There's More Than One Way to Tell a Story

Seven hundred members of African American churches in the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church participated in "Day at the Lake" number three on Saturday. On Sunday, the weekly worship service was packed with attendees who heard North Park Theological Seminary Prof. Jim Bruckner and were able to watch Botts, a noted calligrapher, create artwork as Bruckner preached.

"We had a great gathering," says M. Randolph Thompson of Saturday's event. "We had a marvelous time of fellowship. It's always good to get together with people from other churches." Thompson, pastor of Community Covenant Church in Calumet Park, Illinois, delivered the sermon during the Saturday worship service, which also featured a combined choir from his congregation. He had returned from a trip to Covenant churches in the Sudan just the day before.

Saturday's events also included some activities for children and students of every age. One of the students won the grand prize in a raffle that will pay for transportation and registration to CHIC 2006 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

It was the third time for the Day at the Lake, which is held every two years. It was originally started by the conference's new superintendent, Jerome Nelson.

During Sunday's worship service, Bruckner, who has taught a course on the biblical praise of God, preached on the names of God, while Botts painted calligraphy on a four-by-eight-foot plywood canvas with a white painted background. "It was a fantastic service," says Greg Messimore, pastor of Edgebrook Church in Chicago. Many people from that congregation traveled to participate in the activities.

The presenters along with music leader Glenn Kaiser began communicating by email three months ago to prepare for the service, says Bruckner, who notes he had never before preached alongside an artist. And Botts, who has presented his art in public before, had never before teamed up with a preacher.

Bruckner says he is pleased with the result. "The visual arts carry a strong message," he observed. "His visual color and my rhetorical color worked well together."

Botts says he is equally pleased with the result. "Working with Jim preaching was very rewarding because I experienced his additional illumination of the words as I expressed them," Botts says. "It was especially satisfying when he reinforced verbally what I was trying to show visually."

The experience of working during a sermon gave Botts the opportunity to use a medium he normally doesn't employ before an audience. "I usually work with giant markers on poster paper because it allows me to work faster and with less mess," he noted. "I do this either to background music or as teaching - where I explain my thought process and devotional response as I work.

"Having a longer time period gave me the freedom to use brushes and paints which allowed me to leave behind better artwork than I can do with markers," he adds. "Being part of the worship team was very gratifying because I have long recognized this to be one of the purposes of my gift," Botts says. "But because it is so unique, there have been relatively few opportunities to exercise it corporately."

Botts, who lives in the Chicago area, says he is open to other opportunities to work as part of a worship service or in another format. Those interested in contacting him by email may do so at tnbotts@aol.com.

Editor's note: Covenant Harbor holds a Sunday worship service throughout the summer for anyone interested in attending. To learn more about the center, please visit Covenant Harbor.

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