I saw this on Jeff Goins' blog this morning. It pretty much disgusts me because I'm absolutely sickened by human trafficking. I've heard about the problems in India, but never have seen them on video like this. I've been to India and seen the effects, but I've... geez... never seen this.
I know the video's 11 minutes long and you probably live such a fast-paced life that you couldn't spare 11 minutes, but if you could... please watch this. And ask God to break your heart for what breaks His.
And I apologize for my tone this morning, I'm writing this just after watching this video and I'm a little miffed.
-When you focus on telling your story in a way that keeps the attention of your viewer. Remember, this is a ministry first and foremost. It is not about you.
Why do we do this at all??
-Because media is a primary language that our culture speaks. If we can learn to speak it well, we can engage our generation on a whole new level.
-Pictures are worth a thousand words. So what you can't seem to capture in words, capture in image.
When forming you video, remember to ask these questions: What is my objective? Is this a report? Is this a montage? What is my purpose? To inform? To update? To ask for help? To entertain?
Some practical techniques to help your videos captivate:
Variety
-Of clips (close, far, fast, slow, different angles, color, black and white, etc)
Movement
-Timing/Transitions: on beat with music
Music
-That FITS your objective
Text
-Use it to tell your story; narrate
Time:
-Under 4 minutes
Another good technique is mixing video movement footage with still pictures. Here is a great example:
After careful thought and consideration, I have decided not to post "videos that need improvement"... But stick to these techniques, make sure you experiment between now and your launch, be creative, and seek to tell GOD'S story through YOUR lens, and you'll have great success. Remember, this is a ministry, and an opportunity to BE the will of God, both to people in the foreign nations and the people in your own.
I'm here to help along the way, so use me as a resource!
I'm currently in Gainesville, Georgia at our World Race headquarters. This week, we are training and empowering a squad of 88 men and women who will launch out of Ireland in August 2009 and begin to partner with God to write the next chapter of The World Race story, and the next chapter of their lives.
At the same time that we are beginning something new, something else has come to completion.
This week, the squad that left in July of 2008 has just finished their World Race.
They've come back changed, awakened to the realities of injustices all around the world, but further,
awakened to the Kingdom inside of them and inside of those they met along the way.
This is a video by Katie Rowland from the July 2008 Squad.
He is one of those people that, more often than not, doesn't appear to have a "filter".
And you love him for it.
He says what is on his mind with grace because, more than most people, he's learned that life is far too short to stumble around in the endless, dark fog of people-pleasing tendencies. He loves people, wants to hang out with them in their pain, and on purpose empties himself of himself in order to let God's extravagant love seep out through his pores.
To me, my step-dad Dick East is a shining example of someone who is living to bring some LIFE in dead places. He does not live like there isn't hope, and to those who feel that it's somehow been lost, he has a knack for ushering it back in.
This is D.E. (Dick East) at RMH (Ronald McDonald House) on ABC (...the tv station...), bringing some Kingdom to Houston, Tx.
When girls who have found themselves working in the Thailand bars, often as prostitutes, reach the point where they are looking for a way out, there is a place for them to go. 'The Well' is a home, a family, a workplace, a school, with a goal in mind: to restore that which has been in shambles, reconcile that which has been broken, and give hope where it has been deferred.
Bangkok, Thailand has thousands of bars, with thousands of women who believe that selling themselves is their only option. Some have been forced into this life; some have been trafficked and work because of fear. The Well is a safe place where women can begin to build another life for themselves and their children, learning life skills by making high quality jewelry and crafts as an occupation. But she learns more than life skills here....
She learns that her intrinsic value has nothing to do with what men will pay for her. Instead, it is because of Who she belongs to and Who loves her heart and soul enough to pay the ultimate price out of selfless ambition; He did not pay money for her. He gave her His life.
She learns that her identity is not 'prostitute', 'dancer', 'pretty lady'.
Her identity is 'Daughter', 'Beloved', 'Chosen', and 'Cherished'.
She is 'Narimon', the Thai word for what Jesus named her: ‘pure', ‘immaculate', ‘flawless', ‘innocent', ‘spotless', ‘stainless', ‘queen'.
"I'd felt intense all day, and it culminated especially as I stepped out of the taxi and laid eyes once more on the chaos of the downtown scene. The lights, the pounding music, the men, the women, the beer, the smell...
