Let There Be Hope 2010 Trailer from josh franer on Vimeo.

My buddy Josh Franer,

director extraordinaire

producer of Your Secret Name video,

artistic genius,

and entrepreneur,

just launched a charity water campaign.

Not a fad,

or a whim,

Josh went there firsthand,

and filmed.

Here are some of his pics.

His trailer is above. (or here)

Josh’s work always evokes my emotions.

What about you?

Will you give a cup of cold water…?

STORY is a conference for the creative class in ministry on September 23-24, 2010 at Park Community Church in downtown Chicago. The purpose is to fuel the church’s artists, writers and producers in communicating the greatest story ever told. You’ll hear from some of the best creative practitioners in both ministry and the marketplace, from filmmakers and authors to actors and musicians.

Presenters include:

# Dan Allender – best-selling author, professor at Mars Hill Graduate School
# Charlie Todd – creator of Improv Everywhere in New York City
# Princess Zulu – AIDS victim from infancy, advocate for the oppressed
# Jason Fried – founder of 37Signals, creator of Basecamp, author of Rework
# John Sowers – president of Donald Miller’s The Mentoring Project
# Shauna Niequist – former creative director at Mars Hill, author of Bittersweet
# David Hodges – formerly of the band Evanescence, award-winning songwriter
# Leonard Sweet – futurist, author of 40 books, professor at Drew University
# David McFadzean – creator of Home Improvement, producer of Roseanne
# Richard Walter – accomplished screenwriter and professor of film at UCLA
# Sean Gladding – member of Communality, a new monastic community
# Andrew Klavan – author of True Crime (Clint Eastwood) and numerous novels
# Gary Dorsey – founder of Pixel Peach Studio in Austin, TX
# Music by Vicky Beeching, Kari Jobe and Carlos Whittaker

Seating is limited to just 500 attendees, and the event is scheduled on a Thursday and Friday so you can enjoy the weekend in the city. Following its inaugural event in 2009, STORY is now a two-day, main-stage event with no breakouts or workshops; just an intimate audience with the top creative minds. You’ll be able to ask questions during the event and continue the conversation after it’s over. Visit www.storychicago.com.

Remember the movie, What about Bob?

Sigmund: Bob?

 Bob: Yeah?

Sigmund: Are you afraid of death?

Bob: Yeah.

Sigmund: Me too. There’s no way out of it. You’re going in to die. I’m going to die. It’s going to happen

• What is PrayDreamGo?
  

  pray dream go logo

PrayDreamGo is helping the next generation get wrapped up in God’s story of redemption.  It is connecting people who have a passion to serve in a certain area, with a mentor who is doing it.  It’s about building relationships that lead to conversations about becoming the kind of people that God will use to build His church and transform culture.  

• Why did you start PrayDreamGo?

Mostly because people are afraid to talk to the missions guy, because they think I’ll have them on the next flight to Kathmandu.  The task of making disciples of all nations was what Jesus set us out to do, so I believe it’s an all hands on deck reality.  That means if you are a follower of Jesus you have a local and global responsibility to play a role. 

I wanted to facilitate a broader conversation with the next generation about how we discover our role in God’s redemptive work in the world.  It’s been really cool to challenge people on these levels and see them come alive as they do things for God that will matter for eternity.

• How does someone get connected to PrayDreamGo?

I’d love to talk with you if you are interested in knowing more and you can connect with me at PrayDreamGo.  Yes, we have a facebook fan page and you can follow us on twitter.  We want you to contribute to the conversation through the online community and we hope that you will find great value in going on this journey together.

• How did you get from there to here John?

I’m like a lot of people my age who grew up in the church and although I knew a lot of things about God none of it was real to me until I reached my senior year of high school.  I had some friends who believed that our school was their mission field and I believe that God sent them there to radically reshape my life.  I was 18 and I ended up going to church with those friends and making some major life changes as a result of hearing the Bible taught in ways that seemed to speak directly to my brokenness. 

God had my heart then and I was ready to do whatever He wanted me to do to see others come into a relationship with Him.  That desire led me to Cedarville University where I studied Broadcasting and had the opportunity to run cross country and track. 

Again God got my attention this time by painfully removing what I loved more than Him.  I rededicated my life to Him and got deeply involved in a youth ministry at a local church.  That was when I really came alive and God taught me to love people.  I graduated and moved back home to the Columbus, Ohio area for a job. 

There I was able to get reconnected to my home church (Eastside Grace Brethren Church) and together with some close friends we started a ministry to young adults in the church.  It proved to be a fruitful ministry in my life and there I met my wife Kate. 

Kate came with the same love for God and people and we started to dream about a life together on mission.  She had been on an internship with Grace Brethren International Missions(GBIM) to London, England just prior to us meeting and God had expanded her heart for missions.  I didn’t even have a passport, but when I heard her talk about it I was blown away. 

Through our ministry to young adults at the church we had the privilege of seeing Joey, a seeking skeptic, come to faith in Jesus.  That got me stoked to see more people like Joey meet Jesus.  By then we had a developing relationship with GBIM because of the freelance video work that Kate was doing and the relationship that was forming with the missionaries in London.  Through these circumstances God lead us to London to reach out to students at the  University College London and join the missionary team there. 

Our time in London was like an incubator for all kinds of things that God has done in our lives, but the major thing was reorienting us around outward seeking mission.  A number of circumstances led us back to Columbus with this massive passion for God’s world and a missionary imagination to go with it. 

