Making Space to Create: Art, Writing, and our Identity in Christ

Welcome back to another episode of Walking with God with Hanna Eyobed. In this conversation, Hanna sits down with Cameron Anderson — writer, visual artist, and Distinguished Fellow for the Arts at the Lumen Center in Madison, Wisconsin — for a rich and unhurried conversation about creativity, identity, and what it means to do the work God has prepared for us.Cam has spent over 30 years investing in campus ministry through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and now serves as Senior Advisor to the SL Brown Foundation. He is the author of Faithful Artists (IVP Academic, 2016) and maintains a blog called https://liminalmaker.com, where he writes at the intersection of art, faith, and everyday life.In This EpisodeHanna and Cam explore what it looks like to slowly and faithfully grow into the creative person God made you to be. Together they discuss:Liminality — what it means to be “in between,” and why that space is not the same as being lost. Cam draws on the story of the Israelites in the wilderness as a picture of how we move through unknown seasons with our story and God’s promises intact.Becoming an artist and a writer — Cam shares how his love of making things began on a farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, led to a BFA and MFA in painting and drawing, and eventually — decades later — to published books and a blog. He reflects on the moment on an airplane in his early fifties when he said “I’m an artist” out loud for the first time and surprised himself.The “builder” metaphor — Why Cam describes himself most essentially as a builder — of art, of essays, of ministries, of relationships — and what that posture of craftsmanship has to say to a culture addicted to speed and instant results.Discipleship as a long journey — Reflecting on how even Jesus’ own disciples, after three years with him daily, were still learning and still asking questions. What does it mean to commit to that kind of patient, faithful formation?Presence, the senses, and haptic knowledge — A beautiful conversation about what we lose when we fill every moment with screens and sound, and what we gain when we stay alive to the physical world — the smell of sawdust, the feel of a legal pad, the sound of birds returning in spring.The creative process — How Cam moves from observation and imagination to the act of making, and the parallels between creating a physical object and writing a text. Both involve stepping into the unknown with only a rough map and discovering meaning in the process.Ephesians 2 and vocation — “We’re not saved by works, but we’re saved to do work.” Cam shares how this passage became a foundation for understanding that the art and writing he was made for isn’t a hobby on the side — it’s the work God set aside for him to do.Scripture ReferencedEphesians 2:8–10 — Saved by grace, through faith, for the good works God prepared in advance for us to do. Send us Fan MailThis episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO. Find more media resources at https://slbf.org/studio.Produced by Daniel Johnson, Dave Conour, and Brian BeattyEdited by Dave Conour