Hello all!

I'm writing today from home - Florence, South Carolina!

We've been home for a couple days now, resting up from the journey and such. Ended up clocking in at just under 10,000 miles! Crazy! Very thankful that our little rental car, Isabella, held up so long!

First, we should go ahead and say that we are so grateful for the huge amount of prayers and support we've felt from all of you! It's been an awesome experience, but without the love we felt from friends and family at home it would have been way more difficult. Thanks for that! :)

After making the trip around the continent and meeting so many fascinating people, we definitely learned some things and got valuable insight. It will all be addressed in the documentary, for sure, but here's some of it:

1) People were pretty open about sharing their personal beliefs with us. Sure, some people said they'd rather not talk to us. Overall, however, people were willing and sometimes eager to talk about their faith or lack thereof. It was quite a confidence booster to see that as a person and as a Christian, one can actually have a meaningful conversation about faith with a stranger. We certainly felt more of that confidence in Christ on this trip (maybe more than ever before), and it led to great talks with great people. Anybody reading this, we can all be bold!

2) No matter who we asked - Christians, Mormons, Atheists, Muslims, or whoever - when we brought up the subject of people's opinions on the Christian church in America today, the usual answer that if Christians acted more like Jesus and actually lived by what he said, people would like us a lot better. Of course, a lot of people had varying opinions apart from that, but that was a pretty common thread. It's amazing to hear how many people have been burned by the church because of Christians not living out the Gospel. We're all guilty of it, most certainly. And that's not something we should beat ourselves up about, but instead, take hold of the grace that Jesus has given us and love people better! If we show the love of Christ, people will notice.
Which leads to the third point:

3) It's so awesome to see the unified vision of churches and ministries across the continent who truly are seeking God's heart! God let us talk to several churches and other ministries all over the place. All these ministries shared so many ideas and missions integral to the Gospel, even though they had no contact or relationship with one another! Including: Establish relationships and community, not just charity. Be patient, sometimes it takes a long time to see results from seeds planted. People should be made to feel valuable, because they are. The time put into these efforts is worth it, because each individual matters to God. The people we meet can enrich our lives as we, hopefully, can enrich theirs, as well.
The great thing about seeing this unified purpose in so many places is that when these types of things are the focus of these ministries, guess what? They work! They aren't stagnant, they are dynamic and God uses them in crazy ways. So uplifting to see!

We'll go into all this and more in the film itself. Keep watching here for updates when we get into editing and such (Can't promise how long it will take, because there is a lot of footage!).

A huge thanks to everyone that made this trip a success-
everybody we met, interviewed, talked to on the street, stayed with, or supported us from home! We love and appreciate you guys. Can't wait to get this footage put together and into something you can watch! We'll let you know as soon as possible!

Thank the Lord for the ways we've seen him work!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Greetings from Virginia!

Made our trip down this way from Michigan a couple days ago.
First day here, we stayed with my cousin, who lives fairly close to Washington, DC. We took advantage of the close proximity to that city and made a visit to the capital the next day.

It was so hot there! After being all through the western US and driving through the desert, we had kinda forgotten about the special kind of heat the East Coast has! So humid.

We attempted to get a meeting with one of our congressmen from South Carolina (or even from any state, for that matter), only to find out that the day before we arrived Congress had gone on August recess and nobody was home. Oh, well. It was still a cool experience to walk around the House of Representatives Offices. :)

We were able to stop a few people for interviews, and those went really well. Got some good material there. Even found some Christian guys who let us pray with them. Very cool.

Eventually, a cop told us we couldn't film with the tripod on the grounds of the Capitol Building, so we packed our stuff and went for a walk to a different part of the city. After several hours there, we got back on the DC Metro and went back to my cousin's house.

It was rad spending some time there, and now we're in Richmond, VA, staying at my brother's house. Thankful for people who have been nice enough to let us share their homes for a couple nights!

We're going to stopover in Spartanburg, SC tomorrow night to see a couple of our friends, and then we're headed to Florence! Home stretch now! :)

It's good to be out on the road, but we're excited to get back and see some familiar faces. Pray that in these last few days God still shows us what he wants us to do out here. You guys are awesome and we love you!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Hey all!

So today we woke up in Dearborn, Michigan. Our goal was to speak to someone (or someones) in the Muslim community there, since it is the largest in the country.

