Fan Favorites

Over my years of doing puppetry, I have gotten to hear reactions to a lot of the things that we have done. I thought I would share just a couple of "fan favorites" with you guys. 

The first of which is something that I talked about a couple of days ago -- blacklight. This is one of those things that people seem to request pretty often. Blacklight is something that is used not only in puppetry, but also in other creative ministries such as hand miming. It is actually used sometimes for Halloween. Blacklight also allows for some interesting puppet choices (see video below). Along with some of our blacklight songs we incorporate other special lighting such as lasers and spinning light balls (I don't know the technical name). 

Another thing that many people seem to enjoy is audience participation songs. These are songs that get the audience up and moving. I am an early childhood education major, so I know that kids (and even adults sometimes) enjoy getting up and moving. Sometimes, that is even something that they need if they have been sitting for too long. The video below shows one of our audience participation songs called The Moving Song. 

 

There is one song that we started doing toward the beginning of our ministry. That song is called Go Jonah. To this day, we still typically perform this song whenever we go to new places. This is because it is a song that we in a way act out. Plus, it is a parody that some people recognize. We did this song on one of our mission trips and the audience was laughing basically from the beginning of the song until the end. The video of this is below.

 

One other thing that many people seem to enjoy is when we perform along with a band such as Anointed Hearts. This shows different ministries working together and makes for a different experience with puppetry. See the video below to see one of our times performing with Anointed Hearts. 

Colossians 3:17 ESV 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/entertainment)

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"I Have Been Blessed"

We did an odd thing tonight and actually did a midweek performance. I say it like that because considering my parents work and I work and go to school, we typically don't do shows on school/work nights. However, since my parents are off this week, we went ahead and scheduled this show. I am glad that we did. 
Over the summer, Anointed Hearts had performed at this church. They did one of their songs, I Have Been Blessed, and they really seemed to enjoy it. We felt that God wanted us to do that song there. It was a miracle it actually got done due to a few different things such as sickness and the song length in general (it is over 5 minutes if I remember correct and that is a long time to hold your arms up). However, we decided that if God wanted us to do it, then we were going to do it. 
Whenever the song started, there were people in the audience who started singing along with it. I actually looked over at my mom and was like, "Well, I guess some of the people here have been listening to their CDs," and then smiled. It is always nice to hear people sing because when we are behind the stage, we can't really know if the audience likes it or not if we can't actually hear a response from the audience.
After the show, my parents got talking with the pastor of the church. He told them that I Have Been Blessed is actually the church's favorite song by Anointed Hearts. Actually, he told them that just recently he had actually done a message about being blessed. After the message, they actually played that song.

If you listen to the introduction to the song on the video on this post, Steve talks about his daughter's trips to Honduras. He tells about how the people there will make a living off of finding cans and other things to recycle by digging through the trash at the dump. However, even though they have to dig through trash to live, they still say that they are blessed because they have Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Now, take a look at your own life. Do you feel blessed even in times when you are struggling? If not, remember that God is there with and for you. He won't give you more than you can handle. 

 Note to Readers:

Currently the version of the video is not very good quality. It is actually a camera recording of the TV because we haven't gotten the chance to actually download the recording to the computer. However, I am hoping to get a better version up soon. However, I wanted to still include this version at least for now. You may need to turn the volume up to hear it well. Sorry about the quality! 

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Kentucky

Let's try and get back on track with where I wanted this series to go. Life has still been crazy, but I was at least a semi-okay post for today. So, let's see where this goes. 

Our Kentucky trips are pretty great. We get to fellowship with Anointed Hearts quite a bit.We also get to see other family that lives in the area. So, there is many opportunities for us to get to see and fellowship with people that we don't get to see very often. 

Anointed Hearts sometimes get to perform with us while we are there. Some of the group have even went with us to some of the nursing home performances there and watched the shows. Those occasions were always nice because we got to share another part of our ministry with them that they typically did not get to see. 

