Confessions of a Quirky Christian Artist

Here’s a snapshot of a conversation I had about Rob Bell and his expulsion from Evangelicalism.  I think it provides a succinct view of my current take on Christianity, so it’s worth recording. “To be fare, Bell has questioned important parts of the Gospel itself. Should questions be asked, sure. Should a person be allowed the freedom in church to discover the Gospel without legalism forced upon him, of course. Should the church expel those who disagree, absolutely not. Bell is not however just an "evangelical" or a "Christian". He was and is a Church leader which comes with higher standards and higher responsibilities when it comes to teaching and proclaiming the Gospel.” Me: Saying a Christian leader has higher standards seems to me to imply that those who come to different conclusions have lower standards or are not as high quality. But your point is, I think, that to be a leader in a particular group, one must maintain most of the doctrines of said group

One decade and two weeks ago I took a sculpting workshop from famous Hollywood creature designer Jordu Schell.  A friend at work had made all the arrangements.  Well over the years, and especially the last one or two Jordu and I kept in touch.  Thanks to Facebook we’ve had some pretty deep conversations, and at some point he asked if I’d arrange another workshop up here.  I’ve never done anything remotely like that before.  I don’t even remember ever buying my own plane tickets, let alone buy them for someone else.  (I don’t know how I made it to age 39 without ever having done so, but there you have it.)  Anyway, I figured it was a good chance to get some life experience and maybe make some contacts.  So I managed to figure out how to work my contacts to advertise, collect money from 30 people, coordinate with a local school (thanks DigiPen) for a room, buy plane tickets, hotel, oh, and I hadn’t even considered a rental car and daily stipend for the guest teacher!   Well fortunate