I enjoy discovering where imagination, innovation and faith intersect.

I am a pastor, emotional architect, author and filmmaker.

I have written Easter: 21 Stations, Middle of the Maze: 5 Secrets to Finding Your Way and Creative Styles of Preaching. Articles and a short film I created have appeared CNN.com and in the Huffington Post. I am currently working on new book with my wife, Calling Calder: Rediscovering the Art of Living by Living Like an Artist.

I am a filmmaker.  THE LAST SONGWRITER, premiered at the Nashville Film Festival and won an Audience Award. Starring Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris and Jason Isbell, it spotlights the struggles of songwriters to make a living in the age of streaming.

LOST BOY HOME, narrated by Sam Waterston, premiered at the Palm Beach International Film Festival and tells the story of a Sudanese “Lost Boy” who returns to South Sudan to search for his parents. It won a Best Shorts Award and was featured at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival.

I am a teacher.  I have taught at the Compass College of the Visual Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan and at McCormick Theological Seminary and in the Continuing Education program at Princeton Theological Seminary.

A lifelong learner, I am a graduate of Cornell University, Princeton Theological Seminary where I received a Master of Divinity, and San Francisco Theological Seminary where I received my Doctorate in Ministry. I studied non-profit leadership at the Harvard Business School and was a Kellogg Scholar in Non-Profit Management at the Northwestern Business School in their Executive Education program. At TEDGlobal I gave a TED talk on “Blue Lobsters.” I enjoy running and have finished seven marathons just before the street sweepers emerged and closed the course.

Contact me:  markbargerelliott@comcast.net

Books

Download: Hypethral- Life in a Cathedral without Walls

Easter: 21 Stations

Download : Easter – 21 Stations

“While appropriate for the penitential season of Lent, this collection by Mark Barger Elliott is a feast of words and images to nourish reflection throughout the year. Reminiscent of the work of Mary Oliver, Alan Lightman, and Wendell Berry, Elliott’s poetry and photographs teach, surprise, delight, and turn the reader of this book into a pilgrim who is changed, challenged, and enriched by embarking on this sacred journey.” – Amy Richter, Antimony: a Novel

Middle of the Maze : Five Secrets to Finding Your Way

Film

Watch Lost Boy Home 

Watch The Last Songwriter 

Video

TED TALK – TED GLOBAL

In Oxford I spoke about encountering three blue lobsters in forty-eight hours and what that might suggest about the possibility and reality of miracles.

THIN PLACES – ST. PATRICK’S FOOTSTEPS

This video chronicles a trip to Ireland and walking in St. Patrick’s footsteps!

VIDEOS OF MY SERMONS can be found by searching iTunes : Mark Barger Elliott. They appear on the page for Mayflower Congregational Church.

MUSIC VIDEO

Excited to share a music video I produced of Kari Lynch’s inspirational song “Better Than Today.” The song was co-written by myself and Kari and produced by Brian Vander Ark known for his hit song “Freshman” recorded by the Verve Pipe.

Articles

Medium

Since the editorial change at Huffpost I publish on Medium. Google: Medium Mark Barger Elliott. Posts include: AI pastors and AlphaGo Zero; Visually Speaking in the Digital Age; On Fundraising and the Church: The Economy of Divine Generosity.

A Few Fun Pics