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Mentor Monday–Art for the Poor

December 3, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I met Brenda Gribbin at a women’s retreat. She led a breakout session
on using art in prayer. It was an amazing class, but even more amazing
was this woman standing in front of me. I realized that this was the
woman behind so much of the art I had seen at our church. Brenda uses
her art to work through her prayers, reflect her relationship with
Christ, and raise money for the needy. Often, she sells pieces and
donates the money to Real Options (a ministry for pregnant women) or
Buckner (a ministry for orphans both in the States and around the
world). She’s also been known to donate her art to churches.
It’s an interesting perspective on how to intertwine our art and our passion for the oppressed.
If you’re in a rush, scroll through to the last question about using your art, and read Brenda’s final comment!

Brenda, what is your inspiration for your art?
When
I started formal art training (in my 40′s) my goal was to find a way to
glorify God without painting Calvary or praying hands all the time. I
learned that the best way to do that is to develop the gift He has
given me. To work at my art as though EVERY painting were for
Him…paint for an Audience of One. My inspiration ultimately returns
to my purpose…to worship God. Sometimes inspiration comes from words
that burn an image in my brain…it’s so clear, I can’t believe others
can’t see it on my forehead. (Right now, I have Isaiah 6 screaming to
get on canvas.) Often, I’m working out a technical "what if" and a
series of abstract paintings comes running out. Once the urgency takes
over, I work fast. I consider myself a "drawer" rather than a "painter"
because my art is born quickly, like sketches…even if the image has
been incubating for months. It’s as if I have a message to deliver and
nothing will do, but that it is explained quickly and with a lot of
strong language (color, line, etc.) I believe God has a purpose for
this gift, and it is my responsibility to use it to usher others into
His presence. I am absolutely intrigued by the powerful beauty of tiny
things in nature. I could do an entire wall of azalea petals and not
get bored…but they would have to be magenta pink!

What drew you to Real Options and Buckner ministries?
It’s
that responsibility thing again, but there’s a LOT of joy behind it. So
many children and young people deserve better than what their
struggling and misdirected parents can provide. No one should make life
decisions when they feel painted into a corner. Everyone, every child
of God, should have the opportunity to know Him and experience the
abundant life He designed for them. I think these organizations are
well positioned to be effective ministers of God’s love, and I want to
be a part of that.

How are you involved in these ministries?
I
went to Russia with Buckner in 2002 to deliver shoes to orphanages in
St. Petersburg, and absolutely fell in love with those kids. I’ve been
involved with shoe drives, taking volunteers to the warehouse to sort
shoes and humanitarian supplies and other efforts for Buckner over the
years, but nothing compares with meeting the kids. I leave December 8th
for Peru, part of a 25-person team delivering Christmas gift boxes to
kids in Lima and Arequipa. I am so blessed to be able to go where many
others cannot…to love the children some others will not. Real Options
is a new involvement for me, but something that has tugged on my heart
for several years. God blessed a recent fund raising project I did for
Real Options, and I’m anxious to see what He has in store for me with
this ministry.

What made you realize that you could use your art to support the ministries?
Five
months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I went to New Orleans with a
"muck out" team. Before the trip, I felt a strong call to do a painting
for the church we were working with. Since I had never met them or seen
their worship space, I spent a lot of time in prayer over this project.
At one point, I literally got on my face before God, asking Him to
speak through me. The result was a painting that will probably not
receive wide recognition or even be long-lived…but it was significant
to the members of that church, and spoke to their own struggle and
promise for the future. I saw what God could do with the gift He had
given me…use it to encourage others in their walk. I knew then that I
could take my prayer life and offer it to others as image…a visual
encouragement.

If others want to use their art/creativity/craft in ministry, what are some things that you suggest?
I
believe God has given us the "creative" tool to speak to Him…to help
us sort out what He is leading us toward. Be genuine. Don’t look for
specific results, but anticipate miracles. It must be for His glory,
and not ours. If you find a way to clear the clutter out of your mind
enough to understand how much God loves you and wants to bring light
into your darkness, share it with others! Sing out!

Anything you want to add, Brenda?
I
am uncomfortable in my current walk…challenged to speak out and step
up to things I never would have dreamed of in the past. I give all the
credit to the Lord, because I KNOW what a mess I made of things when I
tried to do it my way. I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to
share the Gospel in fresh ways…ways that catch the doubtful unaware.
I pray God continues to push me into new territory for His sake.

Thanks
for taking this time with us. How true that God often calls us to
something uncomfortable! But that’s how we best grow and shine His
glory.

