Dream In Soul – Creativity for the Kingdom:

Author, speaker and ministry leader Tony Snipes helps today’s gifted artisans answer questions about their purpose and creative calling through his initiatives Art Lessons From God and Kreative Kingdom.

“What is it that you love doing that you wouldn’t even have to have anybody pay you for… That’s your passion…the beauty of it would be that if you’re pursuing that and you’re getting paid for it then it’s not even like work.” – Tony Snipes

Be sure to check out the resource links at the end of the interview including a free download of Tony’s audio resource “How To Identify Your Creative Calling: Your CALLING, Your CAREER, Your JOB…What’s The Difference?”

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?

Tony Snipes, a gifted artist himself and founder of Kreative Kingdom, Inc. a non-profit faith-based art initiative, began asking these questions and created a resource to help other artists discover their creative purpose.

Tony’s project, Art Lessons from God delves into these questions of gifting and calling. The blog, workshops, books and other resources were created with the goal of helping artists and designers discover God’s purpose and plan for their artistic talent. Watch Tony introduce the site below:

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”. In this interview Tony Snipes discusses his background in the visual arts and gives advice to other artists in figuring out their “why” and God’s purpose for them:

Dream in Soul: Hi Tony, thanks for speaking to me today. Can you tell us a little about who you are: What is your background in art and your profession?

Tony Snipes: Well prior to going into graphic design and illustration I have been drawing and painting all of my life but especially kind of training myself to draw and sketch from my comic books as a kid. So I did a lot of drawing back then, and am professionally trained as a graphic designer – graphic design and illustration…that’s pretty much my professional background with art.

Below is one of Tony Snipes’ pieces entitled “Endure.”

DS: What inspired you to start your website “Art Lessons From God”?

Tony Snipes: What really started challenging me is and kind of pushed me towards starting the site was based on a conversation that I had with a young man back in the late ‘90s. He was an artist as well and he was about to graduate from high school, and was contemplating going to art school or taking something else… We were talking in church and both of us started asking, where is the artist in the Bible?

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Where do you seek out inspiration in your ministry, artwork, music, writing or in other creative life areas? The book Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity by J. Scott McElroy and resource website (www.findingdivineinspiration.com) gives insight to artists in the church and how they can more effectively be led by God in their work.

The book features exclusive interviews with:

• Thomas Blackshear, Painter, “Forgiven”
• Dan Haseltine Jars of Clay
• Peter Furler, Newsboys
• Buzz Mclaughlin, Writer/Producer, Theater and Film
• And others

From the Author
There is a New Renaissance coming in the arts and God has a special place for you in it. In Finding Divine Inspiration you’ll learn how to hear God’s voice and collaborate with Him in the work He has for you.

God wants to reform the arts, to bring a new infusion of Divine Inspiration into the mainstream and an explosion of arts in the church, but for these changes to come His artists must develop a lifestyle of collaboration with Him. Through solid biblical guidance, exciting historical and current examples, and practical steps, Finding Divine Inspiration shows artists how to partner with God in their life and work. Its a concept that can help invigorate your spiritual life, bring new inspiration, enable you to share God’s messages more freely and ultimately transform the arts.

God wants to include you in an amazing creative collaboration to bring His messages to the world in unique ways — and unleash your true creative potential!

He will inspire and empower you as you learn to actively partner with Him in your life and work. He wants to transform the arts in the culture and the church, and transform your life as you learn to listen for His voice. Learn how in Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity.

Visit www.findingdivineinspiration.com to learn more about the book, to order, and visit the author’s blog featuring more posts about Christians and the arts.

Watch an interview with the author, J. Scott McElroy interviewed on The Harvest Show below. He speaks about the role of creative arts in the church, how to prevent arts from becoming an idol, self-expression vs. God-expression and more:

Watch how this illustration of Christ by photographer and social artist Jeremy Cowart is melded together – it’s a combination of creativity and intensity:

After the earthquake in Haiti last year I was inspired by Jeremy’s amazing Voices of Haiti photography project chronicling the stories of the survivors. Learn more about him below:

About Jeremy Cowart

He’s a photographer.
At his core, Jeremy loves to make art. Starting out as a designer, Jeremy really only began taking pictures to bring texture into his design work. Before he knew it, he loved photography (and was getting paid to do it.). So in April of 2005, Jeremy switched over to it full time and he has never looked back. In a relatively short amount of time, Jeremy earned the respect of artists, photographers, and celebrities alike. Now hailed as one of the trailblazers in the industry, Jeremy sees taking a photograph as merely the first step in creating a piece of art…

The way we connect may have changed but the story will always remain the same. Here are two fun, clever videos showing how the story of the Nativity might have been told if it took place in the time of social media:

“How social media, web and mobile tell the story of the Nativity; the Christmas story told through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare, and Amazon…”

This video from Igniter Media is another artistic take on how the story of the Nativity might have taken place if Facebook existed at the time of Jesus’s birth…

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”…