My second trip to China was like no other.  I traveled to some remote, rural areas, where Christians are thriving and growing in numbers.  One of their most serious limitations is the availability of Bibles.  That’s where VOCA comes in – we maxed out our current funds and delivered (personally) 7,500 brand new Bibles.  The joy and emotion was exceptional.  I wish you could have been there – but I hope this video will give you a flavor of what I experienced with my team.

We enjoyed a few days away in Ohio to visit family and friends, and spent a hot summer afternoon at Cedar Fair’s Wildwater Kingdom water park in Aurora, OH.  This park is one of many in the Cedar Fair Entertainment  Company’s nation-wide attractions.  You can visit their site at:  www.cedarfair.com, and they happen to be a publicly-owned company for you investers. It was fun and refreshing, and visually very interesting. Check out this video:

Each year, our church hosts a free community 4th of July picnic, offering free hot dogs, snacks and drinks, plus kids’ activities, to anyone who stops by. (The church is located where the parade begins.) To help give a visual overview of this festive occasion, Mary and I did a video slide show, using the background music from our good friend, Huntley Brown. The track is from his CD: “God Bless America” – which we also did the cover photography for. www.huntleybrown.com

This past weekend, I enjoyed the opportunity to be a sports photographer (which is how my career began) in nearby Winfield for the 2009 Winfield Criterium.  Two different courses for the two days were set up in neighborhood areas and I must say that the sights, sounds and scenes were extra appealing.   I produced this video from my still images to show the flavor of the event.

One of the most unique and literally ”hands-on” volunteer projects, is the food packing project from Feed My Starving Children.  (www.fmsc.org)  This past weekend, Willowcreek Community Church coordinated an area wide operation with the goal of 4 million meals for Zimbabwe.  I photographed the Willow DuPage group Sunday night and here’s the video results:

Wheaton College, our alma mater, played Washington University last night at King Arena on the Wheaton campus.  This was a sectional semifinal in NCAA Division III playoffs, and I thought it would be a good idea to re-live my sports shooting days.   Wheaton lost the game 55-52 and the full story is posted here: Wheaton Thunder Report.

In stark contrast to most of the events we’ve covered recently, Bike Week in Daytona Beach has some flavor and style that we do not see or photograph very often.  We’re currently in Florida for creative work, but took yesterday off to travel up the interstate to see what we would find at this annual event.  See what you think:

I’ve had two opportunities to visit Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, with another visit pending for this September with Ruth Graham and Friends ministry.   It’s a fascinating experience – and this video features photos that Mary and I took on our first time there.

Each year, we cover the international convention of the National Religious Broadcasters, which is held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. This is a video slide show from our still images taken this week. It’s an extraordinary event with high quality speakers, worship, networking, and a large scale exhibition hall of products and services.

(click the center arrow to start the slide show presentation.)