new videos

this blog originally started as entries about me learning about how to make and use digital video within the youth ministry in which i am a part. i haven’t posted anything on this topic in a while so i decided to correct this problem. so here goes.

the dry video

    during november during the view we talked about the temptations of CHRIST. as a part of that we talked about those spiritually dry times that we all seem to go through. as an introduction to this i interviewed several people about the times when they feel spiritually dry and then i peaced them together.

JESUS project rules video

    ever year we have our fall/winter retreat at the judson retreat center. it is a great thing. the retreat center has two rules that we constantly have to remind the youth of 1) no gum whatsoever, and 2)don’t eat on the trays. we decided that it would be more fun to convey the rules in a video than just tell everyone. so we took a scene from the ten commadmets and then voiced over it. i recorded the voices digitally using audacity and then cropped them down the the small segments we needed. i then added the segments to the video cuts that i wanted. the kids thought it was incredibly funny. i stole the entire idea from vintage21. they this same thing with JESUS for a sermon series. we figured we couldn’t use JESUS for a rules video without offending people but using moses would be okay.

the church in operation

three of our church members are hurting right now. yesterday morning two of our church members (justin & brandy) were in a serious car accident on the way back from visiting justin’s parents (ric & teri who are church members who recently moved up to the oklahoma). brandy was killed instantly within the accident. justin suffered a broken jaw, severe lacerations around his right ear, and a fractured pelvis. thankfully barry their almost two year old son suffered only a view scratches.

i found this out right when my family and i were starting to leave mobile, alabama. ric, teri, justin, brandy, and barry are all friends of mine. i baptized brandy almost four years ago, i did justin and brandy’s premarital counseling and was then able to officiate at their wedding. about a year and a half ago justin, brandy, and i developed a dedication service for barry and then with their family and friends we celebrated barry becoming a new member of their family. they mean alot to me.

of course, i’m not the only one who thinks the world of them. ric, teri, justin, and brandy have been actively involved within the life of the church and the lives of the members who compose it. they have served in many different ministries (the youth ministry being just one of the ministries that they have actively worked and served within). they have been people that you could count on to help others who were hurting and in need.

now they are the ones who are hurting and in need.

parkview has responded beautifully. people have been within them every step of the way during their pain. the thing i’ve been most proud of has been that nobody been offering stupid, cheesy, meaningless answers like “everything will be okay” and “the pain will only last for a little while.” scripture doesn’t offer stupid answers like that. scripture never makes light of the fact that evil things are just that … evil things. JESUS doesn’t offer platitudes and HE never just says “it’ll be alright.” instead, scripture continually shows a JESUS WHO goes through the pain with you. HE doesn’t always answer “why” things happens rather HE stands with us, shouts out at how bad it hurts, and gives just enough strength and comfort to make it through the pain. humans can go through anything if they have someone to go through it with them. JESUS does that. one day HE will remove the evil. until then HE stands with those who call on HIS name and screams against the darkness.

right now HE is standing with the woodlings and many of HIS followers are standing with them also.