How God’s Daughters Can Create for His Glory

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Caroline Cobb
I’m so excited to be here this morning. My name is Caroline Cobb. I’m a singer songwriter out of Dallas, Texas. And in this room, we have over 25 states represented in over 64 different churches at last count. And all of you guys are wanting to be podcasters writers, visual artists, photographers, what am I missing songwriters, those are important worship leaders. All of that, for God’s glory. And I’m just so encouraged to finally get to be in this room with you guys, especially after several years of working on this event, and especially after all that we’ve been through with the pandemic. So thank you guys for being here. And I want to welcome you personally, to this morning, I want to give you a quick backstory about how this event came to be. A couple of years ago at this conference, a few of us got together at Panera Bread. And you guys are welcome to come on up here. Hunter Bayless was there. And Sarah Walton was also there. And I was there and there was a few other women with us. And we came, we had different disciplines, songwriter, magazine editor, writer, but we always we all struggled with some of the same questions. And I think our headline question was, Is this valuable work? What are we doing? That kind of question like is am I supposed to be doing this am I called to do this, we also talked about things like self promotion versus stewardship, or the tension we feel with wanting to serve our local church, but also feeling called to do this big C, church ministry, having maybe a family at home, but also feeling called to, in my case, go play a concert in Chattanooga and leave that family behind. And that creates some tension, and some wrestling. And there’s also pitfalls and social media and temptations. So that morning, we talked through all of that we did not answer all the questions that we had. But it was so encouraging for me that conversation was full of exhortation to avoid pitfalls to continue in the y which is to glorify God. And that conversation was full of encouragement. It was also just a moment where I felt less alone. It’s like, oh, I’m not the only crazy person who struggles with all of these questions. And I was so encouraged and so marked by that conversation, and continue to be marked by those light hearted sisters who want to glorify God with their creative work. And so the hope behind this morning is that we could expand that conversation that all of you could experience a little bit of fellowship around these questions that you could experience, at least the beginning of conversation around some of those topics that I know are hard to walk through and kind of niche to what you’re doing. That all of you could experience encouragement and exhortation, and feel not so alone. And so that is the hope behind this morning. And that’s been our prayer. And so excited to finally step into that this morning. Before we get started, I do want to say thank you really quick to the gospel Coalition for sponsoring this event for seeing it as not just someone’s crazy idea, but actually a need that, that people need to talk about these things and for sponsoring it and hosting us and having coffee again, so important and pastries. So thank you gospel coalition. I also want to say thanks to the panelists just upfront. We are so excited to have these women here leading us in our discussion. I know, some of them personally. And I know they have wrestled through these questions. And they’re trying to faithfully walk this out. And they’re wise, I don’t want to say thank you guys for being here. I also want to say thank you to the group discussion leaders. These all of these group discussion leaders, honestly, could be on this panel as well. They are wise, they are experienced. They love the Lord, they want to be faithful. And they showed up and we get to step into leading other leaders. And so group discussion leaders, I just want to honor you and say thank you for doing this. And thank you for volunteering your time, and your generosity with these women. And finally, I want to thank the Sara’s, we got Lucia, Sarah Walton right here. And Sarah zostera, who’s with the gospel coalition, and I don’t know where she went. But the Sara’s were like my little team as we planned and schemed this and we wrote all the waves of the pandemic. This was all planned before the pandemic and then the conference got cancelled until we replant it. So, thank you. I love your friendship, and I appreciate them very much and they are amazing. So with that, can I open us up in a word of prayer and then Sarah is going to moderate our panel Creator God, you are the Ultimate Creator. Psalm 19 says the heavens are declaring your glory day after day they’re pouring forth speech, night after night. God, we, we want to declare Your glory in whatever we’re creating. That is what we want. That’s what we longed for. And we know that we need your help. We know that we need your help. Lord, I, I pray for this morning in particular, whatever struggles people are coming in with what other whatever questions, whatever tensions they’re feeling in their work, or in their dreams, God, would you just begin to clear the fog and show them again, why it is to declare your glory? How would you point them this morning? Would you also encourage them? Would you help them to not feel so alone? Would you be with these panelists as they speak truth over us? How would you give them wisdom and what they say? Holy Spirit, would you just remind them of what they prepared but also prompt them to say things that perhaps they didn’t prepare, but they feel led to say, God, we give you this time, we thank you for this time, we rejoice that that this group of women exists and that in all their little context, they are trying to glorify you with their words and their stories and their work. We praise you and we give this time to you. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.

