Art is Revealing

So, I am terrible at blogging. It's clearly not my gift since my last post was back in March. I wrote this about one of our students about a month ago and feel it's appropriate to share on. As I gathered the pictures and compared those of the students who was behind, to those of a student who was on age-level, it occurred to me... Art is Revealing... on so many levels.

Kindergarten 2009-2010

When Rachel began attending our programs here in August of 2009, she was behind socially, emotionally and educationally. She could not identify letters or even say the alphabet. She was unable to effectively communicate with staff and the other children. She cried almost every day.

The following examples will compare and contrast her art with that of another Kindergartener who is on age-level. All compared artwork was created on the same day using the same supplies. The two children even sat next to each other.

In January, we began individual artwork. The student who was behind had a very difficult time following written or verbal instructions. These pieces of art are the Garden of Eden and were created January 12. The children were instructed to fill their space with things they thought would be found in the Garden.

Her piece of artwork was finally accomplished with much individual attention and a lot of encouragement, but did not come close to meeting the criteria for age-appropriate art. When we saw that she was so far behind the other children her age, it was our goal to help Rachel learn how to express herself through her creativity. We also focused on helping her learn to listen to and follow verbal instructions. We felt that if she could do those two things, her chance to catch up educationally would be far higher. There is a gap in the education system that leaves our creativity driven children lacking what they need to succeed. It is our goal, in the Creative Arts Department, to help these children find the skills that they need to not only survive, but to thrive.

Rachel's Art, Not on Age Level

On Age-Level, Kindergarten Art

 
This is snowman drawing is from January 26, Rachel was able to follow instructions a little better, but still needed great amounts of individual attention and encouragement. She received help with the drawing, but colored it herself.

Rachel's Art Created with Help

On Age-Level Artwork, Created with No Help

On February 16, the children were asked to fill a page with a colorful design of their choosing. Most 5 year old children should be able to accomplish this task with little help. Our other Kindergarteners easily created their art. Rachel struggled, but managed to accomplish this on her own. As you can see, she is getting closer, but still not on age-level.

Rachel's Art Created on Her Own

On Age-Level Artwork Created with No Help
 

At the end of March the children illustrated the story of Jonah and the Big Fish. Notice how the two fish are very similar in nature, but the on age-level child used the whole creative space while Rachel was unable to do so. However, she is getting closer to creating within her appropriate age level. Around this time, she also started verbally expressing herself much better both to the staff and to her peers, but she still cried almost every day.

Rachel's Jonah Story Illustration

On Age Level Jonah Story Illustration

On April 20, the children were taken step by step through drawing a fish, which they were then asked to paint. At the beginning of the year, this would have been impossible and overwhelming for Rachel to accomplish. But she created the next piece of art on her own with very little outside encouragement. By this point, her art is on age-level. She is able to follow instructions and use her entire creative space. She is also expressing herself much more appropriately and is properly interacting with her peers. She needs less help with her homework, but is still quite far behind educationally.

Rachel's Follow the Instructions Fish

On Age-Level Follow the Instructions Fish
 

On April 27th, the children were given crayons and water color paints to create a piece of artwork from their own imaginations. No other instructions were given. Rachel chose to draw another fish. She was given no step by step instructions nor did she look at the fish she had drawn the week before. Here is what she created. Her artwork is on age-level and she is now set up to begin to make progress in her schoolwork.

Rachel's Final Project: On Age-Level

Rachel was accepted into our Summer KIDS Camp. She made great progress over the summer. She can now recognize all of her letter sounds; she knows the sequence of the alphabet, though she still has trouble with recognition of letters by sight. This school year, she is puts more effort into her homework, she rarely cries and is comfortable expressing herself to staff and peers. She is well on her way to functioning completely on her age-level. The gap in the educational system was filled for this child. Our goal is to do this for as many children as we can possibly reach while maintaining high quality programming. Seeing a child change, grow and reach to achieve more is one of the most rewarding aspects of this program.

Two Ends of the Spectrum

We spent much of Friday attending to a family who lost everything in an apartment fire. They were not home at the time so they did not even get to grab those few things that were precious to them. As we were gathering necessities like food and clothing for them, the mother shared some precious thoughts with me. She said to me, "I can't imagine what a day of work is like for you guys. You do work so hard and then you have situations like this happen all the time. I just can't imagine what that must take." The whole time I'm thinking, "I can't imagine what it must be like to loose EVERYTHING... to have to rely on other people to meet your immediate needs." I was taken aback and pleasantly surprised at her perspective. She kept repeating over and over throughout the day that she thanked God so much that they were not home and were alive today. She was grateful for their lives and while hurt by their great loss, understood that things are just things and can be replaced. Lots of tears were shed that day, but total reliance on God to provide was gained. I can't wait to see how God works in the lives of this family.

