Periodically, I receive emails and phone messages from artists looking to do some work for HPP. Unfortunately, at this time I do not have the projects to offer them...even the real pro's out there, just looking for a gig.
But that is about to change....
(Trumpet please: Ba, Ba, Ba...BAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!)....
Writer, Tim Lasuita (Comic Buyers Guide, Mad for Kids et. al...), and I are in the conceptual stages of a project artists and illustrators may have an interest in...especially you closet-Christian-artists out there, who just don't have an outlet to use your God given talents in worship!
We are currently in the process of putting together the first in what will be a series of DVDÂ’s/books that will provide illustrations of the best-known stories/events from the Bible. Our goal is to have a full spectrum of styles and visions represented, (from fine art, to traditional DC-Marvelish style, to abstraction, to chartoonish, to manga), so that this project is open to professional class artists from all styles.
Our primary target audience for these DVDÂ’s will be churches, youth ministries, missionaries and outreach programs, (both domestically and abroad), that would like to integrate cutting edge modern-graphics into their programs and literature which will appeal to their younger audiences and replace the same old clip art they have been using since the dark ages. Alternatively, the finished product, (along with an accompanying published version for the book trade and comic book market), will also be of interest to fans of finer illustration everywhere, especially because of its eclectic collection of styles.
At this time the specific compensation details are being worked out, but in a nutshellÂ…there will be a nominal fee paid to the artists on the front end, with the potential to earn royalty income based on the volume of sales. In addition, each artist will retain the rights to the original artwork and the reproduction rights outside of those required for the project, and we will even assist them in marketing sales of ancillary products, (t-shirts, lithographs etcÂ…), through the infrastructure we create to market this product on the web, (including turn-key order processing if needed). But to be honest, we hope to attract creators more for the appeal of the project and the ability to use it to express the artists talents in a form of worship, verses a "what will I be getting for this" type of mentality.
Currently, our list of tentative participants is: Samaxx Randolf, Mario Ruiz, Dick Ayers, Bob Wiacek, John Workman, Frank Bolle, Brian Rood, Josef Rubenstein, Rudy Nebres, Rich Bonk and Keelan Parham.
This is a wonderful way for artists and illustrators to not only have their work introduced to a whole new audience around the globe, but to use their incredible gifts to express their love and vision of God, as well as do their part in bringing about a renaissance of popular art within Christian worship.
We are currently gauging the number of creators within the artistic community, who might have an interest in becoming involved in this project. If you do have an interest and would like to learn more, than start by contacting me at: info@headpress.info
Once we have established the number of potential contributors that will participate, we will provide a complete breakdown of the full compensation plan, and detail our specific production schedule, marketing and distribution plans...from which participants can make a final decision.
Look for that information to be coming in early Oct., once I am done with my primary marketing push for Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit. Whether you are interested or not, please share this opportunity with overt, or closet-Christian-Creators you may know, who might have an interest.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Robert James Luedke
www.HEADPRESS.info
Friday, August 25, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
A PR Primer...Count it all as Joy!
Hi again!
After a six week absence, I am back online to share some of what I have learned on the first three legs of my summer appearance tour.
Wow, you never know how taxing both physically and mentally life on the road (for business) can be till you try it!
Over all the summer tour has been very interesting as I have had some nice groups of people join me in some locations, and little to none in others, (more on this later).
The International Christian Retailing Show, (ICRS, formerly known as the CBA International), was very exciting, as I gave out 150 samples of Acts of the Spirit, to retailers and distributors, in less than 45 minutes.
Comic Con International was great! We had our best year yet, sales wise, and made many nice connections with other Christian publishers of comic books and graphic novels, as well as with the local and national media, (more on this later also). Sunday's spiritual themes in comics panel, was very well attended, (I had counted about 70 at the highest point), and it generated some wonderful dialog back at the table on the exhibit room floor, (which was right next to the Christian Comics Arts Society).
