Ken Ham's Blog, page 422

Kids Supporting Ark Encounter

It is exciting to see how people—in different ways—are not only teaching others about the truth of God's Word beginning in Genesis, but are also supporting the outreaches of AiG. Here is a great account of how a homeschool parent and a group of kids learned about creation and the Flood, and also used the time to support an outreach that will reach millions of people with them gospel—the Ark Encounter, our full-size Noah's Ark. I received the following email:

Last fall I had the opportunity to teach a class at our homeschool co-op using the Jonathan Park audio series. The students got to learn about topics such as fossilization, the first humans, and macroevolution versus microevolution. We enjoyed making crafts and doing activities to reinforce what we learned.

As a way to connect what they were learning to the efforts of creation ministries, the students raised money for the Ark Encounter project. They completed various chores at home and each week placed their coins into the class piggy bank which they affectionately named Dr. Bacon. At the end of the semester, the students rolled the coins and each guessed how much money they thought the class had raised. The coins were counted and the child who came closest to guessing the amount of money won Dr. Bacon. Timmy O. was the winner.

Our class is excited to offer this check in the amount of $156.25 to the Ark Encounter project.

Becky Patterson

Strong Oaks Academy

Imaginary plane ride to the "The Adventure on the Aucilla River."

Timmy O. holding Dr. Bacon.

Students with the money they raised.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

It's Almost Here—Don't Miss It!

It's just about here—our first Children's Ministry Leaders' Conference.

Our outreach department gave me the following creative promotional text in order to get you to excite Christian leaders in your church about our upcoming Children's Ministry Leaders' Conference:

You know you work in children's ministry if…

you like slime
you enjoy crawling around on your hands and knees … in your Sunday best!
you can sing any Bible verse to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell

It's not too late to register for the upcoming Children's Ministry Leaders' Conference, March 22–23, right here in the beautiful new Legacy Hall at the Creation Museum. Answers in Genesis has put together a great line-up of speakers and resources to encourage and equip those who serve in the awesome area of children's ministry.

You can also take advantage of two special bonus sessions on Friday night: previewing the new Sunday school/Bible study series, Answers Bible Curriculum.

RSVP by March 15 (Thursday of next week). Registration, by the way, includes a complimentary dinner.

To register, visit www.answersingenesis.org/go/childrens.

Defended by a Bible Teacher

It is good to see Bible teachers who defend Answers in Genesis against those in the church who compromise God's Holy Word with man's fallible religion of millions of years. A Bible teacher from the Grace To You ministry in California recently wrote a blog stating the following:

During the course of my various exchanges with a classic apologist commenter, he directed me to an article written last July by Dr. Richard Howe, a professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary.

In that article Dr. Howe expresses his concern with the apologetic enterprise of Ken Ham in defending the Genesis narrative and ultimately the historic, Christian faith. He claims Ham's water-downed presuppositionalism utilized to make his presentations is bankrupt, fraught with problems, and is self-refuting. …

His critique, however, provides for us some practical insight into how woefully inconsistent and compromised classic apologists can be. I'll work my way through his main arguments and offer a rebuttal.

It is encouraging to see solid Bible teachers coming to the defense of those who stand on the authority of God's Word, while around us is a sea of compromise in the church today. I encourage you to read the rest of his well-written blog post.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Archery Program at the Creation Museum

As I've said many times, the Creation Museum is a wonderful place for Christians to bring families. I've had many parents tell me they just love to bring their kids to the Creation Museum, as they know it is a family-friendly place. They don't have to worry about what their kids will see, read, or hear because they know their children will be taught the authority of the Word of God in an uncompromising way.

As part of our commitment to providing such a family-friendly Christian facility, one of our supporters has funded a program to help young people and adults have an enriching program for families. It is an archery program. In fact, our family has the archery equipment so we can have fun together as a family. I find it enjoyable and also good exercise. This Creation Museum's new program is also an opportunity for families to invite children and their parents who may not necessarily visit the Creation Museum. It can be a great opportunity for witnessing to them.

This program has been in development for quite some time at the Creation Museum, as we had to find a place for the range, build equipment, and train staff members. Last fall we concluded much of our training when we conducted two programs for the children of staff members.

