Soul Dreamer Resources

“What do you do if your leadership doesn’t agree with the direction/way you are going with worship?”

In the clips above Kim Walker-Smith shares her heart about worship leading experiences, self-promotion, honor, and stewardship at the Bethel School of Supernatural Worship.

You can view and purchase the full video on ibethel.tv.

In the video below Worship in Black and White from the Young Believer’s Broadcast Kim Walker talks about “how the connection of Worship is ultimate in life”:

This article by Tullian Tchividjian from www.catalystspace.com, adapted from his book Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different speaks on how believers can have an impact in any sphere of influence, not only in “Christian” occupations:

Some quotes form the article:

By reducing the notion of calling to the exercise of spiritual gifts inside the church, we fail to help our people see that calling involves everything we are and everything we do.

As Christians, we can serve God in a variety of vocations. And we don’t need to justify that work, whatever it is, in terms of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply exercise whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards…

Click here to continue reading this article on the Catalyst website

Catalyst is a conference and community focused on “next generation leadership, and providing events, resources and training for a community of next generation church leaders.” Learn more at www.catalystspace.com.

William Graham Tullian Tchividjian is a Florida native, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham.

Below Tchividjian talks about his book Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, and expands on how Christians can think differently about every aspect of their lives:

This article and audio interview by Jory Fisher of the website Women Find Purpose, and book by Gordon Smith give an in-depth look of how believers can embrace their God-given calling and identify what vocation they are called to:

What is the most crucial question in discerning or determining vocation? How does vocation change or evolve through the stages of an adult’s life? Where do we find the courage to follow God’s call and embrace our God-given potential?

Author and theological educator Gordon T. Smith asserts that it is through vocation that we come to a deep appreciation that God takes us seriously. While we all have a general call to love God and neighbor, for each individual there is a specific call—a defining life purpose or mission…

Click here to read more and listen to the interview on www.womenfindpurpose.com

About Dr. Gordon T. Smith’s book “Courage & Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential.”

A guide to the question of discerning vocation, work and career – through the transitions of life, work and career.

God has called you – first to Himself, to know and follow Him, but also to a specific life purpose, a particular reason for being. This second call, often termed a vocation, has implications for our work or occupation, but its ramifications reach far wider. It includes our giftedness, our weakness, our life in community, what we do day to day. In this book, Gordon Smith invites us to discover our vocation by listening to God and becoming coworkers with Him. Click here to learn more about the book and to order on Amazon.com

The movie To Save A Life (now available on DVD) and the accompanying resources are powerful tools for youth leaders, parents and churches to present the importance of reaching out to those who are hurting:

To Save A Life is more than a movie — it’s a feature-length film with powerful follow-up opportunities to get youth, their friends and family engaged in this life-altering movement. It is a powerful indie movie about the challenges and choices of real teen life, and it dares to deal with real issues like acceptance, hurt, love, social divisions, school violence, cutting, suicide, underage drinking, teen pregnancy and divorce.

The writer of To Save A Life, Jim Britts is a seasoned youth worker who his film degree from BIOLA University to work. The movie was inspired by a passion to reach teenagers with life-affirming entertainment—the kind of movie youth workers, parents and student leaders can get behind.

As the new school year begins there is a national movement to bring hope and healing onto High School campuses across the nation with To Save A Life. You can be part of this important movement by hosting a movie event in your community. Plan now to join the To Save A Life Week from September 6-12: 10,000 locations, 1 million lives touched.

Click here to learn more about To Save a Life Week, how you can order the Save a Live Movie Event Package, curriculum or license to show the movie at your church. If you are a parent or want to purchase a single DVD to share with your family, click here.

Check out the movie trailer below:

Soul Dreamer Ponderings are questions that relate to career and calling for all types of dreamers. Some of the questions might be posed in future Soul Dreamer Interviews as well. Feel free to leave a comment on your thoughts to these ponderings:

How can we make sure our dreams continually line up with God’s visions for us?

How do we know if a dream is God-given or something we came up with? Do we have the discernment and faith to follow God even into “unpractical” and undesirable venues?

How do we know if we are operating out of our calling?

Is God calling me to carry out my talents in a more secular frontier or in a traditionally Christian arena?

How do we rewaken dormant dreams?

Continue Reading »

Most everyone has asked these questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What should I be doing?

Artists in particular, from painters to musicians, may ask these questions regarding their gifts:

• Who am I as an artist?
• Why do I have this talent?
• What does God want me to do with it?

Navigating these questions might be frustrating when we don’t “hear” what God wants us to do with the gifts He’s given us. How do we know what route to take with our abilities?

Art Lessons from God is a great online spiritual resource that delves into these questions of gifting and calling. The web publication and discussion group were created with the purpose of helping artists and designers discover God’s purpose and plan for their artistic talent. The site was created by Tony Snipes of Kreative Kingdom, Inc. a non-profit faith-based art initiative.

Though the site is targeted toward visual artists it has much insight that could inspire artists of any type from writers and performers to musicians and filmmakers. Many of the topics explored can apply to a variety of arts, like “Anointed versus Talented: What’s the Difference?” to “Discovering a “God” idea vs a “Good” idea.” Often in our society we acknowledge the “how” regarding talents of individuals but may not always consider the deeper questions involved with “why.”

Click here to visit the Art Lessons From God website, www.artlessonsfromGod.com.

Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Tony Snipes, founder of Art Lessons From God.

