Category: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ True Woman Conference

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A few weeks ago Sarah, Nickie, Bekah and I took a booth representing Bright Lights to Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ True Woman Conference in Indianapolis. There were over 6,000 women present! It was exciting to see the many ways the Lord is using Nancy Leigh DeMoss and her ministry.

My favorite session was one by Joni Eareckson Tada. Because of her breast cancer and other health issues, she wasn’t able to be there so she made a DVD the week before. Talk about a powerful message on suffering! Joni reminded us that our lives are on display. Ephesians 3:10 says “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” When angels, demons, and other people see us responding with grace to the suffering God brings, God gets the glory! We prove, like Job, that God can be trusted and loved on His own merits—even though He allows pain in our lives. We don’t suffer for nothing. Hebrews 6:12 tells us that we are to be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” You can listen to her message online from this page.

Talking with moms and girls and explaining the purpose and goals of Bright Lights…


In between the Deeper Conference and Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ conference, Bekah, Nickie and I enjoyed volunteering for a few days in the Answers and Genisis office. There is always so much going on over there! If any of you ever have an interest in volunteering at the Creation Museum / Answers in Genesis see here.

Miscellaneous

HSLDA Radio

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HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association) interviewed Sarah, Stephen and me about “Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends” on their HomeSchool Hearbeat Radio show airing this week, starting today. They are just short one minute clips. Click here for details. To find a station in your area, click here. Also, on November 4th we are teaching a webinar on “Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends.” Details here.

Miscellaneous

DEEPER Conference

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Two weeks ago, Nickie, Bekah and I drove to Cincinnati to attend the Living Waters’ DEEPER Conference.

The conference was doctrinally rich, “diving deeper” into the Person of Jesus Christ. Each session pointed to Christ in a different way–analogies between Adam and his bride and Christ and His bride, developing a solid understanding of the doctrine of imputation, understanding and applying the ultimate proof for defending the faith, the coming judgment of God, seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, and knowing how to answer common asked questions about witnessing. These are just a quick summary of some of the topics presented. I loved the fact that the speakers brought our attention back to Jesus again and again.

Lots of passionate people buying tracts, books, and DVDS.

We enjoyed getting accquainted with these young ladies from TN who are excited about missions and discipleship.

After the conference, we spent a few days volunteering at the Creation Museum, the Answers in Genesis Pastor’s Conferenc, and then we ran a Bright Lights booth at the Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ True Woman’s Conference in Indianapolis. Check back because I will post pictures about the rest soon!

Miscellaneous

Dr. John Whitcomb in Cedar Rapids!

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We were so honored to have Dr. Whitcomb speak to us in Cedar Rapids last weekend. We want the body of Christ in our town to be well grounded in Creation Science, and we were excited to see over 12 churches represented! We were also very grateful to the Jurgensmeiers and New Life Community Church for letting us use their building! You can watch his sessions from the weekend here or on our church website here.

Dr. Whitcomb is 86 years old now but still going strong traveling and teaching the Bible! What an example! Dr. Whitcomb is an expert on Noah’s Flood and is widely known because of his work on The Genesis Flood, which he coauthored with Henry Morris in 1961. This book has been credited as one of the major catalysts for the modern Biblical creationism movement. It also had a dramtic influence in my dad’s life when he read it back in 1973.

We loved Dr. Whitcomb’s gentle, knowledgable, relevent, Christ-honoring messages. And we loved being able to get acquainted with him a little behind the scenes as well…

Many are unaware of some of Dr. Whitcomb’s secret talents…such as his special whistling abilities. 🙂

Though the weekend turned out wonderfully, we definitely had some unexpected “trauma” along the way! Saturday morning, Dr. Whitcomb told us he was feeling a little dizzy. After he spoke, my dad took him to the doctor, who sent him to the hospital in an ambulance because of shortness of breath and suspicious signs. You can imagine our concern as we passed the prayer request along our church’s prayer chain! Dr. Whitcomb never lost his calm spirit, though, and my mom told me about some of the jokes he was making in the hospital. Dr. Whitcomb was praying that he would still be able to speak that night, but we were sure it wouldn’t be a possibility and arranged a replacement. But after a few hours, Dr. Whitcomb was feeling much better, the tests returned with good results, and the hospital released him. We called his wife who responded, “If he wants to speak, by all means, let him speak!” It turned out to be a wonderful evening session. Praise God who answers prayer!

