The Art Gallery: Upholding God’s Word
Stan Davidson, AL Dist. Superintendent
Is the art to be defined by its viewer, or was it clearly defined by its creator? Is truth to be defined by the viewer, or has truth been clearly defined by the Creator? The Art Gallery, the newly released book from Rev. Stan Davidson, Alabama District Superintendent, is an allegory based on a young minister’s search for direction in ministry. “The young minister, Chad Wittman, has been exposed to a particular religious philosophy course that has left him troubled,” explains Bro. Davidson. “He must decide whether he will adhere to the absolute principles of God’s Word or accept the idea that human philosophy can alter the message for conformity. His search for correct answers leads him to an old art gallery, where he discovers a manuscript written by an elder. The book chronicles his journey through the elder’s writings and reveals the impact they have on the young minister. A unique twist in the book is how the elder weaves his narrative through the exploration of art, drawing a parallel between abstract art and abstract philosophy.”
Each minister must make the decision to accept the concrete principles of God’s Word or embrace the abstract ideas based on human reasoning. The primary target audience of Bro. Davidson’s book is the developing minister who may be experiencing the same inner struggle. “The basic principles of the book are helpful to any sincere student of God’s Word,” said Bro. Davidson. “I have been involved in ministry training for many years. Several years ago, I was teaching at a seminar and felt inspired to write a few allegories concerning the trends of postmodern culture. The idea came to me to create a novel around them, that of the young minister in search of truth. I eventually flipped the script to exploring these truths from the viewpoint of the young minister. Instead of the teaching elder being the focus, the young minister became the focus. Once this transition was made, I began to believe that I had something that would provide both an interesting read and some biblical instruction.”
There have been many positive responses from individuals outside of this target group. The concepts espoused in its pages are relevant and timely. “The book has not been on the market very long, but some very positive comments were made by those who read it before publication,” Bro. Davidson stated. “Scott Graham, Carlton Coon, Michael Thomas, and several others wrote comments that are contained in the book and posted in my personal bookstore. Since publication, I have had some positive reviews from pastors and organization officials. The inner battle and consequent journey made by Chad Wittman in this novel is one that relates to many. Several early readers have posted comments of the positive impact they received.”
The Art Gallery can be found in several places. To access Bro. Davidson’s personal bookstore and read the comments of those who previewed the book, one can go to churchontherockupc.org and access the bookstore on that site. It is also available on Amazon; one should search for “J. Stanley Davidson” and “The Art Gallery.” It has also been submitted to the Pentecostal Publishing House. 
FaithStream: Your Church’s Streaming Solution
Written By Kent Elliott, Manchester, CT
Powerful and simple! Leverage the largest and most reliable video streaming networks around the globe (powerful) and combine it with an easy-to-use content management system (simple), and you have FaithStream, a streaming service for video on demand (VOD) and live content. Founded by Kent Elliott as a service of FAITHWORKS Image Consulting, FaithStream helps churches and ministries to develop their own privately-branded apps (or channels) on the most popular streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and also on Apple iOS and Android-based mobile devices. “It helps our churches to be intentional about their media outreach and to present their content without unwanted ads and distractions,” Bro. Elliott explains. “We built a solution and a service in which a church’s media is not under another entity’s app (with many other ministries), but is privately branded and focused on their church, their community, their outreach, and their message.”
Targeting churches and any ministry that has inspirational, educational, and engaging video content, FaithStream was created to reach every person in your city; it’s about evangelism, period. “This is something that has been in the making for close to five years now,” said Bro. Elliott. “We did not create it because of the COVID pandemic. It is so much bigger than reaching our members that are not able to come to church because of the virus. It is about souls. How are we going to reach every single person with the gospel of Jesus Christ in our cities and towns? I believe one of those methods will be through platforms that have Connected TV Apps (CTV). These platforms will give access to households that we would never be able to reach in any other way. Yes, our ultimate goal would be for them to one day come to our physical location, but until then – this provides a doorway to get them connected to the church and to hear the Good News.”
In 2020, FaithStream began a soft launch to the market and has already begun hearing good reports from pastors and various ministry leaders. “Personally, I have had several situations where a member who had been gone for a while began to reconnect because of COVID,” explains Bro. Elliott. “They called the church and found out that our services could be streamed on ROKU. While I was on the phone with them, they immediately downloaded our church app. They are now connected to that church every weekend because of the power and convenience of Connected TV.
Recently, one of my nurses realized I was a pastor. She asked how she could connect with the church and listen to our messages. Due to our FaithStream platform, I was able to show her how to download our church’s app. Now she has access to stream all the messages of our services immediately at her fingertips. We have several churches and pastors using our service right now. A few of these include Pastor Jason Staten, Pastor Darin Sargent, Pastor Steve Smith, and Pastor Jerron Carney.”
Live streaming your services is important, but having video on demand (VOD) is just as important. Giving households in your community the ability to tune in at any time and stream your content will allow the gospel to be easily accessible like never before. “This should not be about deleting other platforms such as YouTube or Facebook,” said Bro. Elliott, “But instead, using those platforms to point people to your private channels where your content is being streamed without any interruptions and distractions.” For more information, Bro. Elliott can be reached by email at kwelliott@faithworksimage.com, or by phone at (860) 474-3050.
