Moonlighting & Tentmaking
When it comes to finances to make our trip possible, there are a couple of concepts/themes that really connect what we are doing. We'll have a future blog that talks more about the breakdown of financial need, but for now, I want to talk about these motivations of moonlighting and tentmaking, which will play a large part in the provision for our trip.
MOONLIGHTING
The moonlighting refers to both now, in preparation and saving, and once we are overseas as well. The thinking behind using this term came from reading from 1 Thessalonians in The Message a while back. Some of Paul's words really stuck with me:
"You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn't have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God's Message to you."
—1 Thessalonians 2:9
We believe in what we are doing, and want to "back ourselves up," as it were, by gaining the majority of what we need financially through work now, as well as later through video work for organizations connected to where we will be staying. In a future blog post, I'll talk more about the aspect of video for organizations.
TENTMAKING
As for the tentmaking, this was an idea embodied by Paul that Christy adopted from before I knew her, and that I always loved about her. For Christy, becoming a painter was never motivated by "I want to be an artist." It was motivated by the idea of tentmaking; the idea of having a skill or trade that allows you to accomplish work with freedom and flexibility of time to serve and be with people in ways that a 9-5 job wouldn't allow.
That is not to say that choosing the "tentmaking" mentality is about trying to get to something beyond work only. That is, for Paul, I don't think tentmaking was merely for economic support to enable him to do the "real work" of ministry or something. Because all human work is inherently sacred, the tentmaking, as a craft, as the work of his hands and ours, is valid in and of itself.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
So here's the thing. Our businesses, Wild Bridge Films and Simple Sparrow Art, are our moonlighting and tentmaking passions. Our original hope was that our businesses might become full time in Denver. In reality, moving so much within the first couple years of our marriage has meant that making dedicated efforts to really make these businesses our full time work has not been possible. And though that has not happened, God has been faithful to provide for us both with these businesses, as well as with other part-time and contract work. And thanks to this other work, something we hadn't originally expected has become possible: We are now able to take all that we would make from the work we do through Simple Sparrow Art and Wild Bridge Films and put it toward financing our trip. We are so excited and thankful that the work of our hands has become connected to our hearts in this way!
Simple Sparrow Art is commissioned and original artwork by Christy. She cares most about creating pieces that inspire beauty and stir up healing. Her most recent dream for painting is embarking on a series of "slice of life" pieces that tell the story of humans interacting in their various cultures. Christy loves the idea of selling these pieces to save for their trip since their content echoes the theme of their travels. Learn more at simplesparrowart.com.
Wild Bridge Films is filmmaking by the two of us, and exists to realize our dream of creating videos that span culture, age, and circumstance in a way that shows our common human experience. The film portion of our overseas trip is as Wild Bridge Films, thus, Wild Bridge Travels. Play this Video Reel to see samples from all the different types of films we create, and learn more at wildbridgefilms.com.
As always, thank you for reading our thoughts and sharing in our journey! †
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