The Bible Story Family

  It was my privilege once again this year to prepare the devotionals for the Fourth Baptist Christian School Ministry trip. The choir, under the direction of Levi Kolwinska, left on Wednesday, April 30. That evening they presented a concert at Independent Baptist Church of Bolingbrook, Illinois. On Thursday they sang twice, at Lake Country Christian Academy in Waukegan, and at City of Hope Cancer Center in Zion, Illinois. Tonight, they will attend a Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concert at Symphony Center Saturday includes a visit and tour of Pacific Garden Mission, a radio show taping of UNSHACKLED, supper at the mission and a concert at their testimony and praise service. Their Sunday concert will be at the First Baptist Church of Rochelle, Illinois. From there they return back to Minneapolis. Carmen and I recall with great joy the choir tours we led at Ordway Baptist Christian School in Ordway, Colorado, and Bible Baptist Christian School in Missoula, Montana. Please pray for the ...

  The Minnesota Baptist Association Ladies Retreat took time during their meeting to honor a special group of women. President Ranae Tanis and Vice-President Deb Boldt called all of the pastors’ wives to the platform. The ladies in attendance showed their appreciation as a poem was read and distributed to each pastors' wife. It takes a special person to be a pastors' wife. It is not an easy task, or simple way of life.   The phone rings at dinner time. Vacations, they are few. Often called upon at church, there’s always lots to do.   When a helping hand is needed, on you we can depend. For you always do your best to be a faithful friend.   Keep this in a special place so you will always know You are a special gift from God who is appreciated so .   As the husband of a faithful pastor’s wife, I certainly know this was an honor well deserved. Let me encourage each one of you to follow the example of the MBA Ladies and give honor where honor...

If your 5-11 year-old can’t get to camp this summer, camp just might come to them. Greyson Williams heads up a program called Freestyle Camp under the auspices of Woodlands Camp in Cleveland, Georgia. From May to August of each year, he takes a team to a different Synergy Site every week and runs a day camp for kids. Campers get a mixture of both impactful and unforgettable experiences. The impact comes from daily chapel sessions, interactive worship, counselor-led quiet times, scripture memory, and challenges to live responsibly. The unforgettable part includes EPIC INFLATABLES, competition between teams, cabin games, free time activities, camp skits, and the Freestyle Store. Greyson says, “The purpose of Freestyle is to inspire and equip this generation to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” This is done in partnership with local churches. They have been conducting Freestyle camps since 2019, and this year three such teams will be on the road throughout the southe...

  The love of making films started in my childhood. With nearly thirty short films under my belt, I started creating a short film every month by and for the local community. Since I own FuZion Videos, a media production company, we produce high quality short films with a minimal budget. Many of our previous short films were created around Christian themes, but our most recent monthly films focus around the community. We believe every good story has a problem with a solution, and every good business solves a problem. So we started working with local businesses and non-profits to encourage local involvement of businesses and talent. Our short films show with the trailers at the local theater. The owner of the theater is heavily invested in the local community and happily added our monthly shorts. While our short is in the theater, we upload weekly "behind the scenes" and "how to" videos. At the end of the month, we release the short film on our YouTube channel and sha...

I took a snapshot of our grandson in church last Sunday as he took notes on pastor’s sermon. It reminded me of a time when his father was a young child and we were in a church where I was the pastor. Carmen had prepared home-made sermon notebooks for each of our children. She simply stapled together some sheets of paper, cut to a size that would fit inside their Bibles. We expected them to write down something from the Sunday sermons at an age-appropriate level. That might mean an actual outline of the sermon, a comment on the verses being discussed, or even a picture inspired by what they heard. Over Sunday dinner we would look at the notebooks and review the lessons learned that morning. One day we were surprised to see an elaborate picture of a violent storm drawn by our middle son Kent. There were dark clouds, bolts of lightning, and cartoon captions of the BOOM of thunder. Caught in the storm were two stick figures. I mentally reviewed the sermon but couldn’t recall any re...

  Missionary Bruce Tuttle was back in Ukraine recently, but only for ten days. He has been working in a nearby country with his son Micah because of the war. But during ten hectic days he was able to preach in four churches, meet with many pastors, and visit Christian Life Baptist Church. Christian Life Baptist Church has been in the process of renovating a building in spite of the ongoing fighting around them. Igor Solod is their pastor. Bruce put together a short video of the progress they have been making and sent out an appeal to supporting churches. Prices for building products have increased as a result of the war. And government offices continue to require expensive unexpected documents. The result of that appeal was amazing. $50,000.00 were given to help them complete the work. “The people of Christian Life Baptist Church and I heartily thank you for your prayers,” writes Bruce. “The wonderful giving of many will enable the church to soon move into its new home.” I ha...