Huge Matching Gift Opportunity for 2024

| March 21, 2024 | News | 0 comments

We’re not even three months into 2024, and already we’ve been blown away with Katy Martin as our new President of Renew the Arts. Since her appointment in January, Katy has been diligent in meeting with hosts, booking Porchlight events, and working with the team to organize all of our systems. Her passion for this work, her administrative gifts, and her strong interpersonal skills are positioning Renew the Arts for success. 

The best part? Her efforts have already inspired one of our board members to pledge a matching donation for any new recurring pledges in 2024 up to a total of $10,000 out of an abundance of confidence in how things are moving forward. How exciting is that?!

This means anyone who starts a new monthly donation to support Renew the Arts of $10 a month or more will be matched dollar for dollar (up to a total of $10,000) for the remainder of 2024! Thanks to this generous donor, your recurring donation will have double the impact for the rest of this year. If you are able and willing, your participation in regular monthly giving to RTA will accelerate our growth in helping equip others to become art patrons through conversations on the podcast, providing practical hospitality opportunities through Porchlight, and modeling patronage through project sponsorships.

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New Year, New Leadership

| January 10, 2024 | News | 0 comments

Dear family and friends who have come alongside my work at Renew the Arts,

On January 2nd, I joyfully stepped into the role of Chairman of the Board of Renew the Arts, and Katy Martin has stepped into my previous role of leadership as President and CEO of Renew the Arts. 

Looking back on my many years in that role, I am most proud of the work we’ve done with Porchlight, and the sponsorships we’ve managed to provide artists over time. I think so fondly of the projects, artists, podcast episodes, and beautiful cultural artifacts I’ve had the privilege to be a part of over the last nine years (if you include my tenure at the Nehemiah Foundation for Cultural Renewal). 

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Why We’re Leaving Social Media

| May 23, 2023 | News | 0 comments

Recently, Porchlight posted the last (planned) social media content for the foreseeable future. Since you’ll hear and see less from us there, we wanted to explain ourselves a bit, and invite you into some better ways to connect with Porchlight.

First off, we recognize  some productive uses for social media platforms. Lots of the artists we work to support have robust social media presences. Since most all of us use these various platforms, we probably don’t have to argue too much for their potential benefit.

Nonetheless, we’ve decided that, for our organization and work, social media conflicts almost centrally with our mission at Porchlight. I’d like to explain why.

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Collective Repentance and the Arts

| August 29, 2018 | Arts & The Bible | 2 comments

A Church in the Distance of a Wounded Knee Massacre Sign

Our last podcast tackled the issue of collective repentance and the arts. We had Jesse Murray on as our guest, and he shared two beautiful songs with us. I’d like to add a few thoughts to flesh out what was said and to offer one push-back I wish I had brought up during our conversation.

Are Ethnic Apologies Divisive?

You may have seen John MacArthur’s recent blog post about the social justice movement. He claims the movement is “the most subtle and dangerous threat so far” to the Gospel.

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Are We Overstating the Importance of the Arts?

| May 25, 2018 | Arts & The Bible | 0 comments

After launching the Renew the Arts podcast, we started getting lots of feedback. All of it was encouraging, and a lot of it contained (even from some of our most supportive fans) some skepticism about the amount of emphasis we place on arts in the church. The arts might be important, but are they actually essential in any way to the work of the church? Sure, we like them, but can’t we actually do without them in the church and still be okay? Is it really that big of a deal?

Are the arts really that central to the life and work of the church?

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