Sarah Walton
All right, well, let’s jump right in, because this is gonna go really fast. So I’d like can you guys just all go first, just introduce yourselves. I’m sure most people have some familiarity with your ministry. But if you can just briefly share kind of what has been your ministry at least as of late, and kind of just a really brief? What’s your heart behind it? I’m sorry.

Hunter Beless
My name is Hunter Beless. And I’m super humbled to get to be here with you guys. Today. I know many of you in the room have been creating far longer than I have. But as of late, I’ve been mainly using my creative gifts. As a homeschooling mom, for my six year old daughter, I have a four year old daughter and a two year old son. And then in the fringe hours, I produce a little podcast called The Journey women podcast.

Davy Flowers
Same as Hunter, I’m so honored to just be able to get some time with you guys this morning. My name is Davey flowers. And I live in Dallas. And I serve on staff at my church watermark as a worship leader. And I’m also part of a worship collective called the worship initiative where we are creating resource at worship resources to strengthen, encourage and edify the church.

Ruth Chou Simons
And I’m Jen Wilkin. And I am on staff at my church work and I’m, what am I responsible for? I need more coffee, guys. It’s so early. It’s earlier in Texas pray for me. I’m responsible for our next gen ministries, our Family Ministries and TVC resources. I am a curriculum writer and a book writer and I teach and then a few years ago, started a podcast with some friends called knowing faith. And so that’s about all I got.

Sarah Walton
Hey, ladies, I am Ruth Jo Simons. I am an artist and an author. Gotten to write a Bible study as well and speak when I can. And I’m a mama to six boys. And so I’m trying to steward that well as well in my every day. But you can find me on social media. And that’s where I really share my heart day by day.

Great, thank you. And as she had said earlier, I’m Sarah Walton, and seem just an author. I don’t feel like actually anything but a mom these days, with elearning and all those joys. So anyway, let’s jump right in. Ruth, I wanted to ask you, social media and this kind of culture of I don’t even really like saying it this way. But kind of the celebrity culture that can be prevalent today. There can be such a temptation, I think for no matter what level you’re at what your ministry form, just this temptation to kind of build a platform to be able to reach more, it’s not always with a bad heart to do that. It’s just this desire to be able to reach what God has given us to other people. But that can be a very slippery slope, a very fine line to know, where are we losing ourselves within that? Where are we starting to seek our own glory over the Lord’s? You’ve done such an amazing job? Just giving that picture of how to do that in a humble, God honoring way on social media. So I really wanted to ask you, how have you fought that battle? What have you found to be a helpful heart check? Just can you give us a picture of how you’ve navigated that?

Hunter Beless
First of all, thank you, Sarah. That’s a really high praise and I feel like I’m a work in progress, always learning. It’s certainly a temptation. It’s so hard if you feel that tension in your spirit. If you’ve said every week like I think I want to quit social media. I’m there with you, I think we’ve all said that some weeks are harder than others. And this last year, for sure, it was like, okay, you know, and I think when do you remember when like, recently, they were like, Hey, I think, you know, Instagram is going down, I was like, go down, that’s fine. Like, let’s just like, if the whole thing falls apart, I’m so bummed. So I get you, I’m with you. So you know, one of the things that really guards My heart is I just think about how, you know, if you go to a publisher, or if you are talking to somebody who’s like trying to help you grow things, you’re thinking numbers, right? And that person might immediately tell you like, wow, you know, what you might get a book deal if your grow your platform. And so we go straight to the whole, how do I grow the number of people who are listening to me, but the reality is, any other time prior to social media, the only way you would ever get somebody to engage in the conversation with you is probably to have them over to your house. I mean, that’s really what you would do, you’d be like, do you want to come over for dinner? How about, you know, let’s do tea this afternoon. You know, that’s like you get together. And so one of the things that really guards My heart is to think of my social media platforms as like the living room of my home, like the front door, like I literally feel like, okay, I wouldn’t invite somebody over and immediately be like, Look at my walls, look at my house, you know, what do you think about what I’m wearing today? Right? I mean, you wouldn’t like say, Hi, welcome to my house, here’s everything that I want to tell you about me. Nor would I invite somebody over and be like, the first thing I want to do is tell you about the scripture passage, I mean, this passage of Scripture, and then, like, you need to, like do this, you know, like, walk through the door, immediately tell them what to do. I think there’s just an invitation that we forget that it’s not really, it’s not simple enough just to say, Oh, do this, and don’t do that, and your heart will be guarded, I think you have to start with a paradigm of like, why you’re really there, and how you can every single day, I know, we’re all gonna face this, when you open that app, your why like, why you’re there really matters and how you craft the words that you say, the order in which you say it. And I personally make sure that I have, you know, my little board of directors, including my husband, you know, and people in my life, who will read over my post and make sure that it’s actually helpful and that it feels like a welcome into the living room. And so that’s just a very, very entry point of that conversation. But, but for me that that really is the starting point every day is like, what would I actually say? And how would I treat somebody, whether they’re my best friend or a new friend? How would I treat that person if I opened the front door and said, Hey, come on in for the next few hours.

