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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Blacklight

Blacklight is something that many people who see puppetry seem to really enjoy. Actually, at the seminars that we compete at, it is quite common that a majority of the songs in the song competition are done in blacklight. 
I guess I should explain something such as what blacklight even is. Blacklight is when we use a special light known as a blacklight, though it is really a purple light, to shine on the puppets. When the lights are off and the blacklights are shining on the puppets and props, they appear to glow. In some cases, the puppeteer has to be above the stage, but we still don't want to be seen. In those cases, the puppeteers wear all black so that they aren't seen. See the video below for an example. 

From Tennessee Mission Trip

Matthew 4:16

16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-light/)

As a Christian, we want the light of Christ to shine through us -- we want others to see Him in what we say and do. Like blacklights do for our puppets, shine Jesus' light bright in your life so that others will see that light and begin shining themselves.  

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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.