The Case for a Creator

 

The Case for a Creator
Exclusive Early Release!
DVD format
60 minutes

COMING SOON! PRE-ORDER NOW!

The Case for a Creator is a new DVD documentary based upon Lee Strobel’s best-selling book of the same title. Utilizing spectacular computer animation, an original musical score, and more than 40 minutes of special features, this 60-minute film highlights the major arguments for the intelligent design theory, while exploring Strobel’s dramatic conversion from atheism to Christianity.

Source: Outside The Box Ministry » Resources

Podcasting - The potential for evangelism

Using podcasting for online gospel outreach: opportunity for Christian evangelism

What is podcasting? Simply, it involves ...

• an audio or (increasingly often) video file ...
• downloaded by your computer from the Internet, often automatically because you have subscribed to a particular podcast service ...
• which is then available to listen/watch on your computer, or to transfer to an iPod or other mobile device for later use.

The enormous growth in iPod ownership has encouraged the podcasting revolution. No longer do you need to listen at home to radio programs or music at specific times, or even take the time to visit a website to download their audio files. You can subscribe to a feed so that an automatic download is done whenever a new podcast is available.

Click on the link below to read the entire article.

Source: gospelcom.net

Imperial History

 

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today? That is a much bigger question.

 

Source: Imperial History

Share Your Story Now

The American Bible Society is collecting your stories and short testimonies in order to:

1. Share glimpses of what God is doing through the Bible to change lives;
2. Understand what is important to our readers;
3. Encourage people to engage the Bible; and
4. Inspire a new generation of “Bible Advocates.”

At the core of the American Bible Society’s work is the belief that God speaks to every generation through the Holy Scriptures (Isaiah 55:11), bringing wisdom where there is confusion, faith where there is fear, hope where there is despair, and love where there is hatred.

ShareYourStoryNow is an online conversation about how the Bible has made an impact in your life. As with verbal conversations, you may occasionally encounter a Scripture interpretation that you disagree with. Please always compare what you read to scripture, and if you feel compelled to comment, please do so prayerfully and in love so that God would be honored even among differing interpretations.

The opinions and experiences posted in this blog may not always reflect the positions of the American Bible Society, but we do encourage prayerful conversation about God’s word and its impact in your life.

We are collecting stories that:

• Are God honoring
• Promote the life changing nature of the Scriptures
• Encourage readers to dig deeper into the Bible

Source: Share Your Story Now

Unexpected Blessing

Don't you just love it when God gives you an unexpected blessing? We had one of those blessings yesterday. Ron & Yvonne are a married couple who drive truck together. We first met them when they visited the chapel and have since become friends. Yesterday they delivered a load just a few miles from our house. After unloading they called us and we gave them directions to our house.

They are shown above with Margaret at our home.

Their home is in Florida and their work takes them all over the country. They usually don't know in advance where they will be when so visits like this happen on the spur of the moment. God had it all worked out that we were home and available when they were in the area - an unexpected blessing! After visiting at home they invited us to go out to dinner with them.

I'm sure the neighbors in our "55 and older" community were wondering what we were doing with a truck outside the house!

I didn't plan it that way but they ended up in order: tall; taller; and tallest.

This is a close up of the decal on the side of the sleeper. Ron says it often prompts a response from others.

This is another decal on the passenger side wing window. They also have a lighted cross on the front of the truck. As you can see, they are not bashful about their beliefs and welcome the "devine appointments" that God arranges for them as they travel the countryside.

In His Name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

World's Strongest Dad

Can World's Strongest Dad

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

And the video is below....

A Laptop & Printer for Angola

I recently received a new laptop and printer to use in our TFC ministry.  Today I had the pleasure of meeting my friend from Angloa, Rev. Patricio, and donating my previous laptop, keyboard, and printer to him.  They will be a great asset for his ministry when he returns to Angola, Africa.  PTL!

Rev. Patricio and Chaplain Sam.  (The caps are the Angolan colors and logo)

In His Name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Delaware City Festival 10-14-06

This past Saturday was the first Saturday in a while that we both had nothing scheduled.  The historic town of Delaware City is located along the Delaware River not far from our home and they were having their Canal Days festival.  We spent the afternoon at the festival enjoying a beautiful fall day.

While we were there we saw our friends Marchia & Dick, shown here with Margaret.

A restored police car was one of the autos on display

From the river's edge you can just make out Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.  On the island is a civil war fort, Fort Delaware, which is open for tours.

 

 

 

 

 

The Delaware British Car Club held a show at the festival.

 

 

 

 

 

In His Name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Luanda Angola Africa Missionary

Three years ago a missionary from Africa was on a Greyhound bus that stopped at the Elkton truck stop for a rest break.  Rev. Nsingi M. Patricio saw our chapel that day and came in to find out about our ministry.  He was very excited.  It was the first he knew of this kind of ministry to truck drivers.  We had only a brief visit but agreed to keep in touch via email, which we have done since that day.

Rev. Patricio is again visiting the U.S. staying with his friend Ernesto and his family in Laural, MD.  Patricio, Ernesto, and I arranged for us to have lunch together today along with Margaret.  We met at a restaurant just north of Baltimore for a great reunion and fellowship.

(click picture to enlarge)

Rev. Patricio

Rev. Patrico gave Margaret a beautiful dress from Africa

Rev. Patricio's friend Ernesto

Rev. Patricio lives in Luanda, Angola, Africa.  He recently took a missionary trip to Cafunfo, also in Angola.  Cafunfo is in the heart of the area of fighting during the last 30 years of civil war.  He gave us an album of pictures from that missionary trip.  You can view the album by clicking here.

Please keep Rev. Patricio, his wife and two children in your payers as they build God's kingdom in Angola.  His email is: miefnumberone@yahoo.com.br

In His Name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

On The Road Again

This past weekend we were in Lansdale, PA for the Bucks-Montgomery TFC Chapter's 27th annual concert.  There were events on Saturday and Sunday at the Family Worship Center church.

Things began Saturday at 3:00 p.m. with a truck show in the church parking lot.  Then at 5:00 p.m. there was a pig roast followed by a concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday morning was Trucker's Sunday at the morning church service.

A TFC chapel was parked at the church through out the weekend for people to visit.

Friday and Saturday night Margaret and I stayed with friends Sam & Alice who live near the church.

(click on a picture to enlarge)

Margaret & Alice visiting

Margaret's impromptu hair decorations

Some of the trucks at the show.

Bryce likes sitting in the driver's seat of his daddy's truck.

One of the two stars of the pig roast.

Eating in the church gym.

The Paul Fehr Family opened the evening concert.

The Jacobs Brothers sang next.

The newest TFC chapel was parked in the church parking lot and open for visitors Saturday and Sunday.