Don't miss out! This spring you can sign up for one of these programs for your children. Here's what our museum team has told me:

During this program, children will learn eleven consecutive steps to follow to achieve life-long archery success. These steps will guide the archer from initial form on the shooting line through execution and reflection of each shot. Archers will use state-of-the-art Genesis bows by Mathews. Each bow is designed to fit any child. Participants shoot at 80-centimeter bulls-eye targets placed before an arrow curtain.

This program is designed to teach international-style target archery to children in fourth through twelfth grades using lessons developed by the National Archery in Schools Program. This was developed for use in schools' physical education classes—the core content covers archery history, safety, technique, equipment, mental concentration, core strengthening physical fitness, and self-improvement (read about the NASP mission).

Before presenting the course, teachers undergo an eight-hour NASP Basic Archery Instructor Training Program. The regular NASP program is intended to reach out to students within schools and engage them in a rewarding program. The NASP method of training yields a very high success rate for students. The program that kids enjoy here at the Creation Museum is one which they can even pick up when they return home via a local chapter of NASP.

By the way, I can personally attest to the rewarding nature of archery and the usefulness of NASP training methods.

You can find out more about this program at the Creation Museum at this link.

To me, providing such programs is a part of helping families to provide wholesome Christian-run programs for families and their friends, and at the same time, use it as a way of reaching others with the message of the truth of God's Word and the gospel.

I encourage you to see if you can become involved in this very popular activity that will be run by trained professionals.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Spend Your Vacation with AiG

It's not too early to start planning your summer family vacation. We invite you to join us in beautiful Branson, Missouri, for Proclaiming the Faith. This family conference will be one week you and your family will not want to miss. Solid biblical teaching and lasting memories will make this a vacation of a lifetime.

Todd Friel

Mark Spence

Joining me will be a great line-up of speakers, including Todd Friel who is host of Wretched Radio and Wretched TV, Mark Spence of Living Waters Ministry (and dean of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort's School of Biblical Evangelism), as well as most of our dynamic AiG speakers. There will be special music from world renowned pianist and composer John Elliott, and our own Buddy Davis.

We will also have exciting workshops for kids (ages 7–12), a teen track, and special sessions just for women featuring Georgia Purdom. The schedule will leave plenty of time for you enjoy the many family friendly attractions such as Sight & Sound Theater (which offer discounts for our attendees) and the beautiful scenery of the Ozark Mountains.

There are also some great hotels that are providing super rates for our attendees. Check them out here.

Remember when you register before April 11, you can take advantage of our special early-bird discount rate and save even more.

Visit www.proclaimingthefaith.org for complete details, schedule, discounts and registration.

Special Honor

Yesterday, I traveled to Mid-Continent University (a Christian university) near Mayfield, Kentucky, to speak to students and faculty. Also, students from a local Christian school attended. I was greatly surprised to learn just minutes before I spoke that the university was conferring an honorary doctorate upon me for what the ministry of AiG has contributed to the Christian world. I quickly had to put on a gown and then walk to the auditorium where they bestowed the honorary doctorate before I gave the presentation I had been asked to give. I will share more about this event later.

President Robert Imhoff of Mid-Continent University during the ceremony yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Importance of a Book

When I was in university in Australia (1971–1974), I didn't have any resources that gave answers to the evolution and millions of years issues. But someone gave me a booklet that discussed the topic of no death before sin and the fossil record being laid down by Noah's Flood. Not long after that, I was told about a book called The Genesis Flood by Drs. Morris and Whitcomb. I obtained a copy and was so excited to be equipped with answers that I started searching for other publications.

In 1977, the various books on Genesis I had obtained were displayed at the first major creation seminar that I was a part of (held in the city of Brisbane, Australia). People who attended the seminar wanted to buy my books. The Lord burdened my wife and I at that stage to begin importing creation apologetics books for people. This was all a part of the beginnings of the creation apologetics ministry that started in our home in Australia and eventually led to the founding of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum.

I have always had a passion to equip people with resources so they can obtain answers to enable them to witness to others and train their children.

