WALNUT GROVE – For 25 years, Kurt Caddy served as the Director of University Ministries at Southwest Baptist University. After retiring in 2022, Caddy formally launched Fourwinds Faith and Art, a ministry designed to inspire the church to use art for discipleship, worship, and evangelism. The ministry derives its name from Ezekiel 37:9 where God tells Ezekiel to call upon the four winds to bring life to the valley of dry bones.
Caddy described the fourfold purpose of Fourwinds: educate the church, equip the Christian artist, engage the culture, and express creatively. Caddy explained that God could have easily created human beings without the ability to see color, feel texture, and perceive form. Yet God designed humans to relate to Him through beauty and to experience his beauty in visual and tangible ways. In a culture that values the visual, Caddy believes art provides Christians a practical bridge to engage unbelievers with the Gospel.
Caddy
“It is my conviction that the church must reengage the arts and reclaim them for the glory of God,” Caddy said. “I know that before that can happen, the church must have a biblical understanding of art and aesthetics.”
Caddy sees an integral part of his calling as helping Christian artists grow in both their craft and theology. Most artists do not have formal theological training, and most theologians do not have artistic training. Caddy’s background includes both.
“My artwork is only as good as my theology,” Caddy said.
“The church needs to be educated about the integration of faith in art so it can give permission to the creative artists to create to the glory of God. The church should unleash the artist to make art for God’s sake. The church could once again be a major patron of the arts.”
Caddy argued that Christians are much more comfortable with artistic expression in church music than in visual arts, a trend he hopes to reverse. Christians rightly notice how much modern visual art denigrates God, but the response, according to Caddy, should not be to abandon visual art to those who deny the source of beauty. Instead, Christians should engage the culture and the world of art from a biblical perspective. Caddy pointed especially to the visual beauty of the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus as evidence that God desires art to enhance worship and draw people to himself.
As a part of his ministry, Caddy, quite literally, brings art to church. From creating commissioned works to leading seminars and workshops, Caddy’s desire is to serve churches.
“I desire to come to churches to teach them about the role of art, and how to help, equip, and encourage artists. I do this through sermons, Bible studies, and lectures designed to educate the church on the role of art and theological aesthetics,” Caddy said.
One of Caddy’s most popular workshops for churches features kintsugi, a Japanese artform of recreating broken pots using precious metal lacquers. In the workshop, Caddy leads participants in creating their own kintsugi pots, using the art form to illustrate Gospel truths. The workshop, in turn, leads to dialogue with Christian artists about how they can use their own art for the glory of God.
“If artists will feel like the church gives them permission to go create beautiful things, they will,” Caddy said.
To learn more about Fourwinds Faith and Art, to schedule Caddy to lead a seminar, workshop, or Bible study at your church, or to arrange private lessons or commission an art piece, you can contact him at 4windsart.kurt@gmail.com or by phone at 417-399-2896. You can also keep up with his art and ministry by following his Facebook page, Four Winds Art.