As we were dropping Dr. Whitcomb off, he told us, “Someone must have been praying for this weekend!”
We told him, “A LOT of people were praying for this weekend!”
He told us, “Maybe in Heaven we will learn all the things God did because people were praying.”
We agreed.
Then He added, “And we hope He doesn’t tell us all the things He didn’t do because we didn’t pray!”
Wow. What a good reminder to be on our knees!

“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

National Education Association Outreach Report

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Wow, what a loaded and interesting time I had down there in New Orleans! I learned so much as I tagged alongside the very bold and passionate people who ran the Answers in Genesis booth!

You can imagine how much our banner stood out in the middle of such a secular setting!

We gave away boxes and boxes of free Creation Science DVDs and books.

And lots of interesting conversations erupted…

Many opportunities to share the gospel…

When you have a group of people who love to share the gospel, you end up witnessing to people everywhere you go….

Waiter (burgundy): “So are you all going to do some sightseeing while you are here in New Orleans?”
James (white): “Well, we’re hoping to share the good news with lots of people!”
Waiter: “Oh really? What’s the good news?”
Mr. Gendron (tan stripes): “That our sins can be forgiven and we have a Savior who paid the price for us to go to Heaven.”
Waiter: “Oh so are you part of a religious section of the NEA conference?”
James and Mr. Gendron: “Oh no, we don’t believe in religion. Religion is where man ‘works his way to God’. The Bible says that God reached down to us.”
Waiter: “Well it is very interesting to hear your perspectives on this. But maybe I should get your order first and then come back and talk some more.”
We all laughed and agreed.

Later our waiter came by and told us that his brother recently became a born again Christian and had been e-mailing him about it. We talked some more with him and gave him some DVDs. He thanked us sincerely.

Some people loved what we are doing, some were intrigued…

And some were angry…like the man in the white shirt and tie (a science teacher) who was looking for a way to cause trouble for our booth and stated in no subtle language that he was not happy about the materials we were giving out. The 20 minute debate that followed was fascinating as it was obvious that he had no evidence to stand on to back up his beliefs when confronted with the truth and logic of Genesis.

My roommates! Grace and Faith are wonderful young evangelists themselves and I really enjoyed spending time with their family!

Here is a portion of our team. Some are on staff with Answers in Genesis, and the others are evangelists / apologists from around the country. Dr. Jobe Martin and his wife and two daughters were there (right), and it was so much fun to get to know them. Taryn and Mirren also run conferneces for young ladies and they have a neat family ministry.

Miscellaneous

“Malachi Dads” in Maximum Security Prisons

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An incredible story was recently compiled by an aquaintance of Stephen who is a Christian and a visual journalist for USA today. It is definitely worth the 10 minutes to watch this video clip!

Click here to watch video from the journalist’s blog.

Click here to see the story that was published in USA today for Father’s Day.

Happy Father’s Day!

“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” Malachi 4:6

Miscellaneous/Recent Productions/Witnessing Stories

New Resurrection Tract!

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Peter told the other disciples in Acts 1:22 that they needed to find someone to replace Judas to “become a witness with us of His resurrection.” Note how he emphasized the resurrection as what they needed to be witnesses of. We must be witnesses of His resurrection too. If Jesus hadn’t risen, His death would have been pointless!

The past couple of days we have been busy pulling together a Resurrection tract to pass out this weekend. It has been a really enjoyable process! The Lord has given so much awesome evidence. As I’ve looked at various books and websites to glean info for this tract I’ve become increasingly grateful for all the men of God who have labored so hard to provide answers in defense of the faith. I especially enjoyed Josh and Sean McDowells book, Evidence for the Resurrection .


CLICK HERE for the tract. Please consider printing some and passing them out in your area too! They are easy to print off–just print one side and then flip the paper over and print the other side. Then cut in half and fold in thirds.

Here’s an Idea:
Make breads or cookies for your neighbors and wrap in a spring-colored Saran wrap. Then attach the tract and pass them out to all your neighbors. If you have a younger brother or sister, take them with you! Everyone is open to receive something on a holiday.


Also Note:
For 4 page free download on Evidence for the Resurrection by Josh McDowell, click here. This is also an excellent resource to pass out!

Announcement for those in the Cedar Rapids Area:
If you haven’t already heard, we are planning a “resurrection witnessing outreach” this Saturday, April 3rd. Many people around here are pretty fired up about evangelism after just hearing Mark Cahill. In the past few days I’ve heard lots of witnessing stories. 🙂 So for those who can make it, we will meet this Saturday at 1pm at my church, (Cedar Rapids Bible Chapel, 3412 Oakland Rd NE Cedar Rapids) and then we’ll divide into groups and go to various parks and malls. We’ll try to pair those who are less comfortable with those who have had more experience and we will provide some “Resurrection Surveys” to use to help with initiating conversations. At 5pm we’ll come back to the church for a time of pizza and sharing. Should be an exciting day!

