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Merry Christmas from City on a Hill Productions!
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
By Molly
As we take time out of our year to celebrate the Christmas season, we want to remember the blessings God has been so gracious to give City on a Hill Productions over the past year. We have begun a new publishing relationship with Thomas Nelson, seen the amazing impact of H2O on thousands of households through its run on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and have been hard at work finishing up the Easter Experience post-production. So many of these blessings were made possible by the continual prayer and support that we receive from each one of you. Your desire to see the gospel message go forth through media ministry and see lives changed through that message is evident in the encouragement we so often receive from having you as a part of this ministry. We are greatly humbled with the way this ministry is developing because we know that apart from God, none of it would have been possible.
At this time of year we are often reminded anew of the great work that the Father did by sending his only son, Jesus, into the world to save a lost and sinful people. Jesus is the ultimate example of humility and showed that God desires bring himself low to reach people as they are. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2 to
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In light of this amazing truth, we want to emulate Christ in this way through our ministry – to reach a culture with the gospel story, through a medium that they use and understand.
Praise God for giving us much more than we could ever deserve in the form of His Beloved son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation that comes through Him! May we all be humbled and seek to be servants of Him and one another as we continue to share the good news of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. We pray that you will ponder these great truths and let the truth evoke a sense of awe and wonder at the God who came to live among us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Staff at City on a Hill Productions!!
Tags: christmas
POSTED IN Ministry | NO COMMENTS » -
Our Mission Field
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
By Shane
The blog video that you’re about to watch is a great example of all that God has done and all that He’s yet to do in the ministry of City on a Hill Productions. You’ll learn more about who we are and what God is up to.
For all of these exciting adventures, YOU have been along with us for the journey. As God leads you to financially make this work possible, you are as central to our work as the person running the camera, the team building the set, and the actors on the screen.
As you plan your year-end giving, we boldly ask you to remember City on a Hill Productions. We ask for your support with confidence, because we know that we work toward the highest calling of all-bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We ask for your support with excitement, because we know how your gifts will be used.
It’s a fact-people have already come to salvation because of the work your support makes possible. We ask you to close this year by making an eternal investment through City on a Hill Productions.
Like every other ministry, year-end gifts are a critical part of our yearly finances. This year we need to raise $120,000 to meet our year-end goal for 2008 and to make possible a successful ‘09.
Donating online is secure and convenient. If you want to donate to a specific staff member, please designate their name in the comments field of the electronic donation form. Click here to donate.
Please know that we appreciate your support and see your contribution as provision from God’s hand. We honor your giving through our commitment to changing the culture for Christ through media.
May God bless you and your family this Christmas season, and grant you His favor in 2009.
In Christ,
Shane SooterTags: Barna, City on a Hill, Ministry, Mission, Support
POSTED IN Ministry | 3 COMMENTS » -
Church Leaders & H2O
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
By Shep
Since it’s release H2O has reached an untold number of people with the truth and message of Jesus. We rejoice with each and every story we hear of lives changed and restored. Hear from church leaders who have used H2O and experienced the resulting connection and life change in their groups and people they minister to. Here are some of those incredible stories…
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Beer and Bible?
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
By Richie
Kevin, Cassie, and I recently drove to The University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to interview brothers of the Lamda Chi Alpha fraternity. As it turns out, their advisor, Steve Parsons, has been leading them in weekly Bible studies often centered around the H2O series.
As a result, many of these young men had come to know Jesus Christ. We had the privilege of interviewing these men and attending one of their Bible studies at their frat house. It was incredible to see a room full of Christian and non-Christian guys glued to the television as Episode II played, and to see and hear how God has used H2O to break down barriers and give these guys the freedom to discuss and seek after Truth. It was also such a blessing to spend time with these guys and here about their new walk with Jesus and the changes He has brought to their lives.
As a new staff member, it is such an affirmation and encouragement to continually see how God uses this ministry draw people to Himself. I hope the testimonies of these men and their mentor will affirm and encourage all of you who have served with or supported City on a Hill Productions.
Richard Ramsey
Ministry Support DirectorPOSTED IN Ministry | 1 COMMENT »
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An H2O Testimony
Friday, October 10th, 2008
By Shep
At our fall event last week we were excited to share several awesome testimonies of how God has used the H2O series to reach people’s hearts with the gospel message. We gathered more stories than we could possibly fit into the time we had to share them… Here is one such story.
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An Interns Life
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
By Shep
I am typing this from a hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee at about 12AM as I am down here with a very small City on a Hill crew shooting a video for an incredible ministry to recovering inmates in the Memphis area and beyond.
This will also be my first real personal entry to the City on a Hill blog, even though I have been creating video content for this here blog for a good long time. It is one of the joys and stresses of my internship at City on a Hill Productions. A position only a select few will ever achieve in their lifetime. A coveted position. A position often referred to by those who know as “indentured servitude”.
