Hollywood Didn’t Win. The Church Forfeited.
✨ Why Beauty Matters Now More Than Ever
In a culture obsessed with productivity and metrics, it’s easy to dismiss beauty and art as luxuries—nice-to-haves, but not essentials. Yet for centuries, beauty and creativity have stood at the very heart of what it means to worship, witness, and shape culture. With our world growing increasingly fractured, could it be that reclaiming beauty is exactly what we need to reach hearts, renew minds, and restore homes and churches?
What if restoring awe, creativity, and artistic expression is not just optional, but essential to reclaiming culture, reaching the lost, and seeing God’s goodness afresh?
That is the question we explore in the latest episode of Christian Parent/Crazy World.
But before I tell you about that…
Today (September 28th) at 12 p.m. CT, I will be the guest on a live webinar with Elizabeth Urbanowicz of FOUNDATION WORLDVIEW. We will be discussing three of the most prominent myths about motherhood in our culture. AND IT’S FREE! You can sign up to attend here:
I’d love to see you there! You will have an opportunity to ask questions in the live chat room.
Now, back to today’s topic…
🎙 Meet My Guests: Isaac & Emily Gay
Isaac and Emily are dynamic artists, worship leaders, and visionaries with deep roots in church ministry and artistic communities.
🎭 Emily, with an MFA in acting, has brought her creative talents from the New York stage into motherhood, discovering new facets of artistic life along the way.
🎶 Isaac is an insanely talented musician, actor, theologian, and disciple-maker of Christian artists.
Together they founded The Parallel Society, a ministry devoted to discipling artists and restoring creativity to the church. Isaac & Emily are passionate advocates for artists flourishing in their God-given gifts within the church and beyond.
🌿 Episode Highlights: Beauty as Evangelism and Calling
✨ Reimagining the Church’s Role in Art
Isaac shares the biblical foundation for creativity, highlighting the story of Bezalel—the first person in Scripture to be filled by the Holy Spirit, specifically for the purpose of art and craftsmanship.
💔 A Fractured Relationship
Emily and Isaac speak candidly about the modern church’s tendency to overlook or undervalue artists and beauty, resulting in a “vacuum” that pop culture and Hollywood eagerly fill.
🌸 Personal Stories of Sacrifice & Rediscovery
Emily reflects on trading the limelight of professional theater for motherhood—and how that choice actually unlocked new levels of creative expression. Both Emily and I recount what it feels like to be an artist in faith communities that sometimes struggle to see the value of their calling.
🌍 Practical Ways to Cultivate Beauty
- 🕊 Leaders & pastors: Create space and give voice to artists—not just as volunteers, but as vital contributors to the life and imagination of the church.
- 👨👩👧 Parents: Nurture the creative callings in your children, trusting God more than practicality or financial anxiety.
- 🙌 Everyone: Consider beauty as a powerful means of outreach.
🤝 Healing the Rift
This conversation explores what it looks like to “mend the relationship” between the church and artists—moving from suspicion to celebration, and from utility to honor.
🎧 Don’t Miss This Episode!
Listen now to Episode: “Hollywood Didn’t Win. The Church Forfeited.”
This is not just another conversation about art—it’s a wake-up call to the church. If we want to reclaim influence in culture, we must reclaim the power of beauty and creativity. 🔗
Click here to listen on Life Audio👉
Or you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
💬 A Quote to Reflect On
“God wastes nothing. Even in seasons when it looks like creativity must be set aside,
He uses those hidden years to grow new gifts in us.
Living out our true, creative identities is always a gift to the world.”
— Emily Gay
✨ Do You See and Celebrate Beauty?
- 🎨 How might you foster creativity and beauty in your home or church?
- 🎵 Are there artists in your congregation or family longing for support and understanding?
- 🌺 What is one small way you can honor the virtue of beauty this week—at your table, in your worship, or in your parenting?
Thanks for journeying with us to rediscover the lost virtue of beauty—and its power to break through, heal, and transform.
✨ Let’s reclaim our creative callings together. The world needs it—and so do our kids.
Episode Resources:
Guest Bios:
Isaac and Emily Gay are artists, worship leaders, and church planters in Buffalo, NY. With backgrounds in acting, worship, and the arts, they’ve helped lead church planting and prayer movements while building creative communities both locally and online. Parents of three boys, they are passionate about the power of beauty, creativity, and play—at home, in the church, and in culture.
The Prodigal by Isaac Gay