Sarah Walton
That’s really helpful. Does anyone else have something that they would like to add to that?

Davy Flowers
Sure. I think one of the things that has helped me sort of maintain a healthy relationship with social media is just like to have this vision of social media as a ministry, and consistently reminding myself that there are people behind the computer or phone like stories, questions, doubts, fears, people wrestling with their faith like it, and it really is a matter of stewardship. And the more I think about it, it’s just a weighty thing. And so one of the things that has helped me stay connected to that reality of like, hey, there are real people that you are influencing is I actually started to intentionally set aside time to pray for people who follow me on Instagram, of just going like, you know, even believing that as I pray for them, that the Lord will give me his heart for His people. And doing that consistently has just like, increased conviction. It’s increased just a sobriety about it, and the seriousness about it. And it it makes me want to be super intentional and not try about everything that I post. And it’s just been helpful.

Ruth Chou Simons
Yeah, that’s great.

Sarah Walton
Does anyone else have something quick to add to that?

Jen Wilkin
Yeah, I haven’t learning from you guys. Because I’m, like, you know, every time someone will say, Oh, I’m taking a social media fast. I’m like, Well, how nice for you, you know, like, I cannot, I have to have some presence out there. And Ruth and I were talking about this before we get up there. But in terms of like, wanting to increase the number of people who are listening to you, it is really so I’m not in that space. Now. I’m like, everybody go away. No, please don’t go away. But like, but you’re not a terrible human because you want people to hear your message. You’re a terrible human. If when people don’t hear your message you give up and think it wasn’t worth it. Right. And that’s the hard thing was social media. But I will say that like generally for me, I’m not we were saying like, everybody wants to have a hot take on every single thing. And I’m just not a good hot take person. I don’t trust myself and hot take moments. And so I don’t feel bound to that and you’re more likely to look back with regret on having over posted than under posted and so that’s just been even in terms of building a platform on social media. I don’t think you should have to feel like you have to create content according to some schedule, you should post things that you care about, and you love and you meant to say, well, and if you don’t, if you’re not sure of how to say it, you shouldn’t feel bound to the expectations of those who are following you to say something, you know, be convictional about it. And that sounds like an oxymoron to be convictional about social media. But if you’re looking to use it for the purpose of amplifying your message, you’re gonna have to be or it’s gonna suck the soul right out of you.

Ruth Chou Simons
I think between the idea of curating you know, we talk a lot about Instagram and curation, I think it’s really easy for us to start thinking that we are actually building a mini kingdom, like, this is the Ruth Jo Simon’s kingdom. And then in that kingdom, I have to like, you know, take have have a comment on every single thing that’s going on, I have to make sure that I’m well defined. And my image is, no, it is not your kingdom, you are stewarding that one little space, that one little blip in the universe, for the glory of God, and he, your allegiance is to him. And so ultimately, I don’t feel the pressure to have to say something. I mean, I do feel the pressure. But I don’t submit to the pressure of saying something about everything or saying it like somebody else wants me to say it, or constantly create content at the pace, or whatever the rules are. I think that, you know, when your heart starts racing fast, and you feel like you can’t sleep because you haven’t said something, or you missed a few days, or you can’t take a break. I think that’s when you kind of go Oh, wow. Am I like, like, really into this kingdom that I created for myself? Because ultimately, you can lay down anything that belongs to God.

Hunter Beless
Jen, I thought you said it’s so well, sometime last summer, you said whether we speak our piece or hold our piece, let it be done in the fear of the Lord and not of man. And I really took that to heart. And it’s helped to guide me and pray before I take up an issue that I want to address on social media. Yeah.