When we go to Kentucky, we go to a couple different nursing homes each year. The workers are super sweet and caring. The residents all seem to really enjoy the show we bring to them. We also get to perform at a number of different churches. Like at the nursing homes, the people at the churches are super nice and they also seem to enjoy our shows. Well, in my opinion they seem to enjoy it. I guess I don't actually know for sure. 

Mark 16:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

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West Virginia

Note to Readers:

I am going to be up front and honest with this right now. It is getting late and I am super tired. However, I do not want to just not post. So, I am going to write up my post, post it, and if later I think of something else to add, I will edit this post. Just thought would let you guys know in case you ever came back later and something had changed. Because at the moment, this post is looking to be pretty short.

Whenever Anointed Hearts moved to Kentucky, we branched out our ministry further. We made it all the way to West Virginia even. 

One of our trips to West Virginia is one of the most memorable things that has happened for our ministry. My great grandma had passed away shortly before our trip. Her funeral was scheduled for the weekend that we were supposed to be in West Virginia. We let my dad decide whether or not he wanted to miss the funeral and go to West Virginia or if he wanted to stay for the funeral and miss the West Virginia portion of our trip. My dad said that his grandma would want us to go to West Virginia, so we actually missed her funeral. Anyways, the show that Sunday was absolutely amazing. We basically had three different alter calls throughout the show and three different people came to know the Lord. It is just crazy to think of what could have happened for the people that the show affected if we had chosen to instead stay for the funeral and cancel the show. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.1 Chronicles 16:34  NIV (http://dailyverses.net/worship)

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Ohio

Whenever we first got into contact with the Southern Gospel group, Anointed Hearts, they were living in Ohio at the time. Therefore, we got to travel to Ohio to perform. 

Obviously, this was before we actually started performing WITH Anointed Hearts. Therefore, they were just audience members for our show there. We went all out for that show and even made programs for the audience so that they would know the outline and flow of the show. However, there was one part of the show where we had to be secretive on the program for. We had planned out performing one of Anointed Hearts songs, Answer is Yes. That being said, we did not tell them ahead of time that we were going to do it. So, the show starts and we are performing whatever songs came first in the lineup. We then get to that song. The music starts, and we hear a definite reaction from the band. Actually, Alison ran to behind the stage and was like, "I am going to get you guys when we get home!" We had been staying with them, just for a little clarification there. Anyways, they didn't "get us" that bad afterwards. It will always be one of those things that we will be able to remember. Thankfully, our working together did go further than this (click here to read my post about working with Anointed Hearts if you haven't already read it). 

Since we were staying with Anointed Hearts, we got to have a lot of time fellowshipping with them. We were able to talk about things we enjoyed, and just learn about each other. Since this was the first time I really got to meet them, we really did have quite a bit to get to know about each other. In my opinion, we all hit it off pretty good. I mean, we still work together and talk with each other, so that has to be a good sign, right? We have been able to talk both in the good and the bad times. I am just so thankful that God was able to bring our ministries together. 

(Note to Readers: So, I know this sounds sort of like it is just a continuation of my Anointed Hearts post. In a way it is. However, that is partially because while this was after the Lynch and Tahlequah shows, this was still quite a few years ago and I don't remember everything that happened. Either way, I hope you guys still enjoyed getting to know about the little bit I was able to remember.)

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/family_love_)

As Christians, we should enjoy fellowshipping with other believers. If we fellowship with others who love God and who work for Him, those relationships can be used in advancing the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. So, find other Christians to spend time with and get to know. 

