Spring is the time when we most celebrate creativity. It seems the world is full of new light and life. It is evident in sounds, sights, smells, and our spirits soar. In the pages that follow you will see evidence of that creativity at Greenville College. There are new buildings, new programs, new people, and our spirits soar.
You will see the result of creativity among our faculty, especially in
the beautiful work of Professor Steve Heilmer. I had heard Professor
Heilmer speak of his long-time sculpture project with the mixture of
pain and awe that often dominates those who create. We are drawn to the
potential and repulsed by the effort to achieve it. Some turn away,
overwhelmed. Others push on often wondering why.
The cost of creativity is high. Professor Heilmer recounts his effort,
the setbacks, the appearance of disaster, the redemptive moments, and
the final sense of victory. When I first saw his finished work, I
marveled at the range of appearances his marble material can take on;
from rough, heavy, and dark to thin, glossy, translucent, and yes, even
milky.
While fine art holds no monopoly on creativity it does call us more
than most other works of our minds and hands to pursue creativity.
Spring draws us to the pinnacle of Creativity in Easter. To celebrate
Easter in the spring makes sense whether the resurrection occurred in
that season or not. Easter literally embodies the creativity of our
Heavenly Father. It recounts His efforts in creation, the setbacks of
human sin with the appearance of disaster, and gloriously captures the
moment of redemption and the final sense of eternal victory.
The cost of creativity is high. God’s cost is found in Christ at
Easter. We are drawn to the energy and potential for new life in
ourselves. Yet we are perhaps driven away by the pain it meant for
Christ and the painful self-denial it means for us. Like marble we are
capable of such range. If we allow ourselves to be captured by this
Creativity, its mixture of pain and awe-ful victory transforms us. To
embrace this mysterious Creativity, found uniquely in the person of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is to find new Life.
May these days, these accounts of Greenville College, make your spirits
soar and may the mystery of His Creativity bring you new Life.
Jim Mannoia
March 6, 2001
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Foundations 
