As Jonah came to life as a sermon series, there were so many obvious choices for art many of which were cliche. The question became how do we best illustrate the major concepts in support of the message without distracting from the message. Therefore the giant fish for Scot to emerge from was cut from the line of possibilities. Oh well, it would have been fun! Jonah was sent, and even though he chose to run, he still had to go, and go, and go. The dock symbolizes Jonah’s ‘going’. It came into being by the hard work of two of our church carpenters, Buck Yates and John Houston along with the dismantled bridge from Scot’s front yard. It was amazing to watch the vision emerge as a weathered old pier right in our sanctuary. When you see the dock, think “Where is God sending me?” and will I “Go”?

The other part of illustrating Jonah came from the idea of sails, since he went on a ship. Albeit the wrong direction, still God used his disobedience to make a grand point for us all. The large sail shaped pieces of fabric are actually called stage splats and were created just for us by a wonderful company, Sew?What.inc They worked with our dimensions and vision to create splats that both reflect and absorb light using fabric that is both tough and flame retardant meeting all stage standards. These pieces will be a welcome addition to our stage decor line up.

Jonah is going to be so much fun to work with as he makes his journey to Nineveh! We hope that you’re blessed and inspired by the message and the illustrations.