Muddy River Media blog

New Blog Site

2008-04-08T20:46:00.003-04:00

I don't know if you've had a chance to check it out, but our ministry website is finally up and running.It's interesting... the first three people to register were from Kansas City - Kansas, Bristol - New Brunswick and Mariager - Denmark. We're already an international ministry.Also, since the new site has it's own blog, this will be the last time I will be posting to this blog site.Those of you

Going Live!

2008-04-07T21:07:00.002-04:00

FINALLY!After months of waiting... encountering roadblocks... navigating obstacles......we are ready to launch the Muddy River Media website!Last week we have numerous churches help us beta test the site, and now we're ready to let the whole world in. Sometime today, April 8th, you should be able to go to our web address, http://muddyrivermedia.org/ and see the site for yourself.I cannot speak

Brad Pitt Body Double Hockey Pool

2008-04-07T18:58:00.005-04:00

Well... the 2007-08 Brad Pitt Body Double regular season hockey pool has finished up and the weiner... ahhh... I mean, winner, is......drum roll please...Cary "legs" SawatskyTake a look at the final standings below.Standings Total 1. Cary "legs" Sawatsky 1355.00 2. Ben "nice guy" Fogarty 1334.00 3. Brandon "the wall" Craib 1325.00 4. Craig "mutton" MacKinnon

Post Production

2008-04-04T11:50:00.003-04:00

I thought I would show you another example of some post production work that is often done on videos.Below you will see two images of the same footage. The top image is before any post-production work in Adobe After Effects, the other is after. The sky was so blown out white... we felt it needed some blue. Keep in mind that this is being done for every video frame of that shot, which is 29.97

Free Novocaine!

2008-04-03T14:36:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been a busy day. Got word from our developer that we were ready to beta test the site. We had hoped to do that a couple days ago but one of the last custom designed modules being installed, in the words of the developer, broke the site.So, we had to wait for a reworked version of the module.On top of that, we filmed a video this morning... outdoors... in the stinkin' cold wind. We

Beta Testing has Begun!

2008-04-03T13:24:00.003-04:00

Well... we have begun beta testing the website today. There are still some tweaks and things that need to be done to the site, but everything is in place for users to register and begin downloading resources.We have a number of churches in Canada, United States, Australia and Europe who have graciously agreed to help us kick the tires on the site. Depending on how smooth that process goes, we

Mist

2008-03-24T15:52:00.002-04:00

Last week I filmed and edited a short video clip that some of you may have seen a version of this past weekend at StoneRidge Fellowship.I could just as well used the verses from Luke 12:19-21...And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.

Is This Stuff Really Free?

2008-03-20T15:19:00.002-04:00

Just working on some stuff for the website launch. I want to give you the link so you can see it, but I can't. Not until it's done... but it's looking really nice.We plan to begin beta testing on March 31... must a bit over a week away. If you're involved with a church that would like to help be beta testers, it's still not too late... just flip me an email or a comment on this blog post.I cannot

Zombie Update

2008-03-14T16:20:00.002-04:00

We've had a few people post their Zombie Apocalypse Survival Score.So far the person least likely to survive is Kyle Andrus at 23%. Yes, beneath that mop of hair is a kind, gentle soul.And, the person most likely to survive is Scott Anderson at a whopping 71%! Even he acknowledges he's heartless.In the event there is a Zombie Apocalypse, here's what I suggest... when we sub-50% people get

Bible Verse browser

2008-03-14T16:01:00.002-04:00

Well, today our web developer added what I think is a very important, amazing piece to the site... our Bible Verse browser.ta da!I know, I know... I can hear many of you mumbling, "Big Hairy Deal. That doesn't sound too impressive... too difficult... too unique... too fill in the blank.But it is mon ami, it is.I'm not saying they aren't out there, but I don't know of any other Christian media

Zombie Apocalypse

2008-03-12T16:26:00.003-04:00

I don't often invest my time in these, but this quiz caught my eye. It seems I have slightly less then 50% chance of surviving a Zombie Apocalypse.Hmmm... who knew.Why don't you click on the image below, take the quiz, and then post a comment telling us how you'd fare.48%

Still Image Samples

2008-03-06T18:25:00.005-04:00

As mentioned in my previous blog post, in addition to video resources Muddy River Media will also be offering free still images for churches to download.These images can be used as static images on their video projection unit, whether behind the song lyrics, or by themselves. They can also be used in various print jobs the church may be doing, such as weekly bulletins, hand outs, curriculum, etc.

