The Bible warns us against claiming to be too certain about the future, because the Lord may have other plans we're not yet aware of! We have to be willing to sacrifice our plans, hopes and dreams if that is what is necessary in order to obediently and humbly serve God.

     Having said that, it is difficult to accomplish anything really significant without a substantial amount of planning.

     Our plans and our attitudes about those plans should be flexible enough to accommodate the possibility of unforeseen events, but we should make plans nevertheless.

     It's important to seek God's wisdom when making plans. That includes knowing God's word well enough that we can be reasonably confident that our plans don't violate any scriptural commands or prohibitions.

     Ideally, our plans will not merely be "acceptable" to God; rather, we will make our plans with the specific objective of furthering God's kingdom as defined by biblical principles.

     That isn't to say that everything we do has to have some deep spiritual purpose. But our overall lives should be oriented in such a way that our highest priority is to please the Lord.

     Within the framework of God's moral will for our lives, God generally grants us a measure of freedom when it comes to decision making. For some excellent teaching about how to best determine God's will for your life, I highly recommend Garry Friesen's book, entitled Decision Making and the Will of God.

     My reason for discussing such matters is that I want to clarify my own attitudes towards my plans for this ministry. Those plans are so ambitious and detailed that this document would be even longer than it currently is if I tried to include all my ideas on this page.

     Therefore, I intend to offer more details about my plans for this ministry, in the form of a PDF document to which this page will link, once that document is complete. (As is the case with all PDF documents, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer in order to read the document. Most browsers include the Acrobat Reader plug-in these days, but if yours does not, I recommend that you visit Adobe.com ASAP in order to download that free software program.)

     Essentially, I see this as a multistage project divided into several distinct stages:

     In this initial stage, the objective will be to establish a web-based ministry and organization which will offer a wide variety of benefits both to members and non-members alike, with members being eligible for certain benefits which are only available to members.

Web-Based Art Sales

     Visual artists wishing to sell their work online will eventually be eligible for setting up their own e-commerce galleries on this site, if they wish to exercise that option. The main issues currently preventing that from happening are technical. But it's definitely feasible. It's just a question of programming.

     I'm a trained web designer, but my programming skills are minimal. Therefore, in the first stages of operation, I'll probably be offering PDF catalogs, price lists and order forms online. That type of setup doesn't offer the instant gratification of a true e-commerce site, but it does at least enable one to conduct sales transactions in a manner which involves the web.

     Initially, the PDF files distributed via this site will primarily pertain to my own products and services, but I am also open to the possibility of distributing PDF files pertaining to your own original art (e.g., catalogs or "sell sheets", order forms, etc.), provided that you are a dues-paying member of the NAAAC (North American Association of Artistic Christians).

     Numerous other options exist when it comes to selling your art and art-related products online. For example, you might want to check out some of the options offered by Lulu.com, CafePress.com, Zazzle.com and iStockPhoto.com. I certainly plan to do so when offering various products derived from my own art, photography, music and creative writing.

     It doesn't have to be visual art. It could also be other art-related products, such as music CDs. However, when it comes to sales of such products, you may also want to look into other options. CDBaby.com, for example, seems to have an excellent online program for selling music and audio CDs, even in very small quantities. One option might be to set up your own CDBaby.com store and then place a link to that store in your "artist's profile page" here at ArtisticChristians.com. The same options might exist in terms of offsite stores at CafePress.com, Zazzle.com, Lulu.com, iStockPhoto.com, or even your own separate personal web site.

     I'm not a big fan of eBay when it comes to using that auction company for the purpose of marketing original art, but certainly, if you were to have your own profile page on this site (as a result of becoming a dues paying member of the NAAAC), you could list your own eBay auctions on your personal profile page as well.

     The next step, after setting up a system involving the use of PDF files for the purpose of enabling visitors to order products shown on this site, will very likely be to use PayPal and/or Google Checkout, possibly in conjunction with a special e-commerce template, in order to set up actual e-commerce capabilities on this site or on a separate site linked to this site.

     Eventually, I'll want to set up a partnership or business relationship with someone with extensive programming knowledge and experience, so as to be able to create custom e-commerce applications on this site. (Here's a volunteer opportunity for those of you with programming skills! Eventually, it might even work into a full time paid position.)

Links and Resources

     Other benefits will be easier to implement. For example, in my Links and Resources section, I plan to regularly add a wide variety of lists, links and information pertaining to specific artistically talented Christians, specific art-related ministries, and specific products and services of interest and value to artistically talented Christians.

     Such listings and links will be beneficial to those so listed, even if they choose not to join the NAAAC (North American Alliance of Artistic Christians). However, I also plan to allow members to set up their own "enhanced listings", which may include links to individual web page profiles which I'll set up for them on this site.

Book Reviews, Music Reviews, Art Reviews, etc.

     One of the many purposes of this site will be to offer cultural critiques, both for the purpose of enabling Christians to make more informed decisions as consumers, and also for the purpose of challenging mainstream book publishers, record companies, live theatres, art galleries and movie producers to improve the overall quality of the products they produce and sell, in terms of the moral and spiritual content of those products.