Wizard World Chicago, was somewhat of a mixed bag, as one tends to get spoiled by CCI. But I did not do as well as I would have liked saleswise and got the same vibe I felt back at CCI in 2004, when I premiered the first Eye Witness book, (like many were afraid to stop when they saw my banner with the ascending Jesus, because they thought I might preach to them or maybe shout out, "REPENT, REPENT YOU SINNERS!"). We have overcome that in San Diego, but this was my first time in Chicago since the late '90s, so I'll get you "flatlanders" some slack.
The great thing about the tour has been the large amount of press coverage it has generated. Most of it very wonderful and complementary. Some not so much. Case in point, read over this article which ran in the L.A. Times last Saturday, August 19th: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs19aug19,1,336917.story?coll=la-headlines-California&ctrack=1&cset=true
Yes, the angle this article took was indeed a surprise,(as the reporter had spent about 3 total hours with me learning about me, my testimony, my mission, the industry and the creative process of making a graphic novel), but the fact the this signing was poorly attended was the focus of her piece?
I've been contemplating/Praying about how to accept this...as a slam or count it "all as joy".
My initial reaction, was that as a Christian, we all know it's good to be transparent, but of course on the other hand, we also realize as a businessman/marketer, that sometimes that does not jive with the message we are trying to convey. In other words, we have a positive message we "try to present" to the media about our products/projects, and would prefer they did not point out the negative, (ex: that "no one purchased a book at a particular booksigning"), along side that message.
BUT TO CARIFY...I had put together this whole summer signing tour months ago, and had made certain assumptions about the level of support, (marketing/media), I would receive from the participating retailers on the tour. But here's a lesson learned, that I will share with my brother artists and publishers. Assume nothing! You must followup to make sure they (the retailers) are doing what they promised as far as marketing of these events. During the west coast tour especially, I learned this lesson after a couple stops had did virtually nothing to promote the signings, in-store or outside of it, (including not even having books on display in the store prior to my arrival), which I will point to in paritially explaining the empty seats at the signing in question in the L.A Times article.
After learning this lesson, I increased my level of followup both to the store managers and the local media in the next stops, (because they certainly were not going to do that in most cases). This did not result in huge turnouts at every stop, but at least greatly improved my chances.
But what it all came down to with someone like me (unknown author) at these booksignings in all manner of stores, was my ability to get local coverage in the media. In Cities like Minneapolis, I could not make that happen, and as Sherwin Schartzrock can testify, (because we did a joint signing there)...that gave us a lot of time to catch up and philosophize about the meaning of life and the state of the industry, while sitting at our table.
But on the other hand in cities like Eau Clair, St. Jospeh and Dubuque,(where I had radio, TV and newspaper coverage), I had people in the seats for very nice Q &A's and even sold a half dozen or so books in each location.
Should we expect more than this? Not unless we are Steven King or Ann Rice...according to media expert, Whitney Kelley, (of A. Larry Ross communications). She says, the typical author at a signing, taking all levels of familiarity by the public into consideration, will sell only 7 books on average at a signing!
Unfortunately, she didn't pass on that nugget of wisdom to me, until well after I had made my plans.
But potential poor showing aside, I look at my summer tour, (from this point forward to be referred to as: "Bob's excellent adventure"), as not a sales success, but definitely a PR success. Making appearances like this, gives local media a reason to cover you...because they have a local event with which to key/angle their coverage of your message, where they might have ignored it otherwise. Off the top of my head, the first three parts of this tour have generated: 6 feature newspaper articles, (5 good, 1 LA Times), 2 TV features and a handful of local radio interviews, (not to mention web only coverage).
Visit a couple of the good ones:
http://www.newsok.com/article/2829455
http://www.abpnews.com/1311.article
Who among us, would not consider that kind of exposure of our works, (and the Spirit of God within them), as a blessing?
Now excuse me, while I shlank back to my cave and prepare for the last two legs of the tour!
Robert Luedke is the author/illustrator of Eye Witness: A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth and Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit.
www.HEADPRESS.info
After a six week absence, I am back online to share some of what I have learned on the first three legs of my summer appearance tour.
