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.