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

Mark Cahill in Cedar Rapids Last Night

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Wow. Last night was a remarkable evening! Rarely do I see an audience respond with the same level of warm enthusiasm that they responded to Mark Cahill last night. For over two hours we heard story after story of powerful witnessing encounters — along with much-needed instruction for the body of Christ.

One of the things I love most about Mark’s messages is that they don’t just convict; they also equip. He has an endless supply of witnessing ideas and insights.

Here’s the way Mr. Cahill handles money at his booktable:
1) Take as many books as you can use.
2) Throw whatever donation you’d like into the box. If you don’t have money, just take books anyway.
3) If you are struggling financially, take some money out of the box for yourself and your family.

How REFRESHING! Why don’t more Christians handle money this way?!

After the presentation, Mr. Cahill stayed around for a really long time answering questions. He was actually the last one to leave. We really appreciated how he stayed and talked with us even though we all knew he was tired because he had just come off a busy weekend of speaking.

(And for those of you who know Nickie, this is Nickie’s family. 🙂 They have some neat stories of witnessing outreaches and had some good questions.)

If you have never read One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, or One Heartbeat Away, you have got to order them and read them! I’d recommend you read One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven first. If you’d like, you can listen to it for free online on Mark Cahill’s website here. (Then you’ll probably want to order them for all your friends. 🙂 ) This book is the #1 book that helped me learn to share my faith. I can’t even express how grateful I am for how the Lord used this book in my life.

Next you can order a stack of One Heartbeat Away — which is a great book to give to the unsaved people you witness to. It is also very helpful for learning how to answer unbeliever’s questions. There are lots of great “apologetic-type” books out there, but I’ve found this to be one of the most helpful for witnessing because it was written by someone who does a whole lot of witnessing himself, and is very familiar with most common questions that unbelievers in America are asking today. For example, what do you say when someone claims to believe in reincarnation, or that the Bible cannot be trusted, or that there is no absolute truth? One Heartbeat Away is packed full of good answers.
To order: www.markcahill.org
(Quick Note: There are a couple places in the books that refer to various sinful lifestyles. Not real explicit, but would raise questions for younger children.)

“But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” (1 Thess 2:4)

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

St Patrick’s Day – Begin using it for the Lord!

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Karissa passing out tracts at the parade last year

St Patrick’s day is a time when crowds line the streets anxious to be handed anything. Candy, pencils, toys, or tracts:). It is such a great opportunity. The tract we use explains the story of St. Patrick and includes the gospel. St. Patrick was actually a great missionary and the two letters he wrote (that still exist) are mostly quoting Paul. We simply go up and down the streets passing out the tracts and saying, “History of Saint Patrick!” It’s so much fun!! 🙂 It’s also a great time to get into one-on-one conversations with people who are just standing around.

Our “St Patrick’s team” from last year

Sharing stories and reports after the parade

If you live near Cedar Rapids you are welcome to join us! This year, we are meeting first at our church at 9:00AM for some evangelism training. Then we will divide into teams and head downtown. It will be an exciting day. Contact us for more info.

For those who live further away, you are welcome to use our tract and distribute them at the parade in your city. Click here to view tract. Don’t forget to print it on green paper (preferably light green).

Even if you aren’t able to go to a parade, you can still print off some tracts to pass out to those you come in contact with between now and the 17th. Stores are already making a big deal of St. Patrick’s day–so we should take advantage of it too!

Note: The tract is a PDF file and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it. Click here to download a free version of Adobe Reader.

If you’d like to see reports from passing out tracts previous years at the parade, click here or here.

Miscellaneous

Big Project Finished

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Our website has finally been “revamped”! This is a project we’ve been working on for a long time. It’s hard to believe it’s actually up. 🙂
See www.brothersandsisters.net

There are new pages, new photos, new resources, and information about our new store, Noah’s Archive, with a gigapan picture to explore (use the tools in the left hand corner of the picture to zoom and pan).

We’re grateful to God for the ways He answered prayer at many little steps all along the way as we were working on this project. Our prayer now is that the website would honor the Lord and provide clear information and resources to strengthen families in Christ.

12-13-09 Stephen taking pictures of Bright Lights material for the website