Featured Artist >> Aaron Ellerbee

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"Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head." - Luke 9:58

What else can I say about the journey God's taken (and continues to take) me through? I was born in New York City and came to Boston the long way around: to New Jersey, through Japan, Switzerland, and Washington DC. My parents met Jesus during their teen and early adult years, and brought me and my sister us up in knowing the Him. Not that everything in my life, has always been on the up and up, but God has been sooooo faithful in bringing about His ways and His desires in and for my life. Ever since I was young, I've felt God tugging at my heart for people, and I think that's reflected in my art. I do portraits and people art because I find people the most fascinating thing for me to draw, but it also gives an opportunity to connect with somebody and say, "Hey, you matter, and you're special." For me, art provides that chance to show the love of Jesus, and the glory of God in the things and people He has made.

Last year, I was struggling with what to do with my life and what were my goals, and I came to the conclusion that the only thing of importance was to seek to glorify God and make Him known through all of my life: my person, my relationships, my talents and abilities. If I focus on that, God would work out the rest. At that time, I heard from a member of my parents' church that there was this group called Artslink that did arts-based missions. So I applied and went with an Artslink team on their Spain 2009 trip, and had an opportunity to see ways that God could use the arts to make Himself known to people. We ran workshops, made an Easter banner proclaiming a risen Christ with power to save, met with people in the streets of Spain... in each of these, we employed our art to build relationships, giving us a chance to meet people and communicate Christ's love to them. This gave me a glimpse of what this kind of life COULD be like, serving in vocational missions, and I am considering this with prayer and patience.

All of life is a mission, full of adventure every day wherever I go. Sometimes, though, I feel like a nomad, never having a place to settle. But I think that God has given me this wanderlust for a purpose. It may be unsettling, but as He moves me from place to place and from job to job (from mission field to mission field), I know that He has the very best in mind, and my true home waiting for me in the end. And so the journey continues.

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