A.C.T. Intl’s “Arts In Ministry” National Conference In Estes Park, Co—So How Did It Go? 

Reflections from Byron Spradlin

“So how did things go at A.C.T. Intl’s first-ever ‘Arts in Ministry’ National Conference,” you ask?  Pretty well we think.

Various Stats:

17 stellar faculty attended.  You can still see the entire list at: www.actinternational.org/gma/national_conference_speakers_2006.htm

37 classes, 14 of which were presented twice; or 51 of the 145 teaching sessions were presented by our A.C.T. Intl Team—35% of all the Estes Park sessions.

165 requests to stay in touch with A.C.T. Intl.

1 new bi-vocational staff already in process for coming on A.C.T. Intl staff.

2 larger churches in communication about doing a training weekend mini-conference in their region some time in the next year.

General attendance at conference in 2006 was up 16% over 2005; some think A.C.T. Intl’s presence at the conference helped attendance increase.

GMA’s response to A.C.T. Intl’s presence there:

-An invitation to return next year is already issued to us—at the Tuesday, September 5 debriefing meeting with GMA; we were apparently a very positive addition to the Conference.

What we saw among the artistic Christians there:

-deep appreciation by most of the conferees for being affirmed as front-line ministry personnel; and a willingness to deepen their

-much woundedness within the artistic camp, especially feeling underappreciated yet used by church leadership

-a real desire on the part of artistic Christians to be used by God in ministry; and in the process get healthy spiritually and grow

-a real hunger for biblical teaching on the Arts in Ministry; and great thanks for A.C.T. Intl’s presence, and GMA’s design of the conference to include this “MINISTRY” track

-a desire for more available biblical teaching on the arts in ministry—especially empowering artistic Christians for ministry in their communities

-a real interest in the possibilities of the arts in missions ministry around the world

-the entire faculty saw a real need for more comprehensive teaching, classes and curricula focused on the biblical theology, biblical strategies, ministry skills and spiritual formation issues related to The Arts in Christian Ministry

-the faculty’s desire for more practitioner-oriented Arts Ministry training opportunities has stimulated the A.C.T. Intl leadership to begin more direct work in developing our long-desired Arts-Ministry Training Institute.  We’ll keep you posted

-through our A.C.T. staff Michele Suh, who directs the Hollywood Connect ministry out of Hollywood Presbyterian Church in California, the GMA, along with A.C.T. Intl has begun discussions on how we can facilitate more interaction—for Kingdom purposes—between Christians in leadership in the various Arts & Entertainment industry communities, and perhaps see the Estes Park event as a gathering place for future conversations on how to increasingly empower these leadership-Christians to expand their contributions to mainstream culture out of their biblical worldview and lifestyle.

Downside issues:

-specific “sign-ups” for the “Arts in Ministry” track were very low.  Though our workshops were well attended, we only had four full sign-ups and three spouse sign-ups for the Track itself.  We were hoping for 100 full sing-ups.  We feel three things contributed to this:  a) we did a poor job of advertising the event; b) this year, being our first year at the conference, people did not know what to expect and therefore did not sign-up under our Track; and c) the sign-up process on the web … for our MINISTRY Track … seemed to be a bit confusing, and we may have lost sign-ups given that complication.

-finances:  .as a result we went several thousand dollars in the red.  Ouch!!

Prayer Requests:

1.      pray as we decide if we can accept the invitation to return in 2007—due to our 2006 red-ink

2.      pray for those still considering whether or not to make staff application to A.C.T. Intl as the ministry home for their regional ministry

3.      pray for the churches wanting us to provide a mini-conference in their region—how to do that, what to charge, what faculty to bring

4.      pray for the A.C.T. Intl leadership as we begin work on developing our long-desired Arts-Ministry Training Institute, to be based in Nashville but with access through regional centers and online classes.

We feel the LORD gave us this opportunity to both a) influence many artistic Christians concerning the Ministry focus God intends with their artistic ability, and b) establish better relationships between Christian leaders in the arts industry and arts ministry camps—therefore seeing better cooperation and mutual support for the sake of the LORD’s purposes in this generation.

For these results we are very, very thankful.

Thanks too, to so many of you who personally communicated to me that you are praying.  Rest assured the LORD showed up in very big ways; many of those ways we have yet to see fully played out.  I’ll keep you posted.

In Jesus, Byron Spradlin

President, A.C.T. Intl, Nashville, TN

To make a donation to help with expenses for this year and next—please go online at https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=w018372, in the box entitled “Donation Type” scroll down to and click on ‘410 Artists Unleashed Conference’, then follow directions.

Or you can mail a check made out to A.C.T. Intl, with a note attached ‘for Estes Conference’ and mail it to our Brentwood, TN office.

All gifts are fully tax-deductible.  Thank you in advance.