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WHAT IS AD LIB?
Vision Statement
Judith Deem Dupree, Founder and Spiritual Director
Teilhard de Chardin said it, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
We wish to provide a "human experience." A stimulus. An interregnum. A Sabbath.
AD LIB is a forum and format for renewal. We are beginning our sixth year of service, hosting our annual fall retreat, continuing and encouraging contact between those who have joined us for these events, and seeking out new ways of reaching and supporting those in the arts.
Our retreat is not a conference - not really a workshop either, although "workshopping" often develops on site. It is, rather, a setting where those with a deep sense of, or yearning for, God's Kingdom, and a gifting in creative arts may join others in worship and fellowship, in mutual encouragement and labor. A small group of around fifty participants are invited to leave the push-pull of daily life and come together for a time of reflection and solitude, a place to treasure friendships old and new, and an unhurried pace with which to address, singly and together, vital issues that concern us. All are encouraged to bring works and works-in-progress to share as time and format permits. Each year we invite at least two special guests who bring to us their own specialty for consideration and discussion in light of our own -- and in relation to the world we live in.
AD LIB is a time simply to be, to reconsider what impels and goads us, what rests and fulfils us, what reinforces our intent to live compassionately and judiciously and prayerfully in a complex, often despairing world. It is, hopefully, Kairos - an appointed Time when something Eternal may happen among us that will spark new growth and vision for each individual and for the whole of us, as a small representation of His Church.
Our foundational premise is that of engendering Sabbath. It is vital in ministry - within and to a stressed society - that we come into an understanding of His Rest - embracing it as our first necessity and the source of all further Good that befalls and proceeds from us. AD LIB represents primarily this concept of life.
AD LIB is tied to three premises: In order to fulfill the purposes of God, and to impact society, our writing/arts must (1) bear the fruit of a maturing spiritual walk, (2) display a high quality of crafting, and (3) in some aspect unveil His immanence to a hurting, skeptical world. These qualities are essential to our witness, lest we trivialize the Message.
Our world is changing inexorably. As practicing artists and writers, we struggle not only with our own frailties. but with an earth grown "suddenly" fragile and a global society gripped by frightening tensions. "How shall we then live?", asked Francis Schaeffer. We who labor with words and in visual art, dance, stage, screen, music written, sung or played - we cannot do this Inexpressible Thing, or do it fully, freely, tangibly, without his rich empowerment.
As servants of a God of compassion and justice and unspeakable majesty, we struggle to find our Voices, to clarify them, to use them well for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. As servants, we are not isolated, not focused upon our "giftings", but rather searching for our own particular ways of expressing them in our families, our churches, our communities, and beyond. What we seek is an enduement of the gifts and fruit of the Spirit - which are "uncontainable" and ever renewed - as we find new purposes for our artistic expressions and refine those we have practiced. We hope to more fully explore - and explode - the potential impact of the Godly gifts of art upon our culture.
We believe that gifting without service is talent buried, regardless of quality, beauty, uniqueness. As we reconnoiter the Kingdom, He points us toward those who live in spiritual and every other poverty. It is here that we may lavish our gifting, finding ways of creating beauty and hope where there is none. Gifts of art and words employed in the service of the King are works of Genesis. This is His Highest Calling - beyond the marketplace, showcase, stage, or gallery. This is His Love lived out!
Because we who believe in AD LIB also believe with increasing conviction that artistry (expressing His Glory and praising Him) and servanthood are the two hands of God, we commit to including this concept in all our communal activities. As we find our way, singly and together in Him, we will search for ways to move out into a haunted world. We will remain open and eager and purposeful in this singular dedication.
AD LIB: "at pleasure ... at HIS pleasure."
Comments From The Editor To The Reader
Scott Souza
After one of our conferences some of us were gathered in a cabin overlooking a wide, blue lake with the Never Summer Mountains of Colorado in the background. We had been brainstorming for two days about what AD LIB should be, what it should represent, and what it should accomplish in the communities (Christian and non-Christian) to whom we ministered. Late one evening, one of our staff said that she felt AD LIB represented the opportunity to go "out of Sabbath into service". That phrase struck all of us as the epitome of what AD LIB stands for. We adopted it as our slogan.
Here are some thoughts on AD LIB which we gleaned from various people at various times. We hope they convey, individually and collectively, a deep sense of the AD LIB concept and that they inspire you to partake of it yourself as the Lord provides opportunity.
JOANNE IRWIN (Staff Member): "Out of Sabbath into Service"
Biblical Sabbath includes worship, rest, and fellowship. Jesus also pointed out that acts of mercy are fully in keeping with the Sabbath. This sounds...like what AD LIB is.
LEONARD GOSS (Advisory Board; Editor, Broadman & Holman Publishers):
AD LIB is not your usual conference. As a forum/retreat/community dealing with the concepts, ideas and spiritual concerns of all the Christian arts, it was, quite simply, unlike any other conference I can recall. For Christian writers and artists who mean to be responsible and faithful representatives of Christ, I recommend AD LIB as a fresh and wonderful interregnum as well as a metaphor of the Kingdom of God.
MARCI WHITNEY-SCHENCK, (Board Chair; Publisher/Editor, CHRISTIANITY & THE ARTS)
I now create little Sabbaths -- quiet times during the day in which I rest in the Lord. Thank you for creating Sabbath for us.
ANNE EMMONS (Staff Member)
The harvest of AD LIB is plentiful: together we share discovery, affirmation, refining and celebration of his calling to create. What joy to meet on the common ground of the Cross, and to know a depth of fellowship as Christians and artists which I've only dreamt could be possible. There is no "system" which can compare with seeing a God-given goal, moving towards it as though blind, yet sensing His heartbeat pulsing.
GRETCHEN SOUSA
I loved the warmth, the accessibility, the openness of everyone there. Although we were in different genres at different places in our work, AD LIB provided a level space where ideas could ignite among us like fireflies.
RUTHANN RIDLEY
I attended AD LIB feeling discouraged and displaced. I came away with the conviction that God was with me in my craft and that I belonged. It came to me in a new way that even though Christian writers, et al, work in hidden pockets and often feel isolated, we are community, connected by the thread of His Spirit, doing His work through the various works of our hands. We need each other.
SCOTT SOUZA
It is this sort of wholesome interaction which we seek in AD LIB -- a liberty of spirit and Spirit -- a fellowship of artists in synergistic interaction -- growing, creating, realizing that when we create well, to paraphrase Eric Liddell, we "feel His pleasure." We have experienced community through spontaneous sharing. We have found ourselves reluctant to depart from one another. We read our works, share our laughter and wonder, and go to our rooms satisfied...
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