first impression is everything

So, my sister called me and asked me for a favor. Not a small one to start out with though. She told me about a conference that her church is doing for the teenage girls (note that they are in South Africa). Anyways. So she asked, I need two things if possible:

1. One of those old countdowns the church used to play at church to get people to come in.

2. A video of flowers blossoming, night turning to day, the sun rising, etc. You get the point.

The reason for the video is because the name of the conference was transformation. Now my idea for the video was of course as the kick butt transformers movie with robots kicking butt, but I had to keep in mind this is a girl conference...they don't want to see that. So I agreed to get #1 for sure, and attempt #2. I was given 2 weeks. Wow, i was cut in for my work. I started searching. Nope, this site costs money, nope, same with this one. Did you know when you type in the keyword "flowers growing" you get...something else thats not flowers. Ya, not cool at all. Nope, still have to pay at this site. Nope, google sucks, cant get it here....dang, I couldn't find anything for free. I was working with not little budget, but no budget. I couldn't find one single video. Stock videos cost a fortune! Ya, I wont even mention the pirated sites. So I couldn't get the video done...I felt like a failure, ahh..but wait, maybe I can do something cool at the end of the countdown. So I ripped the countdown off the children's Ministry laptop, scroll to the end, and add a few words with cool effects and stuff like that. Add music and stuff like that. Few hours later, its done. Now to some how send it to South Africa, in 5 days, without paying $22 mailing. Hmmmm, upload it to my site for download. Done. Bam, call my sis, tell her its done, and tell her how to download it. So she does. Wow she was impressed...its amazing what our church here in America can do over there in South Africa. This Saturday our countdown that we used to use and my words are going to be played in front of 42+ girls. I know this blog is long already, but I want to share part of the email my sister sent me. Here it is.

I'm well. Been busy with this conference, but it's really coming together nicely. We are so blessed! We've gotten so many donations, now have 42+ girls attending, everything looks nice and the budget balances, and we only charged a R60 registration fee, which is $8 USD. So with a $8 registration fee and sponsored items, we were able to cover a cool delegate pack with a printed agenda, sponsor sheet, notepad, bookmark, pen, highlighters and candies for each girl; a rose for each girl; lunch for 50 people including a sandwich, juice, fruit and chocolate; decorations; lots of giveaways for prize-drawing - including 2 gift certificates to a coffee place, 4 free facials, and 2 books; gifts for speakers (a bouquet of flowers and a free facial); and gifts for all our team! It is amazing what God can do with a little bit of money and a lot of faith! I'm blown away and looking forward to Saturday! I hope all the girls feel really special and walk away from the conference changed. Please pray that everything runs smoothly (all the technology and everything) and that each girl gets a personal touch from God on Saturday.

I don't want to take to much more of your time. But its cool to be able to help out in another church, in another country. Now, thanks to our church, 42+ kids will have something cool to listen to and see when they enter the conference. First impressions are everything. That is what we have to remember at our church when someone walks through the doors for the first time. If we let them walk by without being greeted, we have given them there first impression...and it is this "this church is to big, even though they are at a school, and they can't handle one more person. I don't think this is the right place for me" We don't want that to happen. Not because we want the our church only, but because this may be there only time they try to come to a church, and we just blew it for them. I am releasing all my teenagers at least 15 minutes before service starts, long enough for people to still be flowing in. I ask that they all go and greet 1 other teen and invite them to student ministry's. If your and adult, make another adult feel at home. If your a teen, make another teen feel at home and take him/her to student ministry's. Lets make our new church grow.

Speaking of all this growing and out reach stuff. Read Jason's latest post. It is amazing!