BodyPower News and BodyPower Classifieds

     Another facet of the ministry will be a webzine called BodyPower News. In this context, the word "body" is not a reference to bodybuilding in the physical sense. Rather, it is a reference to my desire to empower the Body of Christ to be all that it can be.

     BodyPower News will publish various news articles in order to enable individual Christian churches and ministries to publicize upcoming events and/or report on past events held in connection with those ministries. Numerous other types of articles (such as commentaries) may also be published. Ideally, most of those articles will focus on the arts in some way (since there are plenty of general interest Christian webzines already), but there may be occasional exceptions.

     BodyPower Classifieds, which will be treated as a section within BodyPower News, will allow non-members and members alike to place classified ads specifically directed to other members of the Body of Christ (sort of like a Christ-centered version of CraigsList).

     Classified ads placed in BodyPower Classifieds might cater to artistically talented Christians in various ways. For example, there could be classified sections for bands seeking new members, musicians seeking to join bands, bands or solo musicians seeking gigs, independent record companies seeking to receive new demos, music fans seeking or offering rides to concerts, and many other people involved in Christian music in some way.

     Visual artists, writers, actors and many other Christians involved in other facets of the arts would find such classified ads to be equally beneficial.

     During Stage One, one goal would be to raise funds which would enable the ministry to move to the subsequent developmental stages described in this document.

     There are many other aspects I could list in connection with Stage One, but this is already getting to be a pretty long document, so let's move to ...

     In Stage Two, the online ministry would continue, bigger and better than ever, but the ministry would also acquire physical facilities (probably in or near downtown Chicago) for a storefront retail art gallery which would also serve as a Christian coffeehouse (with gourmet coffee, various bakery items, a juice bar and more), so as to facilitate an ongoing ministry which would appeal to Christians and non-Christians alike.

     During daytime hours (say, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.), the facility would function as a retail art gallery. (Staying open until 7:00 p.m. would allow people who worked standard 9 to 5 jobs to shop at the gallery without having to leave work early.)

     At 7:00 p.m., the store could close for an hour or so in order to allow the gallery proprietors to leave and eat dinner before returning in the evening, on select nights, for the purpose of attending concerts, seminars, Bible studies, prayer groups, planning meetings and other events to be held in those same facilities.

     In short, such facilities, once procured, would be used to the fullest possible extent, thereby justifying the amount of money spent on the rental or purchase of such facilities.

     One difference between this ministry concept and many Christian coffeehouse ministries is that there would be an emphasis on creating a self-supporting ministry, by selling various products in the gallery and on the gallery's web site (at reasonable prices), in order to supplement the funds procured through donations.

     The ground level facility would be known as Gallery 1212 (so named because the number 12 is symbolic of the 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and also the 12 disciples in the New Testament).

     The offices on the second floor would be the location of the Christian Artists' Resource Center. Out of those offices, numerous beneficial products and services would be offered to artistically talented Christians.

     On the third floor of the 3 story building, there would be a residential apartment for myself, and possibly a second residential apartment for an assistant. The objective of having a residential apartment in the same building as the gallery and the office spaces would be to eliminate or substantially reduce the expense and time associated with commuting to and from work on a daily basis.

     Again, there is much more that could be said about this stage of operations, and I will almost certainly expand on this section in the near future, but let's move on, for the time being, to...

     In Stage Three, the objective would be to acquire property in a more rural location which could serve as a Christian artists' colony offering residencies of limited duration to select Christian artists, musicians and writers who liked the idea of living, working, learning and interacting with other artistically talented Christians in a Christ-centered artists' colony.

     In Stage Three, I would move to this new rural location, and I would appoint a manager to replace me as the leader of operations at the downtown location of Gallery 1212.

     The new rural location would also include an onsite art gallery and coffeehouse of the same name, in order to provide additional income opportunities which would help to pay the costs associated with the new rural facilities.

     Regarding Stage Three, one possible choice in terms of location would be Paducah, Kentucky. Other options exist as well, but I like the idea of moving to a community where there is a program specifically designed to encourage artists to relocate to that community, by offering various incentives (financial and otherwise) for doing so. Paducah's Artists Relocation Program seems to fit that description. Also, the fact that Paducah is considerably closer to Nashville, Tennessee than Chicago makes it attractive, as a transitional location which would make it more feasible to make regular trips to the Nashville area in preparation for Stage Four.

     Art colonies are a longstanding tradition in America, but hardly any existing art colonies are specifically oriented towards artistically talented Christians. That's a deficiency I intend to rectify.

     In addition to the creative collaborations and other benefits which are offered by most art colonies, the Stage Three artists' colony would focus on fellowship opportunities which would enable Christian artists to explore the ways in which their Christian beliefs might shape their careers and their artistic endeavors.

     As was the case with Stage Two, moving on to Stage Three would not mean abandoning ministries established during previous stages of the overall master plan. On the contrary, the web site and the urban art gallery would continue to operate, bigger and better than ever.

