PRAYER & PRAISE REPORT

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." ~ Matt. 21:22

A New Creation

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Wow...what an amazing end to our first year of 1heart Arts Ministries! We never could have imagined such a powerful Christmas production that touched so many hearts along the way. The Lord truly had His hand in the midst of these performances, especially our closing weekend in Sheridian. The cast & crew were exposed to a "mission-trip style experience", sleeping in the basement of Christ Community Church of Lamong from Friday night to our Sunday afternoon performance. Saturday afternoon, cast & crew had the opporutnity to give back to the community through a variety of mission projects: WITH THE HOMELESS - guiding men & women through the clothing pantry, distributing filled backpacks, sharing in conversation & devotion; WITH LOCALS IN NEED - packing Christmas food boxes for local families in need, traveling to deliver the boxes. Many of our cast & crew had never participated in such projects and were so grateful for the chance to give back during the holidays. "This has been my best Christmas ever," said one of the cast members after spending the afternoon in service to the community. We couldn't agree more! The Lord filled our cup to overflowing by seeing so many enjoy such a powerful weekend together in service.

Now as we are looking forward to the upcoming year, we are overcome with joy at what God has done and is preparing to do within 1heart Arts. We claim 2012 as a new beginning and enter confidently into the ground that God has given this ministry within the artist community. And what could possibly be a better beginning than the one that God prepared for us? Zach and Susannah were invited to attend the AMTC Winter SHINE Conference in January and will be traveling down to Orlando on January 1st to see what God has in store. A truly amazing story about how God claimed this 25-year old company for His glory. If you want to read more about it, visit here - www.amtcworld.com/reading-room/carey-comes-to-jesus. With a start to the year like this, who knows what opportunitiies lie ahead. We most definatley know that we will grow closer and closer to Him in the process and will continue to be recreated into His image...and that is just fine with us!

As always, please enjoy our newsletter and if you would like to share your input on how to make it even better, please complete a very short survey at www.kingdomdesignministry.com/clients/1heart-arts.

Ministry Updates

Praises & Prayer Requests

Drama Ministry - There is no possible way we could articulate in just a few sentences about the journey of this year's Christmas production. Instead, let us try to just take you through it in one long list - abundant resources, powerful parternships, intense prayer, overwhelming challenges, worn out knees, abundant love, exilerating peace, tears of joy, tears of frustration, failed plans, "out of the blue" provision, exhausted bodies, overtaxed minds, powerful dance, incredible time in The Word, sitting in the Throne room, curled up in Daddy's lap, pruning and weeding, worship & praise, stretching & bending, lots of driving, delicious meals, knee-bending gratefulness, acceptance of circumstances, open-heavens falling down upon us, perfect provision, heavily lifting, physical limitations reached, Heavenly realms explored, angels stepping in, God taking over, Holy Spirit sweeping through, lives changed, seeds planted, more pruning and weeding, serving our family, reaching our world, seeing buds of fruit, talent put onto the alter, powerful plans revealed, overwhelmed participants, grateful hearts, sad partings, joyous reunions...all in all...Christ glorified!

Playwriting Ministry - Starting back on the "Chords" Film Project interviews. Also, we are very excited that we are able to meet with one of the families in person as we travel to the Orlando area in January. We've got a bit more leading from the Lord as to the title and storyline, so please just keep praying that this brings healing and restoration to all that it touches. Pray for us as we review this last production to finalize the script of "A Christmas Testimony" for publication. We also are planning publish "Grace Beyond Humanity" (our Easter production) as well.

Artist Bible Study - Starting back up in mid-January and an excellent time for new people to join us. If you know of artists that would like to grow in their walk & craft, please share our www.1heartarts.org website or point them to www.meetup.com under the name "Christian Artists". Please also pray for us to find a new meeting location that is more central for all involved.

1heart Worship & Praise Ministry - It was just awesome to have the band as a part of the Christmas production again! The combination of the praise band playing live at the performance and the intensity and gracefulness of the dancers, was a little taste of Heaven. Christmas Eve at Southport Church of the Nazarene was unbelievable and truly was a time of worship to our King of Kings. Now, we embark into the new year with orignal songs and new connections. We believe the Lord might be preparing us for recording our CD of original songs in 2012.

1heart Arts Leadership Committee - CONTINUED - Please keep our ministry leadership in your prayers. We have been blessed to have had a guest at our last meeting in October and are already seeing the budding of fruit from that happening. Our next meeting is scheduled for late December and we are intending on discussing both the long-term ministry goals and preparing for Zach & I to attend the SHINE event in Orlando just a few days later. Please be in prayer with us and ask that God guide each thought and decision we make for the Christmas production and the ministry in general.

Kingdom Design Administrative Ministry - CONTINUED - I am starting to sense that 2012 will be a year that this ministry will grow, so please pray with me on being led to the resources and partnerships that will make this possible. I know God has something amazing in store, I can feel it as if it a huge wave about to crash over me. Please continue to pray for my patience as God prepares the perfect path.

Practical and Financial Needs - We have to praise our Heavenly Father for providing the abundant resources for this year's Christmas production. Our starting projection of $12,000 actually ended up being more like $16,000 for our traveling production....and God took care of it all! The coming year is full of possibilities and we are believing that God will provide our needs as they are required. Currently, we are believing for Him to give us a mixer and audio snake to allow our praise band to finalize our PA system for traveling. If you feel the Lord is asking you to share your resources, please feel free to visit our Support Page.

Other Ministries On Our Hearts

Karitos Worship & Arts Conference - 2012 is looking to be an amazing year for Karitos! Praying for God's provision and amazing connection for Indianapolis to be impacted.

Faith, Hope & Love - Please continue prayer for Merlin, Annie and family as they care for Merlin's mom that recently had a stroke. Please also be praying for Donna, also dealing with family health issues and Bill as he prepares to travel out of town.

AMTC- Please pray for the upcoming SHINE event that will be held in Orlando on Jan. 3-8th. CONTINUED - What this ministry is doing in the darkest places of our culture, is astounding. If God tugs at your heart, start learning more about them and even sign up to be part of fruitfuleekly prayer email. We hope this to be the beginning of a very long and fruitfulul partnership. They are preparing to return back to Indianapolis in March and we are praying God will prepare the hearts of our community for thier arrival.

Religion in the News - CONTINUED - I know you haven't heard us talk about this much, but it is a ministry that we very much believe in. If you don't know much about it, I encourage you to check it out, maybe watch a previous segment online and start praying for God to continue pave the way to reach the community of Central Indiana for Christ.

If you are interested in participating in one of these ministries, please contact me at Susannah@1heartarts.org and we can talk more!

We covet your prayers!!!