Wow, you never know how taxing both physically and mentally life on the road (for business) can be till you try it!
Over all the summer tour has been very interesting as I have had some nice groups of people join me in some locations, and little to none in others, (more on this later).
The International Christian Retailing Show, (ICRS, formerly known as the CBA International), was very exciting, as I gave out 150 samples of Acts of the Spirit, to retailers and distributors, in less than 45 minutes.
Comic Con International was great! We had our best year yet, sales wise, and made many nice connections with other Christian publishers of comic books and graphic novels, as well as with the local and national media, (more on this later also). Sunday's spiritual themes in comics panel, was very well attended, (I had counted about 70 at the highest point), and it generated some wonderful dialog back at the table on the exhibit room floor, (which was right next to the Christian Comics Arts Society).
Wizard World Chicago, was somewhat of a mixed bag, as one tends to get spoiled by CCI. But I did not do as well as I would have liked saleswise and got the same vibe I felt back at CCI in 2004, when I premiered the first Eye Witness book, (like many were afraid to stop when they saw my banner with the ascending Jesus, because they thought I might preach to them or maybe shout out, "REPENT, REPENT YOU SINNERS!"). We have overcome that in San Diego, but this was my first time in Chicago since the late '90s, so I'll get you "flatlanders" some slack.
The great thing about the tour has been the large amount of press coverage it has generated. Most of it very wonderful and complementary. Some not so much. Case in point, read over this article which ran in the L.A. Times last Saturday, August 19th: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs19aug19,1,336917.story?coll=la-headlines-California&ctrack=1&cset=true
Yes, the angle this article took was indeed a surprise,(as the reporter had spent about 3 total hours with me learning about me, my testimony, my mission, the industry and the creative process of making a graphic novel), but the fact the this signing was poorly attended was the focus of her piece?
I've been contemplating/Praying about how to accept this...as a slam or count it "all as joy".
My initial reaction, was that as a Christian, we all know it's good to be transparent, but of course on the other hand, we also realize as a businessman/marketer, that sometimes that does not jive with the message we are trying to convey. In other words, we have a positive message we "try to present" to the media about our products/projects, and would prefer they did not point out the negative, (ex: that "no one purchased a book at a particular booksigning"), along side that message.
BUT TO CARIFY...I had put together this whole summer signing tour months ago, and had made certain assumptions about the level of support, (marketing/media), I would receive from the participating retailers on the tour. But here's a lesson learned, that I will share with my brother artists and publishers. Assume nothing! You must followup to make sure they (the retailers) are doing what they promised as far as marketing of these events. During the west coast tour especially, I learned this lesson after a couple stops had did virtually nothing to promote the signings, in-store or outside of it, (including not even having books on display in the store prior to my arrival), which I will point to in paritially explaining the empty seats at the signing in question in the L.A Times article.
After learning this lesson, I increased my level of followup both to the store managers and the local media in the next stops, (because they certainly were not going to do that in most cases). This did not result in huge turnouts at every stop, but at least greatly improved my chances.
But what it all came down to with someone like me (unknown author) at these booksignings in all manner of stores, was my ability to get local coverage in the media. In Cities like Minneapolis, I could not make that happen, and as Sherwin Schartzrock can testify, (because we did a joint signing there)...that gave us a lot of time to catch up and philosophize about the meaning of life and the state of the industry, while sitting at our table.
But on the other hand in cities like Eau Clair, St. Jospeh and Dubuque,(where I had radio, TV and newspaper coverage), I had people in the seats for very nice Q &A's and even sold a half dozen or so books in each location.
Should we expect more than this? Not unless we are Steven King or Ann Rice...according to media expert, Whitney Kelley, (of A. Larry Ross communications). She says, the typical author at a signing, taking all levels of familiarity by the public into consideration, will sell only 7 books on average at a signing!
Unfortunately, she didn't pass on that nugget of wisdom to me, until well after I had made my plans.