"Once I get into intense mode, it takes the Jaws of Life to pry me out. I wanted to just get in there. I walked fast, fiercely praying through the downtown streets, blessing little kids and speaking limbs into cripples..."
World Racers embrace the love of God in such a way that they want to go unleash it on the world around them. Kim Daniels is one of those people. While in Bangkok, Thailand ministering to the prostitutes in bars, she saw another opportunity to infect somebody with Truth.
"As we sat inside, drinking our waters, a random man came in and sat down. After about three minutes of trying to hit on me, he realized that getting hit on was not what I was in this bar for and started to ask some different questions and listen to mine. We talked for about an hour.
"His was a classic story: He'd come with his two friends from Australia to Thailand to 'do what the Thai people do' after his three-year relationship with his girlfriend had ended... he asked why I was in Bangkok and I said, ‘Those girls up there,' motioning with my head and turning my eyes to the girls on the poles. He followed my gaze and looked back at me.
"'Those girls are somebody's sister, somebody's mom, somebody's daughter. No matter how they ended up here, none of them are too far gone. Basically, I want them to know that they CAN get out. And if they won't yet, I at least want to tell them that their intrinsic value has nothing to do with their outward beauty or how much men will pay to sleep with them. Most of these women have never ever heard that in their life.'
"His eyes were glued on me. He said, ‘What are you really doing here?'"
God has a heart for those enslaved to darkness, for those that are imprisoned to something that they feel they have no way out of, but he uses willing and obedient followers to go to some of the most obscure places in the world to unleash freedom.
Is God calling something out of you? Do you have a heart for prostitutes in bondage to something they can't get out of on their own? Do you have a heart for orphans and widows in distress? Is there a chance The World Race is for you?
"That's part of my dream for Thailand. It's not just for the bar girls, it's for the men here, too. That they would travel halfway around the world thinking that they'll dive deep into pleasure and ignore the pain that drives them here... but instead of meeting girls for sex in the bars, they meet God. Because God's Kingdom invaded the bars incognito, and they didn't even see it coming. And in the very place that they thought they'd play Jonah to keep running from Him, they crash into Him."
This blog is by Jimmy McCarty, and is one that I absolutely could not pass up re-posting. Jimmy is our World Race Program Director. I've had the pleasure of working with him on World Race staff for about 4 months, and in addition, he was our lifeline back in the states while I was on The Race in 2008. I feel that the way he approaches and processes the following subject is fantastic, and on so may levels, I appreciate this blog.
I realize that it is a bit long, but if tongues is something you have ever wondered about, it is worth the read until the very end.
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We're control freaks. No, seriously, it's kind of outrageous when you think about it. We're absolute control freaks. Not only will we try and control the things that happen to us, but we have back up plans for how to control our protection if something is threatening and our control begins to break down. If that doesn't work we have backup plans for that and if THOSE desperate acts of manipulation don't work, it's fight or flight baby (which is a backup plan in and of itself...so Darwinian I know...).
This past training camp, I had an epiphany.
I've felt the need for the last several years to defend the position, integrity, and reputation of Adventures in Missions and if I'm honest, defend God. I don't know what possesses me to take on these burdens (as if I truly understood what I was doing) but I work fiercely to protect the things I see as important. Not that it's all bad, but wow, the stress is unbelievable.
This past training camp we had some of the most outrageous, amazing, momentarily terrifying but truly honest and real experiences with the Lord. The Spirit of God moved through our midst in unprecedented ways. Freedom began to occur, new understandings of God began to be realized, celebrations, grievings, joy, honesty...I could go on. The fruit of our time was precious, sacred even.
When these nights happen, I get the rush of Holy-Spirit-adrenaline and just bask in the wonder of it all...until it's done. Once it's done I immediately launch into crisis management mode. "Who had a problem with this?" "How am I going to back this up?" "What are people going to say about our ministry (truth or not)?" All these management thoughts run through my head. They're not all faithless, some are pastoral, but the emotion that accompanies them carries a little trepidation.
This past camp I realized a truth that has changed everything for me. The truth isn't "I'm a people-pleaser" (though I do have those tendencies). The truth isn't "let God be your defender" (though He IS and I am learning to trust that everyday). The truth wasn't even that ground breaking...but it's given me clarity that is taking away anxiety.