In 5 Years Time - Part 3

2008-03-06T17:28:00.005-04:00

Well, here are the final three dreams/goals I have for Muddy River Media to reach by the end of 2012. (check out Goals 1 -3 here and Goals 4 - 6 here)7. When you consider the potential productivity of myself, a second video missionary, 100 churches and 100 independent producers, I hope to see Muddy River Media able to offer over 1000 pieces of media by the end of 2012. Currently we have over 120

In 5 Years Time - Part 2

2008-03-05T12:45:00.002-04:00

Continuing with my previous post about my goals and dreams of what Muddy River Media will have achieved by the end of 2012.3. I would like to have 3000 churches registered and using Muddy River Media resources. When you consider the number of churches there are in North American alone, that number shouldn't be a problem... but like I said in the previous post... nobodies done this before so who

In 5 Years Time - part 1

2008-03-04T17:41:00.002-04:00

Last week at our church's annual business meeting, our senior pastor, Pastor Somers, said the following:"People often over-estimate what can be accomplished in one year, but underestimate what can be accomplished in 5 years."Hmmm... that got me thinking about Muddy River Media. With the delays involving our website development, there is no doubt I over estimated what we would accomplish in our

Reffing Basketball

2008-02-29T16:00:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, I have been reffing basketball this winter, and really enjoying it.There are several reasons why:It gets me out from behind a computer and doing something physical. It feels good to run on the court again. My health will thank me for it.I won't lie, the little extra income doesn't hurt my feelings a bit. (and by my, I mean Melissa as well!)It's nice to get out there and meet

Additional Video Samples

2008-02-29T15:32:00.002-04:00

Over the past week I've been organizing and preparing our videos for upload to the new website. Part of this process involves uploading them to YouTube.You see, our new site will be (to quote the term used by our web-developer) sucking the previews in from YouTube. This is a bonus for us for several reasons:It reduces the bandwidth our site will use. That is the biggie because the more bandwidth

Ministry Update

2008-02-29T15:08:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last wrote on my blog! I guess it must be because of that triple by-pass heart surgery I recently had as a result of eating all of the fatty food I talked about in my last post. :-)Seriously though... there has been a lot going on behind the scenes with Muddy River Media over the past couple weeks. Our website is coming along really nice... really nice

Tasty

2008-02-15T11:53:00.005-04:00

I just read an article listing the 20 Worst Foods in America. It listed 20 meals you can order in American chain restaurants... meals that are the worst, health-wise, for you.Here's the thing... as I look down over the list, other then the Dessert, the Breakfast, and the Kid's Meal... the other 17 look like something I would LOVE to eat.I mean, come on... take a look at what they list as the

Fish Food

2008-02-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

While cleaning up some old files on my computer yesterday, I happened upon some pictures of our vacation from a few years ago that I thought I would share with my blog readers.These photos were taken while snorkeling off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico. I had heard of people feeing the fish so I thought I would give it a try. I took a few of the personal size mini boxes of Cheerios from the

Great News

2008-02-04T14:48:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share with you some amazing, great news for Muddy River Media.Last week I received a phone call from somebody who has offered to pick up the bill for what we have left owing on our current website development project.This was a HUGE answer to prayer for us. I cannot adequately express to you the weight it removed from our shoulders.God is good.Well, the truth of the matter is He was

U23D thoughts

2008-02-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Well... after a very busy week, Melissa and I went to see U23D on Saturday evening. Of course, as a diehard U2 fan, I loved it. Melissa enjoyed it a lot as well, but she hasn't really truly drank the U2 koolaid like I have.Here are some thoughts from watching the film:I regret never having taken the time to see these guys live. I have been a big fan for 25 years yet have never traveled to

It's not too late...

