The 2006 Dandelion Seed Conference took place March 10-12 at Quaker Haven camp in northern Indiana. Artists of all mediums came from across the US and Canada to compare stories, find new inspiration and initiate or deepen relationships with others committed to following Jesus, building community and making art that is increasingly honest, true and excellent.

GDI's Doug Fike and Paul Grout, founder of A Place Apart, provided the input for the gathering. They spoke about postmodernism, the arts and the nature of the church in a way that helped lay foundations for this emerging family of creative, unconventional Jesus-followers.

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The 2005 Dandelion Seed Conference took place June 10-12 at Three Hills in Warm Springs, Virginia. Participants took part in sessions focused on building community, following Jesus, and living out God's calling as creative people.

The gathering openeed on friday night with a meeting including writing exercises, poetry readings, reflections, original music and a jazz jam session that set the tone for the weekend -- modeling the beauty, the power, the challenge, the freedom and the fun of bringing together different (and sometimes seemingly contradictory) elements for a common purpose.

Saturday morning and afternoon Doug and Charlene Fike provided a biblical framework and some practical handles for living as Kingdom people called to display God's glory by together exploring and living out our callings. Charlene shared from her journey with close friends ("covenant allies") facing and dealing with constraints in their lives. Doug compared people to vehicles which are designed to fufill a specific purpose. It is only through working with the owner - God - that people can discover and live out that purpose. More often people are like economy cars trying to pull trailers or RVs used to run around town. Doug also stated that the artistic calling is not a call to use the arts to get God's message across, but a call to fully become artists in a way that embodies Christ in individually and corporately in the arts subculture (or the "arts mountain" -- a specific , God-designed arena of culture).

The afternoon session options including a marketing roundtable discussion, a visual artists' look into the making space for reflection and meeting God, a seminar entitled "the Heart of the Artist," and ongoing discussion with the Fikes based on the morning session. The second part of Saturday afternoon was cleared as "open space". Some people swam at a local lake, others hiked, and some napped. A lot of iInformal networking took place during this time. Saturday night Jonathan Reuel spoke about suffering and the longing for completeness which can be powerful motivators for engaging God in the midst of real life. Two members of the leadership team shared about a conflict they had preparing for the conference. This conflict tapped into underlying fears, hurts, and insecurities that are common among creative people. The sharing was presented without a neat resolution -- it was offered as a window into the grace of God in the midst of conflict. Carmen Shenk Mullet led a reflection excercise where veteran artists reflected on their journeys, driving home the fact that things don't necessarily get easier or neater simply because a person has been aithful over an extended period of time. Footwashing and prayer ended the evening.

On sunday morning conference participants sat on the hill and watched the kids make soap bubbles which floated over the people and away into the trees. Moments of beauty and reflection like these were highlights for many participants.

Significant experiences and connections happened in the open space between teaching or training events. Participants built new relationships and strengthened others which have the potential to significantly advance them in their callings.

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The 2004 Dandelion Seed Conference took place in Goshen, Indiana and featured an art show by Dandelion Seed Company artists and an evening arts event that included a wide variety of music, poetry and essay readings, visual art and video shorts. Participants spend the remainder of the weekend at a camp, building relationships and listening to Doug and Charlene Fike and Kevin Bashore.

For more information about past or upcoming conferences, or the Dandelion Seed Company in general, contact Jonathan Reuel at jonathan@reuelarts.com