Advertise on podcast: Belonging House Fellowship

I will live a life of expectation, knowing Christ will come again. This is the last of the Twelve I Wills, and it puts the other eleven in perspective. What we see around us is not it. History is going someplace, and God is raising up an army of artists to prepare a way for the coming of the Lord. Christ John Otto closes the series on All Saints' Day, the day he planned it to end. People like us are disciples of Jesus, formed by the Bible, going low and serving, full of the Holy Spirit, artists who sparkle with eternity. Not a nice Christian arts ministry, but a band of holy warriors. He unpacks what it means to be "a holy," a new creature made for eternity, and how your life and your work become a sacred image that points forward to the One who is coming. What we cover p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Twelve weeks, twelve cultural values, not rules: People like us do things like this p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Not a nice Christian arts ministry with "Color Me Inspirational" Bibles, but a band of holy warriors p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> All Saints' Day and two errors about saints: "everybody in the pews is a saint" and "saints are superheroes you'll never become" p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The New Testament word for saint: "holy" used as a noun, and learning to live into being "a holy" p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Vernon Staley's The Catholic Religion and the church as a Christmas tree lit from above, with the Morning Star at the top p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why contemporary Christianity is so earthbound and secular, and why this last I Will puts it all in perspective p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 1 John 3: children of God now, unknown to a world that does not know Him p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The tragedy of chasing relevance: when you play the world's game you become like the world p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "Already, but not yet" people: when Jesus appears, the mask comes off p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: there are no ordinary people, and you have never talked to a mere mortal p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Making a way for the Lord inwardly: becoming a master copy of Jesus, the icon of the Father p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Making a way outwardly: your work and your life point to the mystery of faith p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy: every sacred image says crucified, risen, coming again p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Don't get weird, don't get religious: keep a Kingdom perspective and ask Jesus what His is p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Facing East: the One coming in the clouds with His holy ones, and making this place a place of welcome for Him Scripture and references 1 John 3:1–3 · Matthew 5:11–12 · Luke 10:20 · John 3:5 · 2 Corinthians 5:17 · Romans 12:1–2 · 2 Corinthians 3:18 · John 14:9 · Colossians 1:15 · Isaiah 40:3 · Matthew 24:30 · Revelation 1:7 · Revelation 22:16 · C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory · Vernon Staley, The Catholic Religion · Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), The Spirit of the Liturgy · Philipp Nicolai, "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star" · Seth Godin Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, find a quiet place and turn everything off. Take your notebook and the daily Gospel reading. Read it three times: with your head, with your heart, with your hands. Then ask Him what's on His agenda today. Do that for seven days. Most people who actually do this start hearing from God in less than a month. Seven days is enough to know something has moved. Your inner life determines your creative output, and this is where the inner life begins. Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment, the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail: original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

I will embrace my vocation as an artist, artisan or creative professional, no matter my medium, knowing that God wants to transform the kingdoms of this world into the Kingdom of our Lord through the arts and creativity. Ten of the Twelve I Wills form the disciple. This one sends the artist out. Christ John Otto begins with a verse that bugged him in Morning Prayer: Zechariah's vision of four horns and four charashim, a word usually rendered "smiths," "carpenters," or "craftsmen" that points to artisans and master craftsmen. Facing opposition from the whole world, God raises up artists from the four winds. Twenty years after God called him to raise up an army of artists, he explains why Belonging House is not a nice Christian arts ministry but a community of trained warriors, why being an artist is not second-rate work, and how free people making beautiful things build Jesus a throne in the earth. What we cover p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Zechariah's dated vision (February 15, 519 BC), the four horns, and the four winds as the whole created order p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Charashim: the craftsmen of Zechariah 1:20, Bezalel and the artisans of Exodus 35:35, and the Valley of Craftsmen in 1 Chronicles 4:14 p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 2006: the call to raise up an army of artists, and why it was never a commune of folk songs and lentils p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> How the church has misunderstood and mistreated its artists, and the spiritual block that keeps the message from going in p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> A big call and a small paycheck: quitting the job, no fundraising, no ministry-building, a life as a parable p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why ten of the Twelve I Wills are about discipleship, and the difference between Christian artists and worldly artists p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why artists are the first to be silenced when tyranny takes power p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Not an army of mid-level managers in cubicles, and why he never uses the word "creatives" p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Rachel, an art teacher in Brooklyn, and what it looks like to be a warrior artist p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Yeltsin, a painter who paints like an old master, and the cleaning lady who said his painting cleaned the atmosphere p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Jesus the artisan, and the kings bringing the glories of the nations into the city coming down out of heaven p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "The kingdoms of this world," Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, and a home where God and man live together in love p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The weapons of creativity, freedom, and the Good, the True, and the Beautiful p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The days of struggling artists in the back of the church are coming to an end Scripture and references Zechariah 1:7–21 · Exodus 35:30–35 · 1 Chronicles 4:14 · Proverbs 18:16 · Matthew 14:29 · John 1:3 · Romans 8:29 · Mark 6:3 · Romans 8:19–22 · John 14:2 · Revelation 11:15 · Revelation 21:2, 24–26 · Handel's Messiah · Artists at a Shift in Time Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment, the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail: original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship wherever you listen so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a rating or review if your app allows it. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who knows they should be painting, writing, or composing but never seems to find the time. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not God can be trusted