2008-01-30T16:48:00.000-04:00

Hey, you supporters of Muddy River Media!It's not too late to decide to come to our second Muddy River Media Supporter's Social.It's being held this Friday, February 1st at 7:00pmLocationMark and Melissa's28 Coles RoadLower SackvilleView Larger MapYou don't have to bring anything but you and your significant other.We will be giving an update on the ministry, showing some Muddy River Media videos

like a Miracle Worker

2008-01-30T16:21:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give major props to Johanne Lavergne who has done several sessions on my right knee. If you recall, Johanne is in the midst of her studies to become an osteopath and it's amazing what she was able to do with my knee.TimelineSaturday, January 12Injure right knee reffing basketball.Doctor's are baffled because there is no swelling, and the x-rays are clear. They give me

Day and Night

2008-01-30T16:08:00.000-04:00

The difference between our new website developer and our previous one is like the difference between day and night.Finally, after months of slogging through an endless quagmire with the previous firm, I am so excited about the progress and direction the project is going in with the new firm.I wish I could show you the mock up pages of the site... but I'm not going to. We are waiting until the

Hodge Podge Update

2008-01-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

A bit of an update on several things:I visited the Doctor again yesterday about my knee. She seems quite baffled by what's going on. The pain I'm experiencing seems like soft tissue damage but there has never been any swelling or redness.Both sets of x-rays have all come back clear so there is no issues with micro-fractures. She's trying to get me in to see a sports specialist.Having said all

Back to the Doctor

2008-01-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

I am back to see the Doctor tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Things are not getting better, in fact my knee is hurting more.Hopefully they can figure out what's going on. Crutches are a drag.But... I must keep in mind that there are many people in the world who wish their worst problem was dealing with crutches.

More X-Rays

2008-01-21T18:07:00.000-04:00

I was back to the doctor on Friday for another check-up on my right knee. They told me to come in if it didn't seem to be getting better.They sent me for more x-rays today thinking that perhaps there is a micro-fracture somewhere in the knee. They can't quite figure things out because there is no swelling or redness, but the pain I am experiencing seems like soft-tissue damage.One of Muddy River

Getting Older

2008-01-17T16:18:00.001-04:00

Perhaps, if you think of it, you could throw up a prayer for me tomorrow morning at 10:30am when I have a doctor's appointment.Last Saturday, while reffing basketball, my right knee began to pain... slowly at first, and then worse and worse as the day progressed. By the end of the day I could hardly stand.My lovely wife, Melissa, took me to the Medical Center. When I tried to get out of the car I

Supernatural Continuity

2008-01-17T16:11:00.000-04:00

I'm currently working on a video that looks at the supernatural continuity of the Bible.Did you know......the Bible has 66 unique books......written by over 30 different authors......in 11 geographic locations.......representing 15 different professions......using 10 different writing styles......in three different languages......over a 1500 year time span......dealing with a topic as

Heart Motion Backgrounds

2008-01-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

While creating the LOVE video I made a heart themed background that would be a nice looping video clip for churches to use either for a Valentines or Love themed event/service.I also made a couple different colour variations of it for churches to use.

Oops!

2008-01-15T16:25:00.000-04:00

We have ALL had Oops! moments in our lives, some more major than others. None of us are immune to them.This past weekend while reffing basketball I witnessed an Oops! moment. The game in question was close... very close. In fact one player scored with 2 seconds to go to force overtime. It was a great game, lots of people yelling and cheering, it was fun to ref.In overtime it was back and forth

LOVE

2008-01-15T12:19:00.000-04:00

Just finished up a video that takes a look at different LOVE phrases.I think it's amazing how many different depths of love can be meant with one simple, four letter word. I think... I hope... I know that there is a big difference in what love means in these two statements:"I love Pizza."and"I love my wife."You see, in the English language we simply use one word... Love... and hopefully the

New Slideshow

2008-01-07T15:11:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that we've changed the look of our blog a bit. One thing I've added is a little slide show of some screenshots taken from some of our videos we have created. You should see this in the left hand column.

Sick, Sick, Sick

2008-01-07T14:56:00.000-04:00

Man... am I sick.I hate being sick, you can't do the stuff you want to do. I'm aware it's best that I just relax and recover, but that's hard to do.For the past week or so I've been battling some sort of infection thing in my chest. The last three nights I've (and Melissa) gotten almost no sleep because of my continual coughing, barking and hacking. It hurts my chest so much when I cough.The

the Bible and Money

2008-01-05T16:10:00.000-04:00

A video I was working on recently looks at how often the Bible discusses the topic of money. It's truly amazing when you look at the facts and figures.It's funny because I know that many pastors and churches are reluctant to speak about money, but Jesus certainly wasn't. Why is that?2 Timothy 3:16 says,"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting and training in

Top local eateries

2008-01-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

Those of you who know Melissa and I know that we are fairly frugal when it comes to some things. However, there is one area where we do spend some discretionary cash... eating out.I love to eat out because I love food.Melissa loves eating out because she hates cooking.A match made in heaven!Below is listed some of our favorite local eateries, listed in no particular order except for # 1, with

