How's Your Baggage?

Thought provoking piece posted by Clint below. We've all got stuff we'd rather not have. Are you serious about "owning" your stuff in order to deal with it before God? God loves to have clean vessels He can fill...so we can overflow to the ends of the earth. Take a look at the video...and your heart.

Southern California Crew Needed

Joey O'Conner and his team are looking for crew for a three day shoot in Southern California starting May 25. See his post below for more info. Joey is one of my all-time favorite people. You won't regret working with him!

How's Your Motivation?

Pearls from Seth Godin: "There's an entire system organized around the idea that we're too weak to deliver effort without external rewards and punishment. If you only grow on demand, you're selling yourself short. If you're only as good as your current boss/trainer/sergeant, you've given over the most important thing you have to someone else. What do you do when no one is looking?"

Silicon Valley

I'm at Mt. Hermon Conference Center near San Jose, California for the GCIA conference (www.gcia.info). Great time with leading lights in Internet ministry. We'll be helping with the Mobile and Visual tracks on Wednesday and Thursday.

Global Christian Internet Alliance

I'm at Mt. Hermon Conference Center near San Jose, California for the GCIA conference (www.gcia.info). Great time with leading lights in Internet ministry. We'll be helping with the Mobile and Visual tracks on Wednesday and Thursday.

Visual Story Trainer Consultation

24 of us gathered from 3:00 - 8:00 at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center in Hollywood on April 29. A BIG thanks to Rebecca Ver Straten-McSparran for hosting us! It is inspiring to be with global innovators like the Conkey's, Quinleys, JESUS film leaders, Gary Stratton, Paul Luebbers, Kurt Tuffensdam, Diane Wigstone, Charlie Matz and others. Check out the images in the slide show.

First-Ever Story Trainers Consultation

Can't wait to meet with 20 global innovators on Friday. A first-ever "Visual Story Trainers Consultation" will take place at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. Create International, the JESUS Film Project, Act One, 168 Project and others will explore how we can see a global movement of visual story training take place for the kingdom. We may be able to stream portions.

Anime JESUS Film

"My Last Day" is 9-minute animé short created by The JESUS Film Project. Barry Cook, director of Disney's Mulan wrote the story for My Last Day. Animation was created by Tokyo's renowned STUDIO 4C. Check it out below. It is available for free download at www.globalshortfilmnetwork.com. Good work!!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!

I pray you will be able to enter into the sacredness of this weekend. Take a look at some of the videos below that may help you. The resurrection changes everything.

Post-Edinburgh

Most of us are back home after traveling from 11 countries to be together at the Summit in Edinburgh. A special thanks to Elaine Duncan and the Scottish Bible Society for their role in helping host the Summit. In the end, there were 52 of us representing 33 organizations. I look forward to seeing how the Lord will use the connections that were made last week.

Edinburgh Day # 2

Keith Williams rocked us with the realities of the Mobile revolution. Andrew Flynn and Bex Lewis gave us some handholds on the way Social Media is changing how people connect. Great "speed networking" session. Loved hearing from veterans like Jock Stein, Murray Watts, Jim Green, Bob Hoskins, and Nigel Goodwin. First UStream experience...8 of you joined in!

VSN Summit: Day One Summary

Great day! Why visual story (Clyde), Fiona McDonald on vision, envisioning a global movement, Jerry Gibson and Graham Vermooten on Unleashing Story, Nick Pollard and Jim Meyer on Missional Engagement. Jeremy Feser and Ben Whitnall hosted our Visual Showcase. Special thanks to David and Holly Hughes and Ted Cox for making things happen!

VSN Summit: Day One

Today is the first day of the VSN Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland. 51 world-changing leaders, four big themes (Unleashing Story, Thinking Missionally, Mobile revolution, Social media), two days, one Great God to lead us. We will make our first-ever attempt to do live streaming. Tune in today at 13:30 (UK time) for Unleashing Story and Missional Engagement on the UStream tab in the navigation bar.

Edinburgh Summit is this week

This is the week for the VSN Summit at the University of Edinburgh. 52 of us from 34 organizations will be meeting April 13-14, but folks start traveling Sunday and Monday. Please ask God to inspire us, equip us, and create fruitful relationships. We may be able to stream some of the sessions live via UStream (not convenient for those in the Americas). We'll let you know beforehand.

Soul Surfer

The movie of the incredible story of Bethany Hamilton, the 13-year old surfer whose arm was bitten off by a shark, premiers in theaters in the US this Friday (http://www.soulsurferthemovie.com). Our friends at GMO and the Campus Alliance have built this web site that tells the story of faith behind the story. http://soulsurfer.com

168 Project Festival

If you are in the Los Angeles area this week you should make every effort to get to the 168 Project Festival. John Ware, Paul Luebbers and the team put on a unique event. This year they have a record number of teams who participated. Learn more at www.168project.com.

"Visual Story" Advocacy Download Available

"Yuseff and Andrea," our just-released, signature video about why we must communicate visually in our modern world, is available for free download. Click just above on "Why Visual Story?" to view or download the 2-1/2 minute video.

"The Social Network" Outreach Opportunity

Nick Pollard and his team at www.damaris.org have released a free guide to help you organize an outreach gathering around the Oscar winning film, "The Social Network." Look below under Blog Posts (Viewfinder) to learn more and download the free kit.

700th Member! Becky Douglas

Becky Banks Douglas is the 700th member of the VSN online community! Thanks for jumping in Becky. Becky plays a key role in the Global Children's Forum, a growing network of children's ministries.

Biola Media Conference / VSN Discount

The team at the Biola Media Conference is offering a $10 discount off the registration for the upcoming April 30 conference. This is a great gathering! Look under the events section for more detail. Thanks to Kathleen, Peggy and Scott!