The Lausanne Movement’s 40th Anniversary

I was given the amazing opportunity to paint an image for the 40th anniversary of the Lausanne Movement, founded by Billy Graham and John Stott in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland. With all of the living former presidents assembled, current president Dr. Michael Oh shared a powerful homily from Psalm 123 about keeping sensitive to the Lord’s leading. Like heliotropic sunflowers that turn their heads throughout the day to track the sun’s progression through the sky, so should we keep looking at the “Son” for our life and direction. I had the honor to present the work and share my heart in making it, and was led to share that I had found that only young sunflowers turn their heads with the sun while the older flowers get “stiff necked” and face east instead to maximize the light. I admonished the Movement to retain a posture of childlike faith, ready to embrace the metamodern era of global history, and to stay docile and sensitive to the Lord’s realtime leading. Little did I know that my meeting that night with Leighton Ford would have a significant impact in my life. I knew him only as the man who told me to say hello to my pastor Rev. Dr. Clive Calver whose word to Leighton years previously from Isaiah about the Lord doing a new thing had changed him. I didn’t know at the time that this was the lifetime honorary chair of the Lausanne Movement, that this was Billy Graham’s brother-in-law, and that two years later I would move onto the same street in Charlotte, NC where Leighton was taking painting lessons (for 10+ years), or that his mentorship and support would significantly shape the coming season of my life.

Psalm 123

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. NLT

1 I lift my eyes to you,
    O God, enthroned in heaven.
2 We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy,
    just as servants keep their eyes on their master,
    as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
    for we have had our fill of contempt.
4 We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud
    and the contempt of the arrogant.