By the Way of the Cross

Condemned to die on a cross
for crimes he had done.
The thief was guilty, everyone could see,
But his destiny was changed,
as he looked at Christ and said,
"When your kingdom comes, remember me."

In paradise that Day he stood
just like the Lord had said he would,
surrounded by those who had gone before.
One said, "friend how did you come?
What are the deeds you have done?"
With tears in his eyes, I can hear the thief reply:

There are no merits to my name.
No works that I can claim.
He who brought me here told me to say:

I have come by the way of the cross,
I have come by the way of the cross.
It is nothing I have done,
It's the suffering of God's Son,
I have come by the way of the cross.

I have nothing to claim but my guilt and my shame.
Hopelessly lost, I could not find my way.
Till His glorious light of love shown down on me.
His mercy washed all my sin away.

And what He did for me that day
was a price I know he paid
by His grace I too can say, forever say:

I have come by the way of the cross,
I have come by the way of the cross.
It is nothing I have done,
It's the suffering of God's Son,
I have come by the way of the cross.

I see millions gathered round the throne
from every kindred and tongue,
those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
As they cast their crowns
down at His feet,
this will be their story, this will be their song:

We have come by the way of the cross,
we have come by the way of the cross.
It is nothing we have done.
It's the suffering of God's Son.
We have come by the way, come by the way,
there is no other way, but the cross.

Words and Music: Dennis Wilson/Gaither
Photos: by myself, at Champion Forest Baptist Church, Houston, Texas.

ICC Teaches in Maryland

I frequently get asked questions about the Communicators For Christ (ICC) tour that Kali is on.

She left at the beginning of July and will come home in late November. Kali has been traveling with a team of eleven teens, teaching communications classes all across the United States.

When I arrived in Maryland to see Kali and the team, they were practicing for their dramatic evening program and for their opening assembly program.

The interns come from six different states. Before their tour is over, they will have traveled through at least 37 states, and will have made stops in twenty of those to teach and present.

The schedule they keep is daunting. They are up early every morning - 6:00 AM, or so, and go until 11:00 PM. Every day. Conference or traveling - they are always practicing, re-writing, memorizing, firming up lesson plans, something. All the time. Here Kali is setting up the facility for the conference.

Just a funny side-note, this fellow told me later in the day that the reason he wore his bow-tie was that he forgot his regular tie. Like I needed a reason - haha! I thought he just wanted to look dapper :).

Here the interns were explaining the different tracks the students could attend - depending on how much experience in speech they already had.

A rousing interpretation (not) of Romeo and Juliet - an example of how not to communicate with your audience :). (I realize you may be able to make out the interns' names on their tags, but I never post names of children - other than my own - on my blog. I figure the interns are posted on the ICC website, so my deleting their names doesn't really help anything.)

Believe it or not, this was a skit about four students debating. Four students who probably really didn't want to be there, let alone be there debating :).

One of Kali's jobs on tour is to be the Apprentice Coordinator. The apprentices are students in a leadership position. They have been to conferences before. Their role now is to serve the new students. The apprentices are the 'grunt' force behind the conferences, leaving the interns free to teach, coordinate, and run activities. Kali had a great group of apprentices in Maryland. They began their time together with some team-building activities. And, yes, they are screaming at each other. Literally. They scream at each other down the line, around the circle, and back. I am not sure what its purpose is - but the kids ALL love it! and it is a wonderful ice-breaker.

Conferences last three days. Classes and group activities fill the time. Interactive, high-paced classes and activities.

Did I mention they were interactive? This was during Big Bart, The Villain - a staple at CFC/ICC conferences.

They split up into groups and watched video of famous orators. They talked about what made the orator someone of influence and prepared a short skit highlighting that orator's skills. We had the hard part. We had to figure out who their orator was.

A group presentation.

One of the group activities was S3 - Social Structure Sites - or something like that. The teams represented various web networks and their purpose was to bring people and capital to their servers. They learned to work together, to strategize, and to defend.

My favorite picture from the Maryland conference :).

This fellow ran the Hacker Station during the simulation.

The students love this activity.

And the apprentices get to help the interns run the simulation. It's all about the funny costumes, too :).

End of Day One. All the students go back to their homes and to sleep. Not so the interns. They spend another hour or so practicing the Awakening Program.

Airborn - in both directions, going forward and then going backwards across her lap. I just didn't get a picture of it :(.

Day Two started with some communications activities. This is a popular one - listening, following, and giving correct instructions.

In and out of the pews, all around the hall, and in the walkways.

Practicing orotunde! I'm sure that's not spelled correctly - they praticed projection and speaking from the diaphragm. (That's probably not spelled right either.)

The interns also teach debate classes.

Kali gets to teach the M & M Debates. She loves it! The students love it! They get packages of M & M's and they debate whether or not the Mars' packaging of M & M's is beneficial to the consumer.

The more experienced students also debate in a style called Public Forum.

Hands-down, my favorite activity at the conferences is Model U.N. - Model United Nations. The students represent various countries. They are given an emergency scenario - a biological virus being released - and have to pass resolutions, following Roberts' Rules - to remedy the situation.

Day Two ended with the Awakening Program. The Maryland conference saw a lot of changes in the AP. In case you are wondering - the fellow with the blue mustache is actually portraying Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast.

There's that jump again. I think he has a little more height here.

The closing scene of the Silver Cord

Day Three brought group photos. Plenty of them in various poses.

They also did group presentations of various speech types. This particular interpretation was of Cinderella - with the kids' own twist :). He was having none of that kissing the princess stuff!

Debating the pros and cons of everyone having a pink car. Yeah, how many positive things can you think of that deal with pink?

Non-verbal interpretation!

And all too soon, the conference comes to an end and it's time to thank the interns and the apprentices for all their hard work!


So. That's pretty much what happens at a CFC/ICC Conference - in a nutshell. A lot of work and planning goes into it and in three short days, it's all over. Then the next step comes - getting out on the platform and speaking. That's what it's all about!

The 2010 ICC Intern Team is Coming to Town

Kali worked hard for almost two years to complete the requirements for this internship. Many, many speeches were researched and written, then presented to basically anyone who would stand still long enough to listen. Kali presented on many, many community platforms getting ready for this opportunity. The purpose is to be ready, willing, and able to command the platform and explain your faith and why you believe. At any time, for any person, under any circumstance. She has been traveling with this team of interns for almost four months already. They are traveling the United States teaching students how to communicate their faith - through the public platform. Now, finally, the ICC Communicators For Christ Intern Team will be in town this coming Sunday evening, October 24th, at 7:00 PM, to present their dramatic interpretation of the Awakening. It will delight, entertain, inform, and cause you to think. It will inspire and encourage. And it's FREE. Please come out to see Kali and the team. From here they will be headed to Tampa for a three-day communications conference.

The Light of the World

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man sent from God - John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe that the True Light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

And to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children, born of God.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven.
~ John 1:1-9,12 and Matthew 5:14-16 ~

Local Art Show - Part 2

This is a sampling of the some of the incredible pieces of art on display this weekend. Mannekin hands, fluffy feathers, and pvc pipe not taken into account.

This lady made beautiful glass catchers. She had many where she used a glass ashtray in the center of the piece. I didn't get photos of those because she looked like she was going to ask me to leave . . . so I did.

These were fantastic! Did your kids (or you) ever have any of the scratch art sets? Black paper you would scratch on with a sharp stick and it would remove the black and show you fantastic color underneath? You would literally scratch pictures onto the black paper. That is basically what this is and it was called Scratch Art. The jellyfish on the right is the piece of art the association chose to put on front of their commemorative black t-shirts for the event. I included the octopus in my collage at the front of this post.

This lady used little bits of pottery, stones, glass, shells, leaves, and beads to make these collages. A bright, lovely booth! I enjoyed it a lot!

The artist at this table was Larry Schorfhaar, a 79-year-old award winning wood-worker from Ocala, Florida. He hand-crafted all the instruments at this table. He sat in his chair, playing a dulcimer as I took several photos of his crafts. Mr. Schorfhaar had a kind, gentle smile for me as he played. (He didn't glare at me like some of the others, which I greatly appreciated :). This also allowed me to get some decent photos - which I also appreciated.)



I was most impressed with this workmanship. Not that I know anything at all. No expert here, obviously, I had to google to make sure I spelled dulcimer right. His instruments were beautiful works of art and I was greatly impressed with the love that was apparent in every piece. I enjoyed my hour at the art show. I may have to go back again next year!