Wise-Hearted Ones: Shedding the False Dichotomy with Marlita Hill
Do you feel like your artistic practice is separate from your Christian faith? Is it challenging for you to see the integration between art and spirituality? What would it be like to truly live in the reality of creative freedom God is calling us to?
Living Out A New Vision
In our Wise-Hearted Ones series, we’ve been talking about the spiritual gifts that God poured out on the wise-hearted ones in the book of Exodus: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and craftsmanship. This instance is the very first time in the Bible that the Spirit of God was poured out on someone: an artist. The more we dig into this story, the more I’m blown away by its implications. What would it look like for artists to live out the calling God has placed in them? What would happen if our eyes were open to this reality and we said, “I am who God created me to be and I have the freedom to share?”
In our latest episode, I chatted with Marlita Hill, a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and fellow co-laborer in Christ who is helping disciple artists in integrating their faith and artistic expression. Having practiced dance for over twenty years, Marlita hosts the weekly podcast The Kingdom Art Life and is the founder of discipleship program The Kingdom Artist Institute.
Shedding the False Dichotomy
For Marlita, art and faith are not siloed realms. “I don't know art without my faith,” she expressed. ”And honestly, I don't really know faith without my art. They came up in me together.” Marlita’s first experience with the power of dance came at the age of fifteen when she felt God impress upon her to attend a dance ministry event. Moved by the performance, Marlita prayed with the dancers after the show. By the following Tuesday, she was joining rehearsals.
Over the years, God has consistently revealed and provided for her calling to dance. “It was in the context of my art walk that God matured my faith, and it was my faith that anchored and directed my heart, and helped me understand the deeper things of God,” she explained. This vision of art and faith united led Marlita to disciple others in realizing this integration in their own lives. “I remember when I first started building the Kingdom Artist Initiative, which is now the Kingdom Artists Institute, I thought that disqualified me, because I was like, ‘I don't struggle with that, Lord,’” Marlita shared. “But He encouraged me: ‘No, no, no, you're in the pool, telling them, ‘Come in the water! It’s good over here!’”
Our Ministry of Reconciliation
When we view our work and faith as intricately bound together in God’s calling on our lives, we begin to see fruit develop in both dimensions as a result. “The preparation that I do behind closed doors with me and God and my artistic process is creating a space for them to experience Him,” Marlita expounded. “When I put it out into the world, that opens the door for questions. This kind of false separation between ministry and mission… 'If I have an art career, well, I'm not in Kingdom purpose. I'm not on mission…’ I'm just as much a missionary as you are. I’m in ministry on tour in the gallery. It just happens in a different context, which requires it to manifest in a different way. But my Bible says the mission is reconciliation. And the field is the world. So all of us are on mission, all of us, no matter what context you are in. I released that that kind of false separation a while ago.”
Marlita is a living example of a wise-hearted one. With her identity firmly rooted in Christ and a strong commitment to the artistic expression God has called her to, her spiritual development has been intricately weaved within her growth as an artist. When we shed this illusion of separation, our eyes open to how God is using our art to draw us closer to Himself.
Check out the full conversation with Marlita Hill wherever you listen to podcasts or listen here >
Marlita Hill is a multi-published author, choreographer, and educator. She is an Adjunct Instructor and MFA graduate from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. She showcases her own work and provides master classes, guest choreography, and residencies through the Speak Hill Dance Project.
Her choreography has been presented at venues including Belhaven University, ARC Pasadena, Lineage Performing Arts Center, Diavolo, Towson University, Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage (in collaboration with VT Dance), Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (MD), and Carpenter Center Performing Arts. Hill holds a BFA in Dance Performance with K-12 Certification from Towson University (MD) and an MFA from Belhaven University (MS). In 2009, she co-founded the dance department at the Cortines School for the Visual and Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles where she taught tap, modern, and choreography.
Connect with Marlita
Instagram @iammarlitahill
Kingdom Artist Initiative @marlitamakesdance
Join the Kingdom Artist Initiative conversation on Substack
Be.Make.Do. is an educational podcast with a conversational format that conveys the foundation of the soul|makers path. To prepare the next generation of culture makers, Lisa Smith shares her unique perspective gained from over 20 years of mentoring and ministering to artists. In addition, the podcast explores some of the big (and sometimes controversial) topics that come with being an artist of faith.
Host Lisa Smith received her BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and worked as a professional actor for many years before attending seminary. Seeking a way to merge her calling as an artist and a person of faith, Lisa went on to receive her MTS degree from the John Leland Seminary in Arlington, VA. She teaches classes at the John Leland Seminary, Wesley Theological Seminary, and Virginia Theological Seminary on the subjects of worship, theology and arts. Lisa is currently working on the soul|makers curriculum to equip artists to serve as prophetic critics and imaginative visionaries in the world.
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