MINISTRY UPDATE | APR 2011

Sorry I've been so terrible about keeping up this blog lately! Here's my latest UPDATE/PRAYER LETTER, specifically to inform the amazing donors and adults on my and Sarah's ministry team.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy.

Hey friends! I’ve been asked by the amazing team at RESOLVE (good buddy org of Invisible Children) to get some more friends to sign the petition, which, along with a 1-minute video explaining the situation, can be be found here: http://goo.gl/xW3Dn

Basically, at the end of 2010, we celebrated the release of the first ever U.S. strategy to see an end to LRA violence in the DR Congo and Central African Republic among other countries. (The "LRA" is the "Lord's Resistance Army" that has been active for almost 25 years in several of the most remote nations in Africa, killing, raping, and abducting at will. See my most recent post for Invisible Children's event this April that will help make sure this war won't go past its 25th year.) But now, the hope of seeing concrete action that can save lives is in jeopardy. Congress is threatening to cut the money needed to implement the LRA strategy from the U.S. budget, the very strategy Congress required the President to create.

Thanks for signing the petition! Pass this on to three friends you think might like to sign it.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy. from The Resolve on Vimeo.

25. Mark your calendars: April 25

On April 25th join thousands of participants around the world to speak out without speaking. We are standing in solidarity and remaining silent for 25 hours to resemble the 25th and hopefully final year of this war. Sign up at invisiblechildren.com/​25 to create your personal fundraising page to help raise money for Invisible Children's life saving Protection Plan in DR Congo.

25 Event Details from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

DO SOMETHING NOW

Just wanted to make everyone aware of a gorgeous website for one of the great collaborative social justice efforts of our generation--DO SOMETHING NOW (dosomethingnow.com). Though I'm unaware of the exact origins of that phrase, my interaction with it has been from the unmatched Passion conferences and their GO Center where they showcase dozens of worthy causes that are making incredible differences in the far corners of this planet. (Incidentally, one of my best friends from childhood, Emily Vogeltanz, has been the head designer for the GO Center at Passion for several years now, and she has an eye for the 'look and feel' of an environment that I've not seen reproduced in any other gathering; below are some pics from Passion 2010 that of course only hint at the beauty she creates.)

Go to DO SOMETHING NOW and, well... do something now.

All We Soldiers

Today is February 2, 2011, Groundhog's Day. And the 22nd anniversary of my dad's death. His name was John Dillard "J.D." King III.

I'm certainly sad about this, but the sadness is more of what I would call an 'old sadness,' not one that truly affects me day-to-day. At least not consciously. In fact, most of my memories from childhood are very sunny and warm, like an old photograph. Still, there's a nostalgic sense of sorrow mixed with sweetness whenever I reflect on these periods. So in that way, I am definitely a sentimental person, but quite optimistic, interestingly. 'Old sadness' is kind of a theme of a song I just wrote and recorded as part of a week-long songwriting/recording challenge called Record Time VI (check out the blog here).

While the song isn't specifically about my dad, I incorporated many of the ideas I mentioned above in both the song and the artwork (which is of me and my brother as kids, taken by my father) without really meaning to. It's appropriate that it worked out to be done on Feb 2. Could it be... SATAN?! (A little Church Lady reference for you old SNL fans.) Ha! Actually, quite the contrary: I think God has beautiful and unexpected ways of reminding me He loves me.

Anyway, here's the song. Enjoy!

And here's the lyrics.

CAMERON KING

"ALL WE SOLDIERS"

© 2011

I wonder how far I’ll get walking backwards
I wonder if I care if I’m getting anywhere
Looking back there, everything’s yellow
And looking ahead, it seems the color’s left the air

Walking time in a straight line, so
Part of me is still behind me

Memories and dreams hang around like phantoms
A flash of your eyes, and in the night I hear you call
A moment we shared and you have both gone
So can I be sure that it ever happened at all?

Who I am and who I was, see
One of us is surely dying

Earth is spinning, stars are singing
We’re all waiting while we’re fading
These old days, they’re growing hazy
We’re still fighting, hoping brightly

All we soldiers
Marching onward
Towing all our dreams behind us
They define us
As they blind us

All we soldiers
Marching onward
Holding tightly to what’s rightly ours
Towing all our dreams behind us
They define us
As they blind us
Can’t rewind us

children of haiti

It's been a year since the devastating earthquake of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

I caught wind of a new independent documentary called Children of Haiti that's been in the making for 3 years. Looks pretty inspiring; here's the trailer:

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.

And if you have never become involved in any way with bringing hope to Haiti, please visit Friends of Ft. Liberté's website and think about going on a trip soon! It simply will change your life.

reflection

So I have a blog. Here it is. A 'web-log' of my life. Or such of my life that I'll share willingly. I don't write here very much, because of... life. Living life. Which, as you can see by my tone and implication, I believe to be more important than sitting, writing things one wishes to impress others with. However...

REFLECTION is good. Refection is key. To what? To understanding, to putting things together, to learning, to valuation, to determining how to spend one's time. In other words, it's key to that which I lifted up as more important: living life. And living life well.

Thus, here presented are a selection of current 'goings on' in my life, some requiring true reflection and some simply to give you the kind of further comprehension of myself that only odd detail can:

This last fall I started working full time with Young Life (through my employment with Great Commission Ministries). I believe Young Life to be one of the great ministry organizations of the world, and I would LOVE to explain how well it works alongside the local church (which I believe in with my whole heart) to anyone who doesn't feel they have a good grasp on that. I've met some amazing college students this fall with whom I look forward to growing together in Christ!

In the last month, I accidentally deleted my printer from the list on my computer and CANNOT get it working again, despite hours on the internet, downloading new drivers, troubleshooting, etc. This frustrates me to no end. But I won't give up.

I went to the PASSION 2011 conference in Atlanta recently with some students and was quite challenged by the speakers, especially John Piper. I want to live a Christ-centered life and have a gospel-centered ministry, and I was struck by the truth that we who believe the gospel and would have others believe it also have the need to preach it to ourselves. All the time.

This is my current desktop background on my Mac. It makes me feel peaceful for some reason; I imagine myself walking along that high road on a clear and quiet day, looking down at all that beauty.

I'm currently reading some selections from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil and The Geneology of Morals because of conversations with my philosophizing friend Addison. (I just now tried to spell Nietzsche from memory and when I checked it, I had put the z in the wrong place. Darn z.) Nietzsche was correct in many ways about the state of man, the desires of man's heart, the things man wants in life, and how these patterns shift with each rise and fall of a particular society. He was just biased against the idea of any common thread, which caused him to fail to see the problem of sin, which is the cause of each culture's 'relativity of morality.' We all, like sheep, have gone astray, Friedrich; each of us has turned to his own way.

I'm also currently reading Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. I think part of the reason for this is that, as a kid, I tested at genius levels. I guess I just kind of figure that if I can garner some sort of surface understanding of the theories of general and special relativity, then maybe there's some truth to those tests my young self scored well on. The truth is, I'm scared to find out I may not be as smart as I think I am.

I love to write songs, even more than I like playing music. However, lately I've had some conversations with friends about playing out more with them in the various wonderful little venues Morgantown has to offer, and I'm quite excited at the prospect!

MINISTRY UPDATE | DEC 2010

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

[Simply click each picture to view it larger.]