I just read an awesome interview with Phil Vischer, the creator of the immensely popular Veggie Tales animated characters on Tony Kummer’s blog Ministry-To-Children.com

I really enjoy Tony’s blog as we both share a heart for ministry to children and youth. He puts together some good content on how to effectively minister to our kids so that they grow up with a love for and a relationship with Jesus Christ.

There were a number of cool things that Phil brought up in the interview on work and the relationship with our creator. Here are some of my favorites:

On what he learned about himself and his relationship with God in his book Me, Myself and Bob :

I wrote in the book that I had been drinking a dangerous cocktail - a mix of the Gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American Dream. “If you commit your life to Christ your work for him will be a huge success and all your dreams will come true.”

Well, that’s a lie. We aren’t called to lives of great success, great impact, great ambition. We’re called to lives of obedience. Lives of humility. Lives of waiting on God, listening to God, walking with God. That’s where we find our joy - not in our dreams of numerical success, in our relationships with God. I realized I had made the work I was doing for God more important to me than my relationship with God. And as I have been traveling and speaking, I have discovered that I wasn’t alone.

On the limitations of the ability to do complete ministry through entertainment products, even Christian ones:

And person-to-person contact is, by far, the best way to share God’s love. There is no “electronic” replacement for a hug. A loving look. A caring smile. Nothing I can put up on a screen can replace what a leader can do in a room with a child. Nothing can even come close.

He was asked what advice he would give to a zero budget church plant trying to do relevant kids ministry in a media driven age:

Focus on the things you can do that Nickelodeon and Disney can’t. You can tell a story - with eye contact and audience participation. You can hug. You can take kids on adventures outside - parks, pools, etc. You can make things together. Never assume that because kids sit in front of a screen at home, they should sit in front of a screen at church. Get up and move around. Sing. Years from now, those kids won’t remember what shows they watched or what video games they played. But they’ll remember the church worker that loved them.

Phil’s new project is “JellyTelly” an internet -based TV network targeting Christian families that he described as a “A tiny little Nickelodeon, where kids can spend time every day watching “mini-shows” (2-8 minute TV shows about science, nature, the books of the Bible, the work of the Church around the world, etc.) and play fun, safe online games. It’s sort of a cross between a kids gaming site like Club Penguin or Webkinz, and a high-quality, premium TV service like, say, HBO.”

If you would like more information on what Phil is up to next, you can check out his site at www.philvischer.com

Wow - just returned last night from an amazing weekend on a marriage retreat put on by my church at Barnabas Family Ministries in Keat’s Island, British Columbia, Canada. The weekend, in a word was AMAZING.

The location was remote - no TV’s cell reception or wireless access - and also no distractions. 16 couples from my church joined speakers Steve Bury of Urban IMPACT in Seattle and his wife Sandi to focus on building healthy marriages and making healthy marriages contagious. The sessions ranged from the usual stuff (Communications, Praying together, etc) to the fun and goofy (planning special occasions for your spouse) that had us shedding tears of laughter.

We made a ton of new friends from our church as well as some friends at Barnabas that we’ll keep in touch with.

The accomodations were first class - more Bed and Breakfast style than hotel style with wonderfully decorated rooms with antiques, stunning views of the Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast and food that was absolutely unbelievable. Gourmet with a focus on locally grown ingredients. Our favorite part of each meal (other than diving into the food) was the “unveiling” of each meal. Kathy, our host would uncover and describe each course of the meal in (drool inspiring) detail. They even do cereal right.. their home made Granola was to die for (we bought their cookbook)

The stories the staff members share on the origins of the Ministry itself are inspiring and speak to God’s hand and God’s timing. The ministry takes it’s named from Barnabas - Paul’s companion on his missionary journeys who was known as the “Son of Encouragement” - and their aim is to encourage Families and Marriages to be fruitful and meaningful in Jesus’ name.

If you are in the Northwest and looking for an awesome spot for a Marriage or Family retreat, you should check out Barnabas. You will leave with relationships with your family or spouse, as well as your fellow attendees strengthened and your batteries recharged.

Most importantly to me - it made a real impression on my wife. I was raised in the church but fell away for a time. My wife was not raised in the church due to family conflicts. Her faith walk and my faith walk are in different stages for sure and she went more as a favor to me. She genuinely enjoyed herself, loved the companionship with the other couples and got a lot out of the weekend that helped her in her walk. I even say her read the Bible and have a discussion with me on something she read for the first time in 11 years of marriage. The friendships we built with other couples will continue to nurture her faith walk and I am so glad we did this.

God Bless,

Wade

Happy Wednesday.

Each Wednesday morning, I gather with 8-12 men from my church for breakfast, Bible Study and prayer.