But potential poor showing aside, I look at my summer tour, (from this point forward to be referred to as: "Bob's excellent adventure"), as not a sales success, but definitely a PR success. Making appearances like this, gives local media a reason to cover you...because they have a local event with which to key/angle their coverage of your message, where they might have ignored it otherwise. Off the top of my head, the first three parts of this tour have generated: 6 feature newspaper articles, (5 good, 1 LA Times), 2 TV features and a handful of local radio interviews, (not to mention web only coverage).
Visit a couple of the good ones:
http://www.newsok.com/article/2829455
http://www.abpnews.com/1311.article
Who among us, would not consider that kind of exposure of our works, (and the Spirit of God within them), as a blessing?
Now excuse me, while I shlank back to my cave and prepare for the last two legs of the tour!
Robert Luedke is the author/illustrator of Eye Witness: A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth and Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit.
www.HEADPRESS.info
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Oh My God....I'm a MUTANT!!!!
Here’s some food for thought (1)…
…The comic book (and also movies), about the X-Men, has capitalized on the concept of mutants existing along side homo sapiens on earth. These mutants have special gifts, which “normal men” do not. These mutants become ostracized and persecuted by other men out of fear and jealousy. The concept is very appealing because it is looked at as a metaphor for persecution of minority groups, (I.E….Jews, gays, you name it). But I see a different parable working within the framework of the X-Men…That men of God, who have truly received Christ in their lives as their savior and accepted the Holy Spirit, are changed into, “God’s Mutants!”
MUTANT Defined: 1. Undergoing mutation; resulting from mutation. 2. A new type of organism produced as a result of mutation 3. He who has changed.
…The comic book (and also movies), about the X-Men, has capitalized on the concept of mutants existing along side homo sapiens on earth. These mutants have special gifts, which “normal men” do not. These mutants become ostracized and persecuted by other men out of fear and jealousy. The concept is very appealing because it is looked at as a metaphor for persecution of minority groups, (I.E….Jews, gays, you name it). But I see a different parable working within the framework of the X-Men…That men of God, who have truly received Christ in their lives as their savior and accepted the Holy Spirit, are changed into, “God’s Mutants!”
MUTANT Defined: 1. Undergoing mutation; resulting from mutation. 2. A new type of organism produced as a result of mutation 3. He who has changed.
The Old Testament prophet Samuel, said it very plainly, "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will be changed into a different person!"
Food for thought (2)… Are you really utilizing the “special talents” God has gifted you with, (those set of natural skills and life experiences that make you uniquely you…your Mutant Abilities, so to speak), or are you keeping them from the world?
We all have them, (our mutant abilities), just some of us either: Don’t want to admit to them; feel embarrassed by them; don’t see a use for them; or haven’t quite figured out what our talents are.
The New Testament, speaks quite a bit about our talents or special gifts. In fact, in the book of Acts and the letters of the Apostle Paul, it is said that when we accept Jesus in our lives as our savior we are given God’s Holy Spirit, through which we are changed and given our special gifts, or those gifts we already had since before our conception, will now come to the surface.
Jesus himself speaks quite a bit about the nature of God’s Mutants, (true followers). He describes us as not quite fitting in with the rest of the world…as being “in the world,” but not being “of the world”. We are described as being literally like aliens on our own planet! Have you even felt that like? “Hey, I know I’m a human being, but I just don’t feel like I belong with most of those around me, or what society thinks I should be. Why do I see things so differently than most of people I meet?” That’s because YOU ARE DIFFERENT…you are God’s Mutant!
In the book of his Apostle, Mathew, (25:14-30), Jesus talks about our “special talents” and our responsibility to use them, or lose them, (so to speak). We are directed to take our God gifted talents, and to use them to, (using a parable), plant seeds, cultivate and harvest an abundant crop. Crop of what? A crop of New (God's) Mutants of course!
