Beyond Ability: Welcome to the Training Ground

“Your creative work deserves an advocate. It deserves somebody who believes in it, someone who's willing to look stupid and fail and try again so that it can be birthed”What if the biggest thing standing between you and the work you're called to create isn't a lack of talent, opportunity, or confidence—but your willingness to move through feelings of discomfort? What if you've been waiting for something you don't actually need?In this episode of Be. Make. Do., Lisa and Dan explore what separates artists who dream about creating from those who actually do the work. Drawing on a conversation between Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell, personal experiences, and Paul's encouragement to Timothy, they consider what it means to stop waiting for permission, resist internalizing criticism, and become a fearless advocate for your own creative work.Learn more about the Soul|makers Forge and join the waitlist at soulmakers.org.Mentioned in this episode: Good Hang, Podcast Episode with Amy Poheler and Will Ferrell: https://youtu.be/1EfmhBlFJyQ 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but instead provides power, love, and self-discipline.Join the movement: Visit soulmakers.org for resources, practices, and community to help you become the person your work requiresConnect and Share:Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. wherever you get your podcasts Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials @BeMakeDoPodcast Subscribe and watch all of our episodes now on our YouTube Channel Join our Instagram Broadcast Channel!

“I don't use Christ to confirm the world I already see. I allow Christ to teach me how to see.”What is your life—and your creative imagination—actually organized around?Drawing from theologian Alan Jones's book Soul Making, Lisa explores the idea that we don't simply choose a worldview or paradigm. Over time, that paradigm also chooses us, shaping what we notice, what we value, what we fear, and ultimately who we become.For Artists of faith, the challenge goes beyond professing belief or incorporating Christian ideas into our work. It's about allowing Christ to transform our perception of reality itself.In this episode, we explore what it means to choose Christ as our center, continually examine what's shaping our sight, and become artists with the theological awareness, artistic sensitivity, and courage to help others see reality more truthfully.Mentioned in this episode: Soul Making: The Desert Way of Spirituality by Alan Jones: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060641797?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback Acts 17:28 — “In him we live and move and have our being.” Jeremiah 6:16 — “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths.” The soul|makers Vocation Traps:  https://www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo/escaping-the-vocation-traps-how-artists-lose-their-way-and-how-t...Join the movement: Visit soulmakers.org for resources, practices, and community to help you become the person your work requires.Connect and Share:Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. wherever you get your podcasts Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials @BeMakeDoPodcast Subscribe and watch all of our episodes now on our YouTube Channel Join our Instagram Broadcast Channel!

Faithfulness as a Christian in the arts isn't primarily about what you add to the work; it's about the person and imaginative world the work emerges from. Too often, we focus on the surface. But there’s always a world behind the work: our beliefs, experiences, fears, desires, and the stories shaping our imagination inevitably find their way into what we make. In this episode, Lisa and Dan explore what might change if we stopped worrying about inserting faith into our art and instead asked a deeper question: How do we become the kind of people from whom faithful work naturally emerges?Links: Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art in Action: Toward A Christian Aesthetic: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Action-Toward-Christian-Aesthetic/dp/0802818161 Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/ Martin Scorcese, on Faith and Filmmaking: Filmmaking: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-screen-show/martin-scorsese%2c-the-irishman%2c-silence/11... Bono, on the Psalms: https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/bono-eugene-peterson-psalms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Connect and Share:Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. wherever you get your podcasts Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials @BeMakeDoPodcast Subscribe and watch all of our episodes now on our YouTube Channel Join our Instagram Broadcast Channel!

In the first episode of Season 6, Lisa and Dan begin with a question many artists quietly wrestle with: Why does making art matter when there are so many serious problems in the world?Lisa and Dan examine some of the assumptions that shape the way we answer that question: production culture, measurable success, the pressure to make “useful” work, and even Christian ideas about what counts as faithful service.Then they turn to the Gospel story of the woman who anoints Jesus with costly perfume. When the disciples ask, “Why this waste?” Jesus responds, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”What if that exchange gives us another way to understand the work of the artist?Counting Crows Documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36591196Connect and Share: Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. wherever you get your podcasts Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials @BeMakeDoPodcast Subscribe and watch all of our episodes now on our YouTube Channel Join our Instagram Broadcast Channel!

Before diving into a new season of Be. Make. Do., Lisa and Dan have some catching up to do—from a sabbatical in the New Mexico desert to a spontaneous trip to the Cannes Film Festival. They talk about rest, risk, creative identity, failure, and what can happen when we make enough space to ask: What’s next?Dan returns from an intentional sabbatical that took him into the New Mexico desert, the streets of Austin, and an unexpected encounter with a question he’s wrestled with for years: Am I really an artist?Lisa shares about an almost-impossible-to-plan trip to France that took her and her husband to the Cannes Film Festival, a retreat with Christian artists from around the world, and a conversation with a filmmaker whose years of failures became the very reason his film eventually made it to Cannes.Together, they talk about what happens when we disrupt our routines long enough to listen: the possibilities we can’t see when we’re buried in responsibility, the creativity that emerges when no one is watching, and the discoveries waiting on the other side of risk, failure, and uncertainty.It’s a conversation about rest, adventure, perseverance, creative identity—and getting curious about what God might be doing when things don’t go according to plan.And it sets the stage for where Be. Make. Do. is headed next: exploring what it means to be an artist in a moment of cultural fragmentation, technological acceleration, and spiritual longing.Links: Arcadia Sky Album: https://www.arcadiaskymusic.com/ Arcadia Sky: Touching the Sky Film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt41667529/Connect and Share:  Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. wherever you get your podcasts Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials using: @bemakedopodcast Join our Instagram Broadcast Channel!

