Monthly Archives: October 2008

Awake O’ Sleeper

Posted by Marcus Orr on October 26, 2008 No comments
Awake O’ Sleeper is another great short film from Whitestone Motion Pictures.
A Hero comes from the wilderness to cry out to the captives, pleading for them to awaken. This short film from Whitestone was in part inspired by “Plato’s Cave” and depicts the struggle of freeing the captives, whomever they may be. This film is set to the song by the same name originally written for this film by the talented Wright Brothers: Nicholas Kirk and Billy Wilkerson.

Download the film and mp3 free at:
www.whitestonemotionpictures.com

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” – Ephesians 5:14 


Awake! O Sleeper

(Kirk/Wilkerson)

Oh Abraham would raise his hands
And mourn this very day
For his children left the promised land
In search of their own way
They kick and scream like wayward sons
Always wanting to sleep
And dream away these evil days
In hopes that God can’t see

There are chains upon your children Lord
Chains upon your children
There are chains upon your children
We’re in chains

Do you hear the lion roar?
Awake O’ Sleeper
Stand with me well fight the war
Awake O’ Sleeper

Your suffering will come again
And never fall away
For we trade our many comforts
Like the one who bled for grace
There will come a day my God will come
And put me in my place
My God I pray, You’ll call my name
Instead of turn away

Let no man bring me harm
I bear the marks of Jesus
Let no man bring me harm
I bear the marks of the Lord

Technorati Tags: , ,

The Watchmaker’s Son

Posted by Marcus Orr on October 24, 2008 No comments

The Watchmaker’s Son is an excellent short film from Whitestone Motion Pictures.  It won the Crystal Heart Award for Dramatic Short Film at the Heartland Film Festival which wraps up this week.  This is a wonderful example of the art of storytelling at it’s best.  Take a look:

 
From the Whitestone Motion Pictures Website…

Although we may be filmmakers by trade, we are storytellers by nature.
Venture into our world and let us weave a tale for you. We will tell
you about life and love and fear and pain. We will show you laughter
and tears, the devil and God. The story is the lifeblood of our world
and nothing matters more.
…So lean close, and let us tell you a story.

I really enjoyed this film and the questions it raised in my own mind about the lengths we go to to gain approval and acceptance from others…even the lengths we go to trying to gain our Heavenly Father’s acceptance…while we miss out on the importance of building relationship.

Writing Out Your Spiritual Journey

Posted by Marcus Orr on October 22, 2008 No comments

I’ve been looking for pastoral ministry positions, which is proving to be rather difficult within my denomination (Southern Baptist) as there is no singularly utilized resource for posting openings.  Unlike some other denominations, Southern Baptist church openings aren’t filled through appointments or recommendations from denominational offices.  Most are either advertised in local or state newsletters/newspapers or are passed along by word of mouth.  As our state convention’s newspaper has liberal tendencies, it primarily draws pastoral search postings from liberal leaning churches.  As a result, I’ve had some difficulty locating theologically conservative churches.  On more than one occasion, I have sent my resume to churches that haven’t made their positions or affiliations clear, only to discover during an interview that we were on different pages theologically. 

This evening, I learned of a church that is seeking a minister of education.  I searched around the internet and found some information about the church and pastor that appealed to me and looked promising.  I decided to reply to the posting which requested a resume.  I’ve never been a big fan of resumes.  Having been involved in law enforcement for several years, I’ve learned that the bare facts can’t always tell you what’s most important about someone.  When I’m working a case, I want to know someone’s story.  Where have they been?  How did they get there?  Where are they going?  Their story tells much more about them than two pages of bullet formatted facts and dates.  I felt led to write my story.  It took me several hours to write it.  At first, it felt strange, but after I was finished, it felt rewarding. 

I realized that there are at least 3 major practical benefits to writing out your personal story

  1. Writing out your spiritual journey reminds you of the spiritual highs in your life – the times when you have walked closest with God and his guidance has been clearest
  2. Writing out your spiritual journey gives you perspective on your current spiritual condition
  3. Writing out your spiritual journey helps clarify where God has gifted you and where He is leading

I sent my freshly written story along with my resume.  It gave me an opportunity to express who I am and how God has worked in my life.  It also gave me the opportunity to write out a short philosophy of ministry and some basic theological beliefs.  I suggest you try it sometime, it’s a rewarding exercise, even if no one else ever sees it.

Association of Biblical Counselors

Posted by Marcus Orr on October 6, 2008 1 comment

I joined the Association of Biblical Counselors.  I found their website while looking for resources for my dissertation.  Their site is designed well and had some great looking resources.  I decided to join after reading through their statement of faith and endorsements.  Their statement of faith was very well written and almost poetic in places.  It is an especially good format for a website.  I was also impressed by the endorsements, which included a few of my favorite pastors, teachers and biblical counselors.  Here are just a few:  John MacArthur, Jay Adams, David Powlison, Ed Welch, and Wayne Mack.  I’ve read more than a few books by these godly men and I’ve always been impressed with their work.  I was excited to see an endorsement from one of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. Sam Williams, from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Current Southeastern president Danny Aiken endorsed the group.  There was also an endorsement from former Southeastern president and current Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson.  I’m glad that SBC leadership, at least in the seminaries, is supporting biblical counseling groups like the Association of Biblical Counseling, the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors and the International Association of Biblical Counseling.  Speaking of NANC, they also have a great design on their new website. 

If you’re looking for information about biblical counseling, take a look at these organizations’ websites.  There is so much information there to absorb, I wish I
had another vacation coming so that I could spend some time really
digging into them.  Each of these is link worthy and going into my website’s link list and my personal bookmarks.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Southern Triad CISM Team

Posted by Marcus Orr on October 6, 2008 2 comments

It looks like the Southern Triad Critical Incident Stress Management Team is taking off.  I’m excited to be a part of this team, which is a merger of the Randolph CISM Team and the West Chatham CISM Team to form a regional team.  The team met tonight in Siler City.  I’ve had some limited involvement with the Randolph CISM Team in the past.  I’ve attended a couple of their meetings and joined them in a debriefing, but haven’t really gotten to know their members.  So, I am somewhat of an outsider to both teams, which gives me a unique perspective on the group and tonight’s planning meeting for their merger.  I was impressed by the resources on both teams, particularly in terms of training, which was a big topic of the evening.  It looks like there will be some great opportunities for training with this team.

There is a lot of potential for this to be an excellent team.  I hope that everything comes together well.  My name was mentioned in discussion about developing a team website.  I’m still debating whether a website is where I want to focus my energy with this team.  I’m inclined to do it and have a lot of great ideas, but I’m also stretched thin by other projects.  I’m going to have to put some serious thought into whether I can put in the time required to take on the development of another website.  I’m hesitant on the website bit, but I am eager to get involved and help get this team off to a good start.  Perhaps my schedule will clear up a bit over the next month and I’ll be able to make a decision by the next team meeting.

I had a brief chance to speak to a few team members one on one after our meeting.  It’s always interesting to meet new folks.  There are some really great people involved with CISM.  I look forward to new friendships.

If you live near Randolph or Chatham County, NC and are interested in getting involved with the Southern Triad CISM Team, or if you live in the Triangle area of NC and are interested in getting involved in the Region J CISM Team, email me.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,