MINISTRY UPDATE | DEC 2010

Here's what's been going on with us this semester! Enjoy.

[Simply click each picture to view it larger.]

Invisible Children does it again

Goodness gracious, these guys just don't stop bringing the thrills!

Invisible Children, truly making strides in both bringing awareness to and also actually coming near to ending Joseph Kony's war in central Africa against civilians, has done it again. Using powerful imagery and excellent media style, they just keep taking your breath away. This is a trailer for their newest film about one of the first kids they met in Uganda, Tony.

Get involved and book a screening in your neck of the woods!

Tony Bracelet: Trailer from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

SAVE 'Blue Like Jazz' (the movie)

This is worth noting.

Probably many of you have read Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. It offered 'non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality,' and that's exactly why it's been so cherished. It's just one funny, smart and thoughtful man's journey through the Christian faith at a very secular college and beyond. So many have found it encouraging because it spoke more deeply and more simply about what drew us to Christ in the first place: the relationship. The relationship with an ever-loving, ever-molding God. We found that Don spoke of what we were longing for, and he gave the OK to talk about Christian themes in a more conversational way than many of us thought our 'religion' allowed.

The book was being made into a movie with a solid screenplay (from Don of course), but in September Don declared it 'dead' on his blog due to lack of funding. Two fans started an incentive on Kickstarter, which helps fund creative projects, and the rest of Blue Like Jazz's fans stepped up and they're only a couple weeks and less than $25,000 away from the goal. If this book and this author have touched your life, consider giving. Sarah and I just did! (And we'll get our names in the end credits under Associate Producers!)

why I write

It seems that desires to consistently blog fall somewhere in the same success percentage as new year's resolutions.

If you were to look back through my own 120-odd blog posts, you'd find many attempts to cheer myself on toward regular output of neatly tied thoughts and well reasoned nuggets to send out into the 'flotsam of the internets' as my brother puts it (my spellchecker is telling me 'internets' is not a word, but I say it is!) with varying temporary outcomes.

Sometimes it's a sudden fear of lacking a record of my ever-swiftly passing life that locks me to the computer screen, trying to compose something worthwhile. Occasionally it's the aspiration to remain up and up on my writing skills (and the happy thought of using the thesaurus, one of my favorite devices! I used it in this very sentence; can you guess which word?).

But mostly I find myself writing, as on late, introspective nights like this, because of hope. I hope that when I make the effort to sort out and make sense of the things in my head, some manner of peace or new wisdom will emerge. I hope that some person, whether known by me or a stranger, will find comfort in the common human experience in which they can identify upon reading my words. And with the start of autumn and new students having arrived here in Morgantown, I hope that if I stay sharp and articulate, my words supported by my actions can help young minds find the thrill of more fully knowing the author of hope.

Here's to blogging. Cheers!

Mint.com - click the picture!

Hey, friends! Sarah and I LOVE Mint.com, for real! It's pretty amazing. The graphic interface is marvelous, and it's so easy to use. It really, truly has helped us be better stewards of our finances. Plus if I tell you about it, I could win a free iPad! :-) With Mint, you can:

* Get set up in minutes
* See all your accounts in one place
* Set and track your budgets & achieve your goals
* Find hundreds of dollars in personalized savings
* Stay safe and secure...and it's free!

advocacy & dance

Whenever I see something inspiring, I try to share it. (I know - by that statement, you must think I'm not inspired very often because I don't blog very often, but the key word here is 'try'!)

Invisible Children, who I rave about constantly, just 'got it goin' on' in the presentation department. It's pretty neat to see that a good friend of one of their founders has a dance movement that's partnering with IC. Pretty incredible stuff. Here's a promo vid of theirs:


And here's the website for LXD (Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) with crazy dance battles that will blow your mind! thelxd.com

Synchrony

There's a tendency in nature for things to fall into the same rhythm.

Schools of fish and flocks of birds turning on a dime without a leader. Two pendulum clocks set near each other begin falling into identical swings.

This is called synchrony, and perhaps the most fascinating example of it is the newly discovered instances of thousands of fireflies flashing their lights in nearly perfect unison (within a tenth of a second) in the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. This phenomenon has never before been documented in the Western Hemisphere; it has previously been observed only in Southeast Asia.

Check out an article here. Captivating!

Invisible Children + La Blogotheque

When I see something inspiring, I have to share it. Maybe it's 'cause my heart's already been opened and tender to the struggle in Africa that Invisible Children has brought to light, or maybe it's just that they're THAT good at presenting it, each and every time.

Byrd

I am not a political man in the least. I do vote during presidential elections and occasionally for other major offices, but I'm really just not bent toward the whole thing.

So I will not attempt, even in the smallest way, to assess ANYTHING that was 'good' or 'bad' about Senator Robert C. Byrd's long senatorial career.

I think I have an 'old romantic' streak, and I was just really touched when I came across an interview of Byrd in 2006 a few months after his wife passed away at age 88. I really love hearing of great real-life love stories (Ronald and Nancy Reagan are another high-profile example), and I hope one day to be able to say something so eloquent about my Sarah.

