Fine Arts is Community | Ryan Jordan
The first time I saw a Human Video I was embarrassed. It had the classic elements of typical “church dramas”. There was your over-acted drunk guy, the girl with the over-sized joint, and some demons taunting them. This was then concluded by Jesus’ dramatic entrance as He defeated the demons in a “300” (the movie) type finale. That was until I was introduced to Fine Arts.
The impact that Fine Arts can have on a youth ministry can be huge. To get right down to it, Fine Arts is community. It is a vehicle to take a student from “A” to “B”. “A” being uncommitted, untalented and even unsaved. “B” being plugged in to community, discipleship, and a creative outlet for their gifts and talents. I strongly believe that Fine Arts can become your primary way to connect students into your youth ministries. One nationally known youth pastor said, “it is their primary way of student retention”. This is coming from a youth ministry that has hundreds of students qualify for National Fine Arts Festival every year. I believe if you can get a student connected into Fine Arts it can become your means of discipleship, events and service “eye candy”.
Let me put beginning a Fine Arts program in terms of myths:
Myth # 1 “Put out a sign up sheet and see what happens.”
It has to start with re-framing your values. Many times we just put out a sheet on a Wednesday night and wait for them to sign-up. When they don’t, we move on to the next thing. I won’t lie to you, Fine Arts takes time, a lot of time. You have to be able to catch the vision for a youth ministry that is centered around Fine Arts. Many times I have seen students with no acting abilities become one of the strongest members of a Human Video. You have to value this ministry to the point that you pull the talents out of them. In YOUR Youth Ministries there are the next Hollywood actors, the next singer-songwriters, the next artists! See it in them. Cultivate that!
False Myth # 2 “You, as the Youth Pastor have to be talented in the arts to have a
healthy FA department”.
This is far from the truth. It is your job as a youth pastor to cast vision and to raise up leaders. Surround yourself with people that have different talents. I can’t sing or write a human video to save my life! However, I can find someone who can and release them into their giftings and ministries. Find a student and tell them to look up the top 10 Human Videos on YouTube and write one. It doesn’t have to be the greatest one you have ever seen. At some point that leader or student will stop watching other groups on YouTube and will be overwhelmed with God given ideas. Most of our good ideas come from students. Don’t discount their voice in the writing process. Also call other youth pastors and ask for help. That’s right…we are all on the same team. Call someone in the country that is blowing up in FA and ask him or her questions.
False Myth # 3 “I don’t have talented students”
You have to see in them what they may not see in themselves. Call out those talents in them. Help them see their God given abilities. If a student comes to me and wants to sing a male solo but they can’t sing at all, I simply look at them and say, “ You got this, give it all you got”. Our students have to start somewhere, why not let it take place in a safe environment where they can make mistakes, then watch that confidence build in them. Take a “Pilot Year” and start with a few students and keep building.
Fine Arts is just as much fun as it is hard work. It can take over your whole Youth Ministry…if you let it. Let it! Value it!
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