Season 6 of Be. Make. Do. a soul|makers podcast explores what it means to be an artist at a moment of cultural fragmentation, technological acceleration, and spiritual longing. How do we carry that responsibility with courage, integrity, and hope? Together we’ll explore what it takes to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do.Season 6 premieres September 22, 2026The Be. Make. Do. podcast is a contemplative exploration of artistic vocation in a time of cultural confusion and rapid change. It invites artists to think less about visibility and more about formation; less about success and more about faithfulness; less about result and more about responsibility.These episodes are not tips or tactics. They are reflections on what it means to create responsibly, to live attentively, and to bear witness through our work to a deeper story—one shaped by hope, wholeness, and the renewal of all things.Together we explore what it takes to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do.Mark Your Calendar:✨ Season 6 premiere drops September 22, 2026. Hit “Follow” now so you don’t miss it!Get Ready:📬 Sign up at soulmakers.org to join the movement!⭐ Leave a review to help others discover the showStay Connected:                                                                                                                                          Join our broadcast channel to stay connected and get a "behind-the-mic" within our podcast community.

Maybe escaping the Vocation Traps isn’t just about personal creative fulfillment or private spiritual formation. What if it’s about cultural responsibility?Finding Freedom In Your True CallingThis conversation reframes calling as a way of life rooted in prayerful listening and faithful action—the quiet practices that form artists who can tell the truth, hold ambiguity, and create without fear. And in a moment when culture is shaping the imagination of the world faster than ever, this isn’t just personal freedom. It’s cultural responsibility.Helpful Resources: Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedoConnect & Share: Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!Edited3Write a reply and mention others with @

“The anxiety around uncertainty is caused by the belief that we need certainty to act."Episode 9: Certainty Not RequiredEmbracing Uncertainty, Setbacks, and Serendipity in the Creative LifeWhat if the need for certainty is actually the thing keeping you stuck?In this episode of Be. Make. Do., Lisa and Dan explore how uncertainty, setbacks, and even mistakes can become powerful catalysts for creative and vocational freedom. Drawing from Scripture and lived experience, they look at how figures like Abraham, Sarah, and Ruth navigated the unknown—and what their stories teach us about faithful action without guarantees.You’ll discover why certainty isn’t required to move forward, how action itself can become part of discernment, and how to recognize serendipity as an “expected unexpected” in the creative life.Helpful Resources: Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Read the article, Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories and theExperience of Vocation by Chris KeetonConnect & Share: Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!

“What feels like the wrong job or the wrong place may actually be your training ground.”Beyond Ability: Welcome to the Training GroundIn the last episode of the Vocation Traps series, Lisa and Dan explored how our natural abilities are tools for vocation—not the same thing as our calling. In this follow-up conversation, they flip the coin and dive into the moments when our feelings of inadequacy threaten to shut us down. If you’ve ever wondered, “Did I miss it? Am I in the wrong place? Am I enough for what God’s asking of me?” this episode will help you see your current season not as a dead end, but as sacred preparation.Helpful Resources: Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Read the article, Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories and theExperience of Vocation by Chris Keeton Becoming Moses - Bible Project Classroom, Carmen ImesConnect & Share: Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!Be. Make. Do. is going LIVE! on February 10th!Join us Tuesday, February 10th, at 3 pm EST for an exciting, interactive discussion with Dan and Lisa. They’ll be wrapping up The Vocation Traps series of the podcast, answering your questions, and hearing from you! Register Here!

“Ability is not vocation. Abilities are tools for vocation.”Ability Is Not VocationWhat if ability is simply a tool—one that God shapes, deepens, stretches, and even redirects over a lifetime? If you’ve ever felt pressured to “stay in your lane,” doubted whether you’re on the right path, or confused your gift with your calling, this episode will help you breathe again. Discover a more spacious, wise-hearted way of understanding your vocation—one rooted in freedom, not fear.Helpful Resources: Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo Read the article, Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories and theExperience of Vocation by Chris KeetonConnect & Share: Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series Share this episode with a friend or creative you know Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!Be. Make. Do. is going LIVE! on February 10th!Join us Tuesday, February 10th, at 3 pm EST for an exciting, interactive discussion with Dan and Lisa. They’ll be wrapping up The Vocation Traps series of the podcast, answering your questions, and hearing from you! Register Here!Up Next: Join us as we explore the flip side of the coin and bust free from feelings of inadequacy.