On recalling his wife of nearly 69 years, Byrd said:

What a woman of grace... I have met queens and the wives of shahs and great women from all over the world... To me, to me now, this was the greatest woman I ever met in this world.

I loved her for 69 years. She was a sweetheart - [my] childhood sweetheart.

That's worth remembering! Brought me to tears.

LISTENER

Is this not one of the coolest music videos ever? And these guys stayed in my house Saturday night, after playing at SOZO coffeehouse. Tsk tsk, you missed a good show.

International Justice Mission VICTORY

Just wanted to pass on some amazing news about the full-circle efforts of the passionate, unstoppable force that is INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION. Let's celebrate that these sex traffickers have been brought to justice!

Haiti V$ Chile

In case anybody still wondered, money can thwart an earthquake.

Well, not entirely of course, but when you read that an earthquake in Chile that was 500 TIMES STRONGER (yep, you read that correctly) than the one in Haiti killed 700 people and the Haitian quake killed 220,000, you have to wonder what the difference was.

Read the sad, monetary truth here.

Haiti still needs help. Pull out your cell phone and text to donate, or click here.

CAM'S VIDEO UPDATE! [CVU] #5 'THE TAKING'

MINISTRY UPDATE | MAR 2010

Well, folks, I'm long overdue for a MINISTRY UPDATE intended for the SUPPORTERS OF THE MINISTRY! It's been 'many moons' since I put together a fancy letter, but better late than never (one of my favorite sayings).

If you support the ministry I'm involved with through finances or prayer or volunteering or just plain being excited about it, you're in my heart and I thank you from the bottom of it!

(Click each picture to view. *If you're reading this on Facebook, you need to click 'View Original Post' to see it on my blog, or just click this: http://kingfriend.blogspot.com :)

CAM'S VIDEO UPDATE! [CVU] #4 'ILLUSIONS, MICHAEL'

CAM'S VIDEO UPDATE! [CVU] #3 'SAINT PATTY'S DAY'

CAM'S VIDEO UPDATE! #2 'THE IDES OF MARCH'

CAM'S VIDEO UPDATE! #1

two friends' travel blogs

Two dear friends of mine are traveling abroad this semester! Aly's already arrived in Mexico and I'm taking Addison to the airport today to fly to Ireland!

They're both wonderful souls and great thinkers and writers, so I wanted you to know about their blogs so you can journey with them (even from the comfort of your couch!).

Aly Thompson: 'This Journey is My Own' alycat884.blogspot.com

Addison Phillips: 'Moving toward the Mountains' addisonphillips.blogspot.com

my mom's Haiti vid

So here's a video my mom (director of Friends of Fort Liberté) did to let people know some ways you can help with the community and church we work with! (If you're viewing this on Facebook you need to go to my blog to see the video: kingfriend.blogspot.com)

The cries of Haiti break my long silence

I haven't blogged in some time, but with the utter devastation that is occurring right now in Haiti, I just have to join the many others who are pleading for your involvement.

I've been to Haiti four times. It is the poorest, most over-populated, under-educated nation in this hemisphere. And it's right on the doorstep of America.

My mother has been a part of or led mission trips to a small community in the north called Ft. Liberté for 35 years. She, along with my deceased father (and many other wonderful people), started an organization called Friends of Ft. Liberté that has done some amazing things over that time, both for Haitian lives and American souls. Everyone needs to see people in situations much worse than their own. We need to remember to 'share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood' (Isaiah 58:7).

I was talking with some people last night about the earthquake, and someone mentioned that 100,000 people could be dead, and I said, 'Surely not that much? Maybe in the tens of thousands but 100,000?' But it seems to be unbelievably true (though the numbers are almost impossible to determine).

Haitians are literally digging out friends and family from rubble WITH THEIR HANDS. It's so terrible. Please, even from the comfort of your keyboard, take a moment to try and take that in. Let the sorrow overwhelm you for a moment. These are our fellow men and women and children, our own flesh and blood.

Haiti is possibly the worst place in the world for something like this to happen as far as relief efforts go, because communication and transportation is so bad. That's why the international effort DOES need to rival that of Katrina. The world's eyes must turn to Haiti. Let your eyes turn there also.

One very easy way to help, if you text, is to text the world HAITI to the number 90999, and you will donate $10 to the Red Cross International Relief fund, which is very much being focused in Haiti right now. It will be added to your cell phone bill. Easy. Please consider doing that now.

My mom (Annette Crislip) said that refugees are arriving in Ft. Liberté now, which thankfully was fairly untouched by the quake. So that community is going to become important in relief efforts and will need lots of resources. I'll keep you posted on ways you can help through Friends of Ft. Liberté, which will be sending money to our beloved Jerusalem Baptist Church whom we've worked with for 35 years. They will be doing everything they can to help their fellow countrymen.