As mentioned a few months ago, my ongoing illustration work with Pine Cove Christian Camps yielded some cool fruit this year: the opportunity to do comic pages. Here are the finished single-page stories I did for their Base Camps Bible Studies. (You can see the rough drafts here— most of which are pretty different from the final versions!)
I first met Robby Mayne when I was a gangly, myopic high school freshman attending the Pine Cove Shores camp. Anyone in college qualified as “coolest thing ever” in my book, and Robby especially had one of those unique combinations of dry wit and spiritual enthusiasm that made him an exceptional counselor. The only thing I couldn’t parse was his weird obsession with LSU (These sorts of things don’t compute for a native Texas boy).
But the cool thing about Robby is, he wasn’t content to just stay “cool.” Instead of making a career out of working at the High School camp, he made a lateral move to Pine Cove’s Towers camp for grade schoolers. As its current director, he’s inspiring a whole new generation of kids, and in the process, he’s showing a remarkable gift for writing compelling Bible Studies that have definite all-ages appeal.
It’s always a joy to illustrate his work, and this year was no exception– Robby’s study focused on Scriptural characters who lived like God was everything to them. The stories he picked and retold reminded me of the great rewards found in our faith, and offered some cool opportunities to depict a lot of drama and emotion in some dynamic settings.
Pine Cove Towers 2012 Bible Study Illustrations:
Caleb entering his part of the Promised Land, from Judges.
Jonathan and his armor-bearer climbing to a Philistine camp, from 1 Samuel.
Stephen, seeing Christ just prior to his stoning, from Acts.
Paul surviving a shipwreck, from Acts.
Jesus heals a blind man while John looks on, from the Gospel of John.
For the church’s relationship series earlier this year, we had a specific request and a short window of time. I’ve talked before about our bumpers; this time, the in-service transition between music and preaching was to be bridged by… a romantic comedy?
Well, sort of. The series title being “What I Did For Love,” we suggested to our pastor that we do a short spoof of a guy getting ready for a date. He gave his approval, but asked that the protagonist be played by the unflappable Derek French, who would also appear on the series logo. In fact, the last shot of the bumper and the logo were to match exactly.
Along the way, someone tossed out the idea that Derek should be made over by a redneck Tim Gunn. Hey, that added some spice. We added it to the concept and I went off to draft.
Finally, my intrepid colleague Vince pulled together his equipment and shot the whole thing in a single afternoon. He also neatly solved the problem of matching the logo by shooting a pic of Derek just after they finished filming… which then became the picture in the logo.
The result was a pretty big hit with the Sunday crowd.
Filed under Divinity, Sketchbook, Storyboards
My churchgoing experience has taught me that there are a couple of things to expect when entering a worship service. Some hold more appeal than others.
-Firstly, there’s a greeting, which means standing up and shaking hands with people who forget to ask your name.
-There are offering envelopes, which have real old pictures of church buildings on them.
-You can also bet on church bulletins, which are full of useful information and potentially humorous misspellings or gaffes.
Those bulletins also usually list “special music,” when the choir sings something a little more elaborate than a traditional hymn to the congregation. I’ve not typically been a fan of this element. The folks who sing are sweet people, and it’s good to have them share with the parishioners, but I’ve always thought the notion’s a little old fashioned. Like, 80’s old fashioned.
That changed the other week. I couldn’t tell you the name of the song, and I couldn’t whistle the melody if I tried, but the special music had an acapella break that just jumped out and grabbed me. I actively thought about how cool it sounded. Then, extrapolated– how cool would it be to have that sort of song echoing a hundred, or a thousand, fold?
Pieces began to fall into place. That… would be heaven. Truly.
I used to envision that we’d be brought into the heavenly realms just to have a giant choir practice. Special music for all eternity. Oh boy.
Instead, in a transcendent moment like that, I realized that heaven was probably going to be more like a musical play. We wouldn’t just stationed in place with elaborate robes on and bulky songbooks in our hands. I imagine it would be natural to do our business of eternal living among saints, The Lord, and friends, and just be moved enough by the wonder of it all to break into song.
Think of a show like Glee (I watch it with my wife, okay?) Or, if you prefer, a 90’s Disney film, or a rock opera. We accept, cheesy as it seems, that the characters can break into a pop song to express the truth of what they are feeling at that exact moment.
In the presence of God, with feelings alternating between gratitude, awe, and sheer exultation hitting us like surf, that’s the primary truth we’ll be experiencing. I bet we’d have the freedom to bust out in song. It won’t be choir practice. It’ll be a flash mob.
Now, this isn’t directly scriptural. I’m speaking more from my present culture than anything else. Heck, I’m sure there WILL be some old school gospel choirs forming up. And watch out for the Gregorians, cause they’ll probably still be pilling on the chants.
But I imagine that for my ADD generation at least, we won’t have to fear staying put and going through a choral marathon. It makes sense to live and move in glory as the Spirirt leads us, and when we’re moved enough…
…get ready for the spontaneous anthems.
Filed under Divinity
My buddy Daniel emailed me the other day asking if I had done any theology cartoons that he might be able to use. He was giving a talk to an adult small group at his church about the usefulness of a good theology (or in vernacular: worldview of God), and he wanted to use something funny as a hook. I had a couple I’d done for a Baptist journal, so I attached them to a reply and shot em ‘off.
Then I read his notes and found a line in there that was too good to resist. So I went to work on the tablet.
Everyone has a theology- even those who don’t have any truck with God at all.
What’s yours, I wonder?
So, what’s been up the past few months?
Hope your semester’s been as pleasantly eventful as mine! Hoo-boy. Here’s the quick breakdown since I last wrote:
1.) I left the coffee shop. I’ve actually been working with a social work agency since mid-January, tutoring and mentoring students at La Vega High School (a little north of Waco on I-35). I formed some great relationships with kids, learned a lot about how high schools work, and tried my hand at acting ‘hood. With middling success.
I think.
Also:
2.) We are now back in school. Just completed the first summer session for my teaching program, and I have a week until session II kicks off. This calls for some fun books instead of textbooks. Maybe I can make more of a dent in Brothers Karamazov!
And:
3.) I landed a teaching job starting in August. (I’m bragging now, guys).
The skinny? I’ll be a sophomore English teacher at A.J. Moore High, which is part of Waco ISD. Pray for my kids. I am unafraid to, and am in fact considering, getting a sport coat with elbow pads and becoming that English teacher. The kind that gardens and reads literary journals for fun in their spare time (even if I’ve actually never done either).
And if you’ve got any inclination to be near Nashville around, say, late November, you should plan to come celebrate with me. Me and someone special. That’s because–
4.) I’M GETTING MARRIED.
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(!)
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Yeah! I know! (Really bragging now)
If you don’t know Chrissy, I’d love for you to start here: http://grace-for-peace.blogspot.com. I am very excited about sharing life with this woman. She’s one of my best friends, and we’ve been blessed with similar passions and complimentary temperaments. Example: she’s a math teacher at another local high school. God bless our sure-to-be-nerdy children.
Anyway, I’m pretty pumped for us to practice one-ness. It’ll be tight.
Here’s to an interesting next half of 2010! TGBTG.
Filed under Divinity, General Musings
Ben Humeniuk 