Friday, April 6, 2007

Christian Artists United to Share the Message of Easter

This weekend will see many special outreaches by churches as we celebrate the ressurection of a Lord and Savior who took upon Himself the sins of the world. Many Christian performers and artists will be using their talents to help communicate that message at services all over the world. When you sing, give a word of thanks for those who wrote and arranged the song, for those who are playing the instruments and for those leading the vocals. When your spirit is touched by the movement of someone interpreting the message in dance, give a word of thanks for the talent they have been given and for the hours of rehearsal they have put in. When your heart is touched by a drama, give a word of thanks for the person who wrote it, for the person who directed it, for those acting in it and for the time given in preparation in collecting costumes, props and memorizing lines. If there are lights illuminating the front area, a microphone allowing you to hear a speaker, a video that inspires you and word lyrics up on a screen so you can sing along, give a word of thanks for the technical crew using their gifts to make it happen.
If a performer is visiting your church this weekend, give thanks for their willingness to travel and offer up a prayer for ther family who was willing to let them go minister instead of being at home with their loved ones on Easter. All of the parts of the body give service, and we specifically give thanks for those memebrs of the body we call Christian artists and performers who make an offering of their talents to make a difference for the Kingdom.
Lauren Yarger
Executive Director
Masterwork Productions

Daily Inspiration

The Blind Side

Read about the real life mom from "The Blind Side."

Lifeway: http://www.lifeway.com/article/?id=169816

Guideposts: http://www.guideposts.com/story/sandra-bullock-blind-side-football?page=0,1

Read Matt Mungle's review of the movie at http://www.buddyhollywood.com/.

Lauren Yarger, Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with a Christian perspective for Reflections in the Light (http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/) and is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection. She also is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com

She also reviews books for Publisher's Weekly and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She formerly was Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp, a national theater web site bsed in New York and a reviewer for American Theater Web.

She also served as Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. and worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

She is a freelance writer and member of the Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association, The League of Professional Theatre Women and The CT Critics Circle.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger lives with her husband in West Granby, CT and has two adult children.

Copyright Notice

All contents copyright © Lauren Yarger 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, contact masterworkproductions@yahoo.com.

Scripture from THE MESSAGE Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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