Why am I here, doing this? I decided to write about that particular story. (Out of a good many I could have possibly chosen.)
So I shall start in the beginning… I was born in a small run down apartment owned by my parents in the east end of Louisville in July of 1989… OK. So maybe not that far back.
I’ll start with more recent events. In 2006 I was 16 years old, and was only just beginning to feel the wind beneath my wings so to speak. Maybe I was a socially challenged homeschool student, (that’s a joke actually) but I had begun to really feel the calling of God on my life to pursue media. Then my parents decided an ordinary life with 7 kids wasn’t enough and they adopted 5 more from Western Africa. At that point I knew God was challenging my family to change our thinking in the area of family and ministry. What I wasn’t aware of was how God was changing and forming me for ministry in an area I began to have an inexplicable passion for. It happened as easy as breathing in a smoke filled room. I had to do it, even though it wasn’t always easy to follow through with. I didn’t get my desire to craft films and media with a neat little instruction package, so to speak, but I am blessed with parents who recognized my need to pursue this dream I had.Fast forward a little. I am growing frustrated. I learned a lot through trial and error. Going to Africa I found the story, but struggled in learning how to communicate it. I do know that during this time I developed the most crucial connection I have made. Media is a mission field.
Yes I was ON the mission field, but I realized that what I was doing, bringing the mission field back to people safe in their homes through the power of visual storytelling, was a vocation in itself. I knew there was a language to learn, and I began praying that God would bring someone into my life who could help me better learn that language.
Enter City on a Hill. Stage left. It almost was that simple. I had placed this growing passion back in God’s hands a good many times, and it was during one of these spells where God proved he knew what He was doing, and that He knows how to keep secrets. I had no idea that there was a little production company growing up right beside me in my hometown. I couldn’t have dreamed that it was doing exactly what I was just feeling a desire to do, to use media to tell story and support missions, and to do that excellently. I am also pretty sure my mom did a good job of convincing Shane he needed to be teaching me. (Thanks mom!) Though I don’t think it hurt that I was not going to a full time school and was able to commit to an apprenticeship of sorts, and that I was able to drive. Believe me, I have run many an errand for City on a Hill. Many.So you think that sounds easy? I wish I could write everything this has entailed, but for the sake of the ministry I will not. PETI would probably get involved if they knew how things really went down here.*
I continue to learn to communicate using this powerful medium of film, and I think I have found my home here for a while. I might have even convinced the staff I can be funny at times, which is quite an accomplishment, let me tell you.
I can only speculate what the continued journey will bring about. I am sure it includes fund-raising, and many projects I never dreamed I’d be given the chance to be a part of. Currently there are two specific projects I will be heading up in the near future I really should mention. One is a documentary in the country of Nepal I will be making this December. The other is “Shepherd’s Project” which has has been put on hold as we are extremely busy with other projects, like Easter Experience and such right now. It will be a very cool project though, and I am excited about it’s ministry potential. (hint: It’s about adoption)There you go. That is my update for now. I hope you continue to enjoy reading and going behind the scenes with our ministry and the lives of the staff members who make this team of creative amalgamation. Thanks for listening.
Shepherd Ahlers
Intern/Apprentice
[*People for the Ethical Treatment of Interns]
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Supporting Churches and Ministries
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
By Richie
I hit the ground running doing a rough edit for the above video for Southern Acres Christian Church. It was quite a challenge because I’ve never had to edit anything that I didn’t shoot or write, and I don’t have a very complicated history with visual effects. Watching the final product I am, once again, amazed at the quality of the work done here, and I am looking forward to working with, and learning more from, the talented staff here at CHP.
I’m now in my fourth week of employment, and I feel that I am starting to settle in, and get a more concrete, cohesive grasp of what life here will look like. As Ministry Support Director, I will be producing films promoting and supporting the important work of Missions and Ministries. I am very excited to see how God will continue to use CHP in partnership with these Missions and Ministries to represent Jesus Christ to the world.
Truth. Equality. Simplicity. Peace.
