Mexico 2017 - In Moving Pictures!

So in my last post I promised you loads of pictures. And what better way to fill this post with pictures than to give you a whole load of moving pictures! 
See below for the Mexico 2017 video that I've put together.  If you've never been before, it'll *hopefully* give you a great insight into the trip. And if you were with us there this year, it'll *hopefully* bring back a whole load of great memories!
We did it. Mexico ReBuild 2017. 4 days. 3 houses. 2-gether. 1 family.

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What Do You Call An Alligator In A Vest?

An Investigator. Children were born to wonder, to discover, and to be passionate.

w o n d e r,   d i s c o v e r y   a n d   p a s s i o n. What are the children you are ministering to going to give their heart to? When they walk away, what do you want to be in them? When Jesus was asked: Of all the commandments, which is the greatest? He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He then added: Love your neighbour as yourself. Everything is pointing to loving God and loving others, and understanding enough to have a known identity in Christ. Lead with an end in mind. That children will... Have a relationship with God. Love others. Know their identity in Christ.  Wonder

Wonder aids faith in a God that can't be seen. A God who is bigger than anything we can face. He is uncontainable. Allow children to know how big He is and how much they can trust Him, without putting Him into an explainable box.

Wonder - Bethel Music Discovery

Treasure hunt. Children discovering who God is and how He is relevant to them and knowing who they are in Him. Investigating.

Good, Good Father - HouseFiresII Passion

Links with purpose. They know who they are, what they can do with God and now they want to find purpose in making a difference in the lives of others.

Going On A Journey - Vineyard Records There is some style of formula that goes with this. A different combination of wonder, discovery, and passion for each age group. Pre-schoolers: Wonder.  They need to know that God loves them and wants to be their friend. They need to know that they are significant and that God has a plan for them. Children's ministry: Turn up discovery and add a bit of passion.  Primary school aged children are discovering for the first time what it means to be a Christian through studying stories in the Bible. They are searching deeper for a relationship with God from the wonder they've had since they were small. They are exploring their identity, and we want that identity to be in Christ. Student ministry: Turn up the passion. Enabling students to discover their own gifts helps them to grasp their passion to serve and help others. Students won't feel significant unless they have something significant to do: becoming involved in the lives of others, not just knowing the Bible stories well. Everybody is going to give their hearts to something. If we don't establish giving their hearts to serving Jesus then they will give their hearts to something else. We can strive to encourage Jesus-centred worship.  Everyone is searching for a hero. Children and adults alike. That hero is Jesus, the creator. We long to know our creator and, as a human race, we find earthly heroes to step in. These earthly heroes don't even begin to satisfy our hunger for Jesus. Read more here. We're wired for adventure. It is up to us as leaders, to look to scripture and God's principles to help children discover their identity in Christ, instead of searching for it in other adventures. Lots of people believe:

But the bible says:

We long for romance.

The key to satisfying a longing for romance is a relationship with God. Once we have a relationship with God then we have the capacity to love others. Wonder, discovery, and passion. When we have these leading our children's ministry we impact the message and the way we teach. When we see children moving in the right direction, not using a bounded model but a centred model, we know we're on the right track. Pushing every child and teenager to a similar destination: insight wonder provoke discovery fuel passion God the Father | Wonder God the Spirit | Invading Hearts - Discover God the Son | Give His Life For All People - We Should Do The Same Challenge: How much wonder, discovery, and passion is in your heart as a leader? Do the children see you pursuing the truth? Do they see your passion? Do they see you serve out of duty or relationship with God? Your relationship with God is linked to how you connect with the children in their lives. What about having a vision for each children's ministry age group in a church? What would your vision statements be? - Helps all ministries to know how they are working together - w o n d e r,   d i s c o v e r y   a n d   p a s s i o n. Podcast Information: OrangeBlog - Orange Leaders - Wonder Discovery Passion Amy xo

My Video Campaigns

Over the past couple of years I have been working on a few projects to raise awareness of Human Trafficking and the Sex Trade. I have not been able to publish these for various reasons but it's looking very likely that I will be able to post them for you very soon. My estimated date of getting them on YouTube for you all to see is 1st September 2015.

You will all be the first to know when they are up and running, for now here is a still from each to get you all thinking.

27 Million Music Video

Stolen Soul Short Documentary Video

UPDATE from 1st September 2015: VIDEO LINK BLOG POST HERE

The Dark Room Appreciation Post

Hello again, Seeing as I'm a fairly new writer to you all reading here at Freedom is a Beautiful Thing, I thought it only fitting to talk to you about some inspirational talks that I've experienced and really learnt from to share and empathise and love with you all. We're all on the same journey to Heaven, some of us have different mountains to cross than others. The Dark Room - Christine Caine (A21 Founder)

The video above contains the talk that I listened to. You might have hovered over it and seen that it's 45 minutes long. Please don't be discouraged by the length. I want to tell you a little bit about my experience with this sermon and then maybe you'd like to watch it yourself.  The TITLE really stood out for me: The Dark Room. For those of you that don't know what one of these is, it's a totally blacked-out room, with the exception of a safety light, used to develop a photograph from a piece of film (as featured in One Direction's Story of my Life music video). I'm a bit of a photographer myself, having studied it at A level I have gained a bit of experience in the dark room. The second thing that appealed to me was the speaker, Christine Caine, A21 founder. I've researched and heard a fair amount about the A21 campaign, an organisation that helps girls who are victims of modern day slavery, their slogan being #itstartswithone. I feel 'called' by God to work towards abolishing slavery in the 21st Century. So naturally, a woman with a similar calling who has something to say appeals to me. Some of you might be switching off now, you have no passion for stopping slavery and your hobby involves something a little less camera-orientated. Don't go just yet. I stumbled across this talk whilst streaming through YouTube for another funny video to watch. I realised that I could be spending my time a little better and connecting with God a little bit more, one step at a time. I let God guide me to the right video and this is where I ended up. Christine Caine talks about some very real life struggles, maybe you're still single at the "really old" ages of 25, 30, 50, 65. The truth is that you're not "really old" in God's eyes and His plan for you is still there, He's just developing you. Maybe you've been missing out on invites to parties and gatherings, or just feeling left out. People I would consider myself to be quite close with, in fact people who I have previously invited to an event or two, have recently had and planned parties without me with no known reason to me or my friends. This caused a lot of confusion for me and I began to feel as if maybe I had to change, that it was my fault, that I wasn't good enough etc. But then I listened to this talk and things sort of changed inside of me, I realised how God was developing me and various parts of my life have been highlighted to me as a development process. It's been a gradual change but I'm trying to seek God more in everything that I do and this has encouraged that further. If you'd like a shorter video to watch, though still not light-hearted, try this one out for size..

Let me know if you need prayer, want someone to talk to, have something exciting to share etc. in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!