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Dressing the Puppets

Once songs are chosen and parts are lined up, we sometimes get to do a bit of dressing up the puppets. Sure, our puppets typically just stay in what they are wearing, but we do occasionally change their clothes.One occasion in which we look at the clothing our puppets are wearing is when we perform with Anointed Hearts. We typically try and dress all 5 puppets in color coordinated outfits. We then let Anointed Heart's know what their prospective puppet is wearing so that they can try and find a similar outfit to wear. Obviously the outfits won't match perfectly, but it is still nice when they are at least similar in color. Even when the outfits don't match, it is still fun for the puppets' outfits to match. 
Certain song styles may also influence the costuming of the puppets. This is one area where we sometimes actually change the puppets' clothes and other times we say to just go with it.. Anyways, take a Christmas song or show for example. We try and dress a lot of the puppets in red and green. For a song that is from the 50's or 60's, we may try and find an outfit that  would match that decade. This allows the overall look of the song to seem more realistic. 

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Being a Christian should not be a costume that you wear. Being a Christian should be who you are. If you attend church on the holidays but no other times, you are most likely wearing a costume of being a Christian. Actually being a Christian should mean that you want to learn more about Christ and that you want to go to church to learn about Him and to be around other Christians. You should want to know what God wants from you in following Him. If you are living in sin, you very well could be wearing a costume of being a Christian. Sure, Christians do suffer temptations, but they know that it is wrong and they fight those temptations instead of living in those temptations and sin. 

You want to make sure that you really are a Christian and are not living a lie. When you die, you don't want God to tell you, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:23 http://biblehub.com/matthew/7-23.htm). You want Him to welcome you into Heaven. So, make sure you are living for Him and not just for a title. 

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Anointed Hearts

Ministries collaborating with each other can be absolutely amazing, especially when it is something that God wants for us. Adventureland's collaborating with the Southern Gospel group Anointed Hearts is something that I feel to really be part of God's plan for us. 

My mom knew the father of the group when she was younger. Due to the fact that they were not local to where she lived, they only got to see each other for vacations. So, whenever the trips to where they lived ended, they lost touch. However, that is obviously not where this story ends. 

A few years ago, back when Myspace was still popular, my mom created a page for our ministry on MySpace. While messing around on there, she happened to come across the page for the family, as well as for their ministry, Anointed Hearts. My mom ended up contacting them, and telling them about our ministry. Therefore, we ended up taking our ministry their way. At that time, they were in Ohio. 

The Ohio trip was my first time meeting them. On that trip, we surprised them by performing one of their songs. We kept that hush hush up until the music started. The reaction was priceless! We actually had specific puppets chosen to match each of them. 

Anointed Hearts came our way as well. They knew that we had done a song of theirs before, so we wanted to think of something else we could do. So, we decided to really work with them. We had them sing a song standing out front of our puppet stage and we went up with their respective puppets and sang right along with them. That is something that is always fun to do. It really shows how great things can happen when we work with other ministries. 

Anointed Hearts eventually moved back to their hometown roots -- Kentucky. When they moved there, we started going to Kentucky to perform, but we would also go to West Virginia in the same trip. I don't want to say a whole lot about those trips here, though, because I plan to tell about them more in detail in future posts. 

Anointed Hearts has also been back to our area a few times since we started working together. Our collaborating was able to bring us to their area, but also open around us up to them. Working with them has been a real blessing! So, if you are part of a ministry, really consider working with other ministries. You never know what God has planned for both ministries! 

Romans 15:5-6 ESV 

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/working_together)

Just a Little About Anointed Hearts
Since we do work with Anointed Hearts, I thought I would go ahead and share a bit about the group. For more specific information, check out their website by clicking the picture below.

I will now go ahead and tell you just a little bit about each of the members. 

Jamie is the father of the group. He plays the guitar as well as vocals. He does a lot of the introductions to songs and explains what the song means to him and the band.

Paula is the mother of the group. She sings vocals. She also does a lot of contacting the different venues that they perform at. She also helps out at the merchandise table after their shows.

 Courtney is the oldest daughter. She sings vocals, both leads and harmonies. Along with singing, she has also started writing some songs. Whenever she speaks, it is from the heart. The same for when she writes. She has a blog of her own (and she is actually the one that told me about the 31 day challenge that this series is a part of). If you would like to check her blog out, click the following: Eyes of Faith 

Alison is the middle daughter. She sings vocals, leads as well as harmonies. She is also the musician of the family and knows how to play multiple instruments. She has also added song writing to her list of talents. 