Speaking in tongues is always an issue. No matter what the Spirit did (laughter, tears, dancing, worship, even people falling to the ground) nothing gets challenged the way speaking in tongues does. As a Southern Baptist kid I get it. I've seen the whole "we believe it we just don't encourage it" argument. I've heard the cessationist doctrine (I studied in seminary). And at the end of the day, I realize that the notion of tongues sounds irrational.
It's always the hardest issue to overcome, but it's always so surprising to me that the issue arises not from a conviction from Scripture but from fear of loss of control. Remember, we fear what we can't control and when our control disappears, our backup plans get haphazardly thrown into gear.
If doctrine is the stumbling block for you, I want you to listen to this. I was able at this past camp to talk through some of the core doctrinal issues on tongues with a group of racers. I feel a good understanding of audience, context and the simple facts of what Scripture says will alleviate any crutch it affords when you want to challenge the fruit of experience people have when God moves.
So here goes:
Question #1: Is tongues real?
Scripture talks frequently about tongues. Acts 2 and 4 note that the Apostles spoke in tongues, preaches in tongues, etc. Some might argue 1 Corinthians 13 but factually, it has no conclusive language to say that tongues is irrelevant for today. If you're still skeptical, talk with someone who prays in tongues and see the fruit of that discipline in their lives. It's either Satan, their flesh or the Spirit. Decide for yourself.
Question #2: Scripture never actually talks about a ‘prayer language' what's that all about?
Romans 8 talks about the Spirit groaning and uttering words we do not understand as He intercedes on our behalf. Keep in mind that the Romans were highly educated and the Roman church was well established when this epistle was written. If we are to interpret this through the lens of philosophers and scholars (as the Romans were), the Spirit inside us intercedes to the Father on our behalf. If that's what's happening then we must be the ones uttering and groaning right? It's not about the content of our prayers (though God might choose to reveal the meaning), it's about the Spirit inside us communing with the Father.
Question #3: Isn't tongues only of God when it has an interpretation?
People always throw this out and never seem to be able to refer to where this is actually listed in Scripture. So here you go: 1 Corinthians 12 refers to a list of "spiritual gifts" noted by a specific Greek word for "gift" ("charis"). These include things like healing, miracles, faith and also tongues and interpretation.
Let me pause here and suggest something: does God only heal people when someone with the gift of healing prays? What about miracles? Faith? We can infer then that if someone is given supernatural faith without necessarily having the "gift of faith", couldn't someone also be able to speak in tongues under the influence of the spirit without necessarily having the "gift of tongues"?
Another way to think of this is: is a gift for a lifetime or for a moment? If it's for a moment, then we truly have no control over when God chooses to give and have no obligation for performance.
1 Corinthians 14 spends several paragraphs talking about this whole "tongues and interpretation" issue. I want you to read carefully what 1 Corinthians 14 says. Keep in mind that the audience is an unlearned, unestablished church. They are at the very beginning stages of their spiritual journeys and establishing any kind of system needed guidelines. The verse clearly states that if someone speaks in church there must be an interpretation. Think through this scenario: God gives a word to an individual while the body of Christ is assembled. The intent is to build up the body (though Paul admonishes elsewhere that prophecy is better for this) and is a direct word to a congregation. This is different than a prayer uttered to the Lord by the Spirit inside us.
My epiphany is this: I don't think I have the gift of tongues. I think I allow the Spirit of God to pray on my behalf, but not once have I felt the Lord call me to give a word to a body in a tongue. Following this to its logical conclusion, praying in tongues doesn't fall under the guidelines of 1 Corinthians 14 because it's not directed to an individual or body where an interpretation gives the tongue meaning, credibility and accountability.
Question #4: If it's alright for us all to chatter away in tongues as long as we're praying, it feels chaotic, isn't God a God of order and peace?
My question back is this: when then is passionate prayer appropriate? If the community operates in freedom and in unity, then prayer should be passionate. Can God not hear our prayers even if we utter them at the same time? Christians all over the world pray like this but Americans tend to have the utmost of concern for this method of prayer. Even in English, praying in a "concert of prayer" can be a faith-building, life-giving thing. The principle is not "order vs no order" it's about freedom, loving one another, and refusing to venture down the road to judgment and legalism. Is there a threshold where we're simply babbling in our own pride? Absolutely. Is that why we live in a community that has permission to bring correction and guidance? Absolutely. Is the answer to mandate that the only way to pray is reverently in a circle listening to one voice hear from the Lord at a time? God forbid.