I am always so excited to see people's response to the resources at our conferences. To me it's like equipping an army for the spiritual battle—in this instance, equipping an army with "weapons" (books and DVDs) to do battle with the forces of darkness as Christians defend the Christian faith and proclaim the gospel.

Here are some photographs taken yesterday in Paducah (western Kentucky) at Heartland Worship Center as people were getting AiG resources. How exciting to know that so many answers are being disseminated into the community! Also, it's thrilling to see kids being "resourced"!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

On Two Major TV Programs—From Down Under to Canada

We found out yesterday about two television interviews with me in two countries.

Canada

I was interviewed on the very popular 100 Huntley Street program. Among other things, The New Answers Book and Answers magazine are promoted. This program has already been aired throughout Canada and  you can now watch the interview at the following links:

Part 1
Part 2

Down Under

I was interviewed quite some time ago by a documentary producer and the interview and documentary is apparently going to appear on the Dateline program on SBS Television in Australia. It will be available to view by anyone via podcast.

The broadcast (as far as we can ascertain) is scheduled for airing Tuesday, March 6, at 9:30 p.m. (Australian time and date). The broadcast should be available to U.S. viewers on Wednesday, March 7, after 6:30 a.m. (EDT).

Here's the link to the SBS podcast page where the interview will be posted and archived, and this is the link to the SBS program information.

Not sure how this will turn out, but it will be interesting to see. Here is how SBS advertises it (by the way, we have spent around $35 million on the Creation Museum to date):

An Australian and his $17 million Creation Museum are creating controversy in the United States .

Ken Ham, a former science teacher from Queensland, has devoted his life to preaching the 'creation story'… that God created the world 4,000 years ago.

Now tens of thousands of true believers flock to his high-tech Hollywood-style museum in Kentucky each year. The animatronic displays bring alive everything from the Garden of Eden to the history of dinosaurs.

But Ham's increasing popularity and his unequivocal preaching rile an increasingly vocal band of atheists, who believe more in Charles Darwin than Adam and Eve.

WATCH – Don't miss their heated clash in David Brill's colourful story on Tuesday's Dateline at 9.30pm on SBS ONE.

Devastating Storms

Devastating storms that produced tornadoes caused terrible devastation in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, not far from the Creation Museum, on Friday. As we received word of the approaching storms, AiG staff and museum guests moved to our shelter area in the bottom floor of the museum. Here are some photographs of staff and guests as they waited out the storm—and one photo of the approaching black clouds.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

More on "After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?"

Recently, the Journal of Medical Ethics caused an uproar when it published an article titled, "After-birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?" News reports initially focused on the short abstract of the article that was available for free online (the full paper cost $30 to purchase, according to one report www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/ethicists-argue-for-post-birth-abortions), when the paper was suddenly made available in full shortly after the controversy began.  Although I already posted about this story on my Facebook page, I thought it worth looking at the full report for today's blog and including this link so now you can all read the four-page paper for yourself here (jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/02/22/medethics-2011-100411.full.pdf+html).

The authors of the paper were Alberto Giubilini, who works with the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in Australia, and Francesca Minerva, who works with the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Their thesis? They believe that parents should be allowed to abort their newborn infants.

The authors stated their argument as follows:

Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call 'after-birth abortion' (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled. (p. 1)

Giubilini and Minerva take abortion a step further, arguing that parents should be allowed to abort their newborns. They justify their position by claiming that an infant is not technically a person:

Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a 'person' in the sense of 'subject of a moral right to life'. We take 'person' to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her. (p. 2)

At which point do Giubilini and Minerva consider infants to be persons? They declined to say: "we do not put forward any claim about the moment at which after-birth abortion would no longer be permissible" (p. 3).

