For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”
—Ecclesiastes 3

Us with Tara Sartain – Newest member of Friday Arts Project. Ops Director for anticipated Studio Space.

When I first wrote the last newsletter about “new chapters” in our lives it was actually a few months before the severe events of September. I went back to review the letter—this was several days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination—and was struck by how appropriate the subject was. I gave thought to adjusting it, but decided to leave it as it was.

It would seem we are all in a new chapter now. The “quiet awakening” that was beginning to stir in our culture appears to have gotten louder.

And as this larger new chapter has now opened before us, it makes the time spent a bit more earnest. I’ve noticed that I feel much freer to speak than I already had been about the God I treasure, the writers I admire who were also His followers, and the effect this has on my life.

One of our convictions about our ministry is that art creates space for God to work. Art is not the only thing God can use, of course, but it is what we talk about a lot here in Rock Hill. We pray ultimately these conversations end in His Word—the One who became flesh.

Besides changing hearts, this new chapter seems to be moving us to trust God for a potentially larger impact in our community—to bless because we are blessed.

With the adversity experienced because of the City of Rock Hill’s decision regarding the Gettys Art Center we have had to take a hard look at our posture of serving artists and ask ourselves, “Are we trusting God for greater things?”

Several of us involved in ministry to our community, including myself (Kirk), got the sense that God wanted us to be open to managing a space for art studios and events. In light of the recent threat of eviction from the Gettys Art Center perhaps God wants us to have a space for other artists & art businesses—could we not serve better in this way?

We didn’t get a sense that God was necessarily going to say “yes” to us in granting us a building, but we did sense He wanted us to trust Him and walk that path. As a result, a long time friend has volunteered to join our staff team and is leading that exploration to see if God would grant us a building of our own from which to serve the art community here in a greater way.

Would you pray with us and for us and we walk this path and trust Him for this next part of the many chapters happening in our lives?

More in our next newsletter!

“a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted…a time to tear, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”
—Ecclesiastes 3

Blessings-