I know this is long for a blog post. But it's been burning in my heart the last week or so. Judge the fruit. God is a redeemer and like I told the racers last week repeatedly: God works in spite of us and our best efforts. Our community is one where it's okay to try and fail, where it's okay to make a mistake. I told one racer that "God's a big boy." He doesn't want our defense, He wants our obedience. Defensiveness is just another assertion of control...God wants that too.
On September 5th, 2007, I found myself on the grounds of The World Race Training Camp in Gainesville, Georgia, feeling like my entire world was being turned upside down. I was changing at such a rapid pace that my head was spinning... and yet in the midst of all the spinning, I had more freedom than I had ever known in my life. All of a sudden I came face to face with words I had been spouting off for years: "God is so much bigger than we think! And He doesn't live in a box! And He isn't TAME! And He can do ANYTHING!"
So... He showed up in a 'new' way that day, and I began to ask: "Does God really work like THAT? Do miracles STILL happen? Do the blind still see? Do the lame walk? Do the dead really rise?? I mean really... And do demons still get cast out?"
Big questions... and some very satisfying answers, but mostly more questions. I left Training Camp feeling like I'd experienced something out of the book of Acts... like I'd peered into a glimpse of heaven's eternity... like I'd swallowed the red pill from the Matrix. My paradigm was officially shifted.
Three months later, on January 5th, 2008, I boarded a plane that took myself and 26 other ordinary radicals to Peru on the start of our very own pilgrimage that we affectionately call, The World Race. We saw all kinds of crazy Acts-like things that blew our minds. Legs that grew before our eyes. Ears that were opened up. Broken limbs that mended. Demons that got thrown back to hell.
But it all started for us at Training Camp--- an intense 10 days designed to equip and prepare Racers with what they'll need to thrive amidst the difficult spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental challenges they'll face out in the nations over 11 months. After completing The Race, I know now more than ever just how imperative it was that God did what He did in me and my squad back in 2007.
~
I'm on the other side of Training Camp now... Instead of going through it, I get to help facilitate it. I just returned home to Michigan from Georgia on Sunday night after spending 10 days with the June 2009 World Race Squad. They will launch out of Guatemala in a couple of months.
There's no easy way to say this, but... crazy things happen at World Race training camps. It's almost as if the book of Acts is resurrected back to life. The Holy Spirit falls, it breaks people, heals people, delivers people, and It uses us as a vessel (at times) to see change come in others' lives.
In the following blog, June 2009 Racer Taylor Griffith, talks OPENLY about his experiences at training camp.
Eighteen years ago I became ensnared by the attractive web of hardcore porn. I was a six year old Christian and the 18 years that followed have been full of many different struggles. I mean, I'm sure we can all attest to having mommy and daddy issues, issues of self-worth, loneliness, insecurity, and hopelessness. I experienced all of these and more. It was all big stuff, but the porn, that eventually grew into a drive for sex, continued to be a CRUSHING burden with no escape in sight. I did experience growth and success in areas of my life and even bared fruit in the name of Christ, but I never experienced deliverance, deliverance that we all read so much about in the Bible. That is until this Thursday, April 2nd, on AIM's training grounds.
After five days of experiencing freedom from my generational family sin, feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, the need for female attention, and a laundry list of others, we began talking about spiritual gifts like: prophecy, healing, visions, and intercession. After Pastor Mark finished speaking, he invited any member of our 34 person team, who wanted more of what God had to offer, even if we weren't sure about all this stuff, to come up and be prayed for. I knew that I wanted to receive any gifts that God would give me, so I walked up, trying the whole time to fight off the doubts that continued to grow in my mind. You see, after experiencing days full of emotional freedom, and a pouring and softening of my heart, it was strange that on this night I didn't feel a thing, nothing at all. As I'm standing there, waiting, Matt, one of our leaders, looks up at me from praying over a friend. He gives me a huge smile and points at me while mouthing the word, "You!" At this point I knew it was time to get down to bitness.