Christ John Otto explores generosity as a sign of mature discipleship: knowing who you are in Christ, trusting the Father's goodness, and living with open hands. Stories of sacrificial hospitality, daily giving, and his own experience of provision challenge the poverty mindset that keeps artists waiting for enough. This is not giving to get, but giving as Christ gave — with money, time, and above all love. What we cover p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Twelve I Wills as becoming a living master copy of Jesus, the icon of the Father p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> What actors mean when they call a fellow performer "generous," and why the generous ones were the best of their generation p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why every conversation about generosity is a conversation about poverty p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Graham Cooke: "Poverty is not a lack of resources, poverty is a lack of possibilities" — and the rock in the road: "I would become a full-time artist, but I need _" p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The monkey trap and the clenched fist: how "it might not be there tomorrow" keeps you from the fullness of the Kingdom p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The elderly couple in Shinglehouse who slept on the living room floor so an eighteen-year-old could have their bed p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "Pennies for Jesus" and the old preacher's rule: give something away every day p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> A $100 bill in the offering plate, denied financial aid, and the Lee Christian Service Grant full ride p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Living by faith with no fundraising, income-contingent payments of zero, and student loans forgiven after twenty years p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "Fear not. There is more where that came from." p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Giving as Christ gave to you: money, time, and most of all love — not give-to-get Scripture and references John 14:9 · John 17:21 · Matthew 23:11 · Proverbs 18:16 · Graham Cooke Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, find a quiet place each day, take your notebook, and ask the Lord what He wants you to give. Give something away every day — money, time, attention, or a kindness — as He leads. Do that for seven days and write down what you notice. Most people who actually do this start hearing from God in less than a month. Seven days is enough to know something has moved. Your inner life determines your creative output, and this is where the inner life begins. Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment, the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail: original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship wherever you listen so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a rating or review if your app allows it. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who keeps waiting until they have enough money to start. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not God can be trusted

I will become more aware of Christ in me, the hope of glory. It sounds theological. It's not. It's the most practical of the Twelve I Wills. Many people think Christianity means believing the right things and then trying to live up to a moral standard. That's a recipe for failure, and adding a spiritual experience on top only makes the ride more uneven. Paul gives a completely different vision: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Christ John Otto shows what that means in practice. Jesus lives in you, there is already a whole and healed place in you where He is, and His life can move through you from the inside out. ### What we cover - Why "right beliefs plus right morality" fails, and why lowering the standard doesn't fix it - 2 Corinthians 5:17: in Christ you are a new kind of creature, something that never existed before - Lee Strasberg's method acting, healing prayer, and why God works from the inside out - Leanne Payne: "There is a healed place in you already" - What worship in Revelation pours back into Christ's presence in us - "My grace is sufficient for you": charis, chesed, and practical love, not a stiff upper lip - Paul left for dead after a stoning, then getting up and going right back to teaching - Stories from the field: standing in Boston, a hacked bank account in Israel, a border guard at Gatwick, and a weightless bag in Hyde Park - Graham Cooke on moving from a visitation culture to a habitation culture - Trusting Christ in you in the audition, the gallery, and the classroom ### Scripture and references 2 Corinthians 5:17 · Colossians 1:27 · John 3:5 · John 15:7 · 1 Corinthians 2:16 · 2 Corinthians 12:9 · Acts 14:19–20 · Revelation 5:12 · Matthew 6:10 · Matthew 10:19–20 · 1 Corinthians 6:19 · Leanne Payne · Lee Strasberg · Marilyn Hickey · Graham Cooke Next week: I will live a life of generosity. --- ## Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, when you hit a weak place, pause before you push. Say, "Jesus, You live in me. You are the strongest person in the universe, and I am weak. Show Your strength here." Do that every day for seven days and write down what happens. ## Come under the roof We will receive new members into the house on November 1. If you would like to make the Belonging House Commitment, renew your baptismal covenant, or join the community, let us know. Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. - The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at [belonging.house](https://www.belonging.house/welcome/) and you get the full archive, your very own private library. - Make the [Belonging House Commitment](https://www.belonging.house/become/), the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our [Mighty Network community](https://belonging-house.mn.co/share/HjIDhis2OirTPR6r). - Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: [Belonging House on Zoom](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8766320130). - [Real Mail](https://www.belonging.house/real-mail/): original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. - We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. [Give to Belonging House here](https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/raise-up-an-army-of-artists). ## Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship wherever you listen so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a rating or review if your app allows it. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who is worn out from trying harder. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not God can be trusted

