On Location in Zambia: Victoria Falls Rope Swing

The bungee jumping at Victoria Falls in Zambia is world-famous. I decided to seize the day while filming for the 2010 MOVE documentary in Zambia and do it. The bungee jump was pretty much what I expected. You can see footage of the bungee jump on my personal blog (http://ericepperson.blogspot.com). This rope swing on steroids, that became part of the package deal, was surprisingly more intense.

On Location in Zambia: Extras

While filming a story about the water crisis in Zambia last month, we spent a lot of time with a young girl named Abigail and her family. Josh Hall got to know her younger siblings while shooting a scene outside her house. He even gave them some tips on lighting.

On Location in Zambia:  Lunchtime at the Mackenzie school

Early this fall, a small film crew went to Zambia in Africa to uncover the story of hope that is currently emerging from the midst of the water crisis. What we saw blew our minds. It wasn’t just the fact that there was a huge need in Zambia. What really impressed us was the number of people and programs that were stepping up to make a difference. One of these programs was the feeding program at a little school in the Mackenzie neighborhood, a slum outside the city of Ndola. Only some of the kids in Ndola go to school. Many don’t because they lack the resources, or sometimes adult encouragement, to make it to the classroom everyday. The feeding program at Mackenzie goes above and beyond the norm. The people there work to serve lunch to as many kids, students or not, as possible everyday.

This past summer at MOVE, all attendees was given a “Kingdom Worker” challenge. It was presented in a sealed envelope and there were approx 50-75 different challenges that the students could get. Two of the challenges read, “1000 4 H20: Raise $1000 (at a job, doing chores, selling your stuff) and donate it to Blood Water Mission.“ and “26.2: Commit to being healthier. Train and run a marathon before next summer. Get started at www.activewater.org.”

Since then we have seen and heard of some incredible stories of students who have taken the cards and “ran” with them. There was a student who rode his bike across Indiana to raise money and awareness. Below you will see an awesome story about a student named Ian from Kansas who took the task to another level…by adding a couple of zeros to the end.

At Christ in Youth, we have decided to take it a step further and all programs will address the water crisis in the world next year. Next year, with MOVE specifically, we will try to raise enough offering next summer to build 5 wells in Zambia, Africa. Tomorrow, our MOVE programming staff will be in Nashville meeting with Blood:Water and Active:Water about a partnership for next summer. We are looking at possibly creating a film similar to “BAHT” but raising awareness for the water crisis.

I would ask that you would pray for the meeting tomorrow, that the Lord will lead us in the correct direction about this partnership. Also, pray for Ian that the Lord would continue to give him strength and perseverance over the next year.

Here is Ian’s story (email from Ian to Daren of Active:Water):

Hey Daren,

It’s nice to hear from you. I actually heard your story at a CIY MOVE conference. On the last night CIY handed out envelopes to each student. Inside the envelopes were cards describing a different task for the individual to do. But we were only to open them if we were serious about doing it. Now, I’m not going to lie, when I opened mine, my first thought was, “Wow. How am I supposed to run a marathon?” But the more I thought about it, it fits. Now, I’m not much of a runner, but one of my teammates had been training already for a marathon and the other is pretty athletic (and I’m not so bad myself). The more we began to think and dream of what God can do and what God wants to do through us, we’ve decided to raise $100,000 between the three of us. Along with raising $100,000, we also look to travel to Africa to give the people not only physical water, but the everlasting water of Jesus Christ. The race we are now looking at racing in is the Lynn Electric Kansas Marathon in Lawrence, Kansas (they have added a marathon for the April 2010 race).

That’s our story (as it’s developing). Here’s a little bit about me:

I’m 17 years old (18 in a few days) and I’m a Senior in High School in Wichita, Kansas. I had known that there was a water crisis, but never really grasped the depth of it until viewing your site. I’m heavily involved in church and I love being there. The church has become my second home. In fact, I work there everyday at a daycare. After my senior year, I plan on going up to Ozark Christian College to become a pastor. I’m really passionate about people and showing Christ to the world (although I fail at it everyday), so my desire to “deliver” the water myself is pretty strong. If there’s anyway you could help us do that, please do. We would love to run with you.

Thank you for your help.

Ian

I’ll be honest. I can be somewhat of a skeptic. Admittedly, I have no real reason to be. More times that not, God has come through for me. I’ve been able to witness some pretty amazing things. I’ve even seen what some might consider a miracle or two. But God continues to exceed my expectations. This summer proved to be another example on an ever-increasing list labeled “Eric’s faith is too small.”

