CASN and BHB Overview

A Vision For A Global Outreach to Children

Written by Christopher Blackmon

blackmon.christopher@gmail.com

This document is confidential 


“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Joel 2:20


This document is the casting of a vision I have held in my heart for several decades. I may not be an “old man” yet, but these pages describe a dream too big for me to accomplish. My hope is that Every Nation or a similar organization would adopt this strategy to reach kids and those that support them. Thank you in advance for reading it. I pray that if you have a role in this, you will see it and get as excited about it as I am.


“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.” 

Habakkuk  2:2


Arms and hands are AMAZING tools. We accomplish so much with them. They are also used throughout scripture as symbols for the activity and/or intervention of an individual. The arm of the Lord and the hand of the Lord refer to how He gets things done.


This entire vision is based on the symbol of arms and hands.


The left arm of the vision represents a strategy to connect with the world, galvanizing resources and commanding the attention of a lot of people, believers, skeptics and haters of Christ alike. The target market that the left arm will reach for is the global market of CREATIVE ARTS EDUCATION. Music schools and music teachers, dance schools, theater arts, visual arts, culinary arts, creative writing educators, and the like. I’m calling the left arm CASN - the Creative Arts Schools Network. 


The first, shorter part of this document will give an overview of how CASN would work, and what would make it attractive and effective.


The right arm of the vision represents a strategy to send the gospel, full-strength, presented creatively, tailored for the young and young at heart, out into the pool of attention created by CASN. The right arm of this vision takes an intuitive model of life and uses it to guide young people through a 3 to 7 year process of discipleship. It is very similar to Scouting and Awana. This process is a comprehensive youth-level spiritual education designed to foster relationships between the youth participants and caring adults in their arts-oriented communities. The right hand of this overall vision is itself based on a two-armed, two-handed model of life-building. The name of the organization would be Both Hands Build.


The second, lengthier part of this document will describe how BHB would work, and what would make it an effective global outreach tool to children and youth. 

  the Creative-Arts Schools Network


The Creative Arts Schools Network (CASN) would be an organization that publishes and manages creative assets - songs, books, movies, videos, training material, websites and networking resources - that serve the overall purpose of equipping and connecting creative arts schools and educators. 

CASN would aid marketing and student-motivation efforts for creative arts schools by creating or providing platforms for schools to collaborate and compete with each other, and innovative ways for students to express their talents. 

CASN would add value to the lives of students' supporters (parents) by providing innovative, relevant tech and activity-based tools to build relationships - student-to-student, student-to-teacher, student-to-parent, school-to-school, and community-to-community. 

Mission: Equip, nurture and network creative-arts education providers.

Mandates:


Vision: CASN equips providers of primary school level instruction in the arts with tools to market their studios and services, forge relationships with schools and community institutions (churches, mosques, synagogues, clubs, etc.) and motivate student involvement.


If such an organization existed, creative arts-educators around the world, and their students would be brought into a highly functional, interdisciplinary network revolving around the arts-education of young people.


This network would then become the ideal environment to launch the mission of the right hand of this vision: Both Hands Build Kids Clubs.



Both Hands Build Kids Clubs 

Operational Overview

By Christopher Blackmon



“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock..." Matthew 7:24



Both Hands Build is a framework for instruction in biblical wisdom. This framework creates the structure of BHB Kids Clubs, which are supportive communities (similar to scouting) where youth learn biblical wisdom in fun, arts-oriented environments over a structured period of several years.  

BHB targets students aged to be in grades 2-4, and lets them progress through middle school and beyond. 

BHB uses the analogy of Matthew 7:24 and expands it out using other scriptural references, practical parallels and examples. Students will engage in arts-based learning activities that communicate spiritual truths. By completing reflective exercises about the activities, they will earn the pieces to construct a small, symbol-rich model of a physical house that will become a comprehensive, concrete analogy to the process of building a life that pleases God. 

BHB uses our two hands as ever-present reminders of the tools we have been given to build lives that please God. The right and left hands represent our vertical (God-ward) and horizontal (Earth-ward) experience respectively. Each of the fingers represent aspects of our thinking and activity that affect our outcomes. As kids connect those ideas with their own arms and hands, they will be equipped to monitor and balance their spiritual growth throughout their lives.