I will go low and become a servant and trust God to raise me up. Of all the Twelve I Wills, this is the one that sets Belonging House apart. Everyone else is promoting bigger, faster, harder. When Christ John Otto moved to Greater Boston in 2008, he asked God what He wanted him to do. The answer was two words: "Go low." Volunteering for the worst jobs and taking the lowest seat in the room taught him how pride blinds us to people and to God. In this teaching he looks at one of the spiritual laws of the universe from James 4:6: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. What we cover p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Producers and promoters: the two kinds of artists, and why promoters eventually run out of material p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Being mistaken for the janitor by national ministry leaders, and what the way we treat janitors, secretaries, and waiters says about us p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why Job isn't really about suffering: his friends' religious pride, God's song of Leviathan, and Job praying for the friends who wounded him p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Jesus emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant, and God exalting Him above every name p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Three practical steps: treat your work as a service and an offering, trust the process the way Joseph did, and be honest about your strengths and weaknesses p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why poverty is not humility, wealth is not pride, and going low doesn't mean doing second-rate work or playing to lose p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Responding to someone who copied his work: forgiving, walking in quiet confidence, and becoming a writer who is harder to copy p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The hidden people of Herrnhut and Rees Howells: small, unnamed prayer meetings that changed history Scripture and references James 4:6 · Job 19:25–26, 41–42 · Luke 16:31 · Philippians 2:5–11 · Genesis 37–41 · Romans 5:3–5 · Herrnhut and the Moravian prayer meeting · Rees Howells · Seth Godin · Graham Cooke These Twelve I Wills are not rules. They are a lifestyle and a culture. Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, choose the lowest seat once a day. Take the job no one wants, serve someone who can't do anything for you, or let another person go first. Before you start, ask the Lord, "How do you want me to serve today?" Do that for seven days, and trust Him to do the lifting. Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment, the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail: original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship wherever you listen so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a rating or review if your app allows it. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who is tired of the climb. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not God can be trusted

I will pursue excellence in my craft and continually grow and learn. That's the next of the Twelve I Wills, and it comes down to two words: don't settle. Excellence is not perfection. It is refusing to settle for less than the best. Christ John Otto starts with a morning of prayer in the Massachusetts State House, and the lesson he took from it: no one sets out to become a crooked politician. You start out a hobbit, pick up the ring of power, and become Gollum. It happens one small compromise at a time. The same thing happens to churches, ministries, and artists. And the road to excellence begins in the same place: the small things. What we cover p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why settling for the good means missing the best, and how short-term decisions have long-term consequences p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "There is no authority for the sellout": lessons from the State House and the ordination process p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 1 John and the spirit that "dissolves Jesus" drip by drip, through strategy instead of prayer and not offending the big donors p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Daniel and the ham sandwich: refusing the small compromise makes the golden idol and the lion's den easier to face p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> "Life is made of little things": Dr. Ellsworth Kalas, Father Andrew Mepham, and treating every movement as worship p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why prophetic art faded, and why artists must learn to draw, write, and play before they start selling p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Sears, Amazon, and what happens when you stop growing p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Practical craft disciplines for visual artists, writers, and musicians, and why you shouldn't lean on online tools p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Kaizen: small daily improvements that add up, and the freedom to make little mistakes instead of big ones p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Why fear of failure is the fastest road to compromise, and why you can only steer a moving car Scripture and references Daniel 1, 3, and 6 · 1 John 4:3 · Kaizen · Dr. Ellsworth Kalas (Asbury Theological Seminary) · Myron Barnstone · Alex Tsavaras I will not settle for the spirit of the age. I will not bow down to the idol you have made. Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, choose one small thing to improve. Take five minutes a day to practice the basics of your craft, and five minutes of silence to listen to God. Do that for seven days. Excellence isn't perfection. It's the daily yes, one little change at a time. Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching. Do it. This week, find a quiet place and turn everything off. Take your notebook and the daily Gospel reading. Read it three times: with your head, with your heart, with your hands. Then ask Him what's on His agenda today. Do that for seven days. Most people who actually do this start hearing from God in less than a month. Seven days is enough to know something has moved. Your inner life determines your creative output, and this is where the inner life begins. Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email is the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment, the Twelve I Wills, and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail: original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not God can be trusted.

