Join Us!
April 24, 2027
Location: TBD
Piercing Word’s Bible Arts Festival is an opportunity for you to join a community of believers who are actively engaging with God by memorizing His Word and sharing it with others through worship and the arts. All are welcome to come worship through the Word at this one-of-a-kind worship arts event!
Join the Creative Community!
Whether you are a Piercing Word Kid or Teen Theatre Camper, a stay-at-home mom, or a seasoned creative artist, you are welcome to participate and share Scripture from your heart at this worship arts event. At this event, Scripture will be recited with deep emotion, sung with passion, artistically displayed in vivid color, acted out on the stage and the screen, and put to beautiful dance. If you love the Word of God and you love the creative arts, you are invited to participate in the swirl of creative worship to our God.
To register yourself or your group to participate, all you need is your name, your chosen Bible passage(s), and your chosen Bible translation. You may be as creative or as simple as you would like with sharing your passage. Some will simply recite their passage with energy and emotion. Others may use Scripture songs or Scripture scripts created and copyrighted by other artists. Others may choose to create an original Scripture song, drama, dance, film, or visual art piece. If you are crafting an original Scripture piece, our Guiding Principle is to highlight the truths of Scripture without distracting from them.
The short answer is that you can use whatever Bible translation you would like to use. Piercing Word has a copyright agreement with Crossway, the publisher of the English Standard Version (ESV). So we recommend using the ESV as the easiest and best option to choose when sharing at the Bible Arts Festival. You may also use one of the following public domain translations so that you do not have to obtain copyright permission for your piece.
King James Version(KJV)
American Standard Version(ASV)
World English Bible(WEB)
Young’s Literal Translation(YLT)
Darby Translation(DARBY)
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Nearly all other Bible translations require a copyright agreement/license with the publisher in order to perform more that 50% Scripture material or a full book of the Bible in that translation.
One other way around copyright agreements/licenses is to utilize three or more translations in the composition of the Scripture script or song so that no translation exceeds 50% of the quoted material.
If you have further questions about compiling your own Scripture script or song for the Bible Arts Festival from a copyrighted version of the Bible, other than the ESV Bible, contact the publishing company that it is produced by.
Scripture Song Artist Suggestions
Steve Green – Hide ‘Em in Your Heart
Slugs and Bugs – Sing the Bible
Scripture Memory Fellowship
Poor Bishop Hoover
If you desire to use a Scripture Song that has been written and published by another person, please contact the artist or publisher directly to gain copyright permission in advance of the Bible Arts Festival. We are in the process of obtaining blanket copyright agreements for some of the most popular Scripture Music artists and we will update the community as progress is made.
If you have questions or need assistance with finding Scripture songs or scripts or obtaining copyright permission, please contact us.
If you are considering a Scripture Theatre Performance, you can check out our ScriptureScripts here!
You can do it either way! You can choose one singular uncut passage to share in song or script, or you can compile passages together around a specific theme or storyline. For artistic emphasis, we especially recommend choices like repeating key lines or phrases throughout the song or script. If you choose to create a compilation piece, please double check the context of your passages. If you are compiling passages together, there is a danger of misrepresenting the Word of God if you pair passages together wrongly. We recommend running your compiled piece by at least one or two other people before submitting it to us. If your piece has a significant issue with Scripture taken out of context, you may be asked to fix it or you may not be allowed to present it at the Bible Arts Festival. May the Lord bless you with creativity and wisdom as you create your piece!
Yes! There are other Scripture song artists who do this, and this is a great way to avoid copyright infringement. (See FAQ #1) For instance, maybe there is one translation that flows really well with your melodic idea, but there is one word that you switch out with a word from another translation to make it fit the cadence of the song or to make it more understandable to your audience. Sometimes Scripture song artists will literally mash up several translations into one to make the song flow like they want it. Just be sure to do this with great care and respect for the Word of God so that you are maintaining the intent of the passage and not somehow creating your own intent. It is good to run these choices by others before submitting them to be shared at the Bible Arts Festival to find any potential errors in judgement. If your piece has a significant issue with misuse of Scripture, you may be asked to fix it or you may not be allowed to present it at the Bible Arts Festival. May the Lord bless you with creativity and wisdom as you create your piece!
Yes! You may take out “he said” or “she said” phrases when composing a script or a song as long as that phrase does not add any new or important contextual information AND the character speaking has been previously established, and it is not needed for dramatic clarity.
Aim for your Scripture piece to be anywhere from one to ten minutes in length. If you are around five minutes, that will be an awesome sweet spot. If you are reciting a whole chapter, five minutes is a pretty typical length. And most Scripture songs are around three to five minutes in length as well.