Hi praying friends,

Today I drove one of our interns to the airport. Maria had served for 6 weeks with us, and was one of our first "artists-in-residence." She is a budding author and spent 20 hours a week honing her writing craft. Yesterday afternoon she did an author's reading for us - reading the prologue and first chapter of a novel she has been working on.

She shared that one of the things she found most helpful for her was being in a community that valued creativity.

I am going to go out on a limb here (historically speaking, it is a really big branch, so I feel safe...) and say that artists will lead the way forward in gospel proclamation in the coming years. As a church, we need to begin fostering places for creativity that is not kitschy or appealing to only a niche market. We need solid artists creating good art AND we need to be open to listen closely to the prophetic messages artists are already proclaiming about our society, the needs of people around us, and the driving motivations people are pursuing.

If you know an artist that needs a community that values creativity where they can have some time to practice their skills and grow in confidence have them contact us. We'd love to have them do an internship here.

Some other observations mixed with prayer requests:

1. We are saying goodbye to a lot of interns in the coming months. That is going to be hard! Please pray for us.
2. I have a birthday next week and am inviting neighbors and friends to a party. Please pray for that!
3. Caleb is taking finals. Pray for him as he studies.
4. We are enjoying Johannah being with us. Pray for us to be in the moment with her, focusing on her time here - not on the day she departs.
5. I have a really bad toothache and am going to the dentist today. Pray he finds the source of the pain and that it dos not involve too many hours in his chair to get it resolved.

Blessings,

mike