If you want regular, brief updates on particulars, check out this Twitter page by Jeremiah Warren. Next post will come approximately 8:30-9:00pm CST. God Bless!

Hey guys, this is Isaac here from San Antonio. We landed at the airport yesterday at 4:30pm and joined up with our group at the hotel. There’s been a bit of trouble with our internet connection at the hotel, so we had to resort to drastic measures (see above) but it shouldn’t be a problem in the future.

Today the film academy starts and will be continuing till the 7th. Training includes hands-on experience with HD Camera Red One, stunts, and everything else ranging from lighting techniques, to getting your film ready for the big screen.

Let me briefly explain how the live-blogging will work: I’ll be posting a recap at the end of each day. I may post more than once a day, depending on how much there is to post about. If any of you have special requests, or questions, go ahead and post them in the comment section below, and I’ll get to them if and when I can.

Thanks for all your comments, encouragement, and prayer. Hope you enjoy the blogging!

It is with great excitement that Alex and I bring your attention to the fifth annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and the fourth annual Christian Filmmakers Academy, two growing projects of Vision Forum Ministries. These two events, slated for January 5-10, will draw maverick Christian filmmakers from around the globe to challenge the status quo presented by Hollywood.

This year we’re continuing our tradition of live-blogging the academy and festival on TheRebelution.com — only this time around we’ll be turning the blog over to a 14-year-old who is both a budding filmmaker and our little brother: Isaac. We hope you enjoy him as much as we do. Love ya’ Isaac!

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month we posted about Josh Guthrie and Dollar for a Drink, a campaign to raise $8,000 to build a well in Sudan. Each of you responded with prayers, donations, and fund-raisers of your own. By mid-December we reached the $8,000 target. By the Christmas-day deadline the total was over $10,000 — a powerful statement in the holiday season that teens care about more than gifts and gadgets.

Here is a letter we received from Josh this afternoon, thanking all of you for making this big “hard thing” a success — and giving on update on his future plans:

Dear Rebelution Friends,

Words cannot express how very thankful I am to the Lord for you. The Rebelution played a huge role in getting Dollar for a Drink prepared, launched, and moving. From the very beginning, you guys have been there to pray for the cause, encourage me, promote the project, and (of course) donate towards the well!

First, I would like to thank the Harris Brothers, Alex and Brett Harris, for their leadership, their enthusiasm to help the DfaD cause, and their matching gift of $1,000. Alex and Brett have done an amazing job with TheRebelution.com, the blog, and the forums. It was the twin’s book Do Hard Things which really motivated me to get going on the project. May the Lord bless the both of you, your family, and your ministry.

Second, I also want to thank all of you Rebelutionaries out there who helped with the project, through promotion, donating, or even just praying and encouraging. You each had a role in getting this project going and helping us to reach our goal! I wish I could thank you all individually. It means so much for brothers and sisters who are my age to step up to the plate and help me out in this endeavor. May the Lord bless each of you!

The first year of the DfaD project is over. We have pushed the pause button on the promotion, and the second year of the project will begin (Lord willing) on September 1st of 2009. If you are interested in being involved next year, please begin thinking on how you might help promote the project. We are going to raise the bar a bit next year: at least two wells! Thanks again for your interest in the project!

In Christ,
Joshua Guthrie, Director
Dollar for a Drink

+ www.DollarforaDrink.org +

Maxine Callie Terhune is proof that you don’t have to be a teenager to “do hard things.” She has read Do Hard Things three times — at 97 years old!

Ann Olsen, Mrs. Terhune’s daughter, had this to say about her mom: “Mom, I know that you knew how to do hard things from your earliest years; growing up on a self-sustaining farm with three sisters, marriage and surviving the Great Depression, losing a baby, later giving me life.

Then living through WWII. Teaching music in schools and sharing your love of music with hundreds of young, noisy but aspiring musicians. Working full time, plus giving private piano lessons in our home and still making time to teach Sunday School and entertain guests. You were always a very busy woman helping make the world a better place for others.

You still know how to do hard things–being a happy person even though your body is not supporting you as well as before. Waking up each morning with a smile on your face — just happy to be alive with the gift of another day . . . a day filled with family and friends who love you.”

The three Barlow sisters may be one of the biggest bands in Christian music, but their passion is for their generation — and a generation yet unborn.

Every 22 seconds a child dies. Not of starvation, AIDS, or unclean water, but because someone made a choice — for convenience over innocent life.

In the month leading up to January 22nd, 2009 — the 35th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in America — Alyssa, Lauren, and Rebecca are asking you to join them in being a voice for the voiceless: Never Silence Life.

Brett and I are joining them to pray and spread the word. On the 22nd of January, we and group of fellow PHC students will be joining them in the March for Life in DC. We want you to join us in your local communities.

Visit their website to sign up and learn more. Donate your profile on Facebook and MySpace. Organize a silent protest in your area. Pray. Fast. Speak. Act.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” — Jeremiah 1:5

Many of you have emailed us about dates and locations for the conference tour this year. After a four-city tour in 2007 and a seven-city tour this year, we’re working on plans to host four or five regional conferences in 2009 — and we need your help.

Here are the five locations we’re targeting for this summer — June to early August: Southern California, Houston (TX), Atlanta (GA) / Birmingham, AL, Chicago (IL), and Washington, DC.

For some of these cities, we still need help identifying and securing facilities that can seat 3,000 or more people. For all of them, we’re looking for local teams of churches and rebelutionaries who can help bring the Rebelution Tour to their area.