Prayer Requests

2008-01-05T12:53:00.000-04:00

I wanted to update you on how things are going with Muddy River Media, and a couple of major prayer requests.First of all, as a board we have recently decided to end our relationship with the firm contracted to develop our website. This has been a continual source of frustration and discouragement for us. Without going into all of the details it became very evident to us that the firm was not

Christmas Time Musings

2008-01-05T10:37:00.000-04:00

As promised in my previous post, to bring our readers up to speed, here are 9 comments on our recent Christmas season.On Christmas day Melissa and I have two turkey and all the trimmings meals. One at noon at her gene pool, and one at supper at my gene pool. As you can imagine we just roll ourselves home later that evening.A Christmas tradition at mom and dad's is to have fiddleheads with the

Back to Blogging

2008-01-04T10:14:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted on my blog. I have no idea where December went.Hopefully later today I will throw together a post listing some personal highlights of the past month. As well I will be giving an update on Muddy River Media.We have been working on videos constantly. Some of you may have seen this one we did... it was shown at the Christmas Eve services at

O'Hare Airport Countdown Timer

2007-12-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

Scott Anderson, one of Muddy River Media's board members, was in O'Hare International Airport recently. While there he was a cool looking terminal area that would make a nice countdown timer for churches to use. Below is the 60 second version. (It will also be available in a 5 minute version.)The YouTube video quality is pretty crummy, as it is with all of the ones we show you here in the blog.

Unspoken Messages

2007-12-01T20:57:00.001-04:00

Every gift given at Christmas time carries an unspoken message from the giver.Here is the latest illustrative video from Muddy River Media.

Retricted Area Countdown

2007-11-28T14:58:00.000-04:00

One type of video Muddy River Media will be offering ministries is countdown timers. These are videos a church may use leading up to the beginning of a service/event, or perhaps as a themed timer for a game/contest.The following is a 60 second timer that features an oil refinery in the background. This will also be available in a 5 minute version.What kind of message theme could a countdown timer

Stars

2007-11-28T14:33:00.000-04:00

Below is the third in a series of videos that look at what the Bible says about certain scientific topics. This video deals with man's historic efforts to dogmatically number the stars in the universe.Like the video says, NASA now estimates that there are at least 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe. That would be 70 sextillion stars.If you counted one star every second it would

Christmas Myths

2007-11-23T16:14:00.000-04:00

I know it's be a while since my last blog post... sorry about that. Melissa has been sick and when she started to get better I picked it up. (don't know how that happened)I haven't had a good nights sleep for a few days... keep tossing, turning, coughing, sniffling...<*sigh*> poor pitiful Mark.Anyway...I wanted to post a link to a video I just finished working on. This one is different in that

More Vacation Images

2007-11-15T16:02:00.001-04:00

Here are some more images taken from video footage on our vacation.A palm tree somewhere on our trip.The top of a museum in St. Thomas. (I think)A cross in a cemetery in Barbados.See Above.The tower of St. Michael's Cathedral in Barbados.A cactus, plants and skyline in Aruba.Another Palm tree... we saw a lot of these... go figure!Some plants in Aruba(Aruba was our favorite island we visited)A sun

New York City Harbour

2007-11-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

As promised in a previous post, here are some images taken from video I shot while leaving New York City on the Norwegian Dawn.As the ship was leaving port I filmed the New York City side from 55th Street until about 23rd Street. Then I moved to the starboard side of the ship and filmed the New Jersey side, Ellis Island and Liberty Island.The Jersey side looked more dramatic because of the sun

Cross and Clouds

2007-11-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

While on vacation I shot some video footage here and there. One of the places was in a cemetery in Barbados. (sounds like an exciting vacation huh?)Below is a looping motion background of a cross I filmed in that cemetery. Now before you think that is what the sky looks like in Barbados... it isn't... I messed around a bit to make the time lapse look a bit more stylized.This video seamlessly

Before and After

2007-11-13T14:51:00.001-04:00

Well... Melissa and I got back late last evening from our cruise vacation. Before I give you 5 highlights of the trip I thought I would show you a photo of myself before and after the Caribbean cruise.Yup... I was a bit pasty white before and now I'm a golden brown... sorta. Actually neither Melisa nor I are the type to lay out by the pool so we really didn't brown up much... but we are a bit

Vacation update #1

2007-10-26T20:41:00.000-04:00

Well... we have just arrived in Lowell, Mass for the evening. We're pretty tired because we left at 4:45am this morning, drove a bunch, and did some shopping. Actually very little shopping. Melissa scored a great deal on Lindt chocolates at their outlet store, and I bought a box of something from Mardens that is still making me laugh.When I saw them in the store I literally laughed out loud,

Skivvy Shortage

2007-10-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

As Melissa and I get ready to embark on our vacation this coming Friday we've realized something fairly significant... neither of us have enough undies, let alone other items of clothing, for the entire trip.As mentioned in a previous post, neither Melissa nor I are style demons. We don't own a great deal of clothing. In fact, ALL of our clothes, shoes and jackets fit into a closet slightly

Hockey Pool update

2007-10-19T16:11:00.001-04:00

Just thought I'd give you an update on the Brad Pitt Body Double Hockey Pool that I mentioned a couple weeks ago.We have 32 humans and 1 parrot participating (more about the parrot later)There are 8 ladies, 24 guys and 1 parrot (more about the parrot later)Currently I am in 23rd place with 115 points, 23 points off the lead, but I'm not worried. I'm just letting others have their moment in the

a fantastic meal

2007-10-18T16:32:00.001-04:00

Those of you who know me know that I looovvvve food. Tonight Melissa made one of my favorite meals, something that we haven't had in a while... curry.I love curry. I could eat it again and again. You know how you can get sick of something if you eat it too frequently... I don't know why but that never happens with this particular meal. And that's good because when we make a pot of it we're eating

the Earth

2007-10-18T16:26:00.000-04:00

We've just finished the latest in a series of videos that examine the reliability of the Bible in areas of science. This one deals with the topic of Geophysics, in particular the shape of the earth and how it is supported in space.

Giant Used Car Sale!

2007-10-17T15:01:00.001-04:00

Ok... I got a flier in the mail today for some sort of Giant Used Car Sale going on this week. Now usually I don't even bother looking at them, but this one was different.The layout and design was so poorly done I felt drawn to examine it closely. Sorta like when you slow down and gawk when driving by the scene of a car accident. You can't take your eyes off the hideous devastation.Anyway, here

Separated at Birth

2007-10-16T15:42:00.001-04:00

Melissa and I just received our Canadian passports and I was struck by what I saw when looking at my passport photo.I mean, come on now. You hear people joke all the time about how bad they look in their passport photo... how, if you look like passport photo you should be seeing a doctor... stuff like that. But......when I look at my passport photo I realized what everyone's been telling me for

Science and the Bible

2007-10-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

I've had a series of illustrative videos in my mind for quite and have begun to work on them. They will be showing that, while the Bible is primarily a book about faith and relationship with God, if it touches on a scientific topic, the Bible is always accurate.The prevailing thought in the scientific and education world is that the Bible is definitely not accurate scientifically. In fact, to

Back to School

2007-10-04T20:08:00.001-04:00

Tonight felt like I was back in high school... because I had to take an exam.I think the last actual exam I've taken was 8 years ago for my bus drivers license. Well, tonight I wrote the exam to become a basketball official, and to be honest, going into it I felt like I was in grade 10 again.You see, during my high school years I didn't do a whole heck of a lot during the term, and then, when the

2007 CE??!!!??

2007-10-02T13:38:00.000-04:00

Did you know that today is Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 CE?What's the CE represent? Good question. After last evening I can tell what it means.I've been taking a course the past few weeks. The classes have been held in the AV room at a local junior high school. Last evening while waiting for the class to begin I was flipping through a grade 9 math textbook. I noticed examples of numbering systems

New Norgay

2007-10-02T13:30:00.001-04:00

Some of you may have seen a previous video we had done, Norgay the Servant. Well, we've just finished up another version of it that we will be offering on the Muddy River Media website.The problem with the first version was the music. It was a soundtrack that was borrowed and was not copyright free. This would be a problem if we wanted to give copies of the video away, which we do.All music for

1st Annual Brad Pitt Body Double Hockey Pool

2007-09-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

Those of you who know me know I enjoy following hockey. The last few years I have been a part of the Annual Campbell Brown Hockey Pool, however, because the pool director, Shaun Brown, is busy going through R.C.M.P. training I'm not sure if it's a go this year.(note here for any Americans reading this... R.C.M.P. stands for Royal Canadian Mounted Police... one of the greatest, most respected

If you could change your past...

2007-09-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

The third of 5 On the Street interviews for our Zeros who were Heroes series. This time we asked people. "If you could change one thing from in your past what would it be?Here's what they said...

Inexhaustible, Uninterruptible, Power

2007-09-27T17:57:00.000-04:00

The other day we had our new website server installed here at the house. For those of you who don't understand what a server is... a server is the computer and storage for one or many websites. Servers are connected to the Internet by a specific, unchanging address called a Static IP address.For what we are planning with Muddy River Media it was felt we could not have what's called shared hosting

Top 11 Money Saving Tips

2007-09-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

Tonight Melissa and I plan on putting the last of our firewood into the basement. Those of you who know us know that we LOVE wood heat.We love it for a couple reasons:We hate to be cold in the winter time, especially when wearing our Tarzan & Jane outfits. It is not unusual for us to open some windows in January and February because we got the fire going a bit to hot. (and by fire I mean the wood

I got Blue Eyes... who knew...

2007-09-21T13:10:00.000-04:00

I sat down the other night to complete an application for a Canadian Passport. One of the questions was...What is your eye colour?I asked Melissa, "What colour are my eyes... brown?"She laughed and said (in a sorta condescending manner) "Don't you even know what colour your eyes are... they're blue."I went in and looked in the mirror and, sure enough, my eyes are blue. I thought they were brown.

Website Launch Soon

2007-09-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you know we hope to soon launch the beta version of our downloading website. It has been a lot longer, and I had to invest a fair bit more time getting to this point then we had anticipated.Originally our web developer has promised the final delivery for July 20th. We wanted to test and tweak the site in August, planning to launch it to the greater public in mid-September. We

Motion Background

2007-09-15T22:07:00.001-04:00

Last week when I was away speaking on Prince Edward Island I shot some footage for some motion backgrounds.Here is one of them. This is a seamlessly looping clip that a church could use on the screen for a variety of purposes. It would go perfect for a message on John 4:35Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'?I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for

Love this Video

2007-09-15T10:20:00.001-04:00

Just watched one of the coolest video's I've seen in a while. Check it out...I've always been a big fan of that song by Phil Collins, especially when the drums kick in. What a great commercial.This video makes me wish I had my gorilla suit back. Some of you know the situations I got myself (and my friends) in when I had that suit. Situations that involved crying children, screaming adults,

Cattapalooza pt. 4

2007-09-14T13:48:00.000-04:00

Man, I gotta get me one of them bikes.Looks like kitty is just about to ring his bike bell too.

Have You Ever Given Your Heart?

2007-09-13T15:45:00.000-04:00

Another Street Poll video. This time we asked the people if they have ever given their heart to somebody.

1 Subscriber Moved On....

2007-09-13T14:17:00.000-04:00

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I could be risking losing supporters by posting these pictures of cats. Well, this morning I received an email telling me that one subscriber to our blog has unsubscribed.Now, I don't know why... perhaps they are a cat lover... perhaps they are a cat hater... perhaps God didn't install in them a sense of humour... perhaps they are giving their computer and

I'm Speechless

2007-09-13T14:12:00.000-04:00

Now I know that those who know me know that I am rarely speechless. If anything I suffer from the opposite syndrome, Rachet-Jaws, but, a Muddy River Media prayer supporter, Amanda Andrus, forwarded me a link to some pictures of the World's Ugliest Cat.Wow...I'm speechless...Check it out here, World's Ugliest Cat.

Cattapalooza pt. 3

2007-09-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

Even thought I strongly dislike cats......he's a cute bugger ain't he?

Cattapalooza pt. 2

2007-09-11T10:47:00.002-04:00

This picture and description cracks me up.

Cattapalooza pt. 1

2007-09-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

Those of you who know me know I'm not a big fan of cats. Besides being seriously allergic to the beasts, I don't like their attitudes... all superior and elitist.I know I shouldn't be baring my soul, admitting this because it may make some people unhappy with my anti-cat stance. I remember hearing a story, perhaps an urban legend, about how James Dobson made a negative comment towards cats on one

Post Production Examples

2007-09-09T18:13:00.000-04:00

I mentioned to you a long while ago that almost everything you see on television and the movies doesn't really look like that. There is a tremendous amount of post-production work (that simply means work that is done on the film/video after it has been shot) that goes into every shot.Yes... that means that their grass is not that green... their sky is not that blue... her hair doesn't naturally

What's Your Biggest Fear?

