Michael Card in concert at Merillat Centre April 12
FOR RELEASE: Thursday, April 4, 2002
Huntington, Ind. "The Merillat Centre for the Arts will welcome Michael Card in concert on Friday, April 12, at 8 p.m. Card will showcase his new album, Scribbling in the Sand, released on April 2, 2002. With the sale of over four million records and 400,000 books over his 20-year career, Card's response to God's creation has clearly impacted many, but with his new project Scribbling in the Sand (CD/DVD/VHS), Card invites his audience into the creative process that has inspired him.
People have this false notion that, in being creative, they are somehow imitating God, said Card. I really do not think that is true. I do not think we create in the sense that God creates, out of nothing, but rather, we respond to what He has created.
As Card explained that creativity comes out of community, this project was an attempt to reveal that kinship-based process. Strangely enough, for someone so inspired by community, Card initially sought out a career in forestry so that he would not have to interact with people. However, while studying for his master's degree at Western Kentucky University, Card was encouraged by a professor to write songs, and so was birthed the long and storied career of one of the most thoughtful artists of our day. That same professor became a life-long mentor and friend to Card, inspiring, among others, the classic Card song Emmanuel. In fact, said Card, despite all of the attention which [his song] 'El Shaddai' has received, I think 'Emmanuel' is the best song I have ever written. Appropriately, El Shaddai and Emmanuel are the first two selections on Scribbling in the Sand.
The title cut, Scribbling in the Sand, was derived from the account of Jesus' confrontation with the Pharisees and the woman taken in adultery, where Jesus bent over and wrote in the sand while the Pharisees screamed at Him.
That moment for me is a wonderful parable of art, stated Card. What Jesus did was unexpected. It was creative and irritating. But it created a space in time where people could hear God and be convicted or not; respond or not. Likewise, art, whether musical, visual, dance or whatever, really just creates this space in time where people can her God.
Card further explained that too many people are preoccupied with what Jesus wrote, while the Gospel writer John understood that what Jesus wrote was not, in this context, as important as the fact that He wrote. Sometimes it is not the content that is as important as simply the doing of it, continued Card.
And it is Card's doing of it which has encouraged and inspired countless others over the past two decades. Card has released 20 recordings, and has authored or co-authored nine books. He has earned five gospel Music Association Dove Awards, achieved 19 number one songs on Christian radio charts, and was nominated for the C.S. Lewis Children's Book Award for Sleep Sound in Jesus, which was also a finalist for the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Gold Medallion Award. Card was also nominated for a Gold Medallion Book Award in 2001 for his recent book A Violent Storm, and for those desirous of a more in-depth study of creativity coming out of community, he has recently finished a new book, entitled Scribbling in the Sand, by InterVarsity Press, to be released in August 2002.
Though awards and recognition are always a welcome affirmation of any artist's work, this was not Card's motivation. The purpose of my music, books and concerts is to focus in on and worship Christ. The songs and writings are just vehicles to accomplish this purpose.
Card's desire is that these resources will assist in making Jesus Christ beautiful and believable to the world, and that men and women' will come to understand the significance of listening to God's plan and purpose as it is revealed in their own lives.
To reserve tickets, call the Merillat Centre Box Office at (260) 359-4261. Office hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Available tickets are priced at $13 and $11, with students and seniors receiving a $2 discount.
This event is partially funded by the Rocky and Carol Strickler Endowment and Troy and Dawn Irick.