Sarah Walton
Yeah, you know, I we were talking earlier, too, about even the way social media is created today, with algorithms with all that stuff. It’s created to suck us in. So if you’re feeling like, gosh, I was posting so much last week and getting so much interaction and the two things I did this week got like nothing? Well, that’s because they want you to post more. So you’re going to feel that frustration like well, no one really cares about what I’m messaging, maybe I need to do more to do that. So I think just having that realization to fighting against that temptation that more does not necessarily or often does not mean that God is blessing that work. We want to keep saying by being faithful with the two people that are reading this, whether it’s two or 1200. So I think that’s just a good heart check to what is my motivation to get the most response, or to truly give the truth of Christ to even the two people that read this, and that is a good heart check for me. So Jen, so you work for church. And so I just I feel like there’s been a lot of tension as women, especially because there’s so much opportunity now through social media through a lot of other ways. How do you navigate ministry for the big church? Sorry. And like little church, meeting local church and balancing that, when there may be tension in if I’m completely consumed by time for this big project I’m working on? How do I still continue to administer in my local church and vice versa?

Jen Wilkin
Well, just from a scheduling standpoint, I have a lot of pretty strict rules for myself, which actually, my church has not imposed on me. And I’m like, no, no, no, I have to keep the lines clear, or it’ll get weird for me. But in my case, anything that I have put out for the big C church has been a product of what I did in the little c church. And I’m not everyone has the luxury of creating along those lines. But I will say this, if you can do that. It is so you’re gonna feel so vulnerable. And if you guys know if you’re creative, you know how vulnerable it feels to send something out into the universe and be like, Okay, everybody, you know, it’s stripping criticize day, please tell me all my faults, and if you have already lagged it, and that’s that sounds clinical, like you’re just using your local church, obviously, that’s the place where you’re Duggan doing ministry, but you’re gonna know whether what you said matters because it mattered to the people who knew you and cared about you. Like I walked in the door today. And Anna Robinson is here. She’s from my church. And I was like, oh, you know, seeing her is different than seeing you guys because she knows me. She comes to my Bible study on a weekly basis. And and so when by the time I’ve had Anna and the other women that I know, go through one of the studies I’m just not as worried about putting it out there for the big C church and wondering if it has value because I already saw it have value. And there’s a lot of peace of mind in that in a in a space where you’re not always given peace of mind around creating so but in terms of like, being on staff at the church is tricky, because then you’re thinking like, well, I don’t want to take something that I created for the church. And then put it out there, you know. So there’s that whole issue. But I’ve been able to keep the lines clear, it’s been a lot of work. And sometimes your church might not ask it of you. But I would say if you’re in the local church, just think about those things. Because if you do have something that ends up going to a publisher or becoming very public, you want to make sure that you know, it belongs to you in the right way, or it belongs to them in the right way, based on how it was created. Yeah,

Sarah Walton
yeah, that’s helpful. Anybody else something to add?

Hunter Beless
You know, we’ve moved around a lot. And so in the last 10 years, and even since starting journey, women, I think I’ve been a part of three different churches. And so it’s become a practice for me, at every church that we come into is just to meet with the elders of the local church, and just to talk to my pastors wives, and to welcome women, just to speak into the podcast. And that’s been a really helpful way just to integrate kind of my more public ministry with what’s going on privately. And so I would really encourage you just seek out a conversation with the elders in your local church that has been so life giving for me. And then also, as I’m producing other things, like, you know, products and things like that just having their eyes on it is also such a comfort, like you mentioned.

Jen Wilkin
Yeah, that’s really helpful.

Sarah Walton
I think there’s also a temptation to to feel like you are, local stuff can be messy, you’re actually hands in, I’m dealing with relationships with other people that I can get tangled up with where social media, I feel like you can have a bit of a sense of, I’m putting this out there, it’s somewhat of a I mean, there’s, you put yourself out there, but there’s somewhat of a self protection behind that screen as well. And it can feel like you’re doing more because you’re reaching more people, but sometimes there’s less depth to it, there’s less, you know, so I think that can be a danger you want