Filed Under: aesthetics, art, Mentor Monday, social justice

Mentor Monday

November 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment

My Thanksgiving holiday was stuffed with people, food, and decking my
halls. Oh, how I love the decorations. Yes, I’m a saccarine sucker when
it comes to these things.
We got our Christmas tree–Hans is his name. He’s donned with blue lights and ornaments. But more on that later this week.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Maria.
Maria
received her masters at Dallas Theological Seminary and works in Dallas
at a ministry called Buckner Community Outreach. Born in Mexico, her
family moved to Chicago when she was a child. Years later, she ended up
at seminary. I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story.
Folks, if you’re in a rush, please, at least scan down to the question where she tells you about her favorite part of her job.

Maria, tell us a little bit about your ministry.

I
oversee a Buckner community outreach program in the Vickery Meadow
community of North Dallas. This community which has a 3 mile radius is
one of the most dense communities and has struggled with crime and
poverty. We have after school programs for children 6-18 and see about
85 children everyday. We support the children’s families by offering
their parents classes in ESL, computers, parenting, and marriage. I
personally see a lot of famiiles in crisis and help them access the
help and support they need. The children participate in lots of awesome
activities and are able to be exposed to much that they would normally
not be able to. We work closely with local churches and help them
engage in this community. Currently about 80-100 people from this
community are attending Park Cities Baptist Church. This church sends a
shuttle every Sunday.


What brought you to
Buckner specifically? Was there an "ah-ha" moment or was it a journey?
Were they any inadequacies/past experiences/obstacles that you had to
overcome to get there?

I
started working at Buckner my last year at DTS. I was looking for an
internship and at the same time was looking for a church to serve and
really plug into. It was very creative how God answered that prayer. My
job at Buckner served as my internship and I worked full time. God led
me here because of a need for an internship but now I see that this is
what God has called me to do. God led me to Park Cities Baptist Church
and I am a member there. My two worlds merged together. I have the
privilige of worshipping with the children and families I serve in
Vickery Meadow. I love seeing my kids in the halls of the church and
have seen some of them be baptized.

My biggest obstacles has
been in overcoming my insecurities, past hang-ups and prejudices and
needing to develop a different way of seeing myself. When I first came
to seminary I went to pursue a counseling degree. God led me in a
different direction and I never thought I could do what I am doing now.
I look at myself and wonder how I got here but at the same time can see
how God had been preparing me for my ministry all of my life. It all
makes sense to me now. My background is very similar to the children
that I serve and I have had to let God minister and heal me so that I
can offer the same hope and comfort to these kids. Yet, I can tell them
that God helped me to overcome all obstacles and he will do the same
for them. With God nothing is hopeless or impossible.

What is your favorite part or what you do?

I
love praying. I pray with the children when they are hurting and I see
God filling them with his presence and that changes them. I have seen
countless number of children with huge burdens on their shoulders and I
have seen God lift those burdens. I then see them light and free, the
way children should be.

I also pray for needs in the program or for families and God provides abundantly every time.


What do you feel is your biggest battle?

My
biggest battle I guess is pride. When things go well and God is at work
I want to take the credit and glory instead of Him. Then I think it is
me doing all the good and I stop depending on Him. Also, when things go
well you receive attention and praise and then my motive in what I do
is to receive more of it instead of serving Christ. In order to serve
others I have to continually be more like Christ and that means
sanctification. This process is often very painful and at timesI don’t
want to keep going. But the only way for God to continue to use me is
to continue to cleanse me. Ouch!

How can readers support this ministry if they feel led?

We
have many volunteer needs, especially people who want to tutor and
mentor kids. We have lots of awesome volunteers who share their talents
with the kids such as playing an instrument, sports, or knitting. By
doing this you might help a child discover and develop a talent that
they did not know they have. This changes their life. We need people to
invest in youth.

Maria, thanks for sharing
and for your time. Hearing about your ministry excites me. I have
recently taken up the habit of knitting and am working on scarves to
donate to a local ministry, but maybe it would be more fun to make the
scarves with them. What a great idea!

