Redigging the Wells

I don't know why, but I'm always blown away by how the Lord chooses to align people and situations in the Kingdom to fulfill His purposes. Lately, I have been feeling a real unsettledness as it relates to my calling in Asheville and I began to ask the Lord about it. Nothing really came as far as a direct word or direction, but I felt a nudging to begin to research the history of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, the Craft Revival and the Settlement School movement of the early 20th century.

Being in Asheville, the center of the folk art and craft movement, I was able to visit the Folk Art Center up on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. I spent several hours reading, researching and plundering the wonderful research library they have onsite that has hundreds of rare and out of print books on the subject of handicrafts, art and what we call the southern highlands.

During my research yesterday, I literally began to weep while sitting at the table. The Lord started showing me in bold color the fullness of the purposes he has for me and The Worship Studio here in Asheville. Turns out, the whole arts and crafts revival that changed the very DNA of this region in the early 20th century was fueled primarily by missionaries - Godly people both ordained and lay - who had a vision for economic and cultural impact in the context of the Kingdom through art, beauty, craft and wholistic education. I couldn't believe it! The very thing the Lord had called me to a year ago - to raise up an army of artisans to reveal His Glory in the earth - to establish a center for training and ministry - to be a creative hub and prototype that would spawn other creative communities around the world - Literally, people in this area were doing it over 100 years ago with incredible favor and success.

John C, Campbell (pictured above) and his wife Olive Dame Campbell (pictured left) were two of the main pioneers in this movement. In fact, John was an ordained congregationalist home missionary who was sent by the American Missionary Association to southern Appalachia to minister to the 'mountain whites'. Rupert Vance, in his forward to the reprint of Campbell's The Southern Highlander and His Homeland said "This was a period when many felt that unless home missions, private church academies, and outside philanthropists were adequate to save the mountain people from stagnation and isolation, they could not be saved."

The model of ministry was for missionaries - some families and couples, but also many young, single women - to relocate and live among the people to minister through relationship and daily mentoring. These were passionate people who saw a desperate need to reach a people group and gave their lives to minister to them. Allan Eaton describes a common scene during this time around Allanstand (Francis Goodrich's outpost) as women gathering once a week for "sewing, chatting and for a short religious service." Upon John Campbell's death, it was his wife, Olive who picked up the torch and ran with the vision they shared - visiting the Danish Folk Schools, starting the John C. Campbell Folk School and along with other leaders, leading the movement to start the Southern Highland Craft Guild - unifying Appalachian artisans in a way that would be economically and artistically beneficial to them.

The incredible part for me about all of this is that because of the significant Arts and Craft Movement that really flourished between 1880 and 1910, the Social Settlement Movement, the Country Life Movement in England and the Social Gospel Movement in the US, people and entire organizations embraced the idea of art, craft and beauty as a valid way to impact people and shift culture - the same calling we embrace today with The Worship Studio. It seems around 1900, people began to get a vision for this type of social activist ministry and we started seeing workers migrating south to help revitalize the economy and culture through basic craft training and production. Quickly, whole denominations within the Body of Christ began to lay hold of the vision, sending missionaries, funding missions programs and sponsoring what were known as settlement schools all over Appalachia. By 1920, Campbell lists over 150 schools and academies like this all over southern Appalachia with backing provided by most Protestant denominations and wealthy patrons. LIterally within about 20 years, the whole face of a culture and economy were shifted because of people who had a vision for the Kingdom and shifting culture through creative expression.

Today, God is calling us to redig the wells that have been dormant in this region and around the country. What once started as a kingdom-focused ministry sponsored by the Body of Christ to equip people in their calling has now been turned over in large part to humanistic, government funded influences who resist the marriage of faith and creativity. We are praying for a resurgance and revival within the arts community that would shift culture and impact the lives of artisans in greater ways than even those early forerunners dreamed possible. We will see, as Allen Eaton said in the early 20th century, "Pioneer Centers" raised up that will spawn other creative communities all over the world with a passion to integrate wholeness of the artisans, the ability to engage the Holy Spirit within creative expression, mentoring by master artisans and skill development. Just like the John C. Campbell Folk School, Allanstand, the Fireside Industries of Berea and Arrowmont, among others, God is raising us up for such a time as this in the Kingdom to release His Glory and impact culture around the world in unprecedented ways.