We are all called, when we become believers, to share God’s Glory, (or simply put, the process that we ourselves have experienced through accepting God…salvation, forgiveness of past, present and future sins...and our awakening or discovery of, our “Mutant abilities” that God has gifted us with). Through this sharing we allow other people to experience that joy for themselves, also find salvation…and tap into their “Mutant Abilities.” To keep our joy and “Mutant abilities” to ourselves is to waste them! God gave them to us for a reason. It is our job to discover that reason, or purpose, and go out and use them. If we don’t, to paraphrase Jesus, “then we are like a lamp that is kept under the bed at night…it does not provide any light to those who need to see in the darkness!”
This is very reflective of how my life had become. God had gifted me with a very natural and incredible talent to draw, which became very evident in my life as early as 6 years old, when I could master drawing in perspective without even understanding what the heck perspective was. By 8 years old I was being passed around the classrooms in my school, to do portraits of the teachers. But even though, my “special talents” always defined me, I never fully put them to use “in the world”.
(SIDEBAR: Isn’t it curious how “the world” looks at those with artistic abilities…. I.E., writers, artists, song writers, poets etc…that though we have a special gift, those skills are not looked at as really important to making a living, like those gifted for business, engineering, sales etc.)?
It wasn’t until I accepted God/Jesus in my heart, mind and soul that the true purpose for my “Mutant Artistic Abilities was shown to me…to share God’s word through Graphic Novels/Comic book presentations. In my life those God given artistic talents, though used to varying degrees, were never a “LIGHT TO THOSE WANDERING IN THE DARKNESS,” until now. And only then, was inner peace given to me through purpose that was never present in my life.
It’s amazing the number of stories that this you will hear from incredibly talented individuals, (artists, actors, musicians, writers and even athletes), who reflect this same idea! A skeptic might say, “but what about all those successful artistic or talented people, who do not believe?” I would answer, their level of success will be fleeting and of “this world”, (money, fame, idolatry), but will not be of a lasting nature.
Success in God’s eyes is eternal and alternatively not using our God given “Mutant Abilities”, leads to separation from God eternally, (remember, most of us are on this earth only about 70 years, but then with God forever…or not)!
Jesus told us, “For everyone who has, (talents), will be given more and he will have abundance. Whoever who does not have, (doesn’t use those talents), even what he has will be taken away from him and he will be thrown outside into the darkness.”
So, revel in your “Mutant Abilities”! Like Professor X would say, “Find the purpose for them…. and go out and be a light for other men with them, rather than using them for mere personal gain!”
There is where you will find fulfillment in life as “God’s Mutant!”
Copyright, Robert James Luedke, 2006. www.HEADPRESS.info
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
FINDING YOUR PURPOSE
Like many people who have come to Jesus, (in the literal sense), later in life, I was motivated by the eternal questions:
-LORD, TELL ME WHO I AM?
-WHO AM I SUPPOSE TO BE?
-AND WHAT I AM SUPPOSE TO DO?
For a vast majority of those who hit mid-life these are questions that seemed to be ingrained within our subconscious, some might say like our natural instincts to hunt, or to pursue the opposite sex, or to raise a family. These basic instincts seem to almost haunt us as they constantly rear their head in times of solitude, or introspection.
We all want to feel wanted. We all want to feel we are special or unique. We all want to feel we have an intrinsic value…that we matter in some way in the big-picture of life!
For those not yet connected to God, they may pursue answers to these questions through all manor of methods: Higher education; pursuing an upwardly mobile career path; through alcohol or drugs; through sexual conquest; through marriage after marriage; through rebelling against the norms/customs of their culture…and the list is endless.
But for many, (myself included), the path of self discovery always leads back to one direction...we can only truly find ourselves when we find God!
I’ll use myself as a guinea pig for this example. I felt I had a number of natural talents that other people around me just didn’t seem to have. I was artistically talented, even at the age of 8, where the 2nd grade teachers would pass me from classroom to classroom to do portraits of the teachers and I always seemed to embraced the limelight, and had no fear of speaking in front of a group of people whether big or small.