2007-09-04T11:50:00.000-04:00

We asked that question of people down on the Halifax waterfront last week. Here is a video of some of the responses.This video will be offered on Muddy River Media's website as a part of our Zeros who were Heroes series. This will be found under the category Message Builders, a category that will include content (videos, images, information) designed to help churches teach Biblical themes in

Evolution

2007-08-29T17:53:00.001-04:00

I know... I know... Evolution is dirty word to most Christians... we believe in Divine Creation.I wanted to show you a video that is about Evolution, but it has nothing to do with whether we came from pond slime or not. It's about the process that takes place from the time a model sits down at the makeup chair until we see her face on a billboard.This video was produced by Dove and is a part of

MRM Hits the Streets

2007-08-28T18:33:00.000-04:00

This morning David Ead and myself spent some time interviewing/filming people on the Halifax waterfront. This is for a series of "People on the Street" montages we will be offering for churches to download.I gotta admit... I found going up to the first person to ask permission to film them made me very nervous. I know that some people might be surprised by this, thinking that I would never get

Willing to Sacrifice

2007-08-27T17:52:00.000-04:00

The week before last I showed you some photos taken from a video shoot for our next video. Well... now you can see the finished video.The second scene is unlike anything I've ever done before, both in terms of lighting, filming and editing style.The purpose of the video is to challenge the fact that many Christians say they would be willing to die for the Lord, but don't always seem willing to

Showers of "Blessings"??!!??

2007-08-27T15:33:00.000-04:00

Last night, around 11:00, we had a bit of an incident at the Fogarty household. My wife flushed the toilet, but the toilet felt it didn't want to drain the water away, but instead would overflow it's porcelain banks, flooding the floor.I ran for the plunger (why in the world did we keep the plunger outside in the shed?) while it continued to vomit water all over the floor. To make matters worse

Philippians 1:6

2007-08-27T14:53:00.000-04:00

I had another reminder from God last week about the reality of Philippians 1:6 in children's and youth ministry.For those who don't remember, Philippians 1:6 says:"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in youwill carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."In student ministries, especially summer camps, you minister to kids and teens that you might never see again.

Camp Update

2007-08-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

I'm fortunate that my brother owns a business not far from the camp I am speaking at so, I just wanted to give you a quick camp update.It is a small camp, around 30 campers, but it's a unique mixture in that there are more senior highers than junior highers. This makes it the exact opposite of the other camp I spoke at this summer where there were no senior highers.Having the older teens in

Off to Camp again

2007-08-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

I leave today to speak at another teen camp, this one is for Faith Baptist Chapel in Lunenburg. This is the church I grew up in.Like I said in a previous post, it is nice to be able to get back into speaking at summer camps. I was invited to several more camps this summer but felt that the maximum I could do would be 2 weeks. Especially with the work that is going on behind the scenes with our

Missed Me by That Much...

2007-08-18T21:26:00.000-04:00

I'm a huge fan of the old tv show, Get Smart. One of Maxwell Smart's many famous sayings was, "Missed it by that much"Well... on Thursday night in pretty well all of Nova Scotia we had a HUGE storm cell that SLOWLY moved through. I have never seen that much lightning last that long before. It was like a strobe light show. Some people don't like being woken up at 3:00am by that sort of thing, but

One the Set pt. 2

2007-08-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

Spent yesterday morning shooting scene two of our latest illustrative video. As you can probably tell by the photos below... it wasn't a typical video shoot.Mark Baker was EXTREMELY gracious with what we put him through yesterday morning. Extremely.I begin to add moulding putty to Mark Baker's face. Notice theexcellent job Denise Anderson did of the bruising on Mark's right eye.Denise works on

On the Set

2007-08-13T20:35:00.000-04:00

Most of today was spent setting up, shooting, and cleaning up from filming scene 1 of a 2 scene illustrative video dealing with Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.We hope to film scene 2 later this week. As soon as we have the video done we will post it here

Innovate Podcast

2007-08-10T14:05:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Tim Stevens and Kem Meyer from Granger Community Church interviewed me for their weekly Innovate Conference podcast. That podcast is now on their website if you care to go listen to it, simply click the link below:Countdown to InnovateThe podcast kinda took me by surprise for a couple reasons. The fact that they called to ask me to participate in the podcast but

If You were a Plant...