BHB uses a symbol-rich, physical model of a house, to be assembled in pieces. Participants must earn the pieces of the house by completing learning tasks (usually at home - facilitated by the BHB webhub) and activity tasks (often group-based at meetings). The tasks will give students age-appropriate, real-world experience with the concepts Jesus taught.

BHB uses the arts to communicate the messages and to train students in the principles. Music, dance, visual art, theater arts, culinary, storytelling in print, stage or screen (and any other age-appropriate artform practiced by adults who facilitate the programs) are ideal contexts in which to explore these concepts. Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination…” The goal of the program is to depict the God of scripture as a loving, joyful creator, and his offer of redemption in Christ as the greatest story ever told and the greatest gift ever given. The arts work hearts. This makes them the place where children are most likely to be open to ascribing meaning to their experiences.    


The Right Hand represents how we hold on to fellowship with God.


  The Left Hand represents how we grasp our destiny in the world.

 

 

 The House of Wisdom is the blueprint that wise people use as the model for their lives.

The foundation of a wise person's house (life) is faith in Jesus Christ as lord. Faith is a declaration at a heart level of confidence that Jesus is living, capable, and trustworthy to guide and take care of us, and a promise to do our best to obey and follow him. 

Foundation of Faith






The chambers or "domains" (referred to in Prov 24:3-4) of each person's life are  

1) his experiences, which are like the roof and attic of the house, where all old memories are stored. Experiences then cover 

2) his beliefs, the mental maps that govern how he makes choices, and 

3) his desires and motivation, which then covers 

4) his body (health), 

5) his possessions, 

6) his work, and 

7) his relationships.




The pillars that wise people use to build on the foundation of faith are: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love (2 Peter 1:5-7)


      Virtue               Knowledge         Self-control    Perseverance     Godliness  Brotherly-kindness       Love



Proverbs 9 describes Wisdom’s house as having 7 pillars. Then Proverbs 24 says that the chambers of the house are filled with good things through knowledge. II Peter 1:1-9 describes the life of a person who is established and fruitful. These scriptures together become a model that will help young people conceptualize these highly abstract principles. 


These are the three very useful models of the BHB program: 


Together they would provide the structure through which the gospel is presented comprehensively over the course of 3 to 10 years.

The Program

Overall Structure

I see a 3 year program that all students are encouraged to complete, followed by 1 to 7 additional enriching years where the principles are lived out through concurrent development in the arts. The program is administered in 10-week (quarters) that are each either an individual/online track or (the more desirable) cohort-based program. 

Similar to Cub Scouts-Webelos-Boy Scouts, this would involve 

Each stage (1, 2 and 3) would involve 40 weeks of meetings (cohort) or lessons (individual/online track). Each stage from 4 to 10 would be 30 weeks. 

Each meeting would have a time to reflect on instruction (which students have received through the website or print material), and a time of group activity that would drive specific points home through arts-based experiences. For example, if the week’s instructional point had to do with patient endurance, and trusting God, a culinary-arts activity might be baking a decorative cake. A visual-arts activity might be pottery-painting. In both examples students would learn the practical value of measured heat and patience. Group activities will generally be multifaceted allowing students at any point in their 40 week stage to be able to apply the meeting to their progress path. 

This program would require 10-weeks at-a-time commitments from adults to hold the meetings and conduct the activities. Wherever possible, the program will meet 40 weeks per year.



Initiation Ceremony - Tops and Boxes

Students will go through a lesson and activity that invites them into the BHB process of discovery. The lesson, based on Proverbs 4:23, will communicate the idea of something being “covered” and therefore protected. It will end with a high energy game where students will have a set number of attempts at a “challenge”. Their score on the challenge earns them “cover” points, which they will use to purchase thin cloth strips to cover a box. (imagine that each student gets a plastic bin about 2’x2’ with a strip of velcro all the way around the rim. Students are trying to get points on the challenge that allow them to buy thin cloth strips with velcro on the ends to cover the top of their box. The more strips they earn, the better their box is covered. After the strips are placed over their box to cover it as well as possible, The students will have to navigate down between a row of adults while trying to keep their partially covered boxes from being filled up with what the adults are trying to put in it. Adults will have balled up paper with things written on it, some good, some bad. They will try to toss their papers into the students’ boxes as they go through the line. 

