It’s time for Christian artists to really understand the significance of their gift and their calling
Through a biblical lens, Darrow Miller examines what it means to be a Christian artist and the role of beauty in the world. As the First Artist, God created the universe to be beautiful, and set a precedent for all mankind: to create art, not for religious obligation, but simply for the sake of beauty itself.
With scrutiny and honesty, A Call for Balladeers takes a hard look at the faulty perspective toward art and beauty held by many Christians today and uses the Bible to make a case for why the Church should be concerned with the arts. Miller provides a hopeful, liberating outlook for Christians who find themselves caught in a dilemma between their artistic endeavors and their desire to minister to their community.
There is no divide between art, beauty, and the Christian faith. God uses the arts and artists to advance His kingdom of truth, goodness, and beauty on earth as it is in heaven. A Call for Balladeers will help Christians think biblically about art, teach them about historical and modern-day balladeers, and encourage artists to use their God-given talents to minister prophetically, bringing transformation to their communities and nations.
Balladeer Community
Create a free account in our Christian Creative Community and download the app!
Why? Meet and learn from other balladeers who recognize that ideas have consequences and culture change is necessary at the level of worldview.
What’s it like? This social-media-style platform allows you to find balladeers “near” you, those with similar artistic interests, allows private messaging, and there is a public feed where you can comment and post.
How do I get started? Go to https://community.abundance-
Next Online Event
It is our pleasure to announce that the next featured guest joining Darrow for our live Balladeer Community event is Colin Harbinson. Colin has decades of experience living and working at the intersection of mission, worldview, and the arts. You will not want to miss the chance to participate on Tuesday, April 25 at 9 AM MST (UTC -7)! We will start early for a time to greet one another and take questions at the end.
RSVP now to get reminders and be notified with login details for this live and exclusive webinar!
Videos of Recent Events
Jeremiah and Mona Enna of the Kansas City Culture House joined us in March. From humble beginnings to a 20,000 square foot building that includes music lessons, art lessons, dance lessons, and reaches from children and underserved neighborhoods to professional levels… The Culture House is bringing together people from all backgrounds for community, excellence, and meaning. Here is the video. Here is a link to the audio and transcript.
Darrow recently interviewed Special Guest, Randall Flinn, the Artistic Director of Ad Deum Dance Company and a leader in the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) community for almost 40 years, where he has taught on theology and the arts in the School of Creativity. Learn more or watch their video interview here.
For those who attended our last webinar, there will be both similarities and differences in this session. First, how will it be different? In our last call, I interviewed Randall Flinn with Ad Deum Dance Academy, and in this call, I will be interviewing someone who couples visual arts with a ministry among the poor.
This individual struggled with the “dilemma” of choosing between “a ministry among the poor” and “doing art.” The church seemed to communicate that ministers are not artists, and artists are not ministers; people pick one or the other. My friend realized in a profound way that as a “balladeer,” their art is important to God and could disciple culture in substantial ways.
After determining that a balladeer could minister and do art, he began pulling a group of artists together twice a year to study an issue crippling his society. One time, they studied tuberculosis, spending several days in a tuberculosis hospital, talking with the patients, who were identified in the hospital via numbers, not their names.
After sitting with these anonymous patients, learning their names, and hearing their stories, these artists painted their stories, creating a human portrait of the disease. Once they were finished, they opened an exhibition, inviting politicians, business leaders, and various Christian and non-Christian religious leaders to visit. And an arts organization with a vision to shape society and raise up balladeers was born.
The work of the arts organization has continued for 14 years. In addition to hearing from my friend, we will be joined by the current director of the arts organization. Together, they will share their experiences running artist residencies over the years. In these residencies, visual artists are brought together for experiences of intense community and creativity to reflect and create art on current issues from a perspective of truth and beauty.
My friend says, “Art brings us together and shows us who we are and who we were meant to be.” I am looking forward to hearing them share what they have learned over the years about art, God, and the calling of a balladeer. Because of this balladeer’s location, the full webinar recording will not be available afterward. Please plan to join us live!
Darrow Miller is co-founder of Disciple Nations Alliance and the author of Discipling Nations, LifeWork, Don’t Let Schooling Stand in the Way of Education, and many other books, articles, and Bible studies. For over forty years, he has taught internationally on worldview and development, apologetics, Postmodernism, and the dignity of women.
Get notified!
Alert me when events are happening or new versions of the book are available. A Kindle version will soon be available through Amazon!
Listen to a recent podcast episode with Darrow as we discuss A Call for Balladeers and share the stories of Christian artists, or check out his other books below!
Meet Jeremiah and Mona Enna, leaders who use ballet to influence culture. They focus not just on making “Christian” art, but on making excellent art. Their lives help us understand what it means to be a balladeer!
In this interview with Darrow Miller, he emphasizes that artists play a creative and essential role in the church’s mission of discipling the nations. He issues a call to Christian artists everywhere to become “balladeers” by using their work to bear prophetic witness to the beauty, goodness, and truth of God’s reign.
God has given artists incredible gifts, but how can they use their talents in a God-honoring way? Should they leave their art behind to go become pastors and missionaries, or is there something uniquely powerful about art that can change the world as we know it?
Links to the new “Balladeer” song from Tyler Scott and The Threshing Floor