Jen Wilkin
to so I don’t I don’t share this a ton. But when I first approached a publisher with one of my Bible studies, I was told they were too long, and women wouldn’t do them. They were too much work. I was told that multiple times. And, and I wasn’t really like trying super hard, you know, to get it published. But you’re like, gosh, I did all this work, you know, and that they they were saying women won’t do this women won’t do this. And but I knew they were wrong. Because I’d seen it in my local church. I knew they were wrong, you know, and so so it helps you to keep pressing forward, if you genuinely know the value of what you’re doing, because you’ve actually seen it produce value. So I if you’re, you know, if you’re struggling with the courage thing, see if there isn’t a place you can have that local church ministry that is helping to fuel what you’re doing. Yeah,

Sarah Walton
that’s really helpful. It’s a good point. Good, well, so kind of in a similar vein, Hunter. A lot of women here might be moms or married or have significant others in their life that they are trying to keep a healthy balance with. So how do you balance? Especially when ministry can sometimes take on a life of its own? How do you balance that with home life, with marriage with parenting, all of that?

Hunter Beless
You know, I think that remembering that our home life is a ministry in and of its own, like, that sounds so simple, but it’s often something that I forget, because I’m so eager to look for opportunities to serve outside of the four walls of my home. And so just remembering and even just in like communicating who I am, and what I do, I am the happy wife of Brooks first. And I often forget that. And sometimes if I failed to remind myself of that, then I will forget my calling in being his support. And so it’s helpful for me just to articulate those things. And to remember that ministry in the home is like the first calling that God has given to me. But then we also know that God’s called us to go and make disciples of all nations. And we know that he’s called us to love our neighbors. And that requires us to step outside of the four walls of our home. And so that’s where the tension for me, really occurs. And my temptation, and I’ve mentioned this before, but I am so tempted to look at the practice of women whom I respect like yourselves, and just to try and emulate everything that I see you doing Ruth, or you doing Jen or you Devi. And we’re all in such different seasons. I imagine that’s part of the reason why you chose us to be on the panel. Your kids are older your kids are in college, maybe you’re single, I have little kids at home. And so these are all things that we have to consider, as we’re considering what are the principles that drive the practice that we’re looking at, like I’m looking at your practice, and yes, it’s biblically founded, and it’s good, and it’s wise, and that’s why I want to copy it. But we’ve got to look at what are these principles that are really grounded in the Word of God that drive the things that we’re seeing these women do, whether they’re in our local context, or whether we’re looking at what they’re doing as we scroll through Instagram. So I’m always asking what’s this principle that I’m seeing Ruth emulate and that I admire so much. And one of the principles that that I’ll offer to you that I use, just as an example is from Matthew 22, where we see Jesus talking to the lawyer. And he saying, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And with all your mind, this is the first and the great commandment, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so when I’m trying to navigate this tension of home, work and ministry work, I am asking, am I loving God? First, it’s like such a cliche principle, right? Like everybody knows of God, and love, neighbor. And so it’s easy to remember. But yet, I still often forget, am I loving God first, and am I loving the neighbors who live just up the stairs, in the room next door. And if I’m not doing those things, then I desperately need to reconsider the obligations that I’ve committed to outside of the four walls of my home. So that’s just one example that I would offer. But as you’re reading through the text, and as you’re thinking through this kind of content creation lens, just constantly looking for biblical principles. And also, that’s the gift of the word, but we have the gift of each other to so we it’s not that we ought not look at what each other are doing with one another are doing, it’s such a gift to have each other, but go to the principles that are driving their practice, and then allow those principles to inform the way that you live out your calling, as you work both inside and outside the home.

