Want to know how close registered sex offenders live to you?
www.familywatchdog.com allows you to type in YOUR address and display a detailed map of local sex offenders. You can click on their “colored box” and get information on them.
(thanks, Travis, for the link)
Today after an extra-long day in a meeting in Ft. Wayne, I came home and did some much-needed web-work for our youth group website.
Check it out here, at www.theboxonline.com
It’s got a long ways to go, but the shell is intact and the “details” will continue to be added during the coming days/weeks.
I am preaching on Sunday this week, so much of my week will be sermon-prep time. If you think about it, your prayers for my time-management skills AND few interruptions this week would be greatly appreciated!
Yesterday, Jess and I watched the movie, “End of the Spear”. It is based on an incredible, true story. I went into the theater knowing very little about the movie and Jess went in knowing absolutely nothing about the movie. We both left the theater in absolute awe and ready to tell anyone we saw to drop what they were doing to go and see it immediately. We instantly called my sister and parents and told them to do all that they could to see the movie as soon as possible.
The movie revolves around a pretty well-known story (in Christian bubbles, that is) about 5 missionary men who went into the jungles of Equador to a tribe that ended up killing them. One of these missionary man’s son, Steven Saint goes BACK to this tribe and lives among them sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
I can honestly say that this movie has been produced with A LOT MORE QUALITY than ANY other “Christian Film” I have ever seen. I am not embarrassed to tell anyone to go and see this film. I can’t say the same about “Left Behind” or “The Omega Code” and other similar movie-attempts.
It is PG-13 because of some tribal-nudity as well as some pretty intense violence (did I mention that the natives killed the missionaries with spears?)
It’s an incredible look into the lives some some extraordinary men who quite literally found out how “to die is gain” as the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21. I would encourage everyone to take in this movie while it is still in theaters as HALF of the procedes received from the movie will be donated to missions organizations.
After seeing the movie yesterday, today I borrowed from our church library the movie, “Beyond the Gates of Splendor”. This is an hour-and-a-half documentary on the real-life story about the four missionary men and their families that the movie, “End of the Spear” is based on. After seeing the movie and now the documentary, I am VERY glad to have now had a peek into the REAL story that is behind the Hollywood production. I will say that Hollywood did an excellent job depicting the real-life story!
“Beyond the Gates of Splendor” is filled with interviews from the wives of the missionary men, including Mrs. Elizabeth Elliot. It is also constantly commentated by Steven Saint. It is filled with detail after detail of the lives of the missionary men and their families as well as some more in-depth look at the culture that surrounds the tribal peoples that the movie is about. There are interviews with key tribe-members that are portrayed in the movie – and even a humorous look into one of the tribe-member’s trips to the States a few years ago!
This documentary is available for rent at local video stores (or it can be checked out at our church library if you attend WWC!)
See all of our pictures here.
We had an incredible time of fellowship with each other as well as with our friends in youth ministry across our district! For a first-ever attempt at doing a renewal weekend like this, I’d say that our district did a terrific job at making it very special for us all! Thanks Jeff & Amy!
After our final teaching time this morning, Jess and I did a little maternity shopping at the Motherhood store and then caught the 2:30 matinee of “End of the Spear” – which I will of course post a review of shortly. We enjoyed the movie with Jeff & Amy Luedtke.
After the movie we spent the next 15-hours in Babies ‘R Us shooting things with a laser-gun! It was not as fun as it may sound.
Anyone wanting to make our baby’s entrance into this world more blessed can help us by visiting their local Baby’s ‘R Us and checking out our registered-for items! You can also view the 1,000,000 items we “shot at” here. (I also registered for 12 bottles of Mt. Dew in the checkout lane!)
It’s good to be home, safe and tired. Tomorrow will be a big day for sure! It’s our annual Baby-Day Parade at church!
Big news in Bartlesville, OK. Extreme Home Makeover is in town this week and Oklahoma Wesleyan University is center stage. OKWU donated FIVE full-ride scholarships! They’re featured on the donor-page on the home builder’s website: extremesimmons.com
The family they are helping is a pastor’s family. The pastor passed away back in April and left his wife and 10 children (5 still at home) pretty much homeless. They gathered enough money to purchase a plot of land and two trailers. Extreme Home Makeover is obviously going to change their lives!
Some great OKWU information is here. As well as a daily journal from their perspective!
A news article from an Oklahoma news station is here.
Kory also forwarded the memo from Dr. Everett Piper – OKWU’s president – that he sent to all the faculty. That is in .pdf format and can be downloaded here (19k).
