Blog « Walking On Water – Surf Films, Surf Camps, Surf Blog

10
May

Walking On Water Hawaii Outreach Trip update…. Next stop Rio, Brazil this weekend.. Please pray. :)

Friends and Family,

Thank you for praying for our Hawaii outreach trip! WOW prayer is powerful! What a blessed trip full of divine appointments. It was our daughter Ella's (9 Months Old) first mission trip and God sure worked through her. She would stare at each person until they looked at her then she would give them a HUGE smile which would lead to us talking to them and inviting them to our Promised Land movie night and we would give them a free Walking On Water DVD. We had an incredible time working together with Tom Bauer and his Surfing The Nations' organization (www.surfingthenations.com). STN was hosting their annual surf contest on the beach at Waikiki and every ten minutes they would announce the Promised Land movie night and giveaway the Walking On Water DVDs. My good friend Toshiro Oyama and his mom were there to help speak to and share the Gospel with the thousands of Japanese people. Our Cobian Sandals sponsorship enabled us to pass out 1,000 Walking On Water DVDs to tourists from many nations. Professional surfers TJ Barron and Bethany Hamilton (www.bethanyhamilton.com) along with actresses Sonya Balmores Chung and Faith Faye made our first ever Walking On Water Hawaii family surf camp so special! One Love Church partnered with us to host the Cobian Sandals (www.cobianusa.com) sponsored Promised Land movie screening which had a packed attendance. Photos speak louder than words so enjoy these few photos of the blessed outreach trip. We look forward to many future Hawaii Walking On Water family surf camp outreach trips! If you are interested in attending a future Hawaii family surf camp please let Alli know at: Alli@walkingonwater.com

God bless you,

Bryan Jennings

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26
Apr

Word: Colossians 1:23 & Colossians 3:16

“…continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:23

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” Colossian 3:16

Last month we were reminded that “We are never to move past or move onward from the gospel message but are to assimilate it into our daily lives, recognizing that ongoing transformation requires daily recognition of what God has done for us in the gospel.” As we live in the freedom of the Gospel and develop in our Christian faith the consciousness of our sin and of God’s holiness become increasingly apparent. God is not becoming more holy nor are we becoming more sinful but rather, our awareness of each is growing, thus allowing our love and appreciation for Jesus and the cross to grow and richly manifest itself in our daily lives.

Unfortunately, we have a sin nature and a tendency to “shrink the cross.” We succeed in this disheartening endeavor by elevating our own personal righteousness (thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought) and also by minimizing God’s holiness (thinking of Him as less than His word depicts Him to be). “If we are not resting in Jesus’ righteousness, [the] growing awareness of our sin becomes a crushing weight. We buckle under its load and compensate by pretending we are better than we really are” (The Gospel Centered Life) Instead of utilizing the increased recognition of our sin to amplify and be humbled by God’s unwavering holiness we attempt to exalt ourselves and thereby minimize the cross.

The alternative or often accomplice to “shrinking the cross” by “Pretending” is living with a performance mindset-where we try to earn Christ’s approval. “Growing in our awareness of God’s holiness is challenging. It means coming face to face with God’s righteous commands and the glorious perfections of his character. It means realizing how dramatically we fall short of his standards…if we are not rooted in Gods acceptance of us through Jesus, we compensate by trying to earn God’s approval through our performance…convincing ourselves that if we just try hard enough, we can merit God’s love and approval.” (The Gospel Centered Life)

Both pretending and performing devalue the significance and power of the cross in our lives, leading us away from gospel centered lives. As we move forward, let us not put our hope in the false sense of our “goodness” but let us find rest and hope in Jesus our perfect Redeemer who is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1Corinthians 1:30) Not so that God can make much of us but so that we can be freed to make much of Him! (Paraphrased from The Gospel-Centered life)

1 Discuss & Comment

26
Apr

Personal Story: Jonathan Morris

Our mission at Walking On Water is to reach and impact the global surfing community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through films, outreaches, surf camps and missions trips. It is always encouraging to receive feedback and learn of the different ways God is utilizing this mission for His Glory! The following is a letter from someone whose life was powerfully impacted by the Walking On Water Films.