Filed Under: Mentor Monday, social justice

Mentor Monday

November 18, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Today I’m going to tell you about two very special people: my parents.
My
parents aren’t the type who would cause you to immediately conjur up
trendy social justice pictures. They’re more covert in their care for
the least of these.
They like to take care of people. Particularly people in the fringes of society.
Exhibit
one: a teenage boy showed up at a local homeless shelter. I don’t
remember how, although my parents could tell you. Filled with
Christ-like compassion, they took him into their home and treated him
like their own son. There were frustrations, of course–there always
are in these situations–but my parents loved him through it until it
was time for him to move on.
You know, I debated telling you the end
of that story. I’d like to tell you that he is now an upstanding member
of society, on his way to being a pastor or congressman or something of
the like. After all, these are "Mentor" Mondays. They’re supposed to
encourage you to follow the examples of these people in caring for the
hurt, and wouldn’t it be easier to care for the hurt if you knew,
I mean absolutely knew that your efforts wouldn’t be in vain? But life
isn’t always Hollywood. Sometimes we labor in what feels like futile
effort. I’ll tell you what I know: God works your efforts for good in
your life, and we don’t always know the end of the story. In this case,
though my parents fought the ish in this boy’s life, he returned to
some yuckiness. Today, his life doesn’t look pretty. But it’s not the
end of his life, now is it? We don’t know how God’ll use my parents
demonstration of love someday.
Okay, enough of that. Moving on.
Exhibit
two: a young, single, pregnant woman showed up at their church. This
woman–a girl, really–has little, but has a desire to know God. My
parents show her God every week. She doesn’t have a car, so my mom
picks her up for church, though it’s out of the way, and drives her to
other places. They’ve helped get her situated. They’ve welcomed this
woman’s family.
I could share other exhibits, about how their church
has reached out through the youth group to the outcast teenagers. My
parents have been there for that. About how they’re involved with the
local homeless shelter. About the hospital visits they’ve made time
after time after time. About the times they brought home someone to
share our Thanksgiving meal so that no one would be alone.
Caring
for the hurt, for the orphans and widows and homeless starts in your
own community. It often means setting aside your own preferences. It
often doesn’t have some big pay-off, for our reward is in heaven. It’s
often messy, bringing people into your life. Sometimes you won’t like
it.
Enough preaching now. I’m convicting myself.

Filed Under: family, Mentor Monday

Mentor Monday–Heather Jamison

November 12, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Heather is a missionary in Kenya along with her husband, Brian, and
their kids. They have been involved with church plants, setting up
church training, establishing primary schools and water wells, working
with an orphanage, and engaged with AIDS/HIV victims.
That’s a busy day.
I
asked Heather to share her struggle in her ministry. I’ve learned one
thing about missionaries: they’re everyday people with everyday
struggles and doubts who have chosen to follow God’s calling anyway.
Thankfully, Heather is willing to open up about her struggle and doubt.
I’ll let her say the rest…

Today
was our 7th anniversary in Africa. We arrived here, sight unseen, on
November 5th, 2000. I still remember landing and being certain that I
would surely die the second I stepped foot on African soil and breathed
African air.
I had seen CNN. I knew what Africa was like.

I
crammed my little 5 year old Jordan’s anti-malaria pill down his throat
as we taxied to the gate. He spit most of it back up which assured me
that he, too, would probably be dead before week’s end.

Um, I’m not exaggerating.

When
I say that I had EVERY fear in the world about coming here, well – - -
I can’t say it any more clearly than that. But even though I didn’t
want to come here nor would I choose to stay here should God give me
the green light to turn this work over to someone else and head back to
the States (um God???), I can definitely say that I have seen a side of
God here that I never expected to see. Not because I didn’t complain.
Nor whine. I did. I remember one person who used to support us (she was
actually our largest personal or church supporter at that time by far
since we came here on a shoe-string budget) who wrote to us after we
were here a year and said that I should stop whining because I wasn’t
making the name “missionary” look good. That person no longer supports
us here. But, thankfully, God does. Not that God likes for us to
complain – He doesn’t. He says not to do it. But God is patient,
forgiving and gracious with us and He takes our doubt and complaints
and during those, He teaches us contentment, peace, surrender,
discipline and diligence – but mostly He teaches us His faithfulness.
He teaches us His forgiveness. I still complain. I admit it. I wish I
didn’t. But I do. I still get scared silly. Illness scares me. Danger
(thugs, roads, Africa) scares me. The threat of disease scares me. Lots
of things scare me. Making a wrong decision scares me. Choosing to
partner with a wrong person scares me. But hopefully my fears and
complaints are less than when I first came 7 years ago. And they are
now coupled with a hopeful assurance that God will walk me through them
to teach me something and to make me stronger and more humble.

Thank you, Heather. I pray that God continues to work in and through you.
You can visit their family website or Heather’s blog (doesn’t she have a great name, folks?).
If you’re interested in the ministry she does with the orphanage, go to their website, Adopt-a-Legacy, and find out how you can help provide basic needs for a child and education.

One
more thing–in case you haven’t noticed, I’m horrible at titles. I can
sit down and write prose for hours and hours, but ask me to come up
with a couple words in a title and I’m paralyzed. If you have any
suggestions for an alternative to "Mentor Monday" I’d love to hear
them. Leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Filed Under: Mentor Monday, social justice