On Saturday night, November 15, between 100 and 150 people visited the CREDO Art Show, held at the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church. The CREDO Art show was an artistic exploration of The Apostles’ Creed and the culmination of nearly a year of thinking and planning and nearly three months of worship services and sermons.

The evening began at 7:00 pm when the doors to the church opened. Behind the scenes, a team of about a dozen people were scurrying to put the finishing touches on the main gallery. By 7:30 pm there were 70–80 people in the foyer of the church, eating refreshments that were also artfully created by another team of church members and friends. At 7:30 we gave a very brief introduction and opened the door to the main gallery. For the next two and a half hours people came and went, enjoying some incredible art and having conversation.

For years I have wanted to do a sermon series on The Apostles’ Creed, exploring the ancient statement of faith phrase by phrase. While many Christians repeat the creed weekly in worship it is quite foreign to most Seventh-day Adventists, so I felt it would be an ironically fresh and almost edgy way to approach the subject of “belief” and “beliefs.” Our congregation is also pretty action oriented. It’s unusual for us to spend several months talking about our beliefs, so I felt it would be a good change of pace.

But I wanted more than just a one-way conversation about the Apostles’ Creed, where I stood up front week by week and intoned about orthodoxy. I wanted a real conversation. Most worship services are not set up for this, including our own, but we devised some ways to increase the interactivity.

Each week there were blank sheets of paper in the bulletin with the subject of that week’s sermon, the creedal phrase we were exploring and the question, “What do you believe?” We invited people to write their expressions of faith and conviction or to draw sketches of their beliefs, during the sermon. We collected close to 100 of these pages during the course of our 12-week series. These results were beautiful and thoughtful. You can see a sample of these God, believe about Jesus, and and Jesus’ Nature. A more comprehensive feature will be coming soon.

The CREDO Art Show concept was hatched nearly a year ago in conversation with our leadership. Scott Arany, who is pursuing his M.A. in Worship, Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, and one of our church elders, wrote to me on December 4, 2007:

Something in my studies tonight prompted this idea that could go along with your idea for a sermon series on the Apostles Creed. Here are my rough thoughts. Let me know what you think.

Credo, “I Believe.” An artistic and musical representation of our faith…. Present as an art gallery with a concert. Music could be composed in advance…. I’ve long wondered what a visual statement of belief would look like, instead of only a printed sheet of bullet-points.

To see this dream fulfilled was inspiring. The goal was conversation; and a broader conversation than just words and the traditional vernacular of modern theological discourse. For centuries, music and the arts have been a central part of theological conversation. We wanted to revive this in our congregation. Our gallery—indeed, all art galleries or concerts—are about listening. One guest said to me, as we were looking a mixed-media piece in the gallery, “I like the fact that you guys are listening.” The comment took me by surprise. Not everyone would ‘get’ what we were doing so quickly, but he had discerned our intentions perfectly.

Among the paintings, photographs, poetry, an architectural model, a listening station, a sculpture and other mixed-media pieces, people’s faith was on display, and not just the faith of our church’s members. There were contributions from a local public high school, from friends of our members, and from friends of friends. Dozens of people visited the gallery that night that I had never seen before. We knew we didn’t want to spend a lot of money and time putting on an art show for our members alone. It just didn’t seem worth it. But the prospect of widening the conversation about faith through art to include our community outside the church was something that really excited us.

Our congregation is blessed with some incredible artists. If I tried to name them all I would certainly miss several, but one example will do. Sean Amlaner is a graduate of Southern Adventist University. He has been in Los Angeles for the past two years working in Hollywood as a special-effects artist on major motion pictures like The Incredible Hulk. Sean was the mastermind behind the transformation our very ordinary Chapel into an art gallery. He marshaled the energies of more than a dozen volunteers who worked tirelessly until the moment the doors opened.

It was a group effort that involved dozens of our members, friends in other churches and in our community, over almost a year.

If you attended the show, we would love to know what you thought. Please leave a comment below about your experience.
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Ryan Bell is Pastor of the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church where this report was originally posted.

I was just catching up on some news from the week. While watching this CNN interview with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Wolf Blitzer introduces an "I Reporter" question about a statement then GOP Vice-presidential candidate Gov. Palin made to James Dobson shortly before the election.

If you can make it through the barage of words in the first minute, you see and hear the question.

This really isn't about Gov. Palin (has she jumped the shark yet?), but about the the abuse of communicating with God.

