About
John Mark and Sarah McMillan
John Mark and Sarah McMillan are songwriters, worship leaders and artists with a passion to see the Lord move through creative expression. They served on staff at MorningStar Ministries in Charlotte, NC for 3 years. In 2006 they left to establish what is now Worship Arts Revival, a ministry that works with artists and worshipers around the world to impact their communities.
John Mark, a Charlotte, NC native, graduated from the MorningStar School of ministry in 2000 and went on to intern at Day Star Fellowship in the Charleston, SC area. Returning to Charlotte in the early 2000s he studied music and waited tables during the day while in the evenings he began to develop his songwriting craft. Eventually these songs became John Mark's first independently released album "Hope Anthology Volume 1". In 2005 he released his second full-length album, "The Song Inside The Sounds of Breaking Down" and he plans to release his 3rd in 2008.
Sarah McMillan grew up in Vidalia GA, a rural southern town famous for sweet onions. Her passion for worship and the arts swelled in the late 90's while touring North and South America with performance companies like Ben and Robin Pasley's "Enter the Worship Circle". Relocating to North Carolina in 2000, Sarah planned to study and develop her skills as a potter. At the same time she developed relationships with singers of the area and became heavily involved in the flourishing community of worshipers and artists. Before long, she began to write and sing her own unique variety of sweet, rootsy material. Sarah recently released her debut album, "Under Your Bright Wings".
John Mark and Sarah have led worship, spoken, and performed extensively across the US, throughout Europe and in South America. Songs they've written are being sung by communities around the world and have been recorded by several artists and worship leaders.
REVIVING THE CREATIVE ARTS
"Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who writes it's laws"
-Andrew Fletcher (eighteenth-century Scottish political thinker)
The arts are the platform upon which the cultures and movements of the world come to debate the issues of the day. Historically, artists have been the voice of their culture or movement. Because of this, the work of their hands and the song on their lips have often been the vehicle of change. The arts give people expression to their joy, grief, desire and vision. This expression, as seen in the sixties, can be empowering, unifying and sometimes devastating. Unfortunately, the Christian voice too often has been absent from this platform. If the church is to truly have a lasting effect on the cultures of the world, then her voice must be present. If the world is to hear a sincere cry of freedom, then Spirit led creatives must take their place, not just in the fellowship hall on Sunday morning, but on every level of the art world and in every media.
Worship Arts Revival, a ministry directed by John Mark and Sarah McMillan, is dedicated to cultivating the arts and the creative gifts in the body of Christ. Through intensive training schools, seminars, creative gatherings, and general market events, the ministry aims to see a new breed of spiritual artist emerge: A class of artist with spiritual integrity, and a genuine passion for the gospel, but also with discipline, focus and zeal for their craft.
It is the heart of Worship Arts Revival to see the expressed love of God move like blood through the veins of society awakening desires that have lied dormant in so many hearts for so many years. Hope often rides on the back of a song, in the colors of a painting, in the lyrics of a poem, or in the turns of a dance. Sometimes the tipping point of change is as slight as a hammer against the strings on a piano. It's our dream that the hands and hearts behind these expressions are fueled by the affections of Jesus.
MISSION
The mission of this ministry is three fold:
1. To bring a fresh language of worship to the body of Christ.
2. To train creative people to express God and love others around the world with their gifts.
3. To generate conversation about God with the unchurched through creative expression in general market situations.