On-Line Video Playlist

Some have been interested in seeing videos about the ministry that we've produced over the years.  Our Vimeo video portal will let you do just that.

The synopses below will give you a deeper understanding of what you'll see.   Enjoy!

"Spring Break Orphan Camp – 2010"Spring Break Orphan Camp - 2010

This is the video referenced in the article on our website, "Subjected to futility, or reflecting His glory?" Hopefully, this video speaks for itself as far as answering that question. Sasha (from the article) shot this video along with Kolya, and edited at camp, showing it the closing night to all the kids. Of course they loved it! As you're watching it ask yourself, Are they worth it? Is the joy you see on their faces, captured in these moments, worth all the trouble and expense? And, as the article points out, four of the team members serving the kids at this camp are themselves orphans who have been discipled through this ministry.

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

Spring Break Orphan Camp 2010

"A Glimpse at Lives Transformed" - 2009

This video won't make much sense to you, unless you first read this synopsis.A Glimpse at Lives Transformed

This video was shot and edited by the guys who live with us here at "Hope House". It is at the very least, a glimpse of what transformed lives can look like. The song and original video were done a couple years ago for an organization in Moscow, also focused on orphan ministry. The original version featured collaboration in the studio by several of Russia's top pop artists, interspersed with footage from an orphanage in that region. Here, our guys have created a studio motif in the 3rd floor club room, and lip-synced their own version of the studio session, interspersed with footage of themselves that I had shot over the years, some of the clips dating as far back as ten years ago.

I don't know that anyone will be able to appreciate the depths to which this video affects Ann and me as we watch it.  We see these guys now, knowing their struggles, their victories, knowing just a little bit about the dark years in between the shots of them juxtaposed here.  And as I watch, I can't help but wonder, where would they be now, if some people had not cared enough to send us here to walk along side them for awhile?  If we had not been able to open the doors of the "You Are Not Alone Club" in 2004, and see these guys walk back into our lives. 

For all of you who have been part of making this ministry a reality, as you watch this short video you won't understand the words, but please, please receive the message as a sincere and deep-felt song of gratitude for entering into the lives of these guys, and helping open channels through which God's transforming power flows.  Take a glimpse at lives transformed, and know you played a vital role! 

For your deeper appreciation of the song, I've posted a rough English translation of the song lyrics on this website at this link.

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

A Glimpse of Lives Transformed

 

"Day of Joy"  -  1999  (our original "trademark" video)Day of Joy

This is the name the orphans gave to our visits, and by watching the video, you should understand why.  Beginning in 1998, until we moved to Russia in 2005, we lead over 20 teams into the orphanages, bringing a message of hope, that God had a plan, a purpose, and a future for them.   The last half of this video captured our visit to a remote orphanage for the disabled.  Our time with those kids was one of the most sacred moments any of us on the team have ever experienced.  James 1:27 says, "it's pure religion in the sight of God, to visit orphans"  This is one of those visits. 

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

Day of Joy

 

"Camp Joy"Camp Joy

It was in the context of this particular Camp Joy for orphans in 2000 and 2001 that many of the orphanage graduates with whom we now work had their first encounter with Christ.  But, sadly for most of them, it took many years until they re-entered a community of believers where the seeds planted began to take root and grow.  Praise God that day did come for many of the kids you see here.  Pray for more to find the fertile soil of Christian community again.  

As always, camp ministry provides some wild times for the teams, especially those we bring from America.  But, regardless of how wild and crazy it may be, lives are transformed.  Kids are coming from darkness into the light.  Once despairing, they're finding hope, and a fullness of joy, unmatched anywhere else in the world. 

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

Camp Joy

 
 

"Even after 9-11, Yet My Redeemer Lives"  -  2001Even After 9-11, Yet My Redeemer Lives!

Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, I was preparing to fly to Colorado to support a conference our mission was hosting there, when instead, I found myself desperately trying to make sense of the shocking events of that morning that shook the entire planet.  Earlier that year, I had stumbled across Nicole C. Mullins song on-line and had a download of it on my computer.  For some reason, that morning her song found its way into my edit timeline, and as I assembled some of those tragic images over the next couple days, juxtaposed on that same timeline, I found that the Nicole Mullins song became for me a resounding testimony, not only to the sovereignty of our Redeemer, but to His resurrected presence in our lives. 

That Sunday, we had more people packed into our church than on any Easter Sunday, before or since.  We showed the video that Sunday and it began to take on a life of its own.  People got video copies of our services, extracted the video clip and began to send it to friends and family all over the country.  By the following Sunday we were getting word of it showing in many other churches across America, and we even heard of a couple of copies ending up in the White House. It blessed us to hear of so many testimonies to how this video, and Nicole C Mullins' song, help put a divine perspective on an otherwise tragic event. 

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

Yet my Redeemer Lives

 

"CCI-Russia National Leaders Conference"  -  2009 CCI-Russia, Nat'l Leadership Conference

We've been watching for 10 years now, the impact of Christian Camping Int'l-Russia's leadership training on the work here in Voronezh. In 2009, I attended the conference for the first time myself, and took 2 guys from our leadership team with me, Max and Sergei. I was the only westerner, other than some of the speakers, attending the conference, and as I started considering what was going on around me, and what we've observed over these 10 years of sending leaders to CCI, it occurred to me that I held a unique perspective on the impact of the conference that needed to be shared with people in the U.S. who are helping make these conferences happen, especially in these troubled economic times. I had a small HD-DVD camera with me that a friend gave me for Christmas that year, with which I gathered some footage from the conference, and I brought it home to Sasha Meshkov who edited what you see here.

Part of the Skills Development phase of GAP is the creation of a small video business.  Sasha is employed in this business, and this video is a good example of some of the skills he is acquiring.  But, even more, it is a testimony to disciple-making.  

Click the link below to access this video on our Vimeo site.

CCI-Russia National Leaders Conference - 2009