By Blair Thurman and Faith & Field Staff

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At Melrose Baptist Church in Roanoke, the Heart for the Not Yet sermon series did not stay confined to pulpit, pew, and paper. It became art.

Over six weeks, worshipers at Melrose were invited to respond to weekly theological prompts by writing prayers during worship. Those handwritten prayers are now being folded, shaped, glued, strung, and transformed into more than 70 paper stars for a three-dimensional mixed-media mobile that will hang at Melrose before traveling to Virginia Beach for BGAV’s 2026 Annual Meeting and the Art for the Not Yet gallery.

The idea began, as some ministry ideas do these days, with a little providential doomscrolling.

“During Christmas, I was doomscrolling on Instagram when I came across a reel of a woman making stars from scrapbook paper,” wrote Blair Thurman, communications coordinator at Melrose Baptist Church. “I fell in love with them!”

When Pastor Mark Mofield introduced BGAV’s Art for the Not Yet initiative, Thurman connected the paper stars to the first worship prompt, “The Waiting Heart,” and to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5.

“We are the stars; we are the offspring of Abraham that God promised!” Thurman wrote.

Melrose’s series moved through themes including The Waiting Heart, The Edge of Belief, The Church Becoming, The Work Before the Harvest, The Mission Still Unfolding, and The Creative Heart of God. Each week, the congregation prayed into those themes — for people not yet home, questions not yet answered, communities not yet reached, and the future God is still unfolding.

Thurman asked Mofield, “What if we made paper stars out of the prayers of our congregation for the not yet?”

That simple question became a congregational art project.

At James River Community Church, another congregation engaged Art for the Not Yet through a sermon on Mary “treasuring these things in her heart.” The sermon invited worshipers to imagine Mary not only as the mother at the manger, but as one who carried memories of Jesus’ life — his birth, childhood, calling, ministry, suffering, and the hope held in God’s timing.

The response project was named “Mary’s Scrapbook.” Coloring-book-style scenes of Mary’s memories of Jesus were created for the congregation using AI tools – with some trial and user error. During the invitation, worshipers were invited to take the images home and respond creatively. The invitation was varied, simple, and open: color in the lines while praying and meditating on the life of Jesus; or trace the drawing, cut it apart, and reassemble it in artistic ways; or use the scene as inspiration for an original work of art.

Congregants were asked to return their pieces the following Sunday so they could be compiled into Mary’s Scrapbook as a community art project.

Together, Melrose Baptist and James River Community Church offer two examples of how churches can call forth artists, makers, pray-ers, colorers, cutters, folders, and holy experimenters—which is to say, the church—to reflect theologically and creatively on the “not yet.”

As Thurman put it, “Just as the stars are numerous in the sky, so are the possibilities for your church to open your doors and welcome the not yet to become a part of your story.”

Sermon and worship materials from Melrose Baptist Church are available for download on BGAV’s Art for the Not Yet webpage.

Blair Thurman, who contributed heavily to this article, is communications coordinator at Melrose Baptist Church, a BGAV-participating congregation in Roanoke, VA.

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