On this classic episode of Group Answers, Brian and Chris talk to author and musician, Andrew Peterson.

Andrew Peterson is an award-winning singer-songwriter and author. The second book in his Wingfeather Saga, “North! Or Be Eaten” (2009) won the Christy Award for Young Adult Fiction, and the fourth, “The Warden and the Wolf King” (2014) won Children’s Book of the Year in 2015 from “WORLD Magazine.”

In 2008, driven by a desire to cultivate a strong Christian arts community, Andrew founded a ministry called The Rabbit Room, which led to a yearly conference, countless concerts and symposiums, and Rabbit Room Press, which has published thirty books to date. He’s been married for 24 years to his wife Jamie, with whom they have three children.

His new book, “Adorning the Dark”, is both a memoir of Peterson’s journey and an encouragement for artists, written in the hope that his story will provide practical tools to others stumbling along in pursuit of a calling to adorn the dark with the light of Christ.

Question asked:

* Why did you decide to create The Rabbit Room community?

* Community seems to be important to you – The Rabbit Room, Behold the Lamb of God tour – why is it important to have a community – even in the world of artists?

* How do you keep a consistent community when you’re constantly on the road as a musician and speaker?

* What prompted you to write “Adorning the Dark”?

* For whom did you write this book? Can those who don’t work in the arts and may not consider

themselves a creative person use this?

* What is one thing you have learned about creativity and the Christian life in your 20 years as a

singer/songwriter, that you wish you could go back and tell your younger self?

* How does our calling as Christians intersect and inform the “great mystery of creativity”?

Resources mentioned:

* Adorning the Dark book

* The Rabbit Room community

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in Lifeway’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at Lifeway and author of Leading Small Groups.