PLANO BIBLE CHAPEL invites you to utilize the artistic skills of your hands to visualize truths that God has placed in your heart. Over our 50 year history, music has been the primary artistic language of PBC. We want to further develop, expand, and utilize the artistic skills of many more people beyond music. Today and in the days ahead, we’re calling upon PBC artisans to use their talents and skills to expand beauty and artistry on our campus for God’s glory. You’ve probably already seen some creative works in the PBC Commons Area (chalk, paintings, photos, drawings), in the Auditorium (tables and plants), and around the PBC campus. We want you to contribute your works of art to Jesus for use in His church.
Submission Process:
Concept sketches (to aid in visualizing the final work) or a finished piece can be submitted electronically or brought by the Church Office. Each item will be reviewed for content, skill of execution, and placement. Please recognize that not all works of art submitted will be necessarily be displayed. While art satisfies and fulfills something in the person creating, it may not necessarily stir something in others responding to it. Also, please keep in mind Philippians 4:8 to guide your thoughts for appropriate subject matter.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise–dwell on these things.”
Submission Guidelines:
Age 18 and up.
Types of Pieces Preferred:
- Wall hanging in the form of painting, drawing, photograph, word art, fabric art, relief, etc.
- Sculpture and pottery.
- Functional piece, i.e. furniture, fixtures, floral/landscape/plants, etc.
- Other forms will be considered.
Please contact Larry Murray with questions. We look forward to sharing your creativity within the Body of Christ to glorify Him.
The Bible testifies that not only does God exist, He creates as the original and greatest Artist. God in His creative work is both the Supreme Artist and the Perfect Scientist who made the earth, the moon, the stars out of nothing and filled them with His glory. The Psalmist explains,
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to the whole earth,
and their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4
We know that God created the Heavens and the Earth. Consider how He sculpted the mountains with vivid textures. He carved out the canyons with breathtaking contours. He created the plants with exquisite colors and animals with a variety of shapes and sizes. Contemplate God’s desire for movement in art brought by wind blowing in the trees, the swaying the grass, or the bending of a wheat field. Or what about the spray of the ocean or large waves breaking on a subsurface reef. Have you pondered the light shows God creates for each day’s sunrise and sunset? What about the stars in the sky and the changing colors of the leaves? Think about the music and sound that God created. The songs of the birds and the symphony of cicadas were created by Him. Listen to the calming sounds of a rippling brook or the thunderous crash of ocean waves. God’s Art declares His glory.
God’s final act of creation is humanity. God the Artist created mankind in His image and likeness to know Him and be known by Him.
For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. Romans 1:20
People throughout all centuries of human existence have had before their eyes evidence of the Artist in whose mind the creative ideas of the heavens, the earth, and humanity took shape and who was able to express them in an original, visible, and artistic form. His creation is not only for practicality, but also as an art form, a communication of the glory and the greatness of the Artist.
God, in His goodness, sovereignty, and love, gives artistic gifts, talents, abilities and skills to people whom He created in His likeness. We are created in the image of our infinite Creator, so we are, on a finite level, people who can create. The Lord provides creative imagination and skill to produce works of exceptional beauty or emotional power to express His glory and stir our hearts. He provides the raw materials of wood, stone, chalk, paint, and more to be used in expressive ways. God’s Spirit gives artistic expression to His children by faith in Christ to build up and encourage one another. Art, often referred to as the language of the heart, can communicate the Good News of Jesus in ways that words alone cannot.
In the Old Testament, God Himself called upon artisans to use their craftsmanship to adorn the tabernacle and each of the successive temples. In the New Testament, God’s Spirit gave different gifts to different people to build up the Body of Christ, serve others, and administer His grace in various forms. Christians, perhaps more than all others, should live artistically, aesthetically, and creatively as we represent our Creator and point others to believe in Him.
Created in the image of the Original Artist and transformed by the redemption of His Son, we look around us for expressions of artistry, encourage the development and display of creative works, are sensitive to beauty, and responsive to what has been created for God’s glory and our appreciation.