We had little luck at first, finding that some people were off work today at some mosques, and of course since this is Ramadan month, many people were home fasting. We took a break from our search to find a little Lebanese restaurant that was amazing (lamb chops!) before returning to our mission.

Eventually, we made our way to the largest mosque in North America, there in Dearborn. Thankfully, we were able to speak with the executive administrator of the mosque. He was very kind, but told us since he did not have our background info, he could not let us interview people on camera. Apparently, they've had some people recently come in to video, only to then post the footage online in a very skewed way. So that was understandable. However, he did let us talk to him off camera, which was a great experience. He really was a nice guy and had a lot to say about his beliefs, both answering our questions and asking some of his own. We told him our mission was to show the love of Christ, and he seemed to appreciate that. He told us that, too often, Christians and Muslims alike spend too much time on picking out the flaws in other people or groups when really we should just show love. We told him we definitely believed in God's grace and Christ's commandment to love.

Twas a good conversation! One of the best of the trip, even though not on camera. :)

Pray for our friend at the mosque, that he would see what Christians should truly be like, and that he would see the love of Christ in other Christians!

After, we did a long drive to Winchester, Virginia to stay with some family. DC tomorrow! :)

Love you guys!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Hello everybody!

Sorry for the lag between blog updates!
We are now back in the States! We were treated with loads of hospitality by everyone we met or hung out with in Canada, though. :)

Spent the last two days in a town outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a friend who I met on a mission trip last year. Her family was super good to us, making us meals and showing us around and such (oh, and you know, letting us sleep at their house. haha).

We ended up getting fewer interviews in Canada than we thought we would, but that's ok! We did get some good footage, and we're moving on in the States now.
(I have to say, I love traveling in other countries, but I also love coming back home!)

Tonight we're staying in Fargo, North Dakota. I've never seen the movie named after this town, but maybe I should, eh?
Anyway, we're starting our journey into the midwest United States tomorrow. Have to drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin, then we're making stops in Illinois and Michigan. Pray for us to get good interviews there, please! And not just the interviews, but that we'd be able to form some relationships and speak truth into peoples' lives.

We're on the home stretch now, and it won't be too long before we're back in SC! But still more to do!

Excited to show you guys the things we've seen and heard!

Thanks to all the folks we stayed with in Canada (Ralph & Donna, and Michelle and her family) for being awesome hosts and great brothers and sisters in Christ! We love you guys!

Look for another blog post soon!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Hello all!

Spent all day yesterday at SYC, the summer camp that Randy volunteered with a couple years ago. Great people out there!

It was great to see a ministry working with teenagers out here, and not only that, but also that the kids seem to respond so well to it! We got an interview with the Pastor who leads it all up, and he told us about how kids always show up at the camp ready for God to move and knowing that he's going to do something big in their lives. That's a rad thing to hear anywhere, but especially in a country like Canada, where we've heard that something like 90% or more of the population doesn't know Christ.

Another thing the Pastor brought up was just how important it is, especially in a place with so few believers, to pour into the lives of kids throughout their development so that the people God wants to call into ministry will be fed and prepared to do so. Of course, that also applies to anyone else, too!

Everyone at the camp was super hospitable to us, just letting us hang around all day and interview folks. The best part came at the end when we got to join in the camp worship service! It had been too long for us without being in a legit service like that! Always awesome to see the name of Christ being lifted up by brothers and sisters in other countries. Our God is a big God!

Added bonus that we got to see one of our friends from BCM back home, Nikki, who is spending the summer volunteering at this camp! So good to see a friendly face from home! (Also got to see her participate in the camp talent show, dancing to a Michael Jackson song, haha.)

Late last night we also got to speak with a young pastor from Calgary, Alberta who just started a church plant there. Super encouraging to see the kingdom being spread that way. Such a nice guy, pray for him! His name is David.
One of the coolest things we've seen in the ministries we've gotten to speak with is how everyone has a unified vision in Christ: relational ministries based on reaching out to and becoming part of the community, showing people the love of Jesus firsthand in their own lives. It's been so awesome to see.

"I see a generation, rising up to take it's place, with selfless faith."
I believe this is truly happening today! There's so many people around us embracing God's call on their lives (and on all of our lives) to spread his good news. Remember what Jesus did for you today, and pray to ask him how best to serve him! It's really as easy as showing love to your neighbor in the name of Christ. Also, pray that Randy and I will do that, too!