Here are some great past posts and discussions on the site, many of which could apply to a variety of arts:

- Anointed versus Talented: What’s the Difference?
Talent is defined as: “Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality”…

- God Never Commits to Talent
A pastor I knew mentioned this several years ago and, to me, it still is something I have to work on always…

- God’s 7 Principles of Artistic Purpose
These are the 7 principles that guide the you, the visual artist, into a relationship with the Spirit of God in order to give God access to the creative gift He placed within you…

- Artists Taking The Mystery Out of Hearing from God
How do you hear from God, especially concerning the purpose and use of your creative talent…

- Your Artistic Talent as a Weapon
Your creative ability has power… The enemy has no creative ability…

Continue Reading »

In the Dream in Soul interview with Kirk Franklin he gave some great advice about purpose, position and gifts. Here are some of the Soul Dreamer highlights from that interview (click here for the full interview):

Dream in Soul:…One of the chapters that spoke to me was Chapter 4 “What is Purpose.” One of the important points you made in the book is that what people do does not define who they are. Was there a point in your life where you realized that?

Kirk Franklin: Yeah, yeah definitely there was a point in my life when that revelation really became true to me. It kind of resonates within me that you know music is what I do, the music is not who I am, so if I sell a lot of records that doesn’t make me who I am. If I don’t sell any records that doesn’t take away from who I am, and if I define myself by what I do then I’m going to always have to be doing, and so I’ll be a human doing instead of a human being. So, that was a very important thing for me to learn…

DS: Going along with that once I saw a tweet you tweeted a while back that said, “never let your gift become your god.” Can you talk about that and how you’ve learned that in your ministry; how does someone know when their gift or career has become an idol?

Below: A Tweet from @KirkFranklin

KF: Well, it’s just very important to see your gift through God’s lens. Once you realize that the gift really wasn’t for your benefit but the gift was really for His and He allows you to partake in it, it changes your perspective. It’s like, ok this is given to me to bring Him glory, not necessarily to bring myself glory. And so when you see that it’s something that’s on loan that you’re not an owner of it, you’re just a manager of it, then you respond differently.

Click here to read the full Dream in Soul interview with Kirk Franklin…

“No Dancing In Church” is a documentary by filmmaker Consuela Hayes featuring the DCLARE Dance Ministry of Miami, Florida. The concept of dance in the church may be a topic of conflict to some, but this short film discusses the tranformation of dance in ministry and it’s purpose.

Those in older generations may believe dancing is too suggestive or unholy to do in church. Some argue that dance isn’t Biblical or is “worldly.” The documentary discusses how Scriptures do speak about dance and how it can be used as a way of worship. From liturgical to urban, many churches and ministries have embraced dance, especially as a way for reaching youth. What are your thoughts? Do you have a dance ministry in your church?

In the Dream in Soul interview Marvin Sapp shared some inspiration about ministry and industry, gifts and calling. Here’s what he had to say below.
(Click here to read the full interview about Marvin Sapp’s latest album “Here I Am.”)

DS: You’ve said before ‘I am not a singer that happens to preach, but a preacher that has to sing,’ because singing is a gift and preaching is a calling. Can you talk a little about the difference between a gift and a calling? What message do you have for young adults in finding their calling vs. relying on the gifts?

MS: Well you know with me, this is my own personal definition, some people may disagree, but you know the Bible says gifts come without repentance. I try to make sure that they are separate. If you ask me what I mean by that – I’m gifted to sing but I’ve learned that I can be gifted and anointed and still live like the devil.

In order for you to be effective in the call you have to be tapped into the source. The only way you can remain connected to the source is you have to live a life that’s holy and acceptable by God. So that’s why I never put my gift before my call, I always make sure I put my call before my gift because that means that my focus remains in God first in everything that I do.

DS: You’ve said your music and pastoring go hand and hand as a ministry?

MS: Without question. As a matter of fact the fact that I’m able to sing enhances our worship service on a Sunday morning, it really helps to set the atmosphere so that when I stand up and preach the word of God it doesn’t fall upon the stony grounds of peoples hearts but it falls upon the fresh ground where it can be cultivated and grow. It gives me the opportunity to break up that fallow ground so that when I sow the seed it makes all the difference in the world in the hearts and minds of people.

DS: How do you balance the artistry, ministry and industry and stay focused on God when in a position like that of influence?

MS: Honestly, again this is my personal opinion, I think they go hand in hand. The Bible tells us a whole lot of things as pertains for looking out for the man or the woman of God and I think that one of the major challenges that we have is people being able to differentiate if you will what’s ministry and what’s business. The truth of the matter is we serve a God who is superlative in His nature and He requires excellence from us.

When we do function we are to function in a level of quality in business that gives Him glory. I think that when we do that, function in the level that he requires and desires us to function in He does ultimately get glory. So when people talking about separating them, I don’t know if you can, I think they all go hand in hand and I think that sometimes we can take it overboard. We can take ministry overboard, we can take business overboard, there has to be a balance and they have to work hand in hand. Sometimes you can be so business that the ministry is lost, and sometimes you can be so ministry that the business is lost, but we serve a God of balance. If we keep things balanced it makes things simpler.

DS: Is there a scripture that you would say embodies the message of this album or your work so far?

“Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1

MS: Galatians 6:1 I believe says something to the effect of if you find someone overtaken with a fault you who are spiritual should restore someone gently. One of the major problems with the 21st century church is that we kill our wounded. What God is looking for is people who are spiritual enough not to kill our wounded but to love on them and to encourage them, especially if we’re spiritual we can restore them. The purpose of restoring them is that we can ourselves; what we sow out is what we reap back. I believe strongly that’s what “Here I Am” is really all about. It speaks about that whole concept of understanding that we all have issues that we’ve had to overcome. All of us ourselves have been places and done things we are not proud of, but even in that God doesn’t disqualify us if we get back up and make the decision not to go back there.

I love where it says “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of gentleness; look into thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” We’re supposed to “bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:1 and 2.

Click here to read the full interview about Marvin Sapp’s latest album “Here I Am.”