Tru Dat! Happiest Place On Earth! Saturday was the first time in a LONG time that I went with a large group of friends to Disneyland. Joey, Llona, Becky, Roberto, Lyndsey, Jeremy, Jerod and myself, making it a total of 8 people! We mostly all met at 7 (www.seven.ws), and many of us have moved away, but the Christian comradely was amazing! Though I have likely been to Disneyland 100 times more than everyone else combined, I was so excited to go. You will have to excuse my Disney freakiness right now, the 50th is this month, Disneyland is improving (thanks Matt Ouimet), Space Mountain opens in 2 months, and I got my premium annual pass so I can go whenever I or my friends want!

On occasions I even had serious talks with some while walking or waiting in line. Jeremy, Jared and I talked about God's sovereignty, free will vs. predestination, and Lyndsy and I got a chance to talk about being a positive influence in a dark world. God bless her, she is trying to change the "food industry" customer service at Biola by being so positive, and this is a ministry not only to her, but to those she interacts with. Yeah, being positive is something most people fail to strive for, yet also being serious and candid when the time calls for it.

It was so cool because we were all relaxed and just enjoying Disneyland and our time together. Lyndsey, Jared and I detached from the group for a bit to ride Tower of Terror and Soaring over California. Jared had never been on either and he had a great smile on his face. After that it was over to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. After dinner, some had to leave to get home at a decent time, the rest of us went on a few more rides and the Cannon brothers (Jeremy and Jared) got to see Fantasmic! for the first time ever. They were stunned, and though I had seen it many many times, I had the biggest smile on my face throughout the entire performance. After Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, we departed and all of us agreed we needed to do this again. That's what I really like about Disneyland, at the end of the day, you feel relaxed and more peaceful. Though Disneyland has done a great job of truly creating The Happiest Place On Earth, the true giver of peace is God, and the happiest place in the world is with God.

PORN !! With that word alone, I should get a lot more visitors to my blog. I first heard of xxxchurch.com a few weeks ago in my Biola Media conference flyer with a picture of two young guys next to it. I thought it was a ploy by using such a blatent name to draw attention to themselves. Last Thursday when I was a Crave, a college age ministry, they said xxxchurch.com would be there next week. Again, I was appauled, even disgusted. No way was I visiting that site with such wording. Then came the Biola Media Conference movie screening. I could play it safe and see Steve Taylor's movie, staring Michael W. Smith, or see these other guy's documentary about the porn industry called "Missionary Positions". Yup, that's the name of the title. "How could they pick such a name?" I thought, "...because of this I will not see it." Yet, the whole day God was tugging on my heart, and I decided to go into unknown, unsafe territory.

I'm glad I did. These two young ordained pastors (who have full time jobs as pastors in Corona) felt a calling to start an anti-porn website and minister to not only the porn industry, but those who are addicted to it. Their methods may be brash, cutting edge, and even offensive to some, but that may be just what is needed. Nobody is doing this! Porn is a huge problem and people just want to go along and pretend it does not exist! If it is talked about, it is done in a condemming manner. No one wants to be talked down to and condemed; they would rather go one sinning thank you very much. Not with these guys. They confront the problem head on in a loving, straight forward, creative and even funny sometimes manner. Watching the documentary I felt like I was reading stories about the early founders of the church and what adversity they faced, the struggles, sucesses, insurmountable odds, and evil around every corner. Yet I know God is on their side, and when God is on your side, who can be against you?

It is an excellent documentary and I highly reccomend it. Some parts will scare and shock you, but we live in a shocking world. The movie was even made by a non-Christian. He was there, and I know that with his interaction with these two over the past few years, seeds have been planted. It was not random chance that they just happen to meet each other at the airport one day...

Please pray for www.xxxchurch.com and their “virtual church”, the film so it will be picked up by a distributor, as well as the porn industry, and those addicted to it. This is not a problem that will go away anytime soon, and continues to spread like wildfire leaving an even more destructive path perverting what God originally created to be pure and glorious between a man and his wife. Porn is the biggest problem nobody talks about, and it is tearing our kids, family, country, relationships, marriages, nations, world, and relationship with God apart.

See what happens when I get sidetracked? I realized that I didn't post much about the Biola Media Conference yesterday. Here are the highlights.

Opening speech. Sting the professional wrestler was there. Though I am not into wrestling, it was cool to hear his journey and how God worked through him and changed him. His talk with Hulk Hogan was great, and went somethig like this: Sting "You are probably wondering why I don't go out and drink, party and do the crazy things I used to. I am a new man and Jesu..." Hulk: "Say no more man, I understand".

