TMC Artist Circle

When people years from now wonder how Christians of the early 21st century worshiped, they will be able to look at photographs of contemporary churches and worship services. When they wonder how Christians were persecuted, they will be able to read newspaper articles about specific people or whole groups in various countries. But when we wonder about the persecuted church of the first and second century, we don’t have Instagrams or YouTube clips – but we do have the frescoes painted on the walls in catacombs in Rome.

Gregory Athnos started researching the art found in the Roman Catacombs in 1974. It started as a casual project, but once he saw the art in the burial chambers, it turned into a lifelong commitment. He works with the Archives of the Catacombs in Rome to do his research, with permission from the director of the Vatican Museum. Greg has turned this research into a four part seminar that he has given over 300 times in various countries all over the world, entitled “The Easter Jesus and the Good Friday Church: The Centrality of the Resurrection in the New Testament.” While talking about the art in the catacombs, Greg also talks about the theology that early Christians had and their central focus of the Resurrection.

Greg will be giving a shortened version of this seminar in a presentation this Sunday, March 17, from 1-3pm in Sankey. He will not only talk about the art, but also show us by including illustrations and photographs during his delivery. Please feel free to bring a bag lunch as you hear what Gregory Athnos has to say about The Art of the Ancient Persecuted Church.

We are very excited to announce that The Moody Church will once again be hosting a Help-Portrait site in December!  Following last year’s successful precedent, we will be partnering with Angel Tree, a ministry that helps families that have an incarcerated parent.  Clients will come to the church, have their photo taken, attend a party, then pick up their photos on-site!

We still need assistants, makeup artists, and general volunteers!  Here is some quick event info:

Date: December 8, 2012
Location: The Moody Church – 1635 N. LaSalle St.
Time: 11:00am – 4:30pm
Contact: moodychurchhp@gmail.com

Here are our photos and video from last year!

Last year, MoodyFest was introduced to the Old Town neighborhood on Labor Day weekend. Live music from six different musical acts bellowed from the “Walgreens parking lot” out into the street, and was the cause of smiles and head bobbing throughout the crowd!

This year, MoodyFest will feature the Moody Church Sunday Evening Gathering Band, Ethan Butler, the Clark St. Band, and the Stephen Lynerd Quintet. We caught up with two of these groups to learn a little more about them.

For last year’s event, Jason Cates headed up a jazz group. This year, he and four other musicians decided to switch things up a bit and put together a blues quintet.  This will be the first performance for the Clark St. Band, which features the musical talents of Jason Cates, Jeff Mason, Phillip Potter, Dave Gear, and Rex Carol.

Stephen Lynerd says he and his band had a blast at last year’s event – so much so that they wanted to perform again!  Although Stephen doesn’t have one specific band that he performs with, this allows him to perform with various musicians that he brings together. Accompanying Stephen in his quintet is Benjamin Lynerd, Jonathan Gilley, David Kelly, and Gabriel Datcu.  To learn more about Stephen, you can visit his website at HERE.

MoodyFest will start at 4 PM in the parking lot on the corner of LaSalle Street and North Avenue.  The entire event is free, which not only includes the live music, but food and refreshments as well!  It’s a great way to say goodbye to the summer, meet some new friends, and greet the Moody Church community.  See you there!

To see photos from last year’s MoodyFest, click HERE.

The Moody Church Artist Circle is proud to present the 2nd Fall Exhibit of visual arts at the Moody Church from Nov 4-18. Last year’s exhibit saw some 45 pieces by nearly 20 artists displayed throughout the main lobby and Christian Life Center. Creativity, in its various forms, is a gift from The Creator and our desire is to provide a venue where the church body can interact with the artists among them and their gifts all to the glory of God. This year’s theme is Reflections. The inspiration comes from the Biblical book of James where we are told God’s Word is like a mirror. The title provides the artist with great creative flexibility while still challenging them to explore God’s Word.

All forms of visual media are encouraged from pencil drawings to sculptures to digital. In order to submit your work for review, and to view the full specifications for submission, please use the PDF found HERE.

Mark your calendar and takes some time to interact with the art and even the artists.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In addition to hosting the Fall Art Exhibit, the Moody Church Artist Circle will be publishing a new literary journal this November. Both will have the theme of Reflections. The journal hopes to showcase and be representative of the writing talent throughout the church.

To submit, please adhere to the following guidelines: The journal will publish both prose and poetry from entrants who are attenders of the Moody Church. Prose, both fiction and creative non-fiction, should be no longer than ten pages. Up to three poems may be submitted, no longer than a page each. All submissions should be double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, and in a Word .doc format. Excerpts of longer pieces or previously published selections will be accepted; please include explanatory information in submission email.

Please remember that content should be appropriate for the entire Moody Church community.

We hope to include as many submissions as possible.

Please stay tuned to tmcartist.com and the Moody Church bulletin for more details about how and when the journal will be published.

All submissions and questions should be emailed to Andrea at artistcircle@moodychurch.org with “Literary Journal” in the subject line.

Be sure not to miss our first Nano-Concert of 2012, featuring pianist Scott Griffin!  The event will be held on Sunday, January 29th at 7:30p.

Full details can be found on our Events page HERE.

The Artist Circle is very excited to announce that The Moody Church will be an official Help-Portrait location on December 10, 2011!  From the H-P website:

Founded by Celebrity Photographer Jeremy Cowart, Help-Portrait is a community of photographers coming together across the world to use their photography skills to give back to their local community.

In December, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered.

And by the way, we don’t want to see your photos. This is about GIVING the pictures, not taking them. These portraits are not for your portfolio, website, or for sale. Money isn’t involved here. This holiday season, you have the chance to give a family something they may have never had before—a portrait together.

Our mission? Our mission at Help-Portrait is simply to equip and mobilize you, the photography community. We want to make sure you have all the information that you need to successful participate in Help-Portrait on 10 December 2011. We want to help you find other people in your area that are wanting to be part of Help-Portrait or have already begun to plan the event. We want you to have the opportunity to give.

The Moody Church is very excited to present this opportunity for our congregation to get together and serve our community.  This event coincides with our Angel Tree program, so the day is truly going to be a blessed event.  We’re still in the process of working out all of the details, but please save the date for December 10th.

We are in need of several volunteers for this event: everything from runners and photo assistants to hair and makeup artists.  If you are interested in serving during this program, please contact us at MoodyChurchHP@gmail.com to be put on our roster and receive updates about the event!

To learn more about H-P, check out their 2010 announcement here:

For more information on Help-Portrait, check out their website HERE.
To view H-P founder Jeremy Cowart’s TED Talk, click HERE.

We are very excited about all of the wonderful submissions that we’re already receiving for our ‘Reflections’ exhibit!

Please know that you can submit your work for review electronically using our handy online form that can be found HERE.

The application deadline is THIS Sunday, October 2nd!

UPDATE: The submission deadline has passed.  Thank you everyone who submitted your work!  You’ll be hearing from us shortly.

James 1:22–25 tells us that God’s Word is like a mirror. When you look into the mirror of God’s Word, what do you see? What does it say about who you are? What truth does it reflect into your life?

• Make something new or re-formulate something you’ve already done. Include a scripture reference and short description of how your piece answers these questions.

• All forms of visual media are encouraged (painting, drawing, photography, graphic design, animation, film, ceramics, sculpture, crafts, concept art, etc).

• Deadline to submit an application form is Sunday, October 2. All submissions will be reviewed by the Artist Circle Leadership Team.

To view the submission form and read the full details, click HERE.

You may submit your work digitally via this simple online form HERE.

We look forward to seeing all of the wonderful things you create!