Hi, my name is Joseph J Graber. I have been married to Stacie since April of 2011 and together we are filmmakers. I am an artist and a storyteller. I am currently a pastor at Living Water Fellowship in Denver, Colorado.
Stacie and I have enjoyed working on our own film projects as well as some for a few of our friends. In 2020 we released We Three Kings, the story behind the Christmas carol of the same name. We released a six part documentary series, Breaking the Silence, that tells the story of my family’s Amish history in 2018. You can learn more at MyAmishStory.com. In September of 2017 we released a special feature of the series, The Amish and the Reformation. In 2013, Stacie and I released Indescribable: a Christian movie about a Christian song. Before that I traveled as a gospel chalk artist for 12 years.
This started as my personal blog. In the beginning I focused on living life on purpose. Good accidents do happen, but lets face it- most of the good things in life require hard work and tough decisions. More recently, our children seem to take up more and more blog posts and I have started to add some video blogs as well.
I wanted to write on marriage, faith, leadership, and redeeming the arts for the Glory of God- and I do, occasionally. But since December of 2019 I have been doing weekly livestreams call ‘Coffee with Pastor Joseph’. You can find those by clicking on the link at the top of the page. These day, I may still write sometimes, but the Coffee Talks have taken the primary spot over the blog as my platform of choice to share what I’m thinking about.
My goal is to spur my fellow believers in Jesus Christ on to good works and righteous living. If you desire for a deeper, more effective walk with God, then I believe my blog and videos will encourage you.
A Few Favorite Blog Posts
If you are new to the blog here are a few of my favorites you might want to read:
A Few Favorite Video Blog Posts
And here is a video of one of my chalk presentations: Two Ways: A Chalk Art Story
My Biography
I have purposed to use the creative avenues of art and storytelling as well as the traditional methods of preaching and discipleship to communicate Biblical truth. For the past twelve years I have been traveling throughout the US and Mexico using chalk art and storytelling as a means to share the Gospel and teach Biblical Christianity. Currently my wife, Stacie and I, are in post production of our feature film Indescribable: the story behind the hymn The Love of God.
Stacie and I met at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival in October of 2010. Our collaboration on several projects culminated in our marriage in April 2011 during pre-production of the Indescribable project. Together we lead theThorn Crown Project, a small company dedicated to redeeming the arts for the Glory of God.
I was born into the family of an Old Order Amish minister. For years my father taught that salvation comes through good works and church membership. After extensive Bible study he discovered the truth: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9) As my father began to preach salvation by faith, it caused serious conflicts with the elders of the church. Eventually my family was excommunicated from the Amish church. On Thursday, January 20th 1994, two weeks before my fourteenth birthday, my father explained salvation to me, and I knelt with my parents and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.
From the time I first sensed God calling me into the ministry at age fifteen until now my goal and desire is to be comformed to the image of Christ:
“That I may know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;” Philippians 3:10
We really appreciate all of you who have supported us in our ongoing effort to create encouraging Christian content. -Joseph