Fantastic February…… Part 1 of 3

I can’t believe its been over a month since our last update.  In just one month, we’ve been to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Oklahoma, and back to Texas.  It’s almost unbelievable.  It’s sort of  blur.  It’s crazy to recollect on our journey, but I will try.

In Arizona, we showed the film and met some nice folks in Phoenix and in Tempe.  Since it was technically winter there, the weather was gorgeous.  In Tempe we stayed with The Akin family, a husband and wife Younglife team originally from Tennessee who had just come back from a six year stint in Singapore with their three kids.  Adjusting back to American life has been a challenge for them, but it’s so cool to see them relying on the Lord to figure out all the details.

Yeah.. they are pretty cool....

In Phoenix, we spent time with Jody McPhearson, the founder of the Re-De-Fined Project.  Their mission is to inspire youth and young adults to become involved in their communities through everyday interactions, consistent encouragement, enlightenment, and creating endless opportunities.  Jody’s son, Fisher is also the cutest thing this side of the Mississippi.  He’s gonna be a rock star.

The next Justin Bieber

More to come on the other 10 states we visited soon…

Chuck E. Cheese

Owasso, OK, is really one of our favorite places to visit.  It’s also the home of Derek Spivey – shout out!  Owassoans or Owassonians (Owassons?) have been so incredibly warm and welcoming to us every time we’ve rolled through town. This time was no exception.  Before we recap our lovely Owasso experience, we can talk about the days leading up to our lovely sojourn to Tulsa’s best kept secret.

The other day, Alex and I joined our friends Ryan and Jenny with their Dallas Ozone event.  They had 95 middle schoolers show up at their event at a place called Jumpstreet.  If you haven’t heard of Jumpstreet, once you find out what it is, you’ll be as mad as we were that it didn’t exist when we were young and nimble.  First of all, Jumpstreet is a trampoline extravaganza… kids’ dream, parents’ nightmare.  Thousands of square feet of Olympic-style trampolines cover the floor of Jumpstreet, much to the delight of dozens of hyper-active preteens.  Parents- do not be alarmed; there are lifeguards if any one’s jumping gets out of control.  It must be easy to stay in control when you get double-jumped by the 200 pound 8th grader walloping about.  Anywho, props to Ryan and Jenny hosting such a successful event!

From Dallas, we popped up to South Oklahoma City, to a Lifechurch.tv campus, but not without a quick stop at Chuck E. Cheese.  We dominated all of the games, of course, which led to many, many tickets.  Will and I had the same idea – an obvious decision – to give all of our tickets to one lucky kid and let him get all the Airheads, Chinese finger traps, temporary tattoos that his little heart desired.  But as we looked to collect the tickets from Alex, we found him feverishly feeding our tickets into the redemption machine, which would spit out the final count on a receipt.   Needless to say, the kid we gave a measly piece of paper to gave us a funny look.  “Here’s receipt for 350 tickets!” Oh well, we tried.

Meanwhile, in Owasso, we had the delight of spending time at the home of Sid and Ken Foster, parents of Pat Golightly, our host at Rejoice Christian School.  Sid and Ken were the epitome of hospitality: home-cooked meals left and right, our own rooms (!), Xbox Kinect (!!), genuine conversation and restful nights of sleep.  Thanks to them!  We will be back next time we come through Tulsa!  Our showing at Rejoice went really well and we have to thank Pat Golightly and the staff for such a great turnout and successful event.  You guys were so fabulous!

Will and Alex at Rejoice Christian School in Owasso, OK

 

More after Texas Tech tomorrow!

AN ARENA.

Passion 2012

We are back from Passion and what a wonderful week it was! We so enjoyed the teaching and were blown away by the forty thousand voices worshipping in Jesus’ name. It is amazing to see God work on such a large scale and I still can hardly believe that we raised almost 3.5 million dollars towards the fight against slavery. God has a huge plan to use the believers of our generation and Passion has been one of the major vehicles in which He is doing so.

It is so easy to make student events and conferences about the scene or entertainment or any number of distractions but Passion was very sure to keep the focus always on Jesus. I was blessed to see every aspect of the week centered on Christ’s name being glorified; from our family groups to the massive late night concert options, His name was lifted high. The best part of the week for me was to see individuals whose lives were changed as God was moving in their hearts. And I know what started in Atlanta last week is only the beginning of a great many more. I pray the words spoken over us by Francis Chan, that as young people we would seek the truth from Scripture. And as John Piper taught that we would acknowledge Christ’s supremacy in every aspect of our lives from our salvation to our careers. I pray that because of these understandings, as a generation of believers we would live our lives in such a way that our lights would shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

One way the world will see a reflection of our Father is in the fight we are putting up against slavery. Galatians 5:1 says “It is for freedom that Christ set us free.” As believers we understand we are free in Christ and how perverse it is that one man should enslave the life of another and it is important that we take a stand here, where the world turns a blind eye. It is amazing the amount of money and awareness that was raised this week towards the fight against the 27 million that are currently enslaved and I am excited to see how we can continue this fight through education and our purchase decisions.

If you did not see us this week, we were able to pass out over 12,500 free copies of “Beware of Christians” to students attending the conference. We were so thankful for this opportunity not only that we were able to provide them for free, but that we were able to make individual contact and meet so many of you face to face. We are already overwhelmed with thanksgiving for the reaction we have received from first time viewers who received a copy of the film at Passion. We pray God uses the DVD’s to change lives in a way that glorifies His name.

One month with Riot

Hey guys!

I have worked at Riot for about a month now. Over that month I have learned many things that I would not have learned at another start-up media company. And I do not just mean who in the office is best at Nerf basketball and who laughed loudest at the Muppet movie.

Starting at Riot Studios is like being adopted into a family.  Everyone here was either best friends or married to each other (Kelsey and Alex.) The intimidation that goes along with being the “new kid at school” lasted about five minutes from when I first opened the door. I was immediately welcomed as part of the team, not just an employee. I have learned what a blessing it is to work with people who love Jesus with their lives not just their words. They have welcomed me to the team with the goal of sharing the truth of Jesus to as many people as we can through our films and projects. It is such a cool example to have bosses who work their tails off every day while always keeping smiles on their faces because they are passionate about what they do.

It is amazing to see how God has worked in and through Riot the past years since its birth and I am so excited to see what He does the next year, and grateful to somehow be a part of it.

Philippians 2:1-2

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

It is because of Christ’s provision through you all we are able to do what we do, so thanks for your support, prayers and reading my note.

Ashley