I always just took these things for granted, because they were always there, always inside of me. It never occurred to me that I was different than 99% of my classmates because in 1st grade I already understood how to draw in perspective and what vanishing points were. No one ever taught me, I just instinctively seemed to know! But even armed with this “special talent or gift”, I could never really find my place or use for it in the work-a-day world. And it was not for lack of trying either! I attempted to use my artist talent to: Create a daily comic strip; to become a free-lance illustrator; to design giftware and to create and publish secular based comic books. But nothing special, successful or profitable ever came from my artistic-based career pursuits.
Than something changed drastically in my life, when in 1999, I surrendered my pride and my life to Jesus and accepted him as truly the Son of God and my savior. (To view my complete testimonial on how and why this occurred, visit the webpage: http://www.headpress.info/about_luedke.html ) For the better part of the first two years of my journey toward and with God, I prayed often about discovering who I was, what was my purpose and for God to reveal to me my reason for being. In a morning of prayer, in Dec. 2002, God answered my questions! That morning, he kind of shook the cobwebs out of my head and said…”HEY…THE ANSWER IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! WHY DO YOU THINK I GAVE YOU THIS INCREDIBLE NATURAL ABILITY THAT MOST PEOPLE ONLY CAN MARVEL AT, IF I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO USE IT FOR A VERY SPECIAL PURPOSE?” (I am of course paraphrasing the message I received through prayer that morning). “ I DESIGNED YOU TO USE YOUR ARTIST TALENTS AND YOUR COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS TO SPREAD MY WORD IN A WAY AND TO AN AUDIENCE THAT IT IS NOT BEING SPREAD TO NOW.”
For me that could only mean one thing…I was to use the art-form/literary genre with which I was the most familiar with and which God, (through my life experiences to date), had led me to become knowledgeable of and adept at…the comic-book style of storytelling. Further, it meant that this little story that had been floating around in the back of my head, almost from the day I became born again in Christ, was how I was to focus those talents. And thus, Eye Witness was born and suddenly I had my purpose! I was so excited by this revelation, that I called my wife long-distance to tell her of this development, (she was on vacation with my kids in another state at the time)! She gave me the ol’…”that nice honey…did you remember to feed the dog?” But as time went by, she came to realize the enormous impact this day truly had on my life.
This is one of the wonderful benefits of accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit in your life. You may for the first time, understand your place in God’s big picture. You may for the first time, be able to see yourself as the unique, wonderful creation that God has made you. And you may for the first time, understand why you’ve experienced some of the strange, traumatic and confusing situations that made up your life experiences…because it all has a purpose in who you are now!
Everyone will not be an artist or writer for God, just like everyone will not be a pastor or minister to a congregation. But my point of this post is, that there are so many parts to the body of Christ, that everyone has value and can contribute. Some teach, some serve, some mentor, some council, some entertain and inspire, some evangelize, some soldier, some pray, some sing and some administer. God has gifted us all in a unique way to take on his directions for us. The wonderful challenge and reward of truly allowing the Holy Spirit to work within you, is discovering what piece in God’s cosmic puzzle you are!
Resources: To help you understand this thought and lead you down the road to further discovery, I would suggest reading, Rick Warren’s A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, and Renee Hornbuckle’s, THE POWER OF PASSION: Finding and Following the Path to your Passion.
Copyright 2006, Robert James Luedke, author of... Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit and Eye Witness: Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth.
-LORD, TELL ME WHO I AM?
-WHO AM I SUPPOSE TO BE?
-AND WHAT I AM SUPPOSE TO DO?
For a vast majority of those who hit mid-life these are questions that seemed to be ingrained within our subconscious, some might say like our natural instincts to hunt, or to pursue the opposite sex, or to raise a family. These basic instincts seem to almost haunt us as they constantly rear their head in times of solitude, or introspection.
We all want to feel wanted. We all want to feel we are special or unique. We all want to feel we have an intrinsic value…that we matter in some way in the big-picture of life!
