Watch the Artist Talks!

Kirk Billiter

Painting unexpectedly became part of Kirk’s healing during a difficult season of divorce, loss, and personal struggle.

After attending a men’s retreat and reading My Heart—Christ’s Home, he realized there was nothing on the walls of his new home representing his faith. So he bought canvases and began painting. Crosses, circles, biblical numbers, Scripture, and personal stories became recurring parts of his work.

He often pairs each painting with writing about what God is teaching him. Kirk also shares about his book Strike the Flag, a memoir and leadership book centered on surrender and the ways God has met him through trauma and change.

Michael Pittman

Michael shares about his own creative medium: food. Growing up in a large Lebanese family, he learned cooking by watching his mother and grandmother prepare traditional foods together. Later, he worked his way from busboy to waiter to the kitchen of a German chef’s restaurant.

Although he ultimately chose another career, cooking remained a creative outlet and a way of serving people. Michael prepared the food for the entire REVEALING weekend and explains why presentation matters as much as flavor. His guiding idea applies far beyond cooking: what we see often prepares us for what we are about to receive.

Eric Elder

Eric shares how he went from never selling a painting to hosting his first art show at age 63. Two years earlier, he attended an art retreat led by his cousin Joan and set a simple 90-day goal: sell one piece of art. Before he even arrived home, someone asked him to illustrate a children’s book. Soon another person asked him to paint tiny Scripture magnets.

Those small invitations helped Eric see possibilities he had never considered. Eventually the idea of holding an art show grew from needing 60–80 pieces to inviting friends—and ultimately displaying more than 150 works from 22 artists.

Eric also shares two recent paintings called This Is My Body, inspired by a dream of Jesus serving communion. For Eric, they are reminders that after centuries of art, God still has new ideas to reveal through each of us.

Bo Elder

Bo reflects on the wide variety of creativity represented in the show—from paintings and music to food, pottery, games, books, and fiber art.

Inspired partly by Kirk’s story of creating art that represented what Jesus had done in his life, Bo performs an original song called “Don’t Ever Want To.” The song is a prayer not to walk through life relying only on what can be seen, but to invite God continually to guide, steady, and increase our faith. Bo says he doesn’t want to reach the end of his life having failed to do what God called him to do—or having failed to love God and others well.

Eric Elder

Eric opens with a simple challenge: stop waiting and start creating. Using his study of a painting called What Are You Waiting For?, he talks about how easily we can wait for inspiration, confidence, opportunity, or perfect circumstances. Sometimes waiting on God is right, but other times we need to get the ship moving so God can steer it.

He also shares how this principle shaped his ministry: when no one was inviting him to preach, God showed him he could turn on a camera, put the message online, and trust Him to use it.

Robin Reeves Kautz

Robin says she thinks of her work as “heart art” rather than fine art. As an Episcopal priest and “visual theologian,” she describes art as one of the ways she hears from God.

Several of her paintings were inspired by Michelangelo’s image of God reaching toward Adam. The small space between their fingertips represents hope, grace, choice, and God continually reaching toward us. Her paintings Many Rooms Prepared and United explore God’s promise to make a place for us and the possibilities that open when we connect with Him.

Rakesh

Rakesh, from Bihar, India, shares about the ministry he began in 2020 among children from an extremely poor and marginalized community. What started with five children has grown to hundreds across several villages.

Rakesh and his wife Anmol use education, Christian ministry, and practical love to serve children who often lack access to schooling because of poverty and caste discrimination. Much of their teaching happens outdoors because they do not yet have school buildings or shelter.

Anmol

Anmol shares four pieces of artwork rooted in Scripture. One inspired by 1 Corinthians 11:1 shows a small footprint following a larger one and asks: Who are you following, and who is following you? Another portrays Jesus washing His disciples’ feet from John 13.

A third shows the woman reaching toward Jesus’ garment from Luke 8:44, with the small gap between her hand and Jesus becoming a picture of faith that keeps reaching. Her final painting shows an archway into a new season, with green leaves symbolizing growth and hope and 2 Corinthians 12:9 reminding us that God’s grace is sufficient.

Michelle

Michelle responds with poetry, worship, and reflection. After visiting a fine arts museum, she began thinking about people sitting still while their portraits were painted. That image led her to picture Jesus as the ultimate artist, patiently forming His likeness in us as we remain before Him.

She shares her poem Revealing Fine Heart Art, describing God as painter, sculptor, and potter and believers as His “heart art.”

Brent

Brent shares a word picture hidden inside H-E-A-R-T: HE—God must be at the center; EAR—we need ears to hear Him; HEAR—we need to listen to what God is saying; and ART—we express what God has inspired in us.

He also shares a powerful story from ministry in India, when he sensed God telling his team to wash people’s feet not with water, but with costly oil—a picture of how deeply God values people.

