Speaking Topics

Each of us has an understanding of who God is to us and how He relates to us as artists. This understanding determines how we relate to him and grant Him access to parts of our life. This humorous but deep discussion uses four human relationships to take a serious look at this foundational relationship between ourselves and God and its implications for how we build, navigate, and manage our art careers.

When it comes to our faith, art, and career, a major task we wrestle with is coordination: What is their relationship? How do they work together? This discussion leads artists away from the task of coordinating into a new paradigm that will empower them to successfully manage these areas within a single life practice.

As professional artists working in secular culture we often don’t look, or think, like the others in our churches and Christian circles. This can leave us feeling isolated, misunderstood, and insecure. In this discussion, we broaden the frame beyond the local church to show the Kingdom, where there is a place for everyone, and every kind, of God’s artists.

Being an outsider in any context can be fraught with anxiety. It is no different as Christians going into (engaging in) secular culture. This discussion challenges that anxiety head-on and provides a framework that will liberate artists to confidently engage with non-Christians with God’s love, and as His ambassador.

As artists of faith we operate under a certain ethos that guides the way we think, see, act, choose, and decide in our art life. But, what formed that ethos? Whose voice(s) is it made up of? This important discussion examines the voices that have been shaping our experience as Christians with secular art careers and empowers artists to begin, and continue, building by the right voice.

As Christians, every single one of us is tasked to honor God with our life. But what does that look like when our life is filled with activity that doesn’t focus on faith and evangelism, and isn’t isolated (doesn’t exist) in the faith community? This discussion teaches artists how to build an art life and career that fully engages in God’s purpose for, with, in, and through their life in art.

As Christians, one of our artmaking struggles is parameter: what kind of art can we make and how far can it go? This discussion empowers artists to make art about our world and the human experience in ways that are honest, that speak to our time, and that honor and represent God.

Building an art career in secular culture takes grit, bold moves, practicality, and engagement with, and within, a culture whose principles and practices are often contrary to God’s. How do we build an art career in that environment without compromising our faith? This discussion tackles this question through six mindsets that empower artists to monitor themselves in liberty and spiritual maturity as they move forward in their career.

As artists of faith we can experience anxiety around identity and how we show up in our career spaces: Do we show up as Christians or as artists? This discussion will lead artists in confronting their own identity and “or” narratives – empowering them to show up as a whole person where all parts of themselves, as artists in Christ, are honored.

As Christians, we can often become paralyzed in the uncertainty about how to tackle the practical tasks to move our art career forward in a God-honoring way. This discussion teaches artists how to work practically with the Spirit of God in taking the bold, adventurous steps to build the career they envision.

In order for the arts and creativity to fully thrive in our churches, we need artists thriving in them. How can churches help their artists thrive? How can they support artists in the diversity of experience, artform, expectation, and journey with which they come? Using Chapman’s 5 Love Languages as a structure, Hill provides a customizable framework to help churches support and care for their artists within the capacities of their specific congregation and vision.

See your art life through God eyes. As artists in faith communities, we often wrestle with limiting possibilities that leave no room for faith and our art careers to coexist. Yet in God’s Kingdom, there is more than enough space, and grace, and value, and purpose. We want to cast a new vision that sets your art life in this reality.

In the Re-vision workshop, you will experience God’s permission to be the artist He has shaped you to be, replace unproductive beliefs with the truth of who you are as a God-honoring, Kingdom-building member of the body of Christ, and experience freedom and peace of mind in the relationship between your faith and art career.