For those not yet connected to God, they may pursue answers to these questions through all manor of methods: Higher education; pursuing an upwardly mobile career path; through alcohol or drugs; through sexual conquest; through marriage after marriage; through rebelling against the norms/customs of their culture…and the list is endless.
But for many, (myself included), the path of self discovery always leads back to one direction...we can only truly find ourselves when we find God!
I’ll use myself as a guinea pig for this example. I felt I had a number of natural talents that other people around me just didn’t seem to have. I was artistically talented, even at the age of 8, where the 2nd grade teachers would pass me from classroom to classroom to do portraits of the teachers and I always seemed to embraced the limelight, and had no fear of speaking in front of a group of people whether big or small.
I always just took these things for granted, because they were always there, always inside of me. It never occurred to me that I was different than 99% of my classmates because in 1st grade I already understood how to draw in perspective and what vanishing points were. No one ever taught me, I just instinctively seemed to know! But even armed with this “special talent or gift”, I could never really find my place or use for it in the work-a-day world. And it was not for lack of trying either! I attempted to use my artist talent to: Create a daily comic strip; to become a free-lance illustrator; to design giftware and to create and publish secular based comic books. But nothing special, successful or profitable ever came from my artistic-based career pursuits.
Than something changed drastically in my life, when in 1999, I surrendered my pride and my life to Jesus and accepted him as truly the Son of God and my savior. (To view my complete testimonial on how and why this occurred, visit the webpage: http://www.headpress.info/about_luedke.html ) For the better part of the first two years of my journey toward and with God, I prayed often about discovering who I was, what was my purpose and for God to reveal to me my reason for being. In a morning of prayer, in Dec. 2002, God answered my questions! That morning, he kind of shook the cobwebs out of my head and said…”HEY…THE ANSWER IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! WHY DO YOU THINK I GAVE YOU THIS INCREDIBLE NATURAL ABILITY THAT MOST PEOPLE ONLY CAN MARVEL AT, IF I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO USE IT FOR A VERY SPECIAL PURPOSE?” (I am of course paraphrasing the message I received through prayer that morning). “ I DESIGNED YOU TO USE YOUR ARTIST TALENTS AND YOUR COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS TO SPREAD MY WORD IN A WAY AND TO AN AUDIENCE THAT IT IS NOT BEING SPREAD TO NOW.”
For me that could only mean one thing…I was to use the art-form/literary genre with which I was the most familiar with and which God, (through my life experiences to date), had led me to become knowledgeable of and adept at…the comic-book style of storytelling. Further, it meant that this little story that had been floating around in the back of my head, almost from the day I became born again in Christ, was how I was to focus those talents. And thus, Eye Witness was born and suddenly I had my purpose! I was so excited by this revelation, that I called my wife long-distance to tell her of this development, (she was on vacation with my kids in another state at the time)! She gave me the ol’…”that nice honey…did you remember to feed the dog?” But as time went by, she came to realize the enormous impact this day truly had on my life.
This is one of the wonderful benefits of accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit in your life. You may for the first time, understand your place in God’s big picture. You may for the first time, be able to see yourself as the unique, wonderful creation that God has made you. And you may for the first time, understand why you’ve experienced some of the strange, traumatic and confusing situations that made up your life experiences…because it all has a purpose in who you are now!
Everyone will not be an artist or writer for God, just like everyone will not be a pastor or minister to a congregation. But my point of this post is, that there are so many parts to the body of Christ, that everyone has value and can contribute. Some teach, some serve, some mentor, some council, some entertain and inspire, some evangelize, some soldier, some pray, some sing and some administer. God has gifted us all in a unique way to take on his directions for us. The wonderful challenge and reward of truly allowing the Holy Spirit to work within you, is discovering what piece in God’s cosmic puzzle you are!
Resources: To help you understand this thought and lead you down the road to further discovery, I would suggest reading, Rick Warren’s A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, and Renee Hornbuckle’s, THE POWER OF PASSION: Finding and Following the Path to your Passion.
Copyright 2006, Robert James Luedke, author of... Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit and Eye Witness: Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth.
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