Ruth Chou Simons
I know I’ve said this before, but ultimately, you know, we want to be women who are persevering. Long after Instagram has gone, you know, and you’re not going to be able to persevere, if you are not creating out of the overflow of your heart and over out of the overflow of what your relationship like Hunter is saying is with the Lord. And I so appreciate you bringing up seasons, because the reality is it might be really easy to see a woman who is serving in a certain way, and she can travel a lot. And in my particular case, 10 years ago, this isn’t what I was doing, I wasn’t able to my oldest is 19. And my youngest is eight, and I’ve only in the last few years have really said yes to a lot more that has taken me away from home. And we’re also in a different season, my husband and I are full time together. And that’s really different than a lot of other family scenarios. So we’ve counted the cost for what we need as a family. But don’t be tempted to compare your situation with somebody else and go, How does she like juggling, juggle at all, and then make it all fit. And something I often say is like, what you don’t see is that I actually scheduled a lot of room for nothing to happen. Because it’s only when nothing happens that one child can like have a total meltdown. And you can actually take five hours to really talk through what it is to become a teenager and why you know this is happening or that like if you schedule it so tightly and say you know what I can I can teach Bible study. And I can write books, and I can start a podcast. And I can and I can then you keep adding that on just because you have that many hours. That’s not actually good stewardship. And so steward. The reality is, I always love to think about how, you know, we talked about being in community, we talk about community groups in our church and living life on life with others, your community actually starts with the people that you have the most direct access to your kids might be your first community group, your husband, your spouse, your your, your actual, like your roommates in your home, you know, whatever it is. And so I think that’s a good way for us to kind of think it’s not just about balancing, like, how much can I put in there before I burn out. And you know, because all of us, I’m sure if you’re in this room, you probably are fairly good at maxing out your schedule, you’re probably fairly good at being like, you know what, I’ve got these three or four gifts, one of them’s not totally being used, I’m gonna find a way to use it, you know, but the reality is, God’s not done with you yet. There are other seasons. And it doesn’t mean that every season has to be the season where every single gift shines. But I will tell you, at almost 46 In my particular season, everything that you see me write, or paint or talk about right now actually came out of a season where nobody knew me. So just be faithful right there. Because you never know what guy will use later on.

Sarah Walton
Yeah, and I’d say I’ve actually, as I’ve looked back, I’ve seen sometimes God’s protection in not giving me and opportunity, because my heart would have been very tempted to grab on to that opportunity. And it was not a good season for me. And just very personally, I have found we have a very, very difficult situation at home. And so it creates a lot of stress for me and I started noticing myself as when an incident would start happening with one of my children had grabbed my phone, and I go onto social media was like instinct without even knowing what I was doing. And I had one of those kind of out of body experiences where I’m like What in the world am I doing? And I had chaos behind me. And being in a space that felt more successful and immediately gratifying felt way more enticing than dealing with the drama behind me. So I just think in some of those seasons asking, Okay, Lord, where do you want me to be investing the majority of my time, even though it feels so unfruitful right now, where it feels so much more tempting to go to this space that just immediately feels more fruitful? Has someone say, Oh, that was so helpful for me where I tell my child, they’re like, Get away from me. You know, it’s just this, it’s so much more of a poll to want to have that fill, when we’re not getting that at home as much in a moment. So. Alright, Davey. And really, if all of you want to kind of add to this and think of something you could you could offer to these women. Everybody here has some obviously the here because they have some desire to give to us the gifts God’s given them in some form of ministry. And so what would you encourage these women in whatever sphere that looks like? Who are they’re all everyone’s desiring to honor the Lord, but we’re all navigating this the best that we can. How would you just encourage them to navigate that honoring the Lord with those gifts that He has given them specifically?

Davy Flowers
So recently, I’ve just found myself going back to an old faithful passage that has just always been an anchor for me when I find myself drifting, when I find myself, just losing my way, losing vision and getting sucked into the vortex of performance based ministry, performance based Christianity, and that is John 15. And I just want to read a few verses of it. And then I’ll share a few thoughts. says I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already, you’re clean because of the word that I’ve spoken to you abide in me, and I, and you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me, I am the vine, you are the branches, Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. And I just want to go down to verse eight, nine, says, By this, My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so proved to be my disciples, As the Father has loved me. So I have loved you abide in my love. I wanted to read that passage. Because I truly believe that there is no greater fuel for the imagination, there’s no greater source of inspiration, then an abiding friendship with Jesus. And that is like a no duh. But I feel like I needed to, I need to be reminded of that every single day. The fact that there is no substitute for an authentic, consistent, daily, vibrant relationship with the One in whom and through who and for whom, and to, to all things exists, and were created and have their origin and all things oriented around. There’s just nothing more inspiring. And I don’t care how many books you read, how many podcasts you listen to how many resources you consume, there is nothing that substitutes for what happens when you shut your door at the end of the day, and what your communion and fellowship with the living God looks like. And so that is, that’s all encompassing, right? It’s like, yes, it’s we want to be diligent and faithful students of the word and we want to read the Bible daily. But it’s more than that. And yes, we want to have a vibrant and active prayer life. But it’s more than that. And yes, we want to be active and serving our local church and be rooted and deeply established and a community accountability. But it’s more than that. It is, it is just the all encompassing, turning, of our affection, turning of our attention, moment by moment, to the most inspiring person in all of history in all the universe. And I have been convicted recently of just the reminder that like, you know, we are being formed by everything we consume, whether we realize it or not, whether we’re paying attention to it, whether we are aware of it, but like every single thing, whether it be a movie, or a TV show, or a blog, or a book, like everything that goes into my eyes, into my ears into my heart is about taking part in my formation. And so we have to be overly diligent about consuming things that are going to stir our affection for Jesus consuming things that are going to fan that flame as opposed to blow it out. And so my encouragement for you friends is to ask yourself the question As a creative, as you are seeking to grow in your creative abilities, as you were seeking to read a book or start a podcast, is to ask some really serious questions about where you’re at in your intimate relationship with Jesus, because I don’t think, at don’t think even checking off the box of reading the Bible every day equals that you, you’re good with Jesus. And I don’t think serving in every ministry at your church equals you’re good with Jesus. And so I would say start there, as you are seeking to create something that matters, we all want to do something that matters. I don’t want to I don’t want to squander my gifts and live a wasted life. And I think the key to that is to get right with Jesus and to prioritize, the first thing is to make sure that the first thing remains the first thing. And the moment you notice that the first thing isn’t the first thing, be aggressive in eliminating whatever thing needs to be eliminated. And establishing like per your unique struggles per your unique just ditches and pitfalls, establishing very clear boundaries and limits. And you know, and having the accountability around you to support that, having a high vision for having a life of ministry that is oriented around a deep, substantive relationship with Jesus, and having community around yourself to call you to that again, and again and again. And again.

