To School and a Showcase

My Humanity, Christ, Salvation class huddled around Dr. Sung. It was inspiring to be with this group of missionaries serving on four continents.

Every person who follows Jesus has been given a kingdom that is meant to be linked to the kingdom of God—it is where we get to grow human flourishing and to invite people into the larger kingdom of God. –Dr. Dan Allender

Jesus gives each of us a kingdom within His larger Kingdom to creatively partner with Him in cultivating truth, goodness, and beauty in this world. This is one of those mind-blowing theological realities of being God’s image bearer. Our God is unbelievably inclusive, and His attentiveness toward our flourishing overwhelms me. One of the sweetest gifts of working with Cru is that I get to partner with ministry partners in growing human flourishing.

Another gift of serving with Cru is its commitment to its missionaries developing strong theological foundations so that we are thought-filled and theologically grounded spiritual guides. Cru requires us to take 24 hours of graduate coursework through its Institute of Biblical Studies. Over the past several weeks, I was privileged to engage in a two-week intensive course titled Humanity, Christ, Salvation—completing my second to last course!

As we delved deeply into the systematic theology of these topics, my highlight of the course occurred as I sat at my desk writing my final paper and read this quote from my textbook, “To be united to Christ means being united to Him in the whole sweep of his redemptive mission (Phil. 2:5-11). The Christian has died with Christ, has been resurrected with Christ, has ascended with Christ to share now his reign in the heavenly places, and is destined to share Christ’s coming glory with him. The work of the Spirit in regenerating the believer is therefore a work in which the Spirit unites us to Christ.” The months of reading preparation as well as sitting under Dr. Sung’s teaching suddenly dropped to my heart—as tears flowed down my cheeks I joined Jesus in worshiping our generous Father. The wonder of God and His very goodness never grows old on me.

Arts Fellowship Orlando’s Showcase July 9

The Arts Fellowship Orlando (AFO) Showcase is Sunday, July 9! Our artists have worked diligently to complete their projects and have grown significantly. The Heart of the City Foundation—AFO’s largest donor—just published this article featuring Karina. It captures her growth vividly and was written by Madison Brockman Vulkanblomst (my daughter).

…As we wait for the Not Yet, creativity is a mechanism for “seeing” this coming kingdom and the way it breaks into the here and now. It is a bridge between these two worlds, ushering the transcendent into our ordinary, everyday lives while turning our ordinary everyday lives into something transcendent. It takes us into a world we can only imagine (from the opening narration I wrote for the Now and Not Yet Showcase).

Karina Grows in Her Gift of Awakening Others to God

We have entered into the final month of the Arts Fellowship Orlando (AFO) six-month fellowship, and I am filled with joy by the goodness and beauty of God I have experienced with this group of six artists. As we have discipled them in the integration of art and faith, provided spiritual formation, as well as mentorship with renowned artists in their fields, we are seeing God build AFO’s fellows’ in wisdom, stature, and creative ingenuity. Equally exciting to me is that they are growing in their capacity to bring the story of God to those in their communities and to a culture in need.

I am captivated by a book I’m reading called Rembrandt is in the Wind. The first chapter speaks about how the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, describes our origin as a union of goodness, truth, and beauty intended to aid in the work of building community. Yet, in the west we tend to pursue truth and goodness while leaving beauty as an elective pursuit. However, truth, goodness, and beauty have been holding hands from eternity to eternity within the Trinity, and we are designed to hold them all in tension as well. Author Russ Ramsey writes of the weight of beauty,

So many things in our world are beautiful but didn’t need to be. God chose to make them that way so he might arrest his people by their senses to awaken us from the slumbering economy of pragmatism. That awakening is a vital function of beauty. This is the gift of beauty from an artist to their community--to awaken our senses to the world as God made it and to awaken our senses to God Himself. 

Karina is one of the art fellows you are helping grow in her capacity to awaken the senses of others to God and His world. I asked Karina if she would share with you a taste of what God has been weaving through her soul through her AFO journey…

AFO has been a deeply formative part of my journey as a young adult and recent college graduate. This fellowship has given me the space to cement my identity simultaneously as an artist and daughter of God who can use my talents for His glory. The theological and spiritual development have been some of my favorite aspects of this program where I am being challenged to understand God as Creator and to understand how my own personal experiences have meaning in the Kingdom narrative He is writing. 

I have never before encountered this level of intentionality in a program which seeks to holistically invest in its artists and equip them to share their faith through their talents. For that reason, I am immensely grateful to have been a part of this new fellowship and the transformative work it has been doing in my heart these past months.

As Karina and the other artists artists bring their showcase projects to completion this month, will you join me in praying for them? They will present in a full-length program at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts on July 9 to a sold-out audience. Our hope is that those in attendance will be arrested by the beauty of God and their senses and imaginations awakened to God and His story in a new and invitational way.

On the Family Front

Dennis was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a month ago. We just learned the results of his pet scan two days ago, and thankfully, the cancer is still localized to his prostate. Will you join us in praying for him? We meet with two doctors to discuss surgical removal and radiation treatments over the next three weeks, and then will decide what route to take. It would be a comfort to have you with us as we walk this path.

It is an immeasurable gift to partner with you in helping shape souls and reclaiming God’s voice in culture and community.