At the end of the game, the students will receive their own heavy duty plastic box - similar to a jewelry box, uncovered, with several chambers inside. They will be told that, for the remainder of the program, this box will represent the student’s heart. What they learn will go into the box and will represent tools they have acquired to master life.

There will be a ceremony at the end of the meeting with specific words to initiate students into the process. They will then be given a transparent plastic top for the box, which will have a translucent decal of two hands. 

The hands are the size and in the positions of the 3D plastic hands that will cover the top of the box after years 1 and 2, but now they will be able to see through the top to the empty spaces in the box.


Stage 1 - Right Hand

Lessons and activities for year 1 would all focus on the 5 things that facilitate vertical relationship and help us hold on to God.

During this stage, participants will complete 40 weeks worth of online activities designed to expose kids at an age-appropriate way to these 5 practices.

Right Thumb: Worship = expressing YOUR allegiance to God. True worship has a purpose. It changes YOU and activates the real YOU. Why? Because worship is thought and action that considers two primary things: 1) God's true character and intentions toward us, and 2) our true position and condition before Him. He IS good and He loves us and has our ultimate good in mind. Also, we are in need of salvation from the destructive destiny of this world. Every thought and act that considers those things drives us deeper into a state of trust and dependence on God. 

Year 1 will inventory and create acts of worship - simple and extravagant, personal and corporate, organic and traditional. The first year will help kids see that life is full of acts of worship, and also acts of idolatry, that is, trusting and giving deep devotion to things created by God instead of directly to God. It will seek to give kids tools to discern the many ways we can daily express our allegiance to God and our commitment to respectfully abstain from worshiping created things.


Right Index Finger: Study


Right Middle Finger: Prayer


Right Ring Finger: Obedience to the Word and the Spirit

Teachings on this will be strongly connected with worship - showing that:



Right Pinky Finger: How to process what happens to us biblically

teachings on this will be strongly connected with worship - showing that:



Stage 1 Completion Ceremony: Right Hand Up (to God)

A ceremony will be held for students that have completed year 1. Each child will be presented a relief (sculptured) plastic right hand to replace the top right side of their box. A summary statement created from all 15 reflections will be read over the student. A song will be sung by all the participants (students and adults).   


Stage 2 - Left Hand

Instructions and activities for year 2 would all focus on ISAAC, an acronym for the 5 things that help us come to mastery of ourselves and our world.

During this stage, participants will complete 40 weeks worth of online activities designed to expose kids at an age-appropriate way to these 5 practices.


Left Thumb: Imagination = creating a picture in your mind of objects or events that your physical senses are not actually currently experiencing.


Left Index Finger: Study


Left Middle Finger: Affirmation



Left Ring Finger: Action

The wedding band on a groom’s left ring finger means he is committed to protect, provide for, and cultivate someone he considers of the highest importance. In the same way, the actions people are willing to take to see their goals and dreams come into reality will show whether they are truly committed. The ring finger is actually the weakest finger. In the same way, taking action without proper forethought is a weak and ineffective way to go through life. Wise actions usually accompany a plan that is studied-out and has good counsel and affirmation from those who have succeeded in similar endeavors.


Left Pinky Finger: Correction & Coaching 

Allowing data and counselors to correct our thinking is one of the most important facets and functions of wisdom.


Stage 2 Completion Ceremony: Left Hand Out (to People)

A ceremony will be held for students that have completed year 2. Each child will be presented the second relief (the sculptured plastic left hand) to replace the top left side of their box. A summary statement created from all 15 reflections will be read over the student. A song will be sung by all the participants (students and adults). 

Student completing stage 2 will receive something new to signify that they are now “builders”.  





Stage 3 - Learn HOW (can complete in 40 weeks) 

Foundation phase (20 weeks)

The first half of the Learn HOW year is the “foundation” phase. These lessons/activities will usher participants into the discovery that the foundational truth of faith in Christ is personal, present-moment fellowship with Jesus. To have the mind “set on the Spirit” Romans 8:6, is to have one’s feet set "upon" the rock Psalm 40:2). Each student will be guided to the confidence that “Jesus is Lord”, the declaration that makes one a Christian, is an invitation to be individually led by God’s Spirit, through various means and human guides, into a steadiness of Christlike character that is as solid as rock.  