Sarah Walton
Yeah, I’m so glad you said that. Because I do think there can be this danger, to even read God’s word, in the viewpoint of using it as content rather than it absolutely actually absorbing into your heart and changing you first. And I think that can happen subtly at first, where it’s, you feel the demand to produce more and so you start reading with that lens of what can I grab on to to share, rather than letting it actually sink in and change you first. And I’ve seen that happen without realizing it and having to pull back and be like, I need to just stop what I’m doing in producing, and let God’s word just actually start to change me again and get back to that. Am I actually loving Christ? Or am I using him for my own gain?

Ruth Chou Simons
And I think I’ll just say real quickly that I think for highly scheduled people, it can be easy for us to think this is God’s time. And then this is my time. Like I read my Bible I studied, I did these things. And now I’m really grown, I’m gonna grow my skills. But what we what David’s saying is like we are living and breathing and everything we do is in the Spirit, and literally for him and because of him. And so even as an artist, if I’m going to take some time to paint, I don’t need to think of it like okay, well, I need my time now. But really like, Lord, what do you want to use this time for? How do you want me to express with the gifts that I have? What you want to accomplish, and I don’t have to over spiritualize it. But my point is being that we want to make sure that there’s not a sacred and secular in our lives that we actually consider everything we do, whether we’re researching for something we’re writing, or we’re in rehearsals for the music that we’re producing, or we’re writing is logging out like this whole chapter, whatever we’re doing can be done in the spirit by the spirit. And as we study the Word, the goal is not so that we can just put in that time so that we can go do something else, but that we can continually be one with the Lord as we do all those things.

Sarah Walton
Well, that’s great. Well, so we really wanted to kind of do this just really to get the conversation started. You all I’m sure are navigating this in your own sphere and a various things that you could probably get up here and share just as much. And so we really wanted to give enough time for you guys to be able to get together in the groups you should all have a group that you already know of you may have communicated with your leader beforehand, but I know it’s a bit weird with this whole it was supposed to be tables now it’s not so we’re going with it. So you’re gonna have to kind of congregate a little bit you can shift chairs, Sarah, we’re Sarah shinier. Are there any rules to that?

Okay, all right, you guys got that and you should all be sitting in the area that you’re with your group. Alright, let me say a quick prayer. And then you guys can just go right ahead and connect with your groups. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for coordinating this time, where we all desire to honor you in the gifts in the opera. communities that you have given us, we confess that none of us deserve an ounce of it. And so Help us Father, to honor you to keep pride in check to keep our where we’re putting we’re loving most in check that it would continually withdraw us back to the centrality of we have life in you because of what you did for us. And it is not our job to do things for you. It is purely a gift that you have given us and may we steward that well, please use this time now. give women a comfort and ability to connect with others who Lord willing, they can go forward and continue this conversation for encouragement and just to help keep us accountable. Thank you, Father, and may we just have you ready to absorb everything you have for us today. In your name we pray, Amen.