Few things the Rebelution does are as important as the conferences. And that’s not because they reach so many new people. It’s because the conferences provide a unique opportunity for rebelutionaries to live out the “do hard things” message.

We’ve had 14-year-olds working with convention centers, 15-year-olds operating $50,000 robotic cameras, 16-year-olds managing grassroot publicity, 17-year-olds coordinating the local teams, and 9-year-olds running the Audience Response Technology. These are big events — for young people by young people.

We can’t wait to see what God will do in 2009 — and the next few months are critical for building these teams and getting the ball rolling. If you know of a great facility, or if you and your family or church wants to be involved in bringing a conference to one of the locations listed above — now is the time to let us know!

To get involved, just send an email to Matthew Cunningham (address below) with the location you want to help with in the subject of your email. Thanks so much!

matt [at] therebelution [dot] com

As we move into the holiday season — which is now also the season of end-of-semester papers and final exams — full blog posts are hard to come by.

Thankfully, we’ve found a way to keep you all updated, even when we’re crazy busy or on the go: Twitter! We’ve been tweeting (or is it twittering?) for a few months now — but finally, it’s on the blog! You can see it on the right.

You can read our updates on the Mini-Blog (top of the sidebar) or subscribe through Twitter itself. Either way, we hope you’ll follow along!

+ Subscribe to Twitter +

For as long as he can remember, Joshua Guthrie, 16, and his family have sponsored children through World Vision. For almost as long, Josh has wanted to purchase one of the “big items” in the World Vision annual catalog — like the $8,000 well.

Last spring, his family had dinner with Jeff Palmer, the executive director of Baptist Global Response, another Christian humanitarian organization. He encouraged Josh to hold a fundraiser, sending him a list of five potential projects. One was to build a well in Sudan, where over 12 million people lack access to clean drinking water.

Joining the Movement

In July, Josh read Do Hard Things. “[It] really got me moving,” he says. In August, Josh teamed with his dad to brainstorm and set up a basic website. In September, he began contacting schools and organizations and registered as a 501(c)3 with the IRS. That same month, Josh also got plugged in to the Rebelution Forum — where fellow rebelutionaries jumped on board with ideas and support.

“I presented the project to this great community of Christian teens, and I received a very positive response,” Josh says. “I got many suggestions and encouragement; it was great. So many people wanted to help, and many of them are still helping.”

Launching the Project

On October 1st, Josh officially launched Dollar for a Drink. The goal? To raise $8,000 before Christmas. The plan? A simple concept: Give up one drink. Give one dollar. Build one well in Sudan. So far, he has raised almost $3,000 towards his goal.

“We want to get as many teenagers involved in this project as possible,” Josh says of the student-led, student-driven initiative. “We want to show that it doesn’t matter your age, you can make a difference in the world. Anyone can give a dollar.”

In late October, the Jackson Sun featured their hometown rebelutionary:

Josh Guthrie is hoping to prove that any person, regardless of age, can make a difference.

Guthrie, 16, a sophomore home schooler, started a nonprofit organization to help build fresh water wells in Sudan.

The charity is called “Dollar for a Drink.” The idea is that instead of buying a soda, students can donate the dollar to help build a well, Guthrie said.

“This is not all me,” he said. “The Lord can do more than we can imagine. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of God. I call him the executive director.”

We are so proud of Josh, not just for making a difference, but for encouraging fellow teens to join him and doing it all for the glory of God. If there is anything we all can and should get behind as rebelutionaries, it’s projects like this.

A Holiday Challenge

With just over a month before Christmas, Josh has $5,000 to raise. And as we enter the holiday season, most people expect us to only care about stuffing our faces and getting the latest games and gadgets. They don’t expect us to care about the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, or the oppressed. Let’s join Josh and prove them wrong.

Anyone can give a dollar. Most of us can give more. To get us started, the Rebelution has decided to match your donations, up to a total of $1,000. Whatever you give, we’ll match it — doubling your contribution! $5 becomes $10. $25 becomes $50.

As you give or raise funds for Dollar for a Drink, leave a comment to encourage your fellow teens and let us know so we can match your donation. If you’d rather not comment, you can just shoot an email to alex [at] therebelution [dot] com.

Let’s see how fast we can raise $2,000 for the people of Sudan, not just to provide clean water, but also to share the gospel — the mission of Baptist Global Response. This holiday season (and beyond), we’ll show the world what really matters to teens.

+ DONATE / FACEBOOK / PROMOTE +

Send Checks To: Dollar for a Drink, P.O. Box 265, Medina, TN 38355

I am convinced our lives will be no better than our view of death. In Luke 9:23-25 Jesus spoke the following: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Jesus makes it clear that depending on how we think about death we will either save our lives, or we will waste them. We can waste our lives trying to save them, or we can find our lives striving to spend them for Christ.

Drawing primarily from the life and death of Jim Elliot, as well as Michael Billings, we will spend the remainder of this series examining three marks of a tragically wasted life, and then three marks of gloriously spent life. Here’s a quick preview:

3 Marks of a Tragically Wasted Life
• A lukewarm attitude of complacency.
• A lazy habit of procrastination.
• A paralyzed lifestyle of timidity.

3 Marks of a Gloriously Spent Life

• A hot-hearted desire to be useful.
• A relentless passion for the good use of time.
• A constant readiness to risk for the Gospel.

Some questions for discussion:

• Does your life contain any marks of a wasted life?
• Does your life contain any marks of a spent life?