To give you an idea of just where this sort of thinking leads, consider this paragraph from the article:

Failing to bring a new person into existence cannot be compared with the wrong caused by procuring the death of an existing person. The reason is that, unlike the case of death of an existing person, failing to bring a new person into existence does not prevent anyone from accomplishing any of her future aims. However, this consideration entails a much stronger idea than the one according to which severely handicapped children should be euthanised. If the death of a newborn is not wrongful to her on the grounds that she cannot have formed any aim that she is prevented from accomplishing, then it should also be permissible to practise an after-birth abortion on ahealthy newborn too, given that she has not formed any aim yet. (p. 2)

What we're seeing here is what happens when society loses its biblical foundation. Once people abandon a basis in the absolute authority of God's Word, then moral relativism will permeate the culture. This is what is happening in our once Christianized West. The situation is akin to that described in the book of Judges:

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

It also reminds me of Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness." These people are so blinded by evil that they believe allowing after-birth abortions will be good for society—that it will be good for parents to be able to abort kill their own newborn children for any reason.

This type of thinking may shock many Christians who understand that all life, both inside and outside of the womb, is precious, but it is not really new. Another "ethicist" named Peter Singer has advocated similar ideas for years. (See Singer, Peter. 1979. Practical Ethics, 1st ed., pp. 122–123. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) And it won't just stop at what this article is reporting on—much evil will be claimed as okay as God turns our nations over to judgment because of their rebellion, and as sinful man determines to do what is right in his own eyes.

Romans 1:28–32 delivers the sobering reality of what society will look like when the people willfully reject their Creator. Among other things, they invent ways of doing evil, and even though they know that those who practice such things deserve death, they not only engage in those activities, but approve of those who practice them.

What these two "ethicists" believe about life is exactly contrary to what God teaches about life. The Psalmist praises God, saying, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God tells Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). Our God is about life—He values it—and He makes clear in His Word that every person—unborn babies and newborn infants alike—are known by Him and exist from conception.

For more on this shocking pro-infanticide thinking, see today's "News to Note" and read the commentary by a medical doctor and AiG researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying.

Ken

Big Dreams and a Little Pony

I loved this testimony received from Sarah Ishida recently:

Answers in Genesis excites me because it dreams big and exercises creativity while proclaiming biblical truth. From the A is for Adam children's book to the latest Ark Encounter endeavor, Answers in Genesis has touched thousands of minds and hearts.

Answers in Genesis personally touched me when I was a teenager. I had sent a hand-written letter telling "to whom it may concern" that I was interested in someday serving with this ministry. "To whom it may concern" turned out to be an AiG staff member who responded to me with a hand-written letter of his own.  I later met him while attending Creation College 3. During this event I also met Mr. Ken Ham and had him sign the "My Little Pony" I had painted featuring the Answers in Genesis logo. Mr. Ham obliged with a smile.

Now as a senior humanities major at Bob Jones University, I am as interested as ever to work with Answers in Genesis. Like Answers in Genesis, I have big dreams and a desire to influence individuals for the Creator. After graduation, I hope to pursue an MA in philosophy of religion while continuing to serve as the curriculum illustrator at my church. In addition to illustration, I also enjoy writing and have had a short story accepted for publication—someday I hope to say the same for my novel.  I am eager to see what God has for the future of Answers in Genesis. As the owner of an ark plank, I look forward to attending the grand opening of the Ark Encounter—perhaps I'll even take my pony along.

Sarah also had a pony autographed by AiG illustrator and cartoonist, Dan Lietha.

Here are two photos Sarah also sent:

Greatly Expanded Digital Downloads

AiG has greatly expanded the number of books available for digital download. You can download these for use on iPad, iPhone, iPod, Kindle, Nook, etc. Go and check out the store (and while there check out the video and other downloads now available).

In Western Kentucky This Weekend (Sunday and Monday)

Dr. Terry Mortenson and I will be conducting an AiG conference at Paducah, Kentucky, this Sunday and Monday. For details, go to the event page.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

What Will the Academics Teach at the Wheaton College Symposium?

During March 28–29, Wheaton College in Illinois is hosting a Science Symposium entitled "Evolutionary Theory: Implications & Christian Belief."  You can see a list of speakers at this link.

What I thought would be good is to give you documented evidence of the position on God's Word in Genesis these speakers take. I will give you direct quotes from each of them (with the source), so you can judge for yourselves what Wheaton students, professors, and visitors will likely be taught at this symposium.