Listen to the Lord and do what he tells you. That single instruction is the heart of the Twelve I Wills, and it's where we move from spiritual values into practical ones — because artists and creative people work in the real world, with real things. In this episode I share two conversations from the same week — a stranger in a Greenwich Village coffee shop and a close friend whose job is being reshaped by AI — who both arrived at the same conclusion: as the digital world expands, the real becomes more important. In a time of unprecedented challenge, the only way to navigate is to learn to hear God's voice and act on it. Not listen and obey like a pet dog, but hear and follow as someone called to rule, reign, and partner with God. What we cover Three things that mimic listening to God: fifteen-minute devotionals that change nothing, Bible study that replaces relationship with the Author, and chasing conferences, books, and ministries for a word from God Why religious ideas can quietly protect diseased thoughts and beliefs, and how pride shuts down your ability to hear Listening to God as Teshuvah — returning to God's thoughts and God's ways instead of laying our perceptions over Scripture A simple daily practice: turn off the noise, settle your soul, keep a notebook, and start with the Gospel reading A simplified Lectio Divina: read the passage three times — listening with your head, your heart, and your hands The questions that reshape a day: What's on your agenda today? Who do you want to be for me? Who do you want me to be? How are you praying for me? Why this should take less than thirty minutes, and why the morning conversation is meant to continue all day long Scripture and references Isaiah 55 · 1 Corinthians 2 (the mind of Christ) · John 5:39–40 · John 10 (the Good Shepherd) · Hebrews 7:25 · Lectio Divina · Teshuvah     *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Listen to the Lord and do what He tells you Our message is the ministry. So don't just listen to this teaching — do it. This week, find a quiet place and turn everything off. Take your notebook and the daily Gospel reading. Read it three times: with your head, with your heart, with your hands. Then ask Him what's on His agenda today. Do that for seven days. Most people who actually do this start hearing from God in less than a month. Seven days is enough to know something has moved. Your inner life determines your creative output, and this is where the inner life begins. Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here   Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review. It's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

This week Christ John Otto shares the prophetic word for 5787 on forgiveness and releasing loss to God.  He then prays for healing.   The teaching continues with our series on the Twelve I wills: I will saturate myself in the Bible, and let its story become my story. Christ John Otto teaches that Scripture isn't a rulebook of prooftexts, but the record of people who met God and wrote it down. He names the four "I wills" that come before the Bible — faith in Jesus, the Spirit, the Eucharist, relationship — then makes the case for saturating yourself in Scripture through the daily lectionary until you recognize God's voice everywhere else. God is not a character in your story, Otto says — you are a character in his. For artists and creative people learning to hear that voice for themselves. *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

Christ John Otto continues the Twelve I Wills series with a teaching on staying in relationship — the hardest one yet. He teaches from Ezekiel's call to warn the wandering, Paul's word in Romans to love one another, and Jesus in Matthew 18 on confronting sin and forgiveness. Otto admits he "herds cats" and would rather be alone with a book, but growth only comes through a fire team, not solitude. Love covers a multitude of sins. This teaching is for artists, creative people, and anyone tempted to flee when relationship gets hard. *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

Christ John Otto teaches from Acts 2:42 on the next I Will: I will attend to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. He traces the phrase from the road to Emmaus — where the disciples know Jesus the moment he breaks the bread — to the first church in Acts and Justin Martyr's account of Sunday worship a century later. It always means the Eucharist, never just a meal. This teaching is for artists and creative people: Belonging House isn't a religious club. It's an apostolic mission to disciple the people who shape culture. *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

