Contact: Leanne Bush, 615-302-1060, leannebushpr@bellsouth.net 

NASHVILLE, June 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- In an ongoing effort to connect the artistic Christian with the world at large, the first annual Arts Alive Nashville—Arts in Ministry and Missions Conference will be held on August 14-15 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Scarritt-Bennett Center (1008 19th Ave. South).

The conference, a training extension of the Brentwood-based Artists In Christian Testimony International (A.C.T. Intl), will bring together artists from all different disciplines including musicians, painters, sculptors, actors, dancers, authors, film-makers and poets.

Arts In Ministry 2008 supplies a common ground for participants as they learn and interact in seminars that tackle topics of biblical training for artistic Christians in spiritual formation as well as biblical teaching and strategies for the arts. Registration can be completed by going to http://www.actinternational.org/amti/.

"A conference of this nature is 40 years overdue" says Byron Spradlin, President and Founder of A.C.T. International.

"We're committed to raising up and mobilizing a whole new breed of artistic ministry specialists. This event is a springboard to encourage and equip artists of all kinds in the crucial role they play in today's culture."

The scope of guest presenters include Dr. Makoto Fujimura, Dr. Colin Harbinson, Dr. Vernon Whaley, Pastor Steve Berger, Sill Point Dance Co. & Sharon Perry, Plume Line Theater Company, Dr. Dianne Collard, actor Josh Childs, painter Jennifer Goss, artist consultant Dave Bunker, sculptor Curt Neunke, author Ramon Presson, arts advocate Matt Guilford, theologian Dr. Steve Guthrie, Arts Pastors David Taylor & John Farkas, and Rev. Byron Spradlin. Guest musicians will include 8-time GRAMMY nominated saxophonist Kirk Whalum, 3-time GRAMMY nominated singer Michele Pillar, Rick Cua, music missionaries Frank Fortunato & Bill Drake, Ugandan music group First Love, Jonathan Allen & the Grace Chapel Leipers Fork Worship Band, and Greg Wilbur & the Parish Presbyterian Franklin Worship Ensemble.

Artists in Christian Testimony International (A.C.T. Intl) was founded in 1973 with the goal of discipling and mentoring people out of music and the arts, and working them into the fabric of church, missions and marketplace ministry around the world. The Arts-Ministry Training Institute, an arm of A.C.T. Intl seeks to achieve that purpose through courses, conferences, and regional workshops taught by highly trained and experienced specialists. Courses span the range from the spiritual formation of the artist, practical and biblically based artistic strategies, biblical studies on imagination and creativity, as well as studies on the topics of mystery, transcendence, beauty, and aesthetics. A.C.T. Intl is also in process of developing an Arts-in-Ministry Certification Program especially for artistic Christians active in arts-ministries of all kinds in their church, region and/or missions, with the aim to eventually offer academic credit for the courses.

For more information on the organization, or the conference registration, go to http://www.actinternational.org/amti/