Session #1: Doug Tennapel. GREAT GUY! Funny, educated, smart, hard hitting. It was about stop waiting for your big break and start working on your skill now by just doing stuff. This guy created Earthworm Jim, a popular videogame and cartoon, created numerous graphic novels (comic books), sold one to Fox to be turned into a movie, writes, directs, composes music, and none of it was a "gift from God". It was a skill he developed and refined. He said that too many times Christians think our "talent" is a "gift" from God. He stated that gifts are given in entirety, as a whole, while skills need to be trained. I see his point, all too often we call it a gift, when in reality it is something we need to work on to refine and make better. Quality of our work should be priority. He asked how many people have seen bad Christian "art". Everyone raised their hand. Why do Christians make such junk? Because they often think it is a gift. Quality of our work should be priority. He asked how many people have seen bad Christian "art". Everyone raised their hand. Why do Christians make such junk? Because they often think it is a gift, when it's not. Though we should strive for high quality, we should not become lathargic and not get any work done, waiting around for our big break. We need to go out and do stuff. To hit this point home, he showed us a quick movie he made in a weekend with some friends and $300. It was called Sockbaby (www.sockbaby.com). Yes it was low budget, but the fight scenes, production value and audio were all top notch. It encouraged me, as I could do this, and even do better!

Session #2: Arthur Anderson. He is assistant Director to John Woo. He has worked on such big films as Mission Impossible II, The X Files (tv show), Windtalkers, Face Off, Paycheck, and the new Bewitched. I saw him last year, and this year he showed us behind the sceen footage and how the BMW Film "Hostage" was created.

Lunch: Steve Taylor was awarded to his contributions to Christian music. This guy has created numerous albums, and produced Newsboys, Six Pence, and many others.

Session #3: Short filmmaking and film festivles. We saw some shorts, and analyzed how to make our short films better, and even how to get them into film festivles. A lot of practicle advice.

Ending Session: Discussion with the 3 main guys behind bringing The Chronicles of Narnia to the big screen. It was great to hear how they all had different connections, some working for Disney, and how they met on campus of Biola, made some phone calls, and made this movie take off the ground (which is sure to be a HUGE hit). Not only was this written by a Christian (CS Lewis), it has many Christians behind it. We saw the trailer, which they just got their hands on the night before, and everyone was excited. They are going to be faithful to the book, and if this movie does well, they WILL make more.

Movie Screening: I had a choice to see Steve Taylor's movie, or see the xxxchurch.com documentary called "Missionary Positions". Yeah..... I'll tell you what I chose in another blog.

Christians & the Media. Something most would thing does not go together. Today was the 10th annual Biola Media Conference. I have been to this a number of times, and each time it is a great experience. A lot of "A" list people, ranging from all tallents (actors, directors, writers, producers, etc) and come and talk abou the craft an how this tool can be used for Jesus Christ. There are a lot more Christians in the media than most would expect.

X-Men 1&2, and the new Fantastic Four movie? Produced by a Christian. President of Disney media distribution, a Christian (that THAT all you Disney boycotters!). People in charge of bringing The Chronicles of Narnia to the screen, Christians. Creator of the video game and cartoon Earthworm Jim, a Christian. Creator of Happy Days, Perfect Strangers, Step By Step, Bruce Almighty, Kung Pow, Patch Adams, just to name a few, all Christians. And there are a lot more than that.

This is a mission field. If "Hollywood" is going to change, it needs to change from the inside out. Too many Christians will just bash "Hollywood" and turn their nose up in protest, refusing to see anything rated higher than PG (and I have seen some PG movies that are more offensive than R ones!). Many of these people are searching, and we as Christians need to be there to show them Jesus, not turn in protest wanting nothing to do with them.

Though everything on earth will be destroyed eventually, and the only lasting thing that will last is our relationship with God (and maybe our relationship with other Christians, I'm not sure), I want to create something that will last a bit longer here on earth, and possibly have a positive impact on people. The Wizard Of Oz is still being watched today and it continues to influence, teach and impact people, and it's venues like that in how I would like to further the kindom of God.

Though this is what I want, God may want me someplace else. But for now, this is what I am persuing. Maybe God has something better in store? If so, I'm all for it!

I wish gas prices would go higher. Most would think I'm crazy when I say that considering gas prices in California are approaching the $3 per gallon mark. I have always been a fan of alternative fuel sources since I was a wee little kid reading picture books about what the future would be like. If prices go up and stay high, it will force auto manufacturers and other companies to aggressively push towards alternative fuel sources such as hydrogen and electric. It would also make us more independent so we don't rely on foreign sources, and because we do, we are at their will when it comes to fuel. Imagine what would happen to our economy if they cut the fuel supply in half, or even more? According to AAA, 95% of the gasoline consumed in California is from...yup, California. That other 5% is from foreign oil sources because we consume so much. Why are Americans so wasteful? I want my car to get 100 miles per gallon, and I wanted that 10 years ago. And while I'm at it, where is my personal jetpack!?