HEAR ME

The Story

We had prayed over an area for years, praying for God to raise up missionaries in the South Side of Pittsburgh.  We never expected it to be us!  We asked those essential mission questions: what language is this neighborhood already using?  It is full of tattoo parlors, bars, and massage parlors (or places of prostitution).  As we prayer walked, it became clear that out of those three...tattoos seemed to be the best place to start, since we weren’t feeling led to spend a ton of time drinking or going to massage parlors.  Tattoos were the visual art of the neighborhood...something Kate could connect to being a painter.  We prayed for someone who was a photographer, intercessor, and evangelist to go with us.  The Lord gave us two and then a group of folks who loved to talk and love on people.  This art exhibit, “Hear Me,” was born.  We went into tattoo shops, met folks on the street, in stores, and we said we were doing an art show on people’s favorite tattoos and the stories behind them.  We were a church, and God meets us where we are and we wanted to meet you where you are, where you have put a real message on your body.  We were inspired by the verse in Isaiah 49:15,16: 

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast 
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne? 
Though she may forget, 
    I will not forget you! 
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”

We had many good conversations in Jesus’ name, breaking barriers and disarming stereotypes of Christians.  The art went right to people’s pain.  We got to love people, listen to their stories, honor them through the photo and record of their story, pray for them, and invite them to this show.  We met Christian tattoo artists who were isolated, and they joined our church and became a launch pad for ministry to that neighborhood.  We met people of peace who welcomed us and introduced us.  We discovered that one of the tattoo shops had been shut down due to drug addiction and was even featured on a short-lived reality tv show called Intervention.  It was a subject of shame and pain for the tattoo community.  That shop had become a coffee shop.  We asked the tattoo artists if it would be healing to have the show there.  They said yes.  We did.  Over 80 people shared their tattoos and stories.  We displayed the show with Isaiah 49 and launched our church through that outreach.  We continued to visit.  We did other shows – what is your view of death?  through tattoos.  We hosted our Good Friday Service in our friends’ tattoo shop and then gave gifts with Scripture to shop owners in the community.  The Lord used art to speak to them about how he has engraved them on the palm of his hands in the scars of Jesus.