Through new testament teachings and various arts-based activities, this phase would present Christ Jesus as perfect in 

  

These 7 characteristics are drawn from a big-picture view of His new testament activity. They directly correspond (in reverse order) to the list of qualities given in II Peter 1:5-8. This snapshot of His character presented in a 20-week immersive experience is designed to give young believers a balanced view of God that combats common distortions of Christian faith. 

The first 20 weeks of stage 3 will result in the student earning 7 interlocking plastic pieces that fit together to form a rock-like foundation for the house. Through the lessons, they will learn how Jesus provides for and protects each domain of their lives. As they collect pieces, the pieces will snap together and rest in the hands creating a foundation for the house. The final foundation has 7 corresponding places for each of the pillars to fit.

The pieces of the foundation are described below to be earned in the following order:

20 weeks worth of lessons bring the student through the earning of the foundational pieces.

Chambers and Pillars phase (20 weeks)

These lessons take the student through the chambers of the house and show how the pillars taught in II Peter 1:5-8 are the characteristics that fill those chambers with good things.

the pillars of the house - the 7 character traits that lead to fruitfulness:

Students earn the pillars. Once the 7th and final pillar is earned, students will be candidates for graduation at a BWBH ceremony.


Stage 3 Completion Ceremony: Builder With Both Hands

A ceremony will be held for students that have completed year 3. Each child will be presented the walls to the house. The walls slide down into grooves in the plastic pillars. The walls create a completed model. During the ceremony, summary statements taken from the online profile will be read over each student. 

A summary statement created from all 15 reflections (5 for each stage) will be read over the student. A song will be sung by all the participants (students and adults). 

Here is a (pretty bad) drawing of how the model might look assembled:

There would be 1 pillar on each corner of the house, 2 pillars in the middle of the long sides, and the pillar of Love will be in the center of the house extending up to the top of the interior of the roof, supporting everything. Both the box and the house would contain compartments to hold scrolls (described below).



Stage 4 - Know HOW 

Each subsequent quarter after the 3 initial years will have a focus that revisits and dives deeper into topics covered the first three years. Know HOW years focus heavily on practical activities that challenge students to walk out the principles.


Each Know HOW year will involve regular monitoring activities. Growing in life involves regularly checking your:


Vertical relationship (right hand life - relationship with God’s word and Spirit)

Horizontal relationship (left hand life - accomplishments and forward motion in the world)


Student will continue to add things to their house through subsequent years of the program just as scouts continually earn badges.

 


The BHB Webhub

The webhub will maintain the student's profile all the way through the process. It will give them access to all the relevant material for the stage he/she is on. It will give them suggestions/choices for activities. It will keep certificates and scrolls in a printable and a screen display format. (scrolls are small printable summaries of what the student has learned that will be stored in the original box under the hands). The Webhub will monitor the web forums and community areas for any violations of information exchange rules.


The Webhub Angel

One distinctive feature of the BHB webhub will be the angel. This virtual angel will provide specifically programmed guidance through the process. It will also be prepared to read the scrolls to students when they ask it to do so.


Models and Scrolls

The box will have compartments that correspond to each hand.

There will be 15 assignments over the 40 weeks of stage 1 (three assignments for each finger). A similar process will be for stage 2. Each of these assignments will end with a reflective exercise to be done on a form in the student's webhub profile. When all assignments and the reflective exercises are completed, the webhub angel will create a scroll - a bordered, printable statement, some of which is the reflective comments from the student, but with a scriptural encouragement from the webhub angel at the bottom. This process will be repeated with all fingers (only 2 exercises plus the reflection for the thumb).

The student will roll or fold up each scroll and place it in its corresponding location in the box. When he/she has finished the 14 smaller ones, the big project for the year will cause a bigger reflective statement to be made about the entire 40 week process. That one will have a special seal.


Rituals, Celebrations and Ceremonies

There will periodically be ceremonies to celebrate the completion of a stage. We will encourage churches to bring the ceremony into their services. We will provide specific ritual activities to say to students who complete a stage.



Concluding Thoughts On This Presentation


I have lived with this vision for more than half of my life, developing and operating in pieces of it at a time. If reading this document brought up a ton of questions, that means it generated the interest intended.


I believe this is a provision from the mind and heart of God for children, and that it is achievable by the body of Christ. I have dedicated the rest of my life to seeing it become a reality. I am prepared though, to turn it over to competent leaders who can make it a reality. I believe those leaders are in Every Nation.


Thank you for reading. Please let’s talk about it.