Kathryn Applegate, the program director at BioLogos in San Diego, CA, says this:

God speaks through the Bible and through all sorts of other things, too, that comport with the Bible. So for science, I think, science is another way of studying what God does and, we're progressively having revealed to us how he has created, how he continues to create. That it wasn't just Godmade it at the beginning and stepped away. I think God is active and involved, and we see that in the continuous creation through the means of evolution.

So, that's really exciting and a way to better understand who God is and the character of what he's about. He's infinitely creative, infinitely good, and we see that in great diversity of life on Earth. Looking at Genesis only for scientific details is a bit like trying to look at the notes on a page of a symphony and without hearing it, you miss all the richness and glory to do so. Not that the notes aren't important, not that the science isn't important, but that isn't the primary purpose of why we have those texts. (http://biologos.org/resources/kathryn-applegate-on-how-evolutionary-science-reveals-gods-character)

In a BioLogos video entitled "The Church Must Not Ignore theEvidence," Applegate argues that there are "severe implications for the church" if it continues to avoid the topic of evolution (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oio93rWFruU).

Michael Behe is Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. He writes the following in Darwin's Black Box (Simon and Schuster, 1996):

Evolution is a controversial topic, so it is necessary to address a few basic questions at the beginning of the book. Many people think that questioning Darwinian evolution must be equivalent to espousing creationism. As commonly understood, creationism involves belief in an earth formed only about ten thousand years ago, an interpretation of the Bible that is still very popular. For the record, I have no reason to doubt that the universe is the billions of years old that physicists say it is. Further, I find the idea of common descent (that all organisms share a common ancestor) fairly convincing, and have no particular reason to doubt it. (p. 5)

C. John Collins is the professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO. Collins believes in "anthropomorphic days," which is similar to the day-age view. He writes the following in Science and Faith: Friends or Foes? (Wheaton: Crossways, 2003):

First, it is true that modern geology does not depend on Scripture (it isn't true that it ignores it, though: many works cite James Ussher's chronology for the world). But this is a far cry from saying that it sets itself in opposition to the Bible. In fact, most of the pioneering geologists in early nineteenth-century England were pious Anglicans—some were clergy. It would only be right to say that geology opposes Scripture if we were sure that Scripture requires us to believe that the world is young—and the early geologists thought the Bible gave room for other possible interpretations. (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2010/05/31/why-dont-many-christian-leaders-and-scholars#fnList_1_23)

Darrel Falk is the professor of Biology, Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA. In a video from the Test of Faith entitled "How old is the universe?" Falk claims, "The age of the universe is around 13 billion years old … and I would say the age of the earth is 4.3 billion years old" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-H3dGttx58&lr=1&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1).

Paul Nelson is fellow of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, WA, and adjunct professor in the Master of Arts Program in Science & Religion at Biola University in La Mirada, CA. Nelson was a contributor to Three Views on Creation and Evolution, edited by J.P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds (Zondervan, 1999). He writes the following:

Young earth creationism, therefore, need not embrace a dogmatic or static biblical hermeneutic. It must be willing to change and admit error. Presently, we can admit that as recent creationists we are defending a very natural biblical account, at the cost of abandoning a very plausible scientific picture of an "old" cosmos. But over the long term, this is not a tenable position. In our opinion, old earth creationism combines a less natural textual reading with a much more plausible scientific vision. They have many fewer "problems of science." At the moment, this would seem the more rational position to adopt. Recent creationism must develop better scientific accounts if it is to remain viable against old earth creationism. (p. 73)

Alvin Plantinga is the professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN. He is the author of Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, among other books. Plantinga, in a letter to the Editor in the Chronicle of Higher Education, writes this:

As far as I can see, God certainly could have used Darwinian processes to create the living world and direct it as he wanted to go; hence evolution as such does not imply that there is no direction in the history of life. What does have that implication is not evolutionary theory itself, but unguided evolution, the idea that neither God nor any other person has taken a hand in guiding, directing or orchestrating the course of evolution. But the scientific theory of evolution, sensibly enough, says nothing one way or the other about divine guidance. It doesn't say that evolution is divinely guided; it also doesn't say that it isn't. Like almost any theist, I reject unguided evolution; but the contemporary scientific theory of evolution just as such—apart from philosophical or theological add-ons—doesn't say that evolution is unguided. Like science in general, it makes no pronouncements on the existence or activity of God. (http://chronicle.com/article/Evolution-Shibboleths-and/64990/)

