A group of artists came together to participate in a very unusual art project. Phase one, the artists were tasked with creating their best “Crown of Thorns” piece. Phase two, which was kept secret, became a very unusual, powerful experience for all those involved. The paintings themselves were done on a 2′x2′ piece of plywood in the medium and style of the artists choice.

Every good and perfect gift is from our father, but lets not make idols of them. Remember the golden calf? The gold was plunder from Egypt which the Lord gave them, yet they crafted idols from God’s gifts & blessings.

We are reconcilers, reformers, co-laborers, ambassadors for Christ that means we are re-presenting Christ and His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

Our time, talent and affections are to be his, and is agenda is knowing Him and making Him known; seeking and saving that which is lost.

Above: Artist Susan Gromala Crary

Above: Artist Jim McMahel

Above: Artist Jerryl Kain

Above: Artist Jeanne Smith

Above: Artist Antonio Santos

Above: Artist Keelan

Above: Artist Scott Howe

Above: Artist Cody Duncan

Above: Artist Neysa Millan Santiago

PHASE TWO

After presenting their finished paintings to the group, the artists are challenged to their surprise, to offer on the altar as a sacrifice, the very paintings they just created, as a representation of giving Jesus Christ full lordship of their creative abilities.

God promises Abraham a son, (Gen 17:15-21) and  that nations and Kings will come through him. After Isaac is born, God tests Abraham (Gen 22:1-18, asking him to surrender Isaac back to Him, by sacrificing him on the altar. God asks Abraham to release back to him the very thing he has blessed him with; that which he holds most dear, that for which he has hopes & dreams and even a word from the Lord! We believe God is asking us to place ultimate trust into His hands; to release what we hold most dear and personal, our creative ability, for His purposes alone – to make His name known in the earth not our own.

Pastor Larry Ramirez was the one-man wrecking crew who volunteered to smash the paintings. As he starts the dirty work he begins sharing about the sacrifice of Jesus and the atoning work that took place on the cross of Calvary. Almost immediately we feel the breath & presence of God. We began to get just a slight understanding of God’s love and the cost of Christ’s blood to buy us back.

Almost all of us are moved to tears as we experience God’s love for us, the sacrifice of His son and the ongoing furious pursuit for the souls of all men and women.

We gathered together on the altar and offered ourselves as LIVING SACRIFICES to our Lord and King. Our creativity, our hopes and dreams, our very lives offered to Him for His purposes!

Something significant happened in our lives that day. Something shifted in our perspective that will drive us in a greater way to do all things for the glory of God and no longer to the glory of ourselves.

The strategic favor of our time slot, right before the mayor’s throwing of the switch and tree lighting ceremony, provided maximum impact of the clear proclamation that JESUS IS THE REASON not only for the season but absolutely everything! The Pop Shop’s classy production included many traditional Christmas songs celebrating the birth of our savior, while Evoke artists Jerryl Kain & Neysa Millan Santiago did live paintings of Jesus and the nativity.

Above: The Pop Shop hypes the crowd!

Evoke artist Jerryl Kain live painting abstract Jesus.

Evoke artist Neysa Millan Santiago painting her vibrant nativity during one of the Pop Shop numbers.

Above: The crowd numbered in a few thousand. Our prayer was many backslidden and stray hearts would once again return to the heavenly father as the true Christmas story is retold.

Below: One of the Pop Shop numbers included a skit of a troubled man receiving the infant savior as his hope and strength.

As the fireworks lit up the sky and mega watts illuminated trees and decorations I was reminded of Jesus, our true light who reminded us; that WE are the light of the world! There is no such thing as darkness. You cannot turn up or down the darkness in a room. Darkness is merely the absence of light. The darkness in our neighborhoods, cities and regions is due to the fact that the church is just not shining. Lets commit ourselves a fresh to being bold witnesses of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and brightening our region with His love this coming year. The world is waiting.

]]> http://www.evokeministries.org/light-up-the-holidays/feed/ 1 http://www.evokeministries.org/evoke-soul-movement-the-space-coast-fair/ http://www.evokeministries.org/evoke-soul-movement-the-space-coast-fair/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:02:32 +0000 administrator http://www.evokeministries.org/?p=2594 On the opening night of the Space Coast Fair, Evoke teamed up with Life Visual to tell of the wonderful work of Jesus!

The Soul Movement dance squad thrilled the fair attendees with spectacular acrobatic dance moves, then sobered them up with bold testimonies of God delivering power! In our 30 minutes on the platform we were able to share 3 specific testimonies of the Lord’s power to save and deliver! Although many doors open because of the entertainment factor, we are always sure to do more than just “entertain”. We lift up the name of Jesus that He may draw all men and women. The gospel is the power of God, not our relevant ministry method.

We will be meeting at 1pm just right of the Amphitheater. We will pray and head out in small groups, then reconvene at 3pm, share testimonies of the wonderful things the Lord did, and dismiss. It is a great location for families to come and take part or just enjoy the festival. Everyone is welcome!

Scott@evokeministries.org

The Evoke team participated in Orlando’s Fall Fiesta in the Park, a semi-annual art show that fills Lake Eola Park with thousands of people. The park and barricaded surrounding streets are filled with tents full of artwork, food venders, businesses and all types of fun activities. Evoke “365″ rented a booth space displaying hundreds of art pieces as part of a year long project. Our purpose was to bring the life of Jesus and a demonstration of the Gospel to a mostly non-spiritual environment.

The ‘art blocks’ as we call them, are part of a daily ‘visual devotion’ having mostly stories and messages about the artists personal walk with Jesus Christ. We had a chance to share with many people our personal testimonies and different stories behind the artwork about the reality of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Evoke also partnered with Arrow Ministries who had a booth right next to us. They offered Prayer, Dream Interpretation and Prophetic Words. Many people stopped by their tent, hungry for the supernatural and a real encounter with God. Some were encouraged, some were amazed, some rededicated their hearts to Jesus, and some found faith for the very first time. People are hungry for something real; and when people are hungry Jesus shows up. Evoke also had one hour on the amphitheater stage. Poet Shawn Welcome shared his inspirational poetry spitting Christ in every breath. (FB/Shawn Welcome)

Not only did we share and pray with people from the booth, but our team, headed by Eric Gilmour of Agony Press, walked the park praying for the sick and preaching the Gospel. Some were healed, some were saved and some were very offended. We praise God for those who’s lives were forever changed and pray the others will soon encounter the real love of Jesus Christ.

The Soul Movement break-dancers also took the stage entertaining the crowd with their energetic, uplifting performance. Look for their next event, “Full Blown Soul 2″ this April 2011.

We are the salt and light of the world, not the salt of the church. Salt does not add flavor to the food as long it is kept in the shakers. We MUST get out and about, sprinkling life on all those who need it and are walking in darkness. We will continue to be present at festivals, events and street corners to proclaim, and demonstrate, the saving power of Jesus Christ to our generation until they have all come in. Thanks to all those who participated and supported this ministry.

Evoke Ministries and Resound Mission Base (www.Resound247.com) are partnering together again. Scott Howe, Director of Evoke, will be teaching the first semester of 2011 at the missions base. The class is entitled Creativity, The Christian & The Commission. If you are a creative person that has a flare to design, dance, sing, draw, write poetry, photography, make films or just want to creatively engage this generation, these messages are for you. Your creativity is God-given, and desperately needed in the body of Christ. Scott teaches how God used creatives throughout the bible and what role these creative talents play today in the purposes of God for engaging this culture and reaching a generation with the love-message of the gospel.

The classes are every Thursday, starting January 20th thru March 10th from 11am-12pm and are absolutely FREE! We encourage you to come early and join the Resound Team for worship and prayer from 9am-11am.

Wow! What an amazing time we all had being in the middle of a huge surf festival, sharing the love of God!

With God’s favor, through our friends at Life Visual, we were invited to set up our own platform and a large tent area as part of the annual Ron Jon Surf Festival!

There were thousands of people, from all over, swarming the beach for the surf event, spring break, and the shuttle launch. We shared the gospel with hundreds and hundreds and prayed with countless numbers for salvation and re-dedication! Praise to God for what he has done!

At the Evoke tent area we created lots of ways to interact and get into people lives. Our goal from the tent was one-one discussions about people’s spiritual life. We even had a survey we created to rate your spiritual journey. It worked real well to get people discussing their life and beliefs in what would usually be a laid back, party-like atmosphere. We had so many great conversations and prayed with tons of people wanting to get their lives reconnected to the heavenly father! I’m convinced that many people are so ready to live a life in Christ, they just haven’t really seen enough genuine believers walking it out.

We offered free caricatures all day with a friend of ours from Disney. She had a line all day! While people were waiting we had plenty of time to have discussions, share the gospel, and pray.

We had live art and graffiti to watch, and tons and tons of free giveaways. We gave out hundreds of testimony flyers, booklets, hip hop CDs, Jesus DVDs, bibles, and thanks to our friends at Possibility Pictures, who donated lots of gear from their upcoming movie release “Letters to God”.

Breaker dancers, drummers, live bands all took the platform and brought an entertaining performance for an eager crowd, and ALL boldly testified about the power of the gospel in their own personal lives.

(above) Matt and Kevin – drummers from The Holy Land Experience

(above) Solos Crew

(above left) Fabion of South Royalty   (above right) DJs Guardian & Sam Wize

(above) Deraj and Stria

(above) Austin Biel

Before I even finished sharing part of my testimony as a former atheist, two guys came to the platform saying they needed to hear more. We took time, sat together and listened to them share about their life experiences and doubts about the living God. We shared with them the reality of our relationships with God and Jesus Christ and assured them that this day, their loving Father was pursuing them. We got a chance to pray with them, that their eyes would be open to the reality of Jesus Christ and their need for a savior.

We continued to hang out and minister into the night. At 9pm our partners at Life Visual showed an evangelistic surf film on their 30ft x 30 ft inflatable screen! Many came out and sat on the beach, while others sat and watched from the local bars on the pier. In was really an incredible day bringing the Easter message to hundreds who really need it. May we all continue to be about the agenda of Jesus; seeking and saving the lost.

Thank you so very much to all those who supported and participated this outreach. Special thanks to 4zero7 Creative Group, Possibility Pictures and Barachel Bike and Skate.

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