“Wilderness Road”

One of the lost arts in the Body of Christ today seems to be thinking.  Somehow we get in a short-term mentality, relegate our faith to another compartment of our life, and separate ourselves from the command to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength.  There are many streams in the Body of Christ that have great value.  I have found some refreshing water from another stream in the Body in Vision Forum Ministries.  They have strengthened and encouraged me in many ways that have helped to balance my life in God.  Ten or twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have cared a bit about CDs that talk about law and political issues, and how they relate to the Scriptures.  Now, if I had a spare life to give to it, I would probably spend one pursuing it.  I find it interesting, educational, and stirring.  A couple years ago, I listened to material from one of their previous schools, and I was opened up to that whole stream.  Seeing the relevance of the Law of God, the jurisdictions He established, how He rules the nations, and how this worldview influenced the founding of our own nation, was an eye-opening experience.  This set is no less.  It tackles relevant issues of our time, bringing the Word of God to bear upon them.  Again, this is water from a different stream than some of you may be used to, and you may or may not agree with every conclusion.  For me, these teachings, as well as others from Vision Forum on history, filmmaking, and family have allowed me to turn back on parts of my life that I had turned off as irrelevant to the purpose of God, when in fact they are hugely relevant.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of a beautiful new baby girl to the Gibson family! She was born today at 12:18 PM, and weighs 9 lbs, 6 oz! Praise God! We have named her Hannah Joy, and she truly is.

Went to the Call DC with Stone, our oldest.  It was a hot day, but it was good to seek the Lord, humble ourselves, and pray.  May God have mercy on our nation.

This is a song version of what we normally call “the Lord’s Prayer”–the prayer He taught His disciples to pray. It’s in a rough draft recording form so far, but I’m going to try recording it again with Charissa and Stone soon, I hope. The text I used primarily is a version of the New Testament called TransLine which is excellent. Great for kids, too, which is a large part of why we did it, to help our kids memorize it, since we aren’t the kind of church that says it every Sunday. We hope it communicates more of what it means. Blessings, Neill.

 

 Disciples' Prayer: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The process was thorough–the contestants names were carefully folded and placed in a reindeer candle holder. Then…John, Bethel, and Peter each chose a paper from the bucket, giving us our three semi-finalists. Ultimately it was Joshua who chose from the three semi-finalists to give us the grand prize winner. And the winner is…..Kate Rowen! We had an accident where the judge almost accidentally ate the winning contestant’s paper. Thank you everyone for participating. We’ll keep you updated if we have any more in the future! Blessings! If you ever want to place an order with Vision Forum, we’d be blessed if you would click on their link from our website (There’s a picture on the right if you scroll down). Thank you so much! We hope you have a merry Christmas!

Here is a clip from a trip with Bob Gladstone to Lakeland, FL a few years ago I thought you might want to hear. From a church called Remnant, with a borrowed classical guitar, a wonderful time in God.

 

 For You Alone - Let Me Know: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We have been really blessed by the ministry of the Vision Forum, which is a homeschool / family / Biblical worldview type of ministry. They have some really neat resources, everything from homeschoolers discovering an amazing allosaur skull to the history of warfare technology to the role of unmarried daughters to a Biblical worldview of history. We really like many of their products. Below are some links to some interesting products in their catalog.

They have given us the liberty to give away one copy of their DVD, The League of Grateful Sons, for free.

This is a free contest, and all you have to do is (1) visit their website by clicking a link on our page, and by (2) subscribing to our email newsletter. To qualify you must complete these two simple tasks before midnight on December 20th.

One entry will be selected at random and will receive a free copy of the The League of Grateful Sons DVD. The winner will be mentioned here on our site. Please contact us with any questions and hopefully many of you will give it a shot!

Blessings,

Neill

The children at our church are working on a dance to O Come, O Come Emmanuel, so we had to do a recording of Charissa singing it for them to practice to. Listen if you like–hope you enjoy.

 

 O Come Emmanuel: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In praying for Israel in the current situation, I happened to notice today’s date, which is 11-26. Romans 11:26 is the verse that reads “And so all Israel will be saved…” How appropriate! No matter how bleak temporal situations may look, the eternal purpose of God stands! Let us remind Him of His Word. Let the fullness of the Gentiles come in, that their hearts may be again softened, that all Israel may be saved, knowing their Messiah and their God.