Fazale Rana is the executive vice president of Research and Apologetics at Reasons to Believe. He writes the following in Origins of Life, coauthored with Hugh Ross (Navpress, 2004):

Scripture shows how God began with an amazing vision nearly 4 billion years ago when He spawned first life. He then hovered over early Earth like a mother eagle brooding over her young to preserve this life under hellish conditions. Thus began a process that connects the origins of early life to mankind's beginning in a deeplymeaningful way, as a progression of miracles making Earth suitable for human beings. (p. 225)

Jeffrey Schloss is the director of the Center for Faith, Ethics and Life Sciences at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. In a BioLogos video titled "Evolution: What We Know and What We Don't," Schloss says, "Evolution in the sense of whether that genetic change over time has resulted in the diversity of species we see now, which is the proposition of common descent–that is an idea, that's an interpretation. But the evidence for the truth of that interpretation is overwhelming" (http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont).

Richard Sternberg is a research scientist at the Biologic Institute in Redmond, WA, and a research collaborator at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Sternberg calls himself an "evolutionary biologist" and adheres to "structural realism." Sternberg writes the following in "How My Views on Evolution Evolved":

In the grand scheme of things, then, there is no incompatibility whatsoever between subscribing toneo-Pythagorean neo-Platonism as I do and intelligent design in the broad sense; quite the contrary. Intelligent design of this variety clearly has roots separate from the Bible. (And, needless to say, those who try to represent the former as only the modern offshoot of scriptural literalism or of "red state" cultural ignorance are guilty of gross historical illiteracy.) Thus, my position asserts that the cosmos is fundamentally intelligible in such a way that it can be logically, mathematically, and scientifically recognized to be such; andmoreover—following Proclus—that the universe emanates from Nous (mind). So in this sense my thinking is compatible with intelligent design broadly defined. (p. 10)

Sadly, such compromise as represented above is permeating Christian colleges and churches in America (and the rest of the world). This is the compromise that has led to a generational loss of biblical authority.

I encourage all of you to read our book Already Compromised that details the research conducted into what is being taught in Christian colleges, seminaries, etc. in the USA.  I would also direct you to a new series of videos where I not only teach about this biblical compromise but give many quotes and video clips of Christian leaders compromising God's Word with evolution or millions of years. The series is entitled Already Compromised—3 DVD Set.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Congratulations to the AiG Video Team

This past weekend AiG was honored to have five of our recent video productions recognized as semi-finalists at the San Antonio International Christian Film Festival (www.SAICFF.org). The festival—which is sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries and led by our friend Doug Phillips—has become the most popular independent Christian film festival and (as far as we are aware) the most heavily attended, with nearly 2,500 people present for the awards ceremony itself.

Our Vice President Dale Mason, whose responsibilities include leading the video department, sent this report to me.

The creativity of Ben Wilt and the entire video team really was on display here in San Antonio. All five videos were shown repeatedly in the two-day run up to the awards ceremony. Four of the five video projects made it to the finalist level and two of those were 1st runner-up in their categories.

Buddy Davis' new I Dig Dinosaurs was runner-up in the Best Creation Film category, and our Gold Rush VBS promo was runner-up in the Best Promotional Media category. With well over 200 entries this year, just making semi-finalist on five videos was a true honor. For these two to go all the way to runner-up standing and to be shown in the huge theater and receive the encouragement of all present was quite humbling. I wish our entire video team could have been there.

The five productions that made semi-finalist were as follows:

I Dig Dinosaurs DVD (featuring Buddy Davis)
Gold Rush VBS promo
Foundations DVD (featuring Ken Ham)
Answers Bible Curriculum promo
Check This Out DVD (six short animations)

I join Dale in congratulating Ben Wilt and the entire video team, as well as Buddy Davis for his great video about dinosaurs. The quality of people that God has brought here, and the quality of the videos they are producing in all areas of the ministry is amazing. To our Creator and Savior be the glory!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken