FOLK ARTIST / CALLED ARTIST
Darci Jaret is an art minister, pastoral care provider, social entrepreneur and pastor. After spending many years as an artist and activist, Darci felt a call to ministry - not the traditional path for this queer artist and gender nonconforming individual. Darci received a Masters of Divinity from Candler School of Theology in 2017, focusing on pastoral care through art making. Darci was ordained to Art Ministry at Park Avenue Baptist Church, in the tradition of Bezalel and Oholiab – the builders and artisans of the tabernacle.
Rev. Darci serves as the Minister Artist-in-Residence at Park Avenue Baptist Church, where they lead a creative community group, “Re-Imagining Prayer” and a monthly event called the Creative Outlet that connects craft and theological topics. Darci co-leads an art ministry mentorship program called “Created 2 Create,” which guides artists and ministers toward creative theological expressions. Darci developed a Pastoral Care Model that facilitates creative narrative expression and helps people speak their narrative in healing and artistic ways.
Darci, Amy and their son live in Atlanta, GA, where they serve as a foster family, enjoying homesteading, gardening, raising chickens and bees. They spend their time building interfaith, anti-racist community, celebrating Shabbat on Fridays and going to church on Sundays.
Darci recently founded a new social enterprise called Process Divine, Process Divine is a devotional subscription where the user creates collage art each week with photos and scriptural devotions. Process Divine ignites the users' creativity through accessible projects. It uses exclusive curated photo content alongside scripture, instructions, questions and prompts.
Rev. Darci Jaret has led groups in communal art making for worship, pastoral care, or spiritual development in multiple faith communities, small groups, nonprofits, community development trainings, transitional housing organizations, foster care agencies, national Christian conferences, retreats, and more.
A recent healing public art installation Darci created was a 100-foot long sculpture created in community that memorialized the 49 victims of the Pulse Massacre. The woven piece was collaborative and in the act of weaving fabric around stands that held photos, participants could grieve and begin healing from this egregious attack on queer communities of color.
Along with workshops, consulting and conferences, Darci sells their devotional art pieces and accepts commission work. They also practice photography, accept jobs doing graphic recording and officiate weddings. This bi-vocational ministry is a new model for ministry.