Testify! Live Brings God-Stories to Life
Approximately 550 community members gathered at Eastern Star Church’s Cooper Road campus in Indianapolis for the inaugural Testify! Live event, an evening of music, dance, poetry, visual art, testimony, and worship rooted in Luke 8:26–39. The Scripture inspired seven pillars, one for each featured artist to explore. Together, the pillars invited the audience to witness the ways God commissioned, comforted, created, healed, brought belonging and rest, and transformed lives.
Historically, testimony in Black churches has offered people a way to say their truth, claim their possibilities, and show that something powerful is about to happen. Testify! Live reclaimed and reimagined that tradition through creative expression, artistic practice, and personal witness.
In his welcome, CTS President Dr. David Mellott affirmed the Seminary’s “deep commitment to Black preaching and worship.” Reflecting on how testimony forms, sustains, and connects communities, he described Testify! as an opportunity to reclaim and reimagine that tradition. He also called the project “a large-scale opportunity to share the power of personal testimony” and “a cutting-edge way for people to share how God is at work in their lives.”
Dr. Nick Peterson, Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Worship, Assistant Director of the PhD in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric Program, and Testify! Grant Director, reminded the audience that “everyone has a God story” as he called the audience to worship together.
The evening was emceed by the Rev. Danielle Briggs and Dr. Joseph Tucker Edmonds, whom Peterson described as “spirit-filled people” who could help move the audience through the evening’s experience.
At the beginning of the evening, Testify! Artistic Director Julian Davis Reid said that a relationship with God is healing and transformative. He described the “blessed quietness” demonstrated by people who had known the Lord. Connecting that conviction to his creative practice, Reid declared, “My art is my witness” as a foretelling of the evening.
The program unfolded through seven artistic explorations: Adrienne Jackson presented “God Commissions”; Tony Jean Dickerson explored “God Comforts”; Jesse Mays reflected on “God Brings Belonging”; Januarie York offered “God Creates”; Wildstyle Paschall interpreted “God Heals”; De’Amon Harges presented “God Brings Rest”; and Lamar Campbell closed with “God Transforms.”
As the stories and music progressed, the evening’s momentum continued to build. Although the program ran beyond its planned time, the audience remained rapt, drawn into performances filled with emotion and shared experiences of grief, triumph, recognition, and reflection.
Among the evening’s highlights was a medley performed by Sherri Garrison and the Testify! Live Ecumenical Choir. As the choir sang “Joy in the Name of Jesus,” the presence of the Holy Spirit seemed to fill the room, drawing everyone together in community. Tremaine Parker also performed “Moan,” an original composition by Julian Davis Reid, accompanied by the Circle of Trust band. The beautiful, haunting, and inspiring song rang out as photographs of people, buildings, and significant moments from Black church history appeared on the screen.
Tony Jean Dickerson explored the masks people wear, drawing inspiration from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask.” Afterward, the Rev. Danielle Briggs invited the audience to consider, “How would you testify if you didn’t wear a mask?” Jesse Mays reminded the audience that “our purpose requires more than self-preservation” and called on people to help one another find belonging.
“We are the fullness of ourselves everywhere we go,” he said. “God placed his image on each of us.”
Volunteers from Eastern Star Church helped the evening run smoothly. In the church lobby, guests could purchase Testify! items and find several ways to share their own testimonies. Videographers and photographers invited attendees to reflect on the evening, describe the experience, and speak about their own encounters with God.
Christian Theological Seminary was one of only 60 organizations selected to participate in Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative. Through that opportunity, CTS launched Testify!, a multi-year movement designed to help people share their God-stories through the arts and digital storytelling.
The initiative built on more than a decade of CTS’s work in Black faith communities, including the nation’s first PhD program in Black Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric, the African American Legacy Preaching series, and the Compelling Preaching Initiative. Peterson praised “CTS is a special place”—one that gives people “space to explore God’s calling.”
Toward the close of the evening, attendees received a two-part call to action. Congregations were encouraged to incorporate testimony into worship, reclaim the practice as an important part of Black church history, and “share this practice with others.” Dr. Peterson reminded the audience that “there are artists in every congregation” and urged them to “take this inspiration with you.” Attendees were also invited to provide feedback that would help shape future Testify! events and inform the development of a Testify! Toolkit. Over the following five years, Testify! Live events were scheduled for Indianapolis, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Chicago, extending the movement’s invitation for more people to tell how God was at work in their lives.
The next Testify! Live event will take place in Atlanta in fall 2027. Organizers are considering potential partner churches and expect to announce the host congregation in early 2027. Keep an eye out for the recording of the Indianapolis event, which will be posted at https://www.youtube.com/@CTSTestify.
