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The Pastor Who Paints: Reaching People Through Art

The Pastor Who Paints: Reaching People Through Art

Last updated on: July 20, 2026 at 4:16 pm by David Weiss

The Pastor Who Paints: Reaching People Through Art 2026-07-20T16:16:11-04:00 David Weiss

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I’m a pastor and an itinerant artist/speaker who’s ministered in about 350 venues in at least 22 states. In that time I’ve learned a lot about reaching people. I started as a youth leader at a small church in Pennsylvania. This was in the era when Young Life founder Jim Rayburn famously said, “It’s sin to bore a kid with the Gospel.” I was teaching youth in the church where I came to Christ and more than a few of my students were in the church as long as I had been. My goal was to take these students deep into the Scriptures. I became concerned when some of my students didn’t know the basics. My prayer became that God would give me away to make the teaching stick. In those prayers, I felt the Lord nudge me toward using art.

Each One…

Looking back, it made perfect sense. I was a lifelong artist, having earned my living in one form of visual communications or another for over 20 years. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:10 (at least in the old NIV I was teaching from at the time) that “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others.” Discovering that tool changed everything for me. I began making creative resources to be used with my students. At about the same time, I was learning how to build websites using html coding at my day job. I began sharing the resources I was creating online. Before long, invitations to speak and paint at churches and do workshops at conventions began to come in. That was how it all started.

Church Plant…

After five years as youth leader, my wife and I began to feel led to plant a church. Our small rented facility had some major limitations on decorating the space, but they would allow me to hang things the walls. I began to make a live painting during our worship music each week that was related to my message. As I did this, I got to see my prayer answered. God was using the art to make my teaching stick. There were many times when I heard one of my congregants showing visitors a painting and telling them what I preached about weeks, months and even years before. The visuals were helping them to remember.

Transitions

Unfortunately that church eventually closed, and with the closing I believed my days of being a pastor were over. I used many of my suddenly available weekends to go out as a bivocational itinerant painter/speaker. And then three years later, my day job was downsized and I ended up doing a lot more itinerant ministry, as many as 50 times a year. In that time, I learned more than a few things about how people learn.

“Draw” Them In

I always say that these paintings are not the best paintings I can do. They are the best paintings I can do in six to ten minutes. This is true, and the time frame is important. People in general have short attention spans. The purpose of painting in the service, at least for me, is not to create a masterpiece. The purpose is to “draw” them in. I want to keep them guessing as long as possible. The longer I can make them wait to know what I’m doing, the more intrigued they become. I remember once painting at a men’s prayer breakfast, and hearing one guy shout out, “Don’t quit your day job,” His comment didn’t offend me. It let me know the painting was working. When he saw the finished piece, he apologized, but no apology was necessary, and I told him so,

Keep ‘Em Guessing

The longer I can keep them guessing, the more they will hang on my every word, when I start to bring the message. With their curiosity piqued, they seem more ready to receive. For that reason, I keep the art as vague as I can for as long as I can. I also will often do images that are not too “on the nose.” It has to relate to the message, but it doesn’t have to be direct. I love when I can hear the congregation guessing what I am painting. The worse their guesses are, the more I know the piece is succeeding. Here are a few examples.

Ambigram

I found an image online that was ambigram. An ambigram is an image that reads one way right side up and a different way upside down. This particular image was Satan when rightside up and Jesus when upside down. I adapted the idea into my own style and used it with my testimony. The people at the church wondered why I painted the devil and then as I turn it upside down, I speak about how Jesus turned my life around. Sure it might seem like a bad visual pun, but it draws them in nonetheless.

Bombardier Beetle

For my message on creation, I paint a bombardier beetle. The people usually wonder why I painted a four foot tall beetle, but after all the talking about the amazing things God created, I tell them about this amazing little creature. You see the bombardier beetle has a unique defense mechanism.When it feels threatened, it shoots boiling hot bug juice out his backside. The kids love the illustration and the adults are intrigued when I say, “If God put all that amazing detail into a little bug, imagine what He has done in you…”

The author with his forgiveness painting

Pictures of Jesus

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that in this ministry I end up painting a lot of pictures of Jesus, but even these can be done with an eye toward story telling. My message on forgiveness, came to me on a prayer walk when an unusual image came.to mind. It was the cover of the Pink Floyd 1994 album The Division Bell. The cover depicts two statues of heads facing each other, that appear to form one face, For my message, I paint two men who look alike they’re about to fight, then at an opportune time in the service, I join the faces together into the face of the One who unites us, Jesus.

All About the Cross

Straight on portraits of Jesus start with a cross, to mark the eyes and nose, while a profile of Jesus on the cross starts as a stalk of wheat dropping a single seed, referencing John 12:24. One of my favorite presentations is of Jesus as if He is teaching. I use this one to teach about the paralytic lowered through the roof from Mark 2:1-12. In this case the painting is straight forward, but you could have heard a pin drop, when I laid down flat on my back and told the story as if I were the paralytic lowered before Jesus.

So Why Do I Do It?

I use art in my ministry because I feel it is me being faithful to my call to use my ”whatever gifts” to serve the Lord. To put it plainly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important message available to humanity. For this reason, I am determined to use every tool the Lord has given me to do all I can to make sure everyone hears and gets it. My prayer is that every time I get to do what I do, that God will work through it. As long as He works through it, I will continue to do it. What gifts you have that you can use to spread the Gospel? Put them to use for the Kingdom and be prepared to be amazed by what God will do,

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Dave Weiss

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About Dave Weiss

Dave Weiss, SDG is a pastor and a traveling speaker. He has written and/or illustrated many self-published books and has his MDIV and DMIN, both with a concentration in Creative Arts Ministry. His latest creation is The Imaginative Church YouTub Channel, that features AI generated songs, The Simple Truth inspirational devotional videos and more. He is married to his wife Dawn and has two adult sons and a grandson named David. You can read more about the author here. You can read more about the author here. You can read more about the author here.

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