     In this stage, a much larger piece of rural property would be acquired, and the ministry would begin to move into the most ambitious stage of all. In this stage of operations, the art colony would begin to add various facilities which would not have been feasible on a smaller piece of property. Such facilities would include:

• A third branch of Gallery 1212.
• Fully equipped art studios (with north light whenever possible) for working visual artists, including painters, sculptors, printmakers, digital artists, potters, stained glass artists and much more. Such studios would be equipped with expensive equipment which could be shared by multiple artists, thereby benefiting individual artists by reducing their individual expenses. Examples of such equipment might include: Intaglio and relief printing presses for printmakers; kilns for potters and ceramic artists; wide format giclee printers for visual artists of all types; flat files and print drying racks for visual artists; and much more.
• A full-service acoustically treated digital recording studio, for music, sound effects and voiceover work.
• A music practice building with numerous modular soundproof music practice rooms (equipped with digital pianos and digital audio workstations), plus several high quality rehearsal studios for bands.
• A fully equipped professional concert hall (with professional sound and lighting, a MIDI-capable grand piano, an orchestra pit, multimedia capabilities and more) capable of seating approximately 1,000 people. Such a concert hall could be the setting for numerous regular concerts by world-renowned Christian musicians. Money raised through such concerts, and through the sales and distribution of CDs and DVDs recorded during such concerts, would help to fund the various nonprofit ministries offered by the North American Association of Artistic Christians, the Christian Artists' Resource Center and ArtisticChristians.com.
• A publicly accessible botanical garden (with Christ-centered sculpture, mosaics and other public art) which would be comparable to the Chicago Botanic Garden, but more ambitious in some respects. In addition to providing an inspiring atmosphere conducive to creativity (enhanced visually by the fact that all of the on-campus buildings would be constructed from logs or other natural materials), the botanical garden would also help to put the campus on the map in terms of making it into a national tourist attraction which would attract both visitors and donors.
• A bookstore comparable to secular bookstores such as Borders or Barnes and Noble, except that it would focus primarily on Christ-centered literature, CDs, DVDs and so forth. The bookstore would include comfortable seating for customers, as well as regular music performances held in the gourmet coffee shop.
• A restaurant offering affordable (tip-free) cafeteria-style dining, in order to enable the residents of the art colony to spend a maximum amount of time creating art and a minimal amount of time attending to relatively mundane matters such as cooking meals.
• A museum of Christian art, offering an educational visual tour of Christ-centered art throughout the ages, from the mosaics of the ancient catacombs to the intricate woodcuts of Albrecht Durer to the modern works of people such as Frank Ordaz, John Howard Sanden, Stephen Gjertson, Howard Finster, Rodney Matthews and Thomas Kinkade.
• A dinner theatre offering regular performances of high quality Christian theatrical productions.
• A "bed and breakfast" for visitors to stay in while visiting the facilities during seminars, art fairs, music festivals, film festivals, trade shows and other similar on-campus events.

     These are just a few of the facilities and services envisioned in connection with the large rural campus of the Christian Artists' Resource Center.

     In addition to offering members of the NAAAC (North American Alliance of Artistic Christians) with opportunities to market their work, the numerous on-campus businesses would enable residential members to supplement money made directly from their creative work by working as administrative assistants, ticket sellers, retail clerks, restaurant workers, stock clerks, ushers, museum guides, campus tour guides, baristas, warehouse employees, web designers and programmers, landscapers, maintenance workers and more. In this respect, it would be somewhat similar to the College of The Ozarks, where I attended college years ago.

     As in the case of Stage Three, the Stage Four facilities could theoretically be located anywhere, but there are particular reasons why I think the Nashville, Tennessee area would be a particularly appropriate location. Specifically, anyone who is familiar with the world of contemporary Christian music knows that Nashville is the central hub of activity regarding that particular music genre. Ditto for country gospel and southern gospel music. Ultimately, the goal of the Christian Artists' Resource Center will be to focus equally on all art forms and all styles of music. But in terms of employment opportunities, Nashville is clearly the place to be if one is a Christian musician who wants to actually work full-time as a musician. Nashville seems to be much more musically diverse than it once was, so there's reason to believe that Christan musicians who played other styles of music would also find it beneficial to live in that area.

     In many respects, I envision the Stage Four campus of the Christian Artists' Resource Center as a model which can be used not only for the purpose of nurturing a new generation of artistically talented Christians, but also as a model upon which the leaders of local churches throughout the United States and the world could base efforts to expand art-related programs within their own churches.

     In this fifth and final stage, the objective would be to franchise Gallery 1212 and other aspects of the ministry so that every major city in America had at least one high quality, fully functional Christian art gallery comparable to the original Gallery 1212. In addition, an attempt would be made in order to expand the concept of a Christian artists' colony to other cities, and perhaps even to other regions of the world. Doing so would enable Christians to more effectively serve the Lord with their talents, no matter where they chose to live.

To say that it will take time and abundant financial resources to implement these visions would be to put things mildly! But I believe that everything described herein is feasible. It's just a question of if and when the Church will finally get serious about collectively challenging the cultural status quo and taking back territory which has been lost to the enemy of our souls!

... Mark W. Pettigrew
    Webmaster and Christian Renaissance Man