On the other end, after an long draining day, Rich walks out of the building to an irate parent yelling at one of our other staff members. What is she upset about? We've been disciplining her child. Yeah, that's right. She started out so ungrateful and accusatory. Rich, our new Children's pastor and our After school teacher spent the better part of an hour trying to get her to understand that her children were not always right and that the discipline they received was justified. By the end, one daughter had fessed up to all the things she had gotten in trouble for lately and admitted that the punishment she received was fair and fitting. The other daughter confessed to a lie she had told. By the end the parent was apologizing and claiming gratefulness for our programming. We'll see what the future brings. We truly love the girls and want them to succeed. All discipline has been done out of love and with much thought and concern. It was really frustrating to see.

So that is the two ends of the spectrum of this ministry... complete and utter thankfulness and an understanding of what we are here for compared to an ungrateful heart and a lack of true insight into why we do what we do. I am so thankful for moments like the first one. It give ME perspective on why we do what we do. I reminds me what we are here for. I truly love this ministry and I pray that God does not call us to do anything else for a long time.

Rich's first group of students who went to college graduate next year. Kids I had in our kids programming my first year are graduating beginning this coming May. It's neat to see how their lives have been affected by our staff and the peers they have gained through our programs. Looking back over the last 8 years I can really see God working in this community. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the future brings! That Still Small Voice is reaching more and more people everyday. The best part is that our youth and college students are teaching our younger students how to listen for, hear and obey that Voice... That is Why We Do What We Do Folks! I wouldn't change it for the world!

Incredible Workings

So, it amazes me when a kid (who has loads of potential) that I have watched make poor choice after poor choice for the past 7 years finally gets it!! So much prayer and encouragement went into him over the years. He would stop coming to events for months at a time. We would hear all manner of rumors about the bad decisions he was making. Just when I would be about to write him off as another one we lost, he would show back up. Sometimes repentant, sometimes not... but always with a small (if at time very small) willingness to change. The cycle repeated itself so many times over the years. Watching him has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. But that Still Small Voice kept calling him...

At our fall retreat, something broke free in him. He started spending time with two of our leadership guys. THEY began to mentor him, their own peer... and CHANGE HAS TAKEN PLACE! He started showing up for leadership meetings... I don't think he has missed a single one since the retreat. He gets to go on the leadership mission trip this summer. We hear positive things about him now.

Go ahead and try to tell me that God is not working in North Tulsa... go ahead... I will never beleive that. He may not be stomping through town and cleaning it out as He did the temple, but He is quietly working. Each day is new ground gained for His people. His Still Small Voice is calling out to many... Girls are gaining self-worth little by little! Guys are realizing what it is to be a true man... a man of God... and they are acting on it! A generation of legacy builders is raising up answering the call of their Savior. Will you join in prayer for this unique generation... a generation that is set apart and called to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the world?

Writing it Down

For a long time I have been expressing that God is moving in urban America. He is not fast. He is not loud. He is not abrupt. He is that same Still Small Voice heard over and over again in the Bible. Years ago I heard that voice calling me to leave small town life to do His work in the city. I had no idea where that would be but I was willing to go.

I

n the fall of 2001, that same still small voice told me that I needed to move to Tulsa, OK to follow His calling. I was very reluctant, but bargained with God for one summer in this city. In May of 2002, I came to Tulsa and fell in love with the people, the culture and the ministry of the Northside.

It is a beautiful place, though that beauty is often hidden beneath violence, drugs, crime, hate and anger. God has called us to look beyond all that and see. See what He can do here. See what He is calling Northside Tulsa to be.

I started expressing this wonderful message of hope and calling to our youth several years ago. They have heard and are answering the call of the Still Small Voice. They are following His direction. They are entering their under-grad studies with thoughts on how their education can benefit their community. I feel that there are young people from the cities all over this country who are doing the same. I feel that change is coming. I can see it. For the first time in so many years, I can actually SEE what is going to happen in this community. All the hope, all the dreams, all the visions are becoming reality.

God is incredible and His Still Small Voice is moving in urban America.