Continue reading at your own "religious" risk, because I'm about to blow the top off that box you've kept God in all these years! I'm not really sure why I fell, but as Matt and Pastor Mark began praying over me, I lost my footing and Matt slowly lowered me to the ground. They never stopped praying, even for a second. Pastor Mark walked off to tend to others, while my brother Will walked over to replace him. At this point I had begun to shake sporadically . I would experience short bursts of intense shaking, or a long sting of gentle shaking. My left hand began to take on the form like that of a stroke victim and my mouth was locked in some form a "O" shape. I began to feel something moving in my arm and mouth as well. It was as if my body were numb and asleep, without the needling pain that usually accompanies such sensations. As my convulsions grew bigger and more intense, I started sputtering. The men praying over me were encouraging me to speak in tongues and inviting the Holy Spirit to work through me. All the while I was thinking, "Hmm, this is getting pretty weird, but I guess I'm starting to speak in tongues!"
Matt heard my sputters and urged me to speak louder. Will was beginning to praise God, but his heart was telling him to, "Rebuke!" Will was confused, "No God, this is a good thing! He's speaking in tongues and your Spirit is on him. This can't be bad!" But his heart continued to shout, "Rebuke!" He was getting frustrated, so he opened his eyes. When he did this, what he saw and did after his eyes were open confirmed what his heart was saying. At the base of my throat was a giant lump and when Will put his hand on the lump, I think we all knew at that moment it wasn't the Holy Spirit I was manifesting, but a demon! "Holy s--t...it's a demon," I remember thinking. The intensity of Matt's prayers increased and I could literally feel the air around me growing thicker as my convulsions and their prayers grew in paralleled unison. Once Matt felt that it was a demon, he began asking God to give him its name. He prayed louder and harder! "Give me a name Lord! I need the name!" That was all Will needed to hear and he finally confirmed his heart with his mouth and shouted, "I rebuke you!" Matt immediately followed that with the demon's name, "Sexual shame!"
My eyes shot open! My body took on a mind of its own! I had no control, but I felt everything. Anger, so much anger! Their hands had been on me, but they lost their grip as I tried to pull away. I started for the left side of the room, but by this time they had tackled me back to the ground. I was clawing the ground and screaming, "Nooo! Nooo! Nooo!" With a guttural scream that came from something deeper than myself. It was full of fear, power, and hate. I was literally dragging the two of them across the room. They never stopped praying! Time seemed to slow down and the two to three minutes after the demon manifested itself seem much longer now as I'm remembering it. By this time two more guys on our team joined Matt and Will in holding me down and praying over me. I remember seeing Warren and AJ with their faces taking on intense forms of prayer as the demon was trying to fight them off. Four men were trying to hold me down and I was still dragging them as I fought. I was so strong! Then there came the turning point...
I literally felt a weight come over me, that was so heavy, I can only assume was the hand of God. The demon was powerless, but I could still feel the intense hatred! Somehow during this time they flipped me onto my back and Matt had begun praying into my face as loudly and powerfully as he could muster. The demon looked him square in the face and the hate grew more intense! It was hard to believe! My screams of, "Nooo!", turned to curses of, "F--- you! F--- you! F--- you!" They never stopped praying. The process climaxed and the Spirit of God was upon me. The demon had no choice, but to flee, he was beaten.
I immediately felt an incredible peace. I was sweating, hoarse, and exhausted beyond measure, but there was a giant smile on my face. I knew and felt God's love in the deepest parts of my soul. I had been given freedom, a word that has become the theme of my life these past days. I finally recognized the power of God's people and the strength he's put in all us Christians! The box of religion that I've always put him in was laying pieces around me. "Thank you Father," I breathed.
--- If you have any questions, I encourage you to ask! This is pretty big stuff for most of us. It is big for me! But I believe that our God is capable of anything! He loves you and wants you to know that He sent His son to set you free!
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hope where it has been deferred. 
"As we sat inside, drinking our waters, a random man came in and sat down. After about three minutes of trying to hit on me, he realized that getting hit on was not what I was in this bar for and started to ask some different questions and listen to mine. We talked for about an hour..jpg)
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Eighteen years ago I became ensnared by the attractive web of hardcore porn. I was a six year old Christian and the 18 years that followed have been full of many different struggles. I mean, I'm sure we can all attest to having mommy and daddy issues, issues of self-worth, loneliness, insecurity, and hopelessness. I experienced all of these and more. It was all big stuff, but the porn, that eventually grew into a drive for sex, continued to be a CRUSHING burden with no escape in sight. I did experience growth and success in areas of my life and even bared fruit in the name of Christ, but I never experienced deliverance, deliverance that we all read so much about in the Bible. That is until this Thursday, April 2nd, on AIM's training grounds.