Art & Life with Kelly Byers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Byers.

Kelly, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was raised in a very traditional system of faith which precluded me from leadership based solely on my gender. After a very arduous road in my twenties of wrestling & rediscovering what my own personal faith meant I found my way back to God. I’ve now come to embrace a God who created me to love & lead others. In doing so, I take seriously my role as a leader and have no greater desire than to help others find ways to love and lead in their own communities.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Mainly what I do is try to love others well–specifically in this season of my life I’m focused on loving and leading children and their families. In my current role, I serve as Family Pastor for Historic Church. Basically, what that means is I get to help kids, and their families discover what it means to love like Jesus over and over again. I believe every parent wants to be a better parent, every parent wants better for their kids than they had in some ways, & every parent is mostly puzzled about how to do these things. My hope is that through my work I can continue to bring families together to see that there is no perfect family. That we’re all (including myself) mostly doing the best we can and that if we support each other and our kids our families & communities will benefit tremendously.

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
“Look for the helpers,” as Mr. Rogers would say. I often find myself discouraged and lonely living in a big city with so much hurt & need, and when I feel this way I look for the helpers and try to help them as best I can with what I have to offer.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I can be found weekly at Historic Church, which meets at Kidd Springs Recreation Center in Oak Cliff every Sunday at 11:00 am. I also mostly work every afternoon at Davis Street Espresso so come by, say hi, and let’s chat about your family & your community.

Contact Info:

• Website: historic.church
• Email: kelly@historic.church
• Instagram: @kellybyers719
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaiserbyers
• Twitter: @KaiserByers

Image Credit:
Ale Bonilla

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