Christians don’t understand why the people of Hollywood don’t have the same moral or ethical foundation and why they are (they non-Christians are tired of this, yes?) tired of being told how bad and wrong they are.

Artists are prophets and God’s first act was creation. He can use artists to either reflect or project culture for others to understand what’s going on in the world –good or bad.

Yet attempting to make art sacrificially for God’s glory rather than for my own has been liberating beyond imagination.

And this is what I’ve learned: If we stay away from the people who need the love of Jesus, just mailing in hate letters and organizing boycotts, Hollywood’s professionals are going to continue hating the church and God!

Van Gogh’s art is the testimony of a heart, mind and imagination immolated on the altar of faith, yet the Church wouldn’t claim him or his work because he left the fold of the faithful in search of acceptance and meaning wherever elsewhere.

However, my true audience is the One who has called me to this vocation, and it is He who must give the increase for all that I do for His Glory.

Tension will continue between the two worlds as long as the Church remains insular and defensive.

I pray my life would be so marinated in Christ that the natural outpouring would be something “of Christ.”

But, first the Spirit comfortably floated above disorder, free to be, ready to mold, shape and fill. As Madeleine L’Engle suggests, “Maybe you have to know darkness before you can appreciate the light.”