presentations, the photographs are to be  published as a book and as prints and merchandise that will be available only online.

Already 1500 books have been sold in December last, as well as 200 fine art prints.  The images can be viewed directly at www.thejourneysproject.com

This is a monumental Outreach project undertaken by a servant of God who has sufficient clout to make a real difference, and the humility to give up what he was doing and answer the Lord’s call.  Wonderful!

View the full article at Ocala.com .

‘Sacrilegious’ East Van cross?

“The striking quasi-religious Monument for East Vancouver has the best qualities of effective outdoor sculptures: It’s simple but complex, historic but contemporary, irreverent but meaningful,” reports The Vancouver Sun in an article on 19 February.

The cross, by artist Ken Lum, was installed  last month on the top of a hill at Clark Drive and East Sixth as one of the City of Vancouver’s Olympic public art projects.

20 metres high and made of illuminated glass and steel, the cross can be seen from kilometers away.  The sculpture could be looked upon as a defiant gesture of East Side pride, The Vancouver Sun reports.  It seems that already the cross is being interpreted in a variety of ways, and linked to some of the historic aspects of the East Vancouver community.

This thoughtful article canvases the possible interpretations of the artwork, and I have to say the conclusions it comes to are both positive and uplifting.

Read the full story of the East Van cross HERE.

Photo by Gerry Kahrmann, PNG, Vancouver Sun.

Art and Christian Outreach

A story in the St Petersburg Times of 20 February tells of an 87 year old Pasco artist who combines his artistic talent with missionary work to spread the Gospel, particularly among at-risk children, both locally in Florida and through missionary work in South America.

Stan Crookall became a Christian at the age of 17 when he met his wife-to-be at a Salvation Army picnic. The next day he atnded the Salvation Army church where, surrounded by other young men and women who were studying the Bible, he said he “understood plainly, clearly what it meant to be a Christian.”

“That was the thrill of my heart to understand what it’s like to be right with God.”

Stan went on to do missionary work, served in the navy for 4 years during WWll, and was ordained through three different organizations, including the Baptist church.

He realized he could use his art as an outreach tool to make the Bible more interesting to young people.  He uses his Bible-based paintings not only in his local area – he also has missionaries who carry their mesaage to the schools, parks and other places in South America where they can spread the Gospel to large groups of children.

Locally, Stan is highly respected for the work he does with difficult kids.  The full story of Stan Crookall and his Art is well worth reading, because it shows how working with children can affect whole families for the better.

Here is a great man of God, using his unique talents to bring young people to the Lord.  Photos by Brendan Fitterer, St Petersburg Times.

Art and Worship

Well, I said it only 2 days ago in Modern Christian Art in Churches, and now here is Father W. Thomas Faucher, Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Boise, Idaho relating how using new works of art in the major renovation of his church has impacted favorably on the worship of his congregation.

Reported in The Herald – Malaysia Online 19 February 2010, Fr Faucher says unequivocally, “Today we can see a change in all of us who worship here. The art has changed us, opened us up to God in new and unexpected ways.  One of the most interesting things is the number of people of other religions and no religion who come to just spend time in the church. They say being there makes them feel better.”  .I have to say, I almost cried when I read that.

The whole article is a fascinating read, from the descriptions of the new works installed in the church, to an exploration of religious art and music through the insights of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Tolkien was a translator of the Jerusalem Bible and he had some wonderful thoughts on why art and music are so essential to living out our faith in God.  These are well worth reading about.

For me as an artist, there are two powerful messages in this great article:

• Firstly a quote from Pope Benedict XVI speaking in November last to a meeting of artists, “Faith takes nothing away from your genius or your art: on the contrary, it exalts them and nourishes them, it encourages them to … contemplate with fascination and emotion the ultimate and definitive goal, the sun that does not set, the sun that illumines this present moment and makes it beautiful.”
• Secondly, Fr Faucher comments: “But to provide that art we had to make the decision that an amount of money equal to 10 percent of the total cost of the project had to be found and set aside for art. For us, even as a poor parish, art was a priority, and I truly believe it must be for all of us in the church.”

I believe that today, in gathering the finances for renovation or building, churches severely limit themselves and God, by not making provision for artworks in their budgets.  Remember, what God orders, He will pay for.  Go forward in faith.

Patricia

Bible Births Christian Comic Books

A Christian publishing company, Kingstone Media Group, is already well under way with plans to make the Bible available to young people through a series of comics with titles like The Beginning, Exodus, Babylon, and The Revelation, The Christian Post reported on 18 February.

In an interview with Art A Ayris, exclusive.Pastor of First Baptist Church, Leesburg, Fla., The Christian Post explored the inspiration and development work behind this immense project.  This is quite a long interview, but well worth reading.

One of the questions asked was, “How can Christian media companies close the gap between Christian and secular media. There is a great gap; how can we do it?”

Pastor Ayris: “This could be controversial, but I believe we have to make great product and tell honest stories … The art we try to do beautifully, the stories we try to do beautifully, it doesn’t mean they are going to be saccharine. Sometimes there is heartache and murder, but that’s the good news of the gospel to me, in all the brokenness God’s grace shining through. I hope when this is all done, and we stand before the Lord, people say, yeah we saw God’s grace in that.

Whether you are Christian in ministry or work for the WB I hope you live with integrity.

I hope in our lives we minister to people and work for people. That is for Christ, serving people.

Kind of like we say about our movie, if a church is caring for broken people it will never lack for an audience. That’s how I think we can bridge the gap, and most importantly bring a biblical worldview to culture and bring truth in a palatable way to people.”

Check out this interview – it’s well worth reading.

Also check out the Kingstone Media Group website to see some of the products already on sale.