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.

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.

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

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.

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.

new use for a bike

Haven't blogged in a while, mostly 'cause this is the busiest season of my ministry work! But Louie Giglio tweeted this video and I thought it was pretty amazing.

my Top 4 favorite YouTube vids!

We are a YouTube generation.

I was chatting with my friend Jimmy Shreeves the other day and, as is inevitable in erratic conversations about nothing and anything, we shared some descriptions of the YouTube videos that most entertain us. I was cracking myself up as I described them, and I realized that EVERYONE within my small sphere of influence MUST be given the joy of watching them.

Now, I don't want this blog to just become a place where silly videos replace all words of contemplation or (hopefully) insight, but man, sometimes there are just no words. People in this world are crazy and entertaining. So here, in no particular order, are the four YouTube videos I find myself inexplicably watching over and over:

HUMAN TETRIS IS BACK
(their reaction at 3:03 is awesome)


DAVID AFTER DENTIST

KID ON A ROLLERCOASTER


KITTENS INSPIRED BY KITTENS