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

If you were a plant, what kind of plant would you be?Well... the reality is, if you are a Christian, you are already part of a plant. Jesus said that He is the Vine and we are the branches. However a second reality is that people see the branches before they ever see the vine.Likewise, people will see us before they will ever see Jesus. What kind of plant do we look like to them?It was this

Down for the Count

2007-08-07T18:36:00.000-04:00

I saw this video and thought you would enjoy watching it. I don't know what I liked most about it... the number of times the model fell, the number of times they replayed it, or the totally unprofessional laughter from the television anchors.As skinny as her legs are I can't believe her ankles didn't snap like twigs.

Camp Infomercial

2007-08-04T11:26:00.000-04:00

While speaking at Gospel Light Bible Camp I had the opportunity to use my video ability and equipment to help them with an activity. All four teams had to write and act out their own infomercial. We would then edit them for viewing. I was able to film one of the teams, plus help edit the final videos. While the teams were getting ready to begin, I got Nathan Hawboldt, the camp director, and my

I'm a Weiner...ahhh... I mean, a Winner.

2007-08-03T16:28:00.000-04:00

It's been a unique few days. To help you understand I've got to give a bit of backstory.I subscribe and read a number of blogs each day... some deal with Video Technique, some deal with Christian Leadership. One is all about U2. One of the blogs I read is Tim Stevens. Tim is the executive pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana. This is a growing, contemporary church that places a large

Happy Anniversary

2007-08-03T09:27:00.000-04:00

I just want to say Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife Melissa.We've been married 16 years as of today.Many of you know her, and you know she is the worker of the duo while I am the shirker. She puts up with a lot from me. She is an amazing lady whom I love dearly.Below you will see a photo from our wedding day. Most of you will agree that neither of us have changed much... well... ok... I may

Another Movie Montage

2007-08-02T08:24:00.000-04:00

I thought you might like a look at a another Mondern Media Montage we finished up. This one deals with the topic of money.

A "Unusual" Need

2007-07-31T22:21:00.000-04:00

Hey Hey PeopleI've got a bit of an unusual need that perhaps one of you (or somebody you know) can help Muddy River Media with.For a video we are working on I need somebody who is the proud owner of an "outie" belly button. That's right... I said, "an outie belly button".Don't worry, you can remain 100% anonymous... your face will not be on the video at all... just your glorious midriff. You can

Camp Update

2007-07-30T07:49:00.000-04:00

A quick update on how the week of camp went. As you already know, I was the speaker at the teen week at Gospel Light Bible in the Annapolis Royal area.We got back home late Friday night and are still feeling quite tired from the week. Wow, a week of camp really stretches you, especially speaking 11 times. I don't think I'm 24 anymore.Some thoughts of the week:The vast majority of kids already

A Day in the Life of...

2007-07-22T09:42:00.000-04:00

Before I leave for a week of camp I thought I would show you a video I had done for FEED NOVA SCOTIA.Most of you know that from the time I left the staff at Temple Baptist, to the time I went full time with Muddy River Media, I was the Volunteer Coordinator at FEED NOVA SCOTIA. During my last month there they had me work on a promotional video to show what they were all about. They now have that

A Week at Camp

2007-07-21T18:03:00.000-04:00

I would ask you to pray for me this coming week (Sunday, July 22 - Friday, July 27) as I will be speaking at a teen camp in the Valley. Gospel Light Camp is the camping ministry of the field of churches in the Annapolis Royal area where I pastored for 4 years before moving to Halifax. And while it is a very busy time in the infant stages of Muddy River Media, I am really looking forward to this

An Indirect Route

2007-07-20T20:15:00.000-04:00

As you can tell from my previous post (if you are still awake after reading it), we have been spending more time than anticipated on the design of our website. Since it will be the heart (in essence, our ministry's building) of our ministry delivery system we can't afford to ignore the importance of it.However... over the past couple weeks I have been working on some other content creation and

The project that ate my life

2007-07-19T15:18:00.000-04:00

Many of you are aware that we are in the midst of having our website built by a company in Nashville, and to be honest... it is taking way more of my time than I ever imagined it would.I really want to spend my time creating new media for the website, not the actual website itself. However, to get the product (website) we want, we need to be quite involved in the process.The website is being

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If you could change your past...

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Cattapalooza pt. 4

Have You Ever Given Your Heart?

1 Subscriber Moved On....

I'm Speechless

Cattapalooza pt. 3

Cattapalooza pt. 2

Cattapalooza pt. 1

Post Production Examples

What's Your Biggest Fear?

Evolution

MRM Hits the Streets

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