PK: What It Means to Be One

“He can’t have no fun!”  The bigger kid sneered as he looked around to the other boys for affirmation of his observation so eloquently stated.

“He can never do nothin’ fun, ‘cause he’s a preacher’s kid!” He continued, eliciting nods of agreement from the group.

“I can too, I can do anything I want!” I shot back, lying like a rug. 

I had to respond, even if it was a lie.  It’s the Law of the Playground.  The Elementary School Boys Code.  And while it was a lie—I couldn’t do anything I wanted to do—I could have fun.  I had fun all the time.  Just not doing whatever bad thing the bigger, bad kid wanted me to do.  Truth was, I didn’t even want to.  But at that moment, in that pressure cooker environment facing the gang mentality of some of the boys from Eugene Cole R-V elementary school, I really hated being a preacher’s kid—a PK.

I have been a PK for all but the first three years of my life.  (More on those first three years in a moment.)  During that time, I have heard it all—good and bad.  I have heard every preacher’s kid joke and told a few of my own; I’m pretty sure that I’ve been spanked twice as hard and twice as often as other boys simply because I was a preacher’s kid.  I’ve been held up as the “Why Can’t You Be Like Him” ideal to other kids because I was a preacher’s kid.  To be fair, I’ve also been held up as the “Whatever You Do, Don’t Be Like Him” model because I was a preacher’s kid.  I’ve had many moments when I was so very proud to be a preacher’s kid.  But those playground experiences can be especially tough on a 10-year old boy, and during those exchanges, it was the last thing I wanted to be. 

“Then why doncha do it!?”  The bigger kid taunted, elbowing the boys next to him, relying on the ages-proven concept of peer pressure.

And that’s when I saw my chance.  I pulled the hammer back and fired my best come-back at him, confident of a kill shot.  “’Cause you’re not my boss!”

A brief, rapid-fire exchange followed, wrapping up the entire affair in a matter of seconds.

“’Cause you’re chicken, ‘cause you’re a preacher’s kid!”

“Nuh-uhh, ‘cause you can’t make me!”

“Can’t make a monkey twice!”

“That’s so funny I forgot to laugh!”

“Shut up!”

“I don’t shut up I grow up and when I look at you I throw up!”

The recess bell rang.  Battle over.  Score one for the PK.

Being a preacher’s kid carried a sack full of responsibilities that I never asked for.  You have to be polite.  You have to be nice.  You can’t cuss.  You have to keep your clothes looking nice.  You have to set a good example for the other kids.  You have to go to church every time the doors open.  You can’t cheat.  You can’t---well now that I think about it, Mr. Eloquence from the playground was right.  You can’t have no fun. 

On the other hand, there is a priceless advantage to growing up in a spiritual environment and in church, being raised by loving Christian parents.  It is grounding.  It is a compass that stays with you through all the storms of your life and always points true, always to what is right. 

And there is an inherent and intangible coolness in the fact that your Pastor is also your father.  His stories seem funnier; the truths he speaks from the Bible seem truer; his altar calls—the invitation, even more earnest.  And no preacher I’ve ever heard could take an old "Knight’s Illustration" and make it more personal and relevant than my dad.   In short, he made being a PK more bearable—even for a boy constantly subjected to the Law of the Playground and the Elementary School Boys Code. 

Besides that, the alternative to not being a preacher’s kid in my family was unthinkable.  And that brings us back to that first three years of my life.  See, my father was an alcoholic.  I was too young to remember, but my older sisters remember all too well.  So does my mother. 

My father gave his heart and his life to Jesus and asked God to save him when I was three years old.  Within days, he had surrendered his life completely and answered God’s call to the ministry.  I have heard the stories from my sisters and my mother, about his life before that life-changing moment and since.  So let me think, I could’ve been “Red Wilson’s boy—you know Red, that ol’ drunk.”  Or I could be “R.V. Wilson’s boy—you know Brother Wilson, that preacher who tells such good stories over there at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church!”  Being a preacher’s kid doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all. 

I’d love to be able to tell that to the bigger kid from the playground today.  I think it might go something like this:

“Remember me?”

“Yeah, you’re that preacher’s kid who never could have no fun.”

“You were wrong.  Fact is I’ve never had so much fun, being Brother R.V. Wilson’s kid—growing up as a PK…And I wish I would’ve told you that back then.  But we were just kids.”

“You were.”

“You were another one.”

“Shut up!”

“I don’t shut up, I---“

Why Worship Arts?

“Worship ‘ARTS' Director?  Really?  What is that about?”

“Whatever happened to just having a Song Leader?”

“What does art have to do with leading music?”

In the last few years, the arts have been brought more to the forefront in churches of all denominations.  But what do we mean when we say “art?”  Are “worship arts” different from museum art or, say, ballet, or opera?  What is their place in worship?  And what are the arts?  In order to begin exploring this recent trend in worship, let’s start there.  What are the arts?