This week Christ John Otto teaches from Isaiah's prophecy of the Key of David and Mary's fiat — "Let it be to me according to your word."   Surrender, not conventional strategy, unlocks the impossible.  He unpacks why knowing what God promised isn't enough — you have to surrender to God to get there, one step at a time.  For teaching is for artists, creative people, and anyone sitting on an unfulfilled promise. *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

Blessed is she who believed that the word of the Lord would be fulfilled.   In this opening message of a new series on the Twelve I Wills of Belonging House, Christ John Otto unpacks the Greek word *pisteuo* — believe.  This is the simple, non-burdensome command at the heart of the New Testament: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and love other people. Tracing the contrast between Zechariah's unbelief at the altar and Mary's belief at the annunciation in Luke 1, he shares his own decades-long story of learning to believe and what it costs to move from religious performance to genuine faith.    *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

Five easy steps on how to walk on water — if only. Right after the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus sends his disciples into a storm he ordained himself. In this teaching on Matthew 14:22-33, Christ John Otto walks through Peter's cry to get out of the boat, why water in Scripture always signals death and chaos, and why the fourth watch of the night — the darkest hour before dawn — is when so many of the Bible's turning points happen. For those of us called into the realm of art and creativity, where the chaos isn't hidden anymore, there's no strategy for walking on water. There's only keeping your eyes on Jesus and stepping out when he calls your name. Fear not. God can be trusted. *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

It's the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Gospel is the feeding of the five thousand — the one miracle told nearly word-for-word in all four Gospels, always in the same place: after John the Baptist's death, before Jesus walks on water. That's the turning point where Jesus's identity as Messiah intensifies, right as he's grieving the loss of his forerunner. Christ John Otto walks through Matthew's telling — the crowds that won't leave Jesus alone in his grief, the disciples who want to send the hungry away, and the command that changes everything: "You give them something to eat." Two fish, five loaves, five thousand people, no money. Impossible by design, because Jesus never calls anyone to independence — only to a dependence so total it forces trust. From there, a personal thread: the 2006 call to build an "army of artists" with no fundraising or networking, and an update from eight weeks of rest — going Google-free, starting a daily Eucharist, and prayer-walking New York City. Key Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21 · Matthew 5:17 *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship in Apple Podcasts so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.

In 2014, Zuzana Komendova prayed a simple prayer: Lord, give me a good teacher who will teach me everything. She was finishing a degree in jewellery and silversmithing in Slovakia, wounded by four years under an abusive professor, and hungry for someone she could actually learn from. She had no idea the answer would take ten years, arrive through a weekly email, and have nothing to do with metalworking. In this talk from Belonging House's Authentic Voices series, Zuzana — a Slovak artist now living in the UK, producing multimedia resources for Catholic schools — traces the gradual, drop-by-drop transformation that has reshaped her identity over a decade. Her father died suddenly in 2015, nearly taking her faith with him. Her old grid was built on pride, self-pity, and a victim identity so deep she couldn't tell the difference between God's voice and her own. She writes a Normal Manifesto now. She shares what changed: learning to pray with authority rather than from fear, recording daily Gospel voiceovers in Slovak for 250 days and counting, and understanding what it means to be a vessel — not to make chalices and patens with her own hands as she once dreamed, but to become one herself, carrying the most precious content there has ever been. Key Scripture: John 15 · Luke 10:39 *:first-child]:mt-0 [&_>*:last-child]:mb-0" data-renderer="lm"> Come under the roof Belonging House is a movement of artists and creative people, now reaching thirty-eight nations, learning to listen to God together. We are not trying to survive the storm. We are the storm. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> The Friday email — the thread that holds us together. Sign up at belonging.house and you get the full archive, your very own private library. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Make the Belonging House Commitment — the Twelve I Wills — and you're welcome to join our Mighty Network community. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Pray with us daily at 7am ET / midday UK, and gather with the House of Artisans each week at 1:00 ET: Belonging House on Zoom. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> Real Mail — original artwork in your mailbox every month, crafted with Human Intelligence. p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> We are a 501(c)(3) through the Missionary Church International. Give to Belonging House here. Follow and pass it on Follow Belonging House Fellowship so each week's teaching comes to you, and leave a short review — it's how another artist finds us. Then send this to one creative person who has told you God doesn't speak to them. We aren't recruiting. We're raising up, one person at a time. People like us do things like this. Fear not. God can be trusted.