Here's the actual quotes from the Dobson interview from beliefnet:

Dobson says to her, "We're on the same team. I'm just trying to serve the Lord as you are." He notes that he and other ministers have prayed for "God's intervention" and that "God's perfect will will be done in November the fourth."

"Well, it is that intercession that is so needed and so greatly appreciated. And I can feel it too, Dr. Dobson. I can feel the power or prayer and that strength is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation and I so appreciate it. [Dobson says, " Well, you hear that everywhere you do, don't you?] I do, and that is what allows us to continue to be inspired and strengthened. And it's just a great reminder also when we hear along the rope lines that people are interceding for us and praying for us; it's our reminder to do the same, to put this all in God's hands, to seek his perfect will for this nation and to, of course, seek his wisdom and guidance in putting this nation back on the right track."

Dobson says that he and other pastors have been praying to God for his intervention in the election: "We were just asking for, rather boldly asking, for a miracle with regard to the election this year.."

"it also strengthens my faith because I'm going to know at the end of the day, putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for America will be done, the end of the day on November 4th. "
. . .
as we seek God's wisdom and His will in this election, we have to have faith that it's all going to be good at the end of the day there on November 4th as this country moves forward."

I'd say the "I Reporter" guy got it right. But did Gov. Palin?

Did God answer only the safety prayers, just not the future of the nation prayers?

Did God send a message that the future of the nation doesn't lie with the GOP or Gov. Palin in executive leadership?

Was evil too powerful in electing Obama?

I could go on, but I hope that when politicians and pastors and the rest of us invoke God's will and the power of prayer in our communities we think through the implications. Why? Because prayer matters.

It seems that those who use prayer for power points or invoke the divine will for results that dissolve into illogic all dishonor this sacrament.

Am I missing something here?

Today, the Adventist Review just sent out their newsletter with a subject line heralding that the North American Division "Membership Tops 1 Million."

The news:

Continuing the trend of the past few years, more than 1 million people are baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, said G. Alexander Bryant, secretary of the world church division.

Back in 2004 the Adventist Review News reported that:

North American Division membership has passed the one million mark-1,001,872 as of October 21, 2004.

Apparently the news is that we're continuing to top one million. Hmm?

According to the most recent numbers helpfully available for us lay folk through the church's adventiststatistics.org, in 2006 the NAD recorded 1,041,715 members.

I applaud the focus on weeding out the excess on the books, but if, as the secretary states, the NAD grew at a 2% rate over the last five years (including losses) than we should be just hovering around 1,100,000. (The 2003 membership was 992,046.) Four years later, the news is that the NAD tops 1 million?

What's missing from the most recent Annual Council report in the Adventist Review is the actual 2007 number. Why?

Also not included in the report: the amount of money invested by the division, unions, conferences, local churches and individuals in public evangelism during 2007.
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Interestingly, in the same news report we are told that the the North American Division has set a goal of adding 100,000 new members in 2009.

The method:

an evangelistic outreach called 'Share The Hope' which will launch Jan. 3 with a day of prayer and include 'reaping' meetings in April and September.

The effort will involve local church meetings, weekly television and satellite broadcasts, and a broad-based evangelistic effort. The General Conference previously set 2009 as a global 'Year of Evangelism.'

Italics mine.

Broad? In the era of narrowcasting and individualized email communications - that sounds like a whole lotta out-of-date public evangelism. But don't take my word for it.

As a supporter of effective Seventh-day Adventist® evangelism, I'm eager to see how the NAD will deploy membership resources to quintuple its growth rate in a year.

But are we really ready to be aggressive enough with our truth in the marketplace of ideas?

Then what does the fact that seven whole people (before I post this) have watched this almost month old It is Written YouTube video tell us?

This message fights every day with exactly the sorts of messages present in every North American's life. If folks don't listen to it from the comfort of their own homes, why for example, is the Southern California Conference spending significant parts of their stated 1 million dollar budget on the hope that these same people will drive to hear it at the Shrine Expo Center?

Do church leaders even pay attention to what each other actually say. Rich DuBose, director of Church Support Services for the Pacific Union Conference, writes:

Public evangelism has its place, but it should never be looked to as the primary definition of what evangelism is. I'm saying that when members hear the word, evangelism, instead of thinking of a 4-6 week series of meetings, they should think of the many incredible opportunities that surround them every day to touch people's lives for God.

Okay, I'm ready. Is leadership? Are they putting our money where their mouth is?