Love you guys so much!

On the way to Winnipeg, Manitoba today, which will be a long drive! Talk to you soon!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Greetings from up North! :)

Finally made it to Canada, after an extremely long drive. Something like 15 hours, plus stops!

We're staying in Edmonton, Alberta with a pastor friend Randy knows from when he was up here a few summers ago. It's beautiful up here! And besides the big cities, sparsely populated. We had a bit of a shock when we crossed the border - found our GPS wasn't programmed for Canada like we thought it was. That means Google Maps galore! It was a bit of a pain not to know where we were going for awhile, but we pulled over and got readjusted quickly. All is fine!

Made it here super late last night, but our hosts are incredibly hospitable. It's been an absolute pleasure just to talk to Ralph and his wife, Donna, here at their house. Quite obvious that he is full of the Holy Spirit and God-given wisdom. A much needed encouragement!

Heard a story today about a man in New Zealand who used to walk around anywhere he went, stopping random people he came into contact with and asking them if they knew what would happen to them after they died. Not usually a conversation, some people would blow him off or whatever, but he asked the question. There was a travelling evangelist that heard about this guy from several people he came into contact with around the world, people telling him that because of this man's question they pondered the subject. Many eventually came to Christ because of it. When the evangelist was in New Zealand some time later, he randomly met this man in the street, and sure enough the guy asked him the same question he asked all those other folks. The evangelist told him of the results that had come from his questions, and the man wept. He had never known that anyone had accepted Christ because of what he asked.

Pray for me and Randy, that we would be able to inspire people to think with our questions. You never know what God can do with what we say. Pray that the right questions will be asked of the right people and that the Spirit will move through it.

Love you guys!
Let us know how we can pray for you!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)

Seattle!

It was actually a bit chilly here today! My kind of weather! :)

We weren't really sure what was going to happen today, and to be honest, the day kinda got off to a frustrating start (trying to find our way around and such). However, it turns out God had a plan for the day, anyway (as he always does).

The first 8 or 9 people we talked to Seattle all turned us down. The most of any city so far, I think! We actually had to change locations because no one said yes. We went down by the waterfront, instead.

Of course, in a scenic area like that, there were more tourists, and we did talk to a few (one couple was actually from SC!). Got some footage there, and moved on. Back downtown, we ran into a guy who said that he would advise us to go out of the city to get better interviews, since most people wouldn't probably want to talk, and most people were transplants (not natives of Seattle), and most people weren't churched (not that that mattered to us for the sake of getting a wide variety of opinions). We thanked him and went about our way. The very next guy we stopped, not one minute later, was willing to talk to us, was a native of the Seattle area, and was a super solid Christian. It was quite encouraging!

One thing this guy said stuck out to me. We asked him how God moved in the world today, and he responded by telling us about the relationship that God wants to have with man. He described it as the best relationship you could ever have, with a person that you can tell anything to, where there's no reason to worry and there's nothing to feel bad about.
It's a good reminder to hear these sorts of things said by others. Sometimes I know I, for one, get too caught up in trying to meet goals or do better than I have before or whatnot. But it really is true that once we are in relationship with God through his son, Jesus Christ, he is our closest confidant, our reason not to worry, and (by his grace) we have nothing to feel bad about (conviction, yes, but shame, no). We don't have to worry what he thinks of us, how he will react to something we do. We just know that he loves us with a surpassing love and will give us mercy, grace, and loving kindness throughout the days of our lives. What a treasure and a relief. God is love.
Amen!

We ended up getting to talk to a pastor friend of ours who is starting a church here in the Seattle region today, and we're staying with him tonight. He's a great guy, Warren Mainard, and his church is called Essential Church. If you're ever in the area, look it/him up! Tomorrow we're going to see some of the work this new church is doing in the community. Should be good!

Tomorrow we'll also head into Canada, God willing, so there may or may not be a blog post tomorrow night. Keep watching if you want, though!

Love you guys, keep us in your prayers! Lots of traveling to do tomorrow, so it'll be quite the full day. Let us know if we can pray for you, too!

Love you guys!

Love in Christ,
Tim and Randy :)