A New York Minute...

Sorry for the delay on the blog, we've been on the road since February 14th and had little time to update. We will continue our series on why the arts are important after a brief update on our trip to the Big Apple. The day after we arrived it snowed a few inches. It was wonderful to be back in the city and to see it in winter. It was a true test for Sarah as she had never been there in the winter time so it gave her a taste of times to come.

Several highlights were the IAM conference, which we will give a more thorough update later, and a moment we shared with our illustrator friend John Hendrix. I met John when he as a Masters student in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts. He became a fast friend and someone who was willing to mentor some of our students while he and his wife Andrea lived in NYC. John has become a noted illustrator over the years and has received wide acclaim for his drawings. You may have seen some of his work and not known it as he has drawn stuff for Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, etc. (please go see his web page, he's got skills http://www.johnhendrix.com)

Recently he did a job for the NBA that has become larger than he had expected. Sarah and I were honored to have been with John this past week when he saw one of the NBA illustrations in all its glory...here's what happen...WE LOVE YOU JOHN!!!

Kirk and Sarah

The coming of the Conceptual Age...

February 1, 2008

This is our first of several installments to enhance the points we make in our newsletters starting in January. If you are interested in receiving our newsletters, please send us an email: birdandkey@gmail.com. We’d be glad to send you one.

Are we moving from the Information to the Conceptual/Creative Age? Daniel Pink thinks so. His book A Whole New Mind was released in 2005 and has received a lot of interest in our arts circles in New York City, and even within Campus Crusade for Christ.

His premise is that the US needs to change the way it does things in the world’s economy as this new Conceptual Age emerges. Pink posits that in the past - in the midst of the Information Age - more “left-brained” type jobs were needed, jobs that required analytical, sequential, and linear thinking.

Pink writes that there are three things causing this shift away from “left-brained” dominance—abundance, Asia, and automation.

Abundance: Did you know that the “Self-Storage” business in the US is a 17 billion dollar a year business? Did you know that this particular business is growing at a faster rate in other countries? Did you know that the USspends more on trash bags than ninety other countries spend on everything? As Pink quotes in his book “the receptacles of our waste cost more than all of the goods consumed by nearly half of the world’s nations.

When I (Kirk) first read this, I was quite depressed…still am…we are a nation of abundance. And its this abundance that is creating a “glut” of sorts in our culture, a “glut” that Pink says needs creative minds to turn the abundance into something useful and beautiful.

Asia: In Asia, both east and south, Pink quotes:

[Computer] programmers and their counterparts throughout India, the Philippines, and China are scaring the bejeezers out of software engineers and other left-brain professionals in North America and Europe, triggering protests, boycotts, and plenty of political posturing. The computer programming they do, while not the most sophisticated that multinational companies need, is the sort of work that until recently was done almost exclusively in the United States – and provided comfortable white-collar salaries of upward of $70,000 a year. Now twenty-five-year-old Indians are doing it – just as well, if not better; just as fast, if not faster – for the wages of a Taco Bell counter jockey. Yet, their pay, while paltry by Western standards, is roughly twenty-five times what the typical Indian earns – and affords them an upper-middle-class lifestyle with vacations and their own apartment. (A Whole New Mind p.37What the West, particularly the US needs is to be creative…conceptual…and make new jobs with creativity—right-brain thinking—at the heart of these new jobs.

Automation: “Last century, machines proved they could replace human backs. This century, new technologies are proving they can replace human left-brains.” (A Whole New Mind p.44). Doctors are utilizing computers to assist in diagnosis. The legal profession is offering services online. And we can even do our taxes as fast as a “Turbo” engine, cutting out the need for accountants.

It becomes apparent that we’ll need some creative thinking to help us make new jobs, jobs that computers are replacing.

We won’t go into the rest of Pink’s book, you’ll have to read it yourself, but you may be asking what this has to do with what Sarah and I want to do in New York City?

If we are in fact heading toward a creative/conceptual age, then the church has an opportunity to cultivate these creative and conceptual…right-brained – minds. What better place to find those minds than in the art world of New York City? Perhaps they could be found in the arts circles of your communities as well?

Peace,
Kirk and Sarah

Boston Winter Conference 2008

We wanted to post a video that was a good summary of the Campus Ministry Conference, the Boston Winter Conference 2008. We worked it during the week after New Years. This video was shot and edited by a college student, David Gannsle, a junior at Messiah College majoring in film. His mother and father, Greg and Jeannie, are on staff at Yale working for the Rivendell Institute for Christian Thought and Learning (http://www.rivendellinstitute.org/). Enjoy.

