There may be some who are trying to understand what this is all about, perhaps I can explain. I grew up under the influence of a lot of people who I call dream takers. Dream takers are those people we all have in our lives, who seem to look forward to telling others why they can't do the things that they want to do. Now, I don't mean those caring people who try to give us a realistic appraisal of the prospects, we all need those people at times. I've spent most of my life being told what I could not do, and being given endless lists of reasons why I couldn't.

One was the guidance counselor in high school, who told me that I couldn't be a history teacher because we already had too many. He then gave me the list of them. He was one, the football coach, the baseball coach, and two other teachers were certified to teach history and that I should do something else. It has taken me forty years to figure out that our school, in truth, had no history teachers at all. We had coaches, counselors and others who were doing a mediocre job in the class room. It had been none of them that had inspired me to want to teach history, but it was one of them who discouraged me from persuing a dream. Looking back I have to ask: With as many stupid people as there are in the world, how could anyone say there are too many teachers?

Another was the local radio station manager. When I dreamed of being a disk jockey and asked him for a job, sweeping the floor, or anything, just to get in and start learning the craft, he laughed in my face.

The worst ones of all were the ones who ridiculed me as a blasphemer when I said that God was calling me to the ministry. They told me that God did not call people like me.

This went on into my adulthood, and continues today. When, as an adult, I finally quit listening to people and started listening to God and did surrender to the ministry, one minister on staff at the church I attended told me that I was not intelligent enough to go to seminary.

If this were only my story, it would not matter much. I do not relate these incidents to gain sympathy or to secure my place among the martyrs. I see young people going through this kind of junk every day. It is sad to see them not being understood by their peers at school, or in their youth groups, but it is an abomination before God when adults, whose responsibility should be to encourage, are the main culprits in destroying a young persons dreams. This then is one reason for being here, to encourage.

What about those of us who are not so young any more? There are times when we need encouragement also. The talented lady whose abusive husband has her beat down to the place where she can't paint. The man whose nagging wife tells her friends he is lazy if he tries to spend a little time alone to write. There are many artist, musicians, actors and writers who have never been given a chance because of the dream takers in there lives now and in the past. It is also for these that we are here.

The Christian artist who has been allowed to shine is blessed. There are many who have had their work seen, heard, or read, and we praise the Lord with them for that. However, many times the artist has no fellowship with others who understand the call that God has placed on their lives. We are faced with resentment of our abilities, accusations of self glorification, and tradition masquerading as conservatism. Many times well meaning but misguided brothers and sisters pressure us to compromise on our art, and fail us when we approach compromise on orthodoxy. It is for fellowship with those Christian artists, and to help our other brothers and sisters understand our calling.

YIC

William