This morning, we watched one of Rob Bell’s Nooma videos - Nooma #3 “Trees” The message was a pretty cool one that I think we can all apply to our lives today as we work, and as we interact with our families, friends, clients, customers and the public at large.

Rob talked about how he was traveling once in a rental car and could not find the button to turn off the radio.  He ended up listening to a well known radio evangelist for longer than he wanted to.   The message presented was that we should all have Faith and wait patiently for the Lord to come and do what he would.   Rob differed with this guys advice and here’s why.

If we sit back and wait, and don’t let our Faith take action, we are wasting so much awesome opportunity to go out and impact the world for Christ.   Jesus was not a man of waiting… he was a man of ACTION.   In the roughly 3 years of his ministry, we hear constantly of Jesus DOING.  He preached, he taught, he healed, he interacted with people who needed help.   He LOVED the world through his actions.   The he called his disciples to do the same and calls us to do the same as well.

The time we are living in now is part of the Eternity we’re spending with the Father.  Are we acting like it?

Let’s go out and live our lives with the joy that we have in Jesus Christ every day.  Let’s be stoked about it and share that enthusiasm and passion with others.  Enthusiasm and passion are contagious and we have so much to be enthusiastic about.

Let’s have a Faith that lives and breathes and grows and ACTS.

God Bless,

Wade

I’m pretty excited to be off to see the new Ben Stein movie Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed

It looks like about 15 kids from our youth group are going and I am chaperoning - which should be all kinds of fun. Pray for me

If you’d like to check out the trailer - here you go:

Will definitely follow on this post after the movie.

Have a great weekend!

Wade

One of the issues I am really working on in my life is to really develop some discipline in my spiritual life.

I’m pushing myself to commit some time each day to prayer and Bible study as well as prayer and some sort of devotional time with my wife and kids.

What is your daily routine?

I’m always looking to be inspired by folks with a more mature faith walk than mine, so I’d love to see what everyone else is doing… hopefully we can also inspire some folks who are less mature in their walks as well.

Comment away!

God Bless,

Wade

I am now officially hooked on my first modern video game.   I had the chance to play Rock Band with my brother and sister in law last weekend and I loved it.   My question is this:

Are more Christian rock flavored tunes available for download?

The only Christian band I noticed in the version my bro in law had was FlyLeaf - which is cool.  I love them.

I would be way stoked if it was possible to pick up tunes by bands like Day of Fire, Olivia the Band, Hawk Nelson, Stellar Kart, Jonah 33, Kutless, Pillar, POD, KJ-52, TobyMac, etc.

I’d feel a bit better about this new addiction if I could be praising and worshiping as I played along.   Would be cool for my kids to see and hear as well.

Can anyone help with this?

God Bless,

Wade

I’m really stoked to see the release of the film Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary featuring Ben Stein that takes a look into the discrimination that is openly practiced in the higher education community against people of Faith who suggest that there is evidence of Intelligent Design and speak publicly of it or suggest research into the possibility.  Here’s a look at the trailer (warning - it’s a long one)

I’m working on setting up a group buy for my church. If anyone is planning on hitting this in the Seattle area on 4/18 - get in touch.

Hey all - as we wallow this morning in a sea of plastic grass, colored eggs, pink marshmallow chicks and hollow chocolate bunnies, I wanted to post a reminder of what this holiday is really about.

I thought it was really well done - great footage from The Passion of the Christ and a great tune.

God Bless you and yours today… Rejoice! He is Risen!

I was watching Celebrity Apprentice last week really late one night and all was normal until Trace Atkins and Stephen Baldwin ended up in the board room.

If you didn’t know Stephen is a “born-again” Christian who previously had asked to leave the game or switch teams to keep from having to compromise his principals by continuing to work with sleazeball Piers Morgan.

I get the feeling that Trace is a Christian as well… which made for the most boring Board Room in Apprentice History… as both players had agreed that ” if both of us put forth a Righteous effort” that they wouldn’t try to cut each others throats in the boardroom.. and would operate with integrity and accept “The Donald’s” call.

In the end… it looked like Trace had delivered more value and more charity funds raised in the recent challenges, so Baldwin was voted off, and they shook hands, hugged and wished each other the best.

No drama.. no lying, no back stabbing. How refreshing… (How boring)

My dad forwarded this over to me. It’s the transcript of a Ben Stein essay recited on the CBS SundayMorning commentary. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Affiliate Marketing, but has some awesome stuff to say about the holidays, Christmas, God and America. Check it out:

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors
was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when
people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees.
I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against.
That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to
me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me
in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all
brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.. It
doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at
a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu If people want a
creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred
yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a
Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for
being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired
of getting pushed around, period.. I have no idea where the
concept came from; that America is an explicitly atheist country. I
can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved
down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the
idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we
aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a
sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who
are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the
America we knew went to. (more…)