To get some idea of what people thought about “the arts,” I conducted a one-question survey in social media, namely Facebook.  Here are those results.

What comes to mind when you hear the term “the arts?”

 Boring

 Music, drama, and paintings

 …and crafts store

 Anything involving a stage and an audience

 Creative endeavors

 Buncha hippies…

 Music, paintings, sculptures, plays, movies that I generally don’t like

 First Night Springfield

 Snooty people

 Dickies and pipes

 Music, paintings, poetry, and theatre

 People above my pay grade mingling together

 Freedom

 Boring, opera (but “artistic”?  musical, drawings, painter, photography, etc.)

 Something people with money contribute to

 Ballet, music, paintings, acting

 Art Linkletter and Art Carney

 Culture, Music, Fine Art, Dance, Theater, Sculpting, Carving, Creative things being created by creative people who have been given gifts from the Father.

 Theater and music

 Theater mostly, music

 Music, writing, theater

 An extension of life.  What makes us appreciate life even more through visual art, musical art, theatrical art, etc.  It all gives us an opportunity to pause and gaze and think and appreciate life. 

Okay, so at the very least, you get a good glimpse into the dichotomy of my “friends” on Facebook.  Clever bunch. 

But, it seems that even the term itself is hard to nail down to just one definitive answer.  The closest Merriam-Webster can come to defining “the arts” is the singular, “art” (as painting, sculpture, or music) concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects —usually used in plural.  And also from Merriam-Webster, the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also: works so produced. 

City Church of Chattanooga, on their website describing their own Worship Arts, says, “Art is man’s activity that mirrors the creativity of God. Being created in his image (Gen.1:27), we are creative beings capable of displaying that creativity in many ways.” 

Combining Merriam-Webster's definition with that of City Church, we can actually begin to see a more clear directive concerning the arts in worship.  The conscious use of skill and creative imagination...to create art that is our way of attempting to mirror the creativity of God.

Theater, music, writing, painting, photography, dance, sculpting, these are all terms defining the creative arts.  But there are more.  Worship center decoration, brochure publishing, website design, video production.  All creative art forms that can be—and should be used in worship today.

So, perhaps the better question is, “Why not Worship Arts?”  Art is beauty.  Can we look at God’s creation and not see the beauty of His artwork?  My friend and fellow Worship Artist, Joshua Davis, in his blog *Why Are the Creative Arts Important in Churches says, “…as Christians, we must realize that God is an artist.  He was the first artist, as found in Genesis with creation.” 

I travel to Colorado 3 or 4 times a year to visit my daughter and grandson.  Often during these visits, we go up into the Rocky Mountains to stay at a cabin or visit a mountain town.  It is impossible for me to stand in a canyon there, gazing at the grandeur of the mountains, the tall pines and the Aspens, the rushing mountain streams, and not see the artwork of the Creator.  It is beauty and inspiration beyond words.

Clearly, The Artist values beauty.  He also desires our beauty and art in our praise and worship.  Even his very creation offers Him praise.  Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Davis goes on to say, “Not only is God an artist, He created us to be artists.  He has created us to be co-creators with Him.  He inspires us to inspire others…God has hard-wired us to be creative...If God created and gifted people to be artists, we need to praise Him through those gifts and talents.  This is why art is important in churches.”

My mother used to say to me when I was young---actually she still says it to me: “You have been given a gift with your music.  Make sure you use it to glorify God!”  But is my gift of art through music a better offering of praise than say, the team at church who decorate the worship center?  Of course not.  These are both examples of creative arts being offered as praise to the glory of God.  What matters is the heart of the giver; the praise offering behind the creative art.

Some have a gift of creative art in drama.  Some in painting.  Some are creative in the art of sculpting, or photography.  How great would it be to give these artists a platform for their art here in our church, to the praise of His glorious name?  But more than simply providing opportunity, how important is it that we incorporate all the creative arts?  I would offer that it is not just important.  It is incumbent upon us as the church to bring the creative arts into our worship.  

That is what “Worship Arts” means.  As Worship Arts Director, I hope to involve more people in worship through their own God-given gifts.  I believe it is important that we, as a church, embrace the arts and incorporate them into our worship. 

As Joshua Davis says in his blog, “As the church and the world evolve, the local church will have to start using the creative arts to reach the lost world where we live.  We will have to find creative ways to incorporate the arts into our worship services.”

As our own church stretches and reaches for the west-side of town, and strives to become more and more relevant to a changing world, let’s be in prayer now as to how God will lead us in this area of worship.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  -- Philippians 4:8 (NIV) 

  

*Joshua Davis, “Why Are the Creative Arts Important in Churches”

http://joshuajwdavis.com/post/38275076574/why-are-the-creative-arts-important-in-churches