Kirk & Sarah

Holidays 2007

Hello Friends and Family,

This will be a particularly long entry as we have four weeks to catch up on due to our holiday travels…so sit back and relax…

We just got back to Orlando last Wednesday night and it wasn’t until last night that both Sarah and I finally emptied our suitcases…it feels good to have everything put away. We are now settling in for a few weeks here in Florida planning and prepping for our next two trips this spring.

70 YEARS AND STILL A KID

So, what have we done this past month or so? Well, in early December my parents came down to celebrate my mother’s 70^th birthday. Apparently my mother wanted to go to Disney to celebrate 70 years of life…always a kid inside, huh? For an entire day we visited both Epcot and Disney World (Mom really wanted to see the Castle). I had never been to Disney during the Christmas season so it was interesting to see how it was decorated. A highlight was taking in the mosaic mural that is in the tunnel that goes through Cinderella’s Castle. If you have never seen it when visiting Disney World it is worth a close look…the quality of the whole piece is tremendous.

For a few other days my parents assisted us in taking care of some small home renovation projects. Sarah has been working on the condo for several years and had completed most of the big projects. But, there are still a few minor projects needing completion like, door knobs, painting, and hanging small cabinets, etc. It was great to have my parent’s assistance in this for a short time.

STRIPED STOCKINGS AND THOMAS THE TRAIN

On our way up to Maryland for the Holidays we stopped by Waynesville, NC to visit my friend Luke and his family. I had met Luke back in my early days in New York City right after he completed his Masters in painting from the New York Academy. He is a talented painter and he and Renee his wife have established a great home in NC complete with log fires in the fire place and 4 wonderful kids. Check out his work at http://www.lukeallsbrook.com. He has a show going on right now through February in Georgia: Mary Pauline Gallery, 982 Broad Street, Augusta GA 30901, www.marypaulinegallery.com

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The whole family was in Maryland including my sister, Stacey and her husband John. We had several opportunities to see friends and supporters including a “Campus Crusade for Christ at Towson University” reunion and a reception my parents held for both Stacey and myself for those unable to attend our weddings. It was wonderful to be able to connect with friends and allow them to meet my beautiful wife.

“BEAN TOWN” AND THE COLD-er NORTHEAST

On January 1^st we traveled up to Boston for the annual Campus Ministry Winter Conference held in the downtown area. About 300 students from schools all over New York and New England gathered. I assisted as much as I could with the content for the Main Sessions as well as teach a seminar on the arts and Christianity. This year at the conference we were able to hang some of the art that was produced from last summer’s art project in conjunction with the conference “Prayer Journey”. Sarah helped a bit with this and we both helped with the breakdown of the exhibit.

TAR-HEELS AND PALMETTOS

Finally, on the 6^th of January we began the long trip down the East Coast back to Orlando. We traveled down to visit some friends in High Point (Lilly and Audie), North Carolina, and from there we visited one of the Tribeca Arts Track 2006 students we befriended (Stephen Crotts) and his family in South Carolina.

And finally we arrived back in Orlando last Wednesday night – tired, but grateful to be safely home. I wish I could go into more detail about our trip but I fear the length of this entry would bypass sanity in order to accomplish that. But please know that now that the holidays are over our blog entries will be more frequent.

We both hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Peace,

Kirk and Sarah

A Texas Thanksgiving...

Sarah and I went back to Waxahachie for Thanksgiving. This was our first time back to Texas since getting married. We had a wonderful time with Sarah's family enjoying the deluge of food that is typical for this time of year. We not only ate but also enjoyed putting together some puzzles as well as playing dominoes...Bert (Sarah's brother-in-law) became prolific at winning (darn him).

We were also able to connect with supporters during our time, catching them up on the future of our ministry. We are so grateful to the Cox's, the Schuster's, and the Box's for spending time with us. The response we received from all three have made us even more excited about heading to New York City.

The final part of our time in Waxahachie was spent assisting Sarah's church, Water Street Baptist, with their Christmas Day Parade float. This is an annual event in Waxahachie that much of the community participates in. This years theme for the parade was "Story", so the float was designed around "The Greatest Story Ever Told." Despite some gray clouds spraying a bit of ran on us and threatening more we were able to complete the float and send it on its merry way for the parade. In the photos you ought to be able to see some "before" and "after" images as well as a short video below of the float in action (the audio isn't the greatest, it was windy that day, but you get the idea).

Peace,
Kirk and Sarah