Emily is the youngest daughter. She sings vocals and has began to do harmony.

This is just a very very limited amount of information about them. If you would like to know more, please check out their website (click the group photo with the red background). 

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Audience of One -- Being a True Follower of Christ

Hi there! Earlier today I had thought of a great topic for this weeks post, however, with the craziness of the day, I no longer remember what that topic was. So, I am going to go with the topic I thought of while literally sitting here typing this. 

Last week I went to a ladies' service with one of my coworkers where her and a couple of the other young ladies at the church were speaking. One of the topics talked about was having an Audience of One. This stuck with me because it was not the first time that I had heard the phrase. I believe the first time I had heard it was when a Southern Gospel Ministry that I am related to by marriage recorded a song that they wrote which was called - you guessed it - Audience of One. Click here to hear Anointed Hearts' Audience of One. I had then heard someone else mention it I believe. But then, when I heard it again at the ladies' service, I thought that I better really look at my life. Have I really been living my life for an Audience of One? Or have I been living my life for an audience of all of the people around me? 

It is so easy for us to think about what other people will think about us if we do this or if we do that. We are scared of standing out in a crowd. We want the comfort that comes from being in the in-crowd. However, being in the in-crowd is not necessarily what God has planned for your life. Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV) says:

 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man exchange for his soul?'"

 The first thing Jesus says in that passage is that in order to follow Him, you have to deny yourself. In this day and age, denying yourself is something that stands out. Yesterday I was at Walmart and all I was buying was a yogurt so that I would have something to eat for lunch since I had to go back to work. All of the lines were fairly long - of course. Anyways, I got in the express lane hoping it would at least go fairly quick since the people in that lane had 20 items or less. There was an older lady in front of me who looked back and said, "Oh, you only have one thing?" I told her that I did, and she told me that I could go ahead and get in front of her. She then let the guy who was behind me who only had two items also get in front of her. The cashier had started to grab one of her items when she told her that she was letting us go in front of her. She then made a comment that was something like, "I've been there before." Before walking away, I made sure to thank her. Okay, I get that letting a couple people go in front of you in line isn't a huge way of "denying yourself." However, it is putting others first, which is technically denying yourself. There are much bigger examples of this, but I decided to go with something more personal that just happened. It was just nice to see that she was willing to spend a little extra time in line in order to let a couple people with minimal items get through the line quicker. That really is not something that you see everyday. And obviously, her doing that is something that stuck with me considering I am now writing about it. 
In the passage quoted earlier, Jesus also says that to follow Him you have to take up your cross and follow Him. This is one of those things that really shows who you are following and who your audience is. In most situations, taking up your cross more than likely does not mean carrying a huge wooden cross around town. However, if that is what God has called you to do, then get carrying your cross! However, even without carrying a physical cross, you can still take up your cross. Taking up your cross basically means you are willing to suffer for your beliefs. It means that you are willing to say and do the things that God has called you to do even if it means losing friends, being looked at weird, or a whole host of other things. I am being somewhat brief on this section, but that is because I may use this particular part of the passage as a more in-depth post at a later date. 
TobyMac has a song called Lose My Soul which goes along with the next portion of the passage. What would be the purpose of life be if you lost your soul because you spend your entire life living for the world instead of for Christ? Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV) says:
"'Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.'"
The above passage shows what will happen if you are not living your life truly for Christ. You can be "acting Christian" for your entire life, but unless you are truly a born again Christian, Christ will tell you to depart from Him because He never knew you. I don't know about you, but I want to be welcomed into Christ's loving arms, not being sent away from Him because I never really lived for Him. Therefore, I want to make sure that my life is being lived for Christ alone - that He is my Audience of One.