Page 25 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf

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the mid 1980s evolved into the first Summer Arts Session in 1990 in conjunction with a lay-

catholic charismatic community in Southern Germany.

The first Summer Arts Session in Ravensburg, Germany was a giant step forward in our

mentoring wineskin for creative people. Through our formative years of the 1980s, we held the

camps in a retreat center in the Bavarian forests of southern Germany. With the art sessions we

located our three-week training camp, in a small German town of about 7,000 citizens. We went

from 25 participants to over one hundred and professionally trained artists were beginning to

come out of the woodwork. They came because we were the first Christians who were

announcing that it was possible to be a Christian and an artist. This small city became our

campus. We rented the music conservatory for our diverse music program; 4 dance studios for

dance workshops and school gymnasiums were turned into theaters. A local bank provided a

venue for our fine arts exhibition.

The assistant mayor of Ravensburg welcomed us to their city and the charter school

director, both graced us with their presence for the opening evening. God gave us favor with this

director, a Zen Buddhist, who offered the entire school free, which met the need to lodge our staff

and students. This helped us keep the participation fee low as possible. For the opening

evening, the school director concluded his welcome with, “may the spirit that is on you abide and

remain in this school.” And all of us in leadership silently said, “Amen, may it be – in Jesus

Name.”

The 150-plus participants, staff, and artist-teachers along with 40 volunteers spent an hour

each morning worshiping together and hearing testimonies from artists. Later, the participants

went into their workshops and trained before lunch and then after lunch for up to 6 hours a day in

various artistic disciplines from ballet to guitar to acting to vocal training – over 17 different

performing arts alternatives were offered in that first year. Afterwards, they spent over an hour in