Brent closes the morning in prayer, asking God to help each person take the next step and use whatever gift, medium, or calling He has given them.

Eric Elder

Eric opens by reflecting on how easily we can overlook our own gifts because they feel normal to us. He grew up surrounded by people who played piano, so he assumed everyone did. Years later, while reflecting on the parable of the talents, Eric felt challenged not to bury what God had given him. One of those gifts was music, even though he struggled deeply with performance anxiety.

By using his strength in technology, recording, and online distribution, he found a way around that weakness. His piano music has now been streamed millions of times. He connects that story to painting too: what began with tiny prayer magnets and illustrations for one children’s book eventually grew into larger paintings and this entire art show.

Joy Foglietta

Joy shares how photography first became a creative outlet while living near Seattle, where she fell in love with landscapes and color. Later, while running and praying, she began feeling drawn to write. That journey eventually led to her book Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness, a memoir inspired in part by growing up with a mother who was bipolar.

Joy reads a poem about the danger of judging what we do not understand and the pain caused when people speak harshly about situations they only see from the outside. Her hope is that sharing personal stories can replace shame with understanding and compassion.

Tonya Guo

Tonya shares her poem Prairie Witness, a reflection on summer skies, country roads, lightning bugs, trees, fields, and the quiet ways God reveals Himself through creation. She explains that writing and photography are both ways God speaks to her. In emotionally difficult moments, nature becomes a place where she can see again what she may not be able to feel: that God is still present, still good, and still sees her.

Tonya also shares some of her nature photography, including a peony image titled Sarah’s Dream. Selling one of her photographs helped affirm something many artists struggle to believe—that their voice and work really do have value.

Bo Elder

Bo shares two paintings created around the theme of revealing. His painting Concealed Reveal shows sunlight breaking through clouds. Bo explains that he loves how the sun can be revealed not by seeing it directly, but by seeing its rays. For him, it is a picture of God’s presence—always there, even when partially hidden.

His second painting, Clean, uses a layered technique in which the word “Clean” was hidden beneath paint and later revealed. The messy surface represents the uncomfortable process of transformation, while the hidden word points to the truth that Christ is able to make us clean.

Eric Elder

Eric closes by doing the very thing he finds most difficult: playing piano live. He performs his original song My Sanctuary despite his long-standing performance anxiety and reflects on the importance of refusing to bury a gift simply because using it is uncomfortable.

Helen Krieger

Helen shares how creativity has been part of her life since childhood, along with struggles with low self-esteem, fear of public speaking, creative dry seasons, and “imposter syndrome.” Her painting Rise Above Street Level grew from a season when other ideas were not working. Inspired by street dancers and their perseverance, she created a piece about overcoming obstacles. That painting eventually inspired an entire exhibition featuring stories of people who had overcome abuse, disability, loss, and other challenges.

She also shares Breaking Chains, with praying hands, broken chains, and a butterfly taking flight as a picture of hope and freedom.

Micah Missel

Micah shares how childhood doodling gradually developed into highly realistic colored-pencil art. At 14, he challenged himself to draw a realistic portrait of Obi-Wan Kenobi. From there, his skill and commissions continued to grow. He explains parts of his process using grids, frisket film, airbrushing, and oil-based colored pencils.

He also shares why he begins portraits with the eyes: they immediately connect the viewer with the subject.

Tracy Schultz

Tracy shares how pottery became both a creative outlet and a source of community during a season of isolation. While preparing for REVEALING, she realized the process was also exposing some of her insecurity. A seashell became an important image for her: rough on the outside, but beautiful within.

She also reflects on Exodus 31, where God gives craftsmen wisdom and skill to create beautiful things. Tracy began realizing that pottery was not simply a hobby, but a gift God could use. Even one imperfect piece that collapsed during creation became one of the works people were most drawn to.

Bo Elder

Bo reflects on a theme running through many of the weekend’s stories: we need other people around us who encourage our gifts. Whether through an art club, pottery class, recovery group, church, retreat, or friendships, community helps us keep going when we are tempted to stop.

He points to Hebrews 10 and its call to encourage one another and stir each other toward love and good works.

Eric Elder

Eric closes by sharing about a difficult season when he wondered whether his ministry and creative work were finished. Friends, recovery groups, and trusted mentors reminded him that his story was not over.

One friend, Sharon Giacinto, encouraged him to face recovery “one slice at a time.” Her wisdom became the foundation for Eric’s new book, One Slice at a Time: What a Friend Told Me the Year My Marriage Ended.

Eric also shares advice that changed his writing life. When he once said he was struggling to finish “a book,” another author told him: “Don’t say book. Say books.” Thinking about the next project helped him finish the current one. His encouragement: don’t put the entire weight of your creative life on one project. Keep creating. Keep moving. Let your gifts multiply.