Art & Soul post # 7 by guest author, Dave Weiss
From the time I was a small child, I knew I wanted to make art and tell stories when I grew up. I loved creating art and putting on shows for my sister and my cousins. I didn’t really fit in at school, and the constant abuse from my peers killed the storytelling part of me. I became withdrawn to the point of being terrified to speak in public. In retrospect, this was probably what allowed me to focus on becoming a visual artist. Art became my refuge and the one thing I did that allowed me to feel a sense of belonging. My earliest influences were the low brow artists of the 60’s and 70’s. These were the guys who did the cartoon cars with the monsters doing big burnouts like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. I was also influenced by Warner Brothers cartoons and to a lesser degree Disney. For this reason, I fell in love with cartooning which is still a favorite art form of mine. I love the combination of words and pictures to communicate a message.
As my senior year in high school approached, an art career was still in my plan. One day, when I was talking to my parents about going to art school, my mom blurted out, “No son of ours is going to starve in an attic.” What had been my plan throughout my entire life was now deemed trivial. Now it was my turn to panic. If I wasn’t going to be an artist, what would I do? One day, a representative from a technical school came into my class and told us about the “exciting world of electronics engineering”. The big appeal was when he said I could finish in three years and that graduates could start at up to $80,000 a year (mind you this was 1981). I liked the thought of finishing college and making $80,000 a year while my classmates who had targeted me were still trying to figure out life. Never mind the fact that I had absolutely no experience with electronics… I was going to be an electronics engineer.
I found myself on academic probation by the end of my first year at the technical school, so I gave up on being an engineer. I was again determined that I was going to be an artist, but not just any artist. I was going to be a famous, money making artist. It was about this time that I met my best friend, Dawn, who introduced me to her best friend, Jesus. Later, Jesus would become my second best friend and Dawn would become my wife. Coming to faith in Jesus changed a lot of things in my life, but my desire for an art career was still all consuming. I started freelancing literally anything I could get. Art was becoming my idol.
"The course of my life was radically changed when a pastor showed me how I could use my gift to serve the Lord." -Dave Weiss
One day, my pastor asked me to paint a backdrop for the vacation bible school skits that summer. It went really well. After a few years, I got roped into being in the skits, which was quite a stretch because I was still terrified to speak in public. That led to teaching a VBS class which eventually led to me becoming the Sunday school teacher for the high school youth and then the volunteer youth pastor. It was during my time in youth ministry that the Lord led me to start using art in my teaching. At the same time, I was working a day job for a non-profit who needed me to learn to build websites. For extra practice, I built my own website and started using it to share my creative ministry ideas. This led to me being invited to lead workshops and to speak at events.
The Bible says, "Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others..." (1 Peter 4:10)
My mission is to use my gift of art to share the Gospel and inspire people to find their mission and purpose to build up the body of Christ."
-Dave Weiss
Today, I pastor a small church in Pennsylvania. I write a creative ministry blog and have written several books on creativity and ministry. I love to do simple animation, and after years working as a graphic designer, I do a lot of the design work for my church and my itinerant ministry. I travel all over the country doing art ministry presentations in which I speed-paint (in six minutes or less) mostly two foot by four foot acrylic paintings and use them to communicate the Gospel. Though my ministry is where I do most of my art these days, I still occasionally do commissions which are almost exclusively acrylic paintings. I also do murals on occasion, working primarily in latex wall paints.
My life has come full circle. I now make art and tell stories for a living just like I wanted to do as a child. I spent most of my life thinking of art as the “be all, end all” goal for my life. Instead, it became a tool God gave me to use for His purposes. Friend, no gift is wasted. What God has given, He has given on purpose, for a purpose. Be careful about putting Him in a box.
Dave Weiss
Dave is pastor of Springfield Church of the Brethren in Coopersburg, PA. He is also the author of Running A.M.O.K., Ministering to the Creative Soul and Enough, all on Amazon.
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Written for visual artists and creatives of all stripes, Running A.M.O.K. gives encouragement and admonitions and challenges us to use whatever gifts we have received to serve God and others. It includes stories and thoughts about God, the church, art, and the artist.
This is a time for the creatives in the Church to rise and shine. It is equally clear that the Church needs to be reaching out to the Creatives in the community. Ministering to the Creative Soul is designed to help churches minister to the creatives within their walls and reach out to those beyond.
Enough deals with what it means to measure up from God’s perspective in terms of being enough and having enough. As it looks at biblical examples, Dave’s personal experience, and other examples, this book’s purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to anyone who’s ever struggled with feelings of inadequacy.
A.M.O.K.Arts is a ministry founded by Dave Weiss with the inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Their mission is simply to minister to artists through the arts with the goal of helping everyone discover their God given purpose and live it out as commanded in 1 Peter 4:10.
2 thoughts on “A Storyteller’s Journey…”
Dave, thanks so much for sharing your inspiring story! I have read both Running AMOK and Ministering to the Creative Soul. I loved them both! They were filled with lots of wisdom and great ideas! May God continue to bless you for using the artistic gifts he gave you!
Thanks so much for including me on your site. I feel blessed to have been invited and if I can be of service to anyone, please contact me. .