We started Draw, a video production company, as a business for missions and God allowed us to use our talents in the creative arts to make a living and give our services away to help some great works.  We stayed connected to GBIM and partnered with them alot to help missionaries and to see more young people join in God’s work around the world. 

When they approached us about coming on the home office staff to do mobilization full-time it didn’t click right away because we had really hit our stride with the business.  Still we committed to pray about it and God confirmed it through some real deep consideration and reflect of the journey He had us on from the start.  In that time we had our first son Micah Daniel and God did a massive work in us through becoming parents and we now have a second son, Camden John. 

I’ve been serving as a missions mobilizer and coach with GBIM since the beginning of 2008 and it’s been a lot of fun to be a part of the journey that God his people on as they seek Him and move out on mission. 

• What do you do at GBIM?

In the broadest sense I represent the 60 plus ministries and 150 staff we have serving in 35 countries across the globe to people who are praying and dreaming about being sent by their church to serve in cross-cultural ministry.  I work with people who are in the initial steps of considering a short or long-term assignment. 

Most of my time and energy is spent with youth and young adults who are seriously considering the missionary life.  I love helping people who are sold-out for Jesus and willing to give their lives in sacrificial service for God’s mission to reach the nations.

One of the most debated topics in human history is the question as to whether God exists. On April 28th, 29th, 2010, Ratio Christi at OSU is honored to have Dr. William Lane Craig at the Ohio State University campus to lecture on this pertinent topic. Following each lecture there will be a question and answer section. Please note that this will be a two day lecture:

Lecture One: Reasons for God’s Existence
Where: Hitchcock Hall
Date: April 28th
Time: 8:30 to 10:30 pm

Lecture Two: “Can We Be Good Without God?”
Where: Hitchcock Hall
Date: April 29th
Time: 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

I heard the atheists are planning on showing up. More details here.

Jesus said: “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Are you ready to THROW MOUNTAINS with me?

Watch video here or below.

Throw Mountains from Renee Johnson on Vimeo.

OSU Price of Life Mid-Week Edit from InterVarsity/Twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

This week it’s here.

The Columbus Dispatch printed an article today.

This week let’s be praying for The Price of Life and if possible, also participating bybringing Jesus and the Gospel to this devastating trend.

A symbolic day for multiple reasons.

A day where we celebrate freedom in an immediate sense and an eternal sense.

A day that we remember self-sacrifice.

Today, celebrate the freedom offered to you.

U2 Lyrics – Pride (In The Name Of Love)

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One come he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you…)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love…

What are you willing to sacrifice your life for…?

I’m about to introduce you to one .

I share her story with you because chances are, you know someone who could benefit from it.

Meet Kristine McGuire and her book: Escaping the Cauldron.

• What is the book about?

The book is part of my testimony of how I went from being a committed, but legalistic, Christian for 29 years to being a witch, medium, and ghost hunter for eight years before God restored my faith and life. The book also examines the current popular interest in the paranormal and how it is affecting Christians, their beliefs, etc

• Why call it Escaping the Cauldron?

This is actually the first book in a series about the occult. I chose to write several books that are basically collections of essay’s inspired by my blog and written from my personal experiences as a witch, medium, and ghost hunter. The first one honestly has more to do with ghost hunting, mediumship, and the paranormal but I chose “Escaping the Cauldron” as the title of the series because (for me) witchcraft was truly my entry into a variety of areas of occult interest including divination, developing psychic ability and mediumship, ghost hunting, etc. So when I was finally able to turn away from witchcraft (escape the cauldron) I found freedom from the occult in general.

• What do you think is the most important chapter of the book?

I think there are several chapters that are important but I suppose Haunting Spirits is one I think people should read because it discusses what is behind hauntings and ghost activity. Many people want to believe loved ones can come back to visit or haunt a location as a ghost but I don’t believe the Bible supports that idea.

• What do you hope to accomplish with this book?

Honestly, I simply want the church to begin acknowledging the presence of a spirit world and listen to people who come forward with stories and claims of paranormal experiences without dismissing them immediately. When the church refuses to listen people are forced to seek help elsewhere and that means ghost hunters, mediums, and psychics. I also hope to encourage Christians who may be questioning their faith to seek a deeper relationship with God, especially if they are stuck in a form of legalism. Our answers truly can be found in Jesus Christ.

• Where is the book currently available to purchase?

You can buy the book on my website store on www.kristinemcguire.com or www.lulu.com. It should be available on Amazon in a few weeks.

I’m excited for several reasons.

Not only is the subject matter intriguing, but his chosen genre of literature is long overdue.

Lewis and Tolkein made their dent.

Our generation needs more writers who tackle allegory.

Check out Joe below.

I’m looking forward to diving into his book.

In this work of allegorical fantasy, author Joe Boyd takes us on a pilgrimage to a land of two kingdoms, but only one true King. An ancient land, where children never grow old. A living land, where foundations grow in trees and rivers sing and breathe. But also a dying land, where the darkness of a false prince threatens to swallow everything in its shadow.

Enter the adventure with Tommy, a child of the Great King, as he and his friends accept the challenge to live as grown men and women in the Lower Kingdom—where hope is hidden, vision is clouded, and pride twists truth into a beautiful yet deadly deception.