MOVE Friday night. I saw six of them this summer. But whether it was Oregon or Tennessee didn’t matter. They all looked the same. As each evening came to a close, we’d call the students’ attention to a little green envelope they received earlier that night. The instructions were pretty simple. Inside the envelope was a task, one of fifty tasks to be exact. If you open the envelope, you have to complete the task. Be careful because the tasks are really hard. In fact, you probably shouldn’t open the envelope. Seriously, don’t open the envelope.

We didn’t want it to feel like manipulation. There was a safety hatch if they wanted to bail. It wasn’t just rhetoric either. These tasks really were tough. One of the fifty said to collect 500 coats for needy kids in your community. Another required the recipient to learn a foreign language and go to a country where it is spoken next summer. Another said to skip prom. What? Skip prom? I’d rather go to Burma!

Each week I stood on stage after making the pitch and watched as hundreds of students threw my warning to the side and stood to say that they were going to open the card. Remember that scene in the proverbial movie where the heroic captain/school teacher/vegan was going to be killed/fired/made to drink milk unless he surrendered/stopped using rap music to teach poetry/ate a hamburger but then all of the sailors/students/PETA supporters stood up in his defense? That’s what it was kind of like. There was always crazy determination in their eyes. High school students are gutsy, they really are gutsy.

I’d select a few from the standing and bring them up on stage to open their card in front of everyone. Chris opened his card in Tennessee and learned that he wouldn’t be buying any new clothes for a year. He made the commitment, in front of 1,200 people, to give that money to the children’s ministry at his church. Chris is gutsy, really gutsy.

Yet Chris isn’t alone. There were literally thousands of other students who stepped up and accepted the challenge to be a kingdom worker this summer. Right now, these stories are playing out in soup kitchens, recycling centers, and locker rooms all over the country. You should get involved too… at your own risk of course.

Go to www.weamplify.com to see the stories of these gutsy kingdom workers.

Last night’s theme here at MOVE was FREEDOM.  The whole day revolved around how we as humans, we as Christians, are constantly chained to our sins.  We feel the guilt from our sin or we even feel comfortable with our sin and it chains itself to us and affects our entire life.

Chris Duncan delivered a powerful message proclaiming that no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, or what your sins are, God is bigger than you can possibly imagine.  And He is searching for you because He wants to help you break those chains.  Don’t be held back by guilt or fear, God is bigger.

Before the final session, everyone at MOVE (all 1000 students and leaders) wrapped those paper bracelets like you receive at waterparks on their wrists.  Before they attached them though, they wrote some of their sins on the inside of the bracelets.  Then they linked them together further symbolizing shackles.  The climax of the night came as everyone prayed for God to release us from our chains of sin.  As the students prayed, they broke the chain-bracelets on their wrists.  It was a powerful moment.

God is bigger than anything you can possibly imagine and He is moving here in Tennessee this week.

The first night of MOVE Tennessee 7 was last night at Lee University in Cleveland, TN and it was a great night of worship.  The Aaron Pulsue band really did a great job and played some killer songs, perfect for the opening session.  It was a fantastic balance of get-up-and-jump tunes mixed with humble-yourself-before-God songs.  Well done.  He even revitalized an old 90s worship song that I remember singing back when I was in early high school.

And we will dance on the streets that are golden

The glorious bride and the great Son of Man

From every tribe and tongue and nation . . . .

You know the one I’m talking about.  Well, even if you don’t I’m sure you can appreciate being in a place that is wholly worshipping Jesus.  There’s really nothing like it.  It’s awesome to see so much passion put into the music and so much power coming from the voices of a thousand people all singing as one to God.

I know your crazy busy right now so I wont take much of your time but I thought you would like to know how well I think MOVE went this summer and how it has effected not only the student ministry here but the entire body…

This was my 10th year at a CIY summer conference (5 as a student, 5 as a leader) and I must say I become more and more impressed with you guys every single year. I give props to your teams creativity, giftedness in media and ability to create an amazing worship atmosphere.

To say the cards my students opened after Michigan 2 have challenged them would be a complete understatement. Not only have you made it easier on my student ministry department to keep the passion from MOVE real in the lives of our students but you have made the idea of living our lives as kingdom workers a lifetime goal to many of my students.
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Mid-July.  Mid-Summer.  Mid-2009 tour.  The last four weeks of the MOVE 2009 event have been incredible!  We’ve seen thousands of students converge on staple locations such as Milligan College (TN), Hope College (MI), Anderson University (IN), and Fort Lewis College (CO).  It has also been exciting to witness some new locations.  One of our teams just returned from sunny Myrtle Beach, SC, while another team is resting from a great week at our first event with Johnson Bible College (TN).

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