Richard Ramsey
Ministry Support Director
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City on a Hill… A Prayer Request… A Purpose Revealed
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
By Tony
From a prayer request! That’s how my journey with City started just over 5 years ago. A simple request for me and the other men in our weekly bible study to be praying for office space to come available so that a newly formed ministry called City On A Hill Productions could have a space for the first employee to report for work. That’s how this incredible journey started for me…from prayer supporter, to office space provider, to financial supporter, to Board Treasurer, and now, most recently, the ministry’s Administrator….hence this. My first ever blog!It’s been nothing short of incredible to see how the Lord’s plans for City have unfolded before my eyes, and it’s been exciting to be an integral part of that plan. I knew when I started thinking about starting my own business over 7 years ago, that there was a much higher purpose for starting the business than just performing the work we’ve been given and trying to be profitable. As I grew in my walk with the Lord and developed close friendships with other Christian men who I could receive council from and confide in, I began to pray about His plans for my career and that His will be done with the talents He had blessed me with. I began to accept that His plans were not my plans and I began to re-define my definition of “success”. I started to see one door after another open and the path started to become clearer and clearer…I knew the Lord was calling me to leave the comfort of the promising future at a large corporation to step out in faith and follow Him.So, that’s what I did, I started my business almost 6 years ago knowing how truly blessed I was that the Lord had opened doors and made the path clear enough that I didn’t have to guess if I was making the right decision. On the contrary, I KNEW I was making the right decision because, through His grace, He made it so absolutely clear that this was His plan.That’s when the prayer request for office space for CHP came - shortly after starting the business and “falling” into a great deal on an office building twice the size of anything we would need for some time to come. THE prayer request, that led to a meeting with this ministry’s director, Shane Sooter, and a simple commitment from me to him that as long as I was blessed with the space, his ministry would be blessed with the space. THE prayer request ultimately caused me to want to get on board with the ministry and support it financially.THE prayer request led to my increased involvement with the ministry by becoming a member of the board ….and now, serving as the Administrator for the growing ministry. THE prayer request eventually allowed me to step back and see just ONE of the Lord’s purposes for the business He had blessed me with…to support a ministry full of dedicated staff members that love the Lord and are dedicated to teaching how Christ taught, through telling stories, utilizing today’s communication tools to reach people with the Gospel message that might not otherwise be reached, and to support His Kingdom in any way that He wills.I’m privileged to have to opportunity to serve at City. To work with such dedicated and talented staff members. To see the daily sacrifices of them along with hundreds of volunteers dedicated to our ministry and our purpose. Thanks to all who help make our ministry possible. Thanks to the Lord for providing the vision, purpose and resources for our ministry.Thanks for THE prayer request that led to the privilege I have of serving as Administrator for City on a Hill!In Him!Tony YoungAdministrative Director
photo credits: Tyler Michael Pelan of Lighting His World Photography
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Limitless Opportunities
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
By Cibby
Just last weekend, Shane, Kevin and I traveled to Memphis to attend a Missions Banquet sponsored by one of our corporate sponsors – or City Builders, as we like to call them.
To be good stewards of our funds, we chose to make the 800-mile trip by car. Ummm, I think I may have earned another jewel in my crown for that decision! Actually, it was a beautiful drive, and when our conversations grew weary Shane pulled out his iTunes from the back seat and played game-show host to round after round of “Name that Artist.” Would you believe that he has over 5,000 songs on his laptop? Well, I just want everyone to know that I did beat Kevin in a tiebreaker! (He’ll go to his grave saying he was just trying to be a perfect gentleman by letting me win). I guessed “Boy George” for the winning point. Gee, that’s not so spiritual is it? Anyway, back to my story!
At this banquet, we were able to fellowship with over 20 different ministries doing amazing things for the Kingdom. The ministries ranged from a church plant across the street from Yale University to an incredibly successful entrepreneur school in Rwanda to a Prostitution-Rescue Ministry right there in the heart of Memphis.
What does CHP have to do with all of this? Well, personally, I think our Ministry Support Videos branch is what sets us apart from most other Christian film production companies. Shane puts it this way, “There are so many ministries out there doing incredible work, impacting the culture and changing peoples lives, but that doesn’t mean they have the tools they need to get the word out about what they do. This is where we come in. We partner with ministries who we feel are doing really important work and give them our creative and technical abilities and provide them with the resources they need to accomplish their mission and share their own story.”
As Partnerships Director, one of the three branches of my ministry here is to get the word out about the Support Ministry leg of CHP and procure these film projects. In other words, those of you who are supporters of CHP, whether you financially support one or several of the staff members or are a corporate donor to the ministry, you are not just supporting one ministry doing one thing. With the Support Ministry branch of CHP, the opportunity to help other ministries and their great work is limitless.
We currently have three of these videos in production – two are scheduled for filming this month, many are already in the early stages of development. Our new Ministry Support Director from Houston, Richard Ramsey arrives in two weeks. I don’t think he’s scheduled to “come up for air” anytime until after December. But don’t tell Production Manager, Cassie that…she’ll start booking him for more! Amen, so be it!
Cibby Danyla
Partnerships DirectorTags: City Builders, Ministry
POSTED IN Ministry | 1 COMMENT » -
Meet The Director
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
By Shep
Ever have questions that you would love to ask Shane? (Outside of: What is your favorite food? or What’s your favorite TV show?)
We are talking the serious stuff. Why was City on a Hill started? What is in store for the future? The deepest questions imaginable! (Sort of)
Good news! Shane took a moment to talk about the focus of City on a Hill from its inception, and the very exciting future! It is all wrapped up in a nice little video blog complete with a sweet techno soundtrack…POSTED IN Behind the Scenes, Ministry | 7 COMMENTS »
Archive for the ‘Ministry’ Category
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