“My name is Jonathan Morris, I'm eighteen years old and a senior in high school. I was at last nights showing of "Promised Land" at Northside Baptist Church in Wilmington N.C. and I want to start out by saying that I loved the film so much. I wanted to thank you for all the work you and WOW do. I love all of your movies. Noah's Arc was really the first surf movie I ever watched as a kid, and it was great because through it I saw someone (Noah) who I could look up to not only as a surfer but also as a person in a culture that is deprived of good role models. I love how your work allows you to entertain through surfing but also bring glory to God by presenting the gospel and telling individual’s stories. As a film-maker myself I respect you a lot for not focusing solely on surfing but focusing on the bigger picture. I loved what Britt Merrick had to say in the film about utilizing one’s passions - how you have to be passionate about what you are doing and when you combine that with the plans God has for you, you can achieve huge things for him! Thank you so much for all the work that you and WOW have done. You have inspired me to continue working in film and surfing. I hope one day to also make films like you and to do so in a way that I can let people know about our wonderful God. Thanks so much for your work!”

2 Discuss & Comment

26
Apr

Join Our Core Team of Supporters

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement of the Walking On Water Ministry! This has been an exciting season sharing the Gospel.

Will you please prayerfully consider becoming one of our core monthly supporters at $25, $50, $100 or any amount per month? Our goal is to raise an additional $2000 in monthly support. God has already provided an additional $900 so there is a need of $1,050 in additional monthly support.

If you would like to become a monthly supporter you can do so online at walkingonwater.com/donate or if you are currently a monthly supporter but would like to increase your giving amount please email alli@walkingonwater.com and she can make the adjustment.

Thank you for your consideration and continued support! Please email Alli with any questions.

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26
Apr

Promised Land Update

Since the time of Promised Land’s release, it has been encouraging to hear stories from individuals, all over the world, who been positively affected through the film and film screenings! This past month, we were really excited to learn that Promised Land won best film, best documentary and audience favorite at the Attic Film Festival in Austin, Texas! The film was also screened in Nicaragua, where the locals gathered to watch the movie in Spanish subtitles.

Upcoming Screenings for Promised Land include, Seal Beach, CA on May 4^th, Waikiki, Oahu on May 5^th with special guests Bethany Hamilton, TJ Barron, and Sonya Balmores as well as Rio, Brazil on May 12^th with special guests, Bryan Jennings and Tom Curren and Damien Hobgood. Promised Land has also been officially selected for the San Diego Surf Film Festival, May 11-13 so if you are able to make it we encourage you to come out and show your support!

Please continue to be praying for the World Tour of the Promised Land film.

0 Discuss & Comment

29
Mar

Meet Bethany in Hawaii!

Walking On Water Supporters,

I wanted to let you know about an amazing opportunity you and your family have to support Walking On Water and go to Honolulu, Hawaii for a special weekend with Soul Surfer stars Bethany Hamilton and Sonya Balmores. This will be a fundraiser for our 17th annual Walking On Water Dream Surf Camps. Each year we have many students who can not afford the camp and need a scholarship. My hope is to find 15 families who will make a donation of at least $1,000 to support the Walking On Water Surf Camps. As a thank you for this donation we would like to invite you and your son or daughter or your entire family to this fun weekend in Hawaii. You will be responsible to pay for your travel expenses including airfare, hotel, and rental car. We will provide the surf equipment, surf lessons, very special guests, and movie night.

For more information please contact alli@walkingonwater.com or call (760) 438-1111.

Here is the schedule:

Saturday - May 5th

9am - 10am Devotional led by Bryan Jennings and Sonya Balmores on the beach at Waikiki

10am - 11:30am Surf Lessons at Waikiki beach. All equipment and instructor expenses paid. (Lead Instructors will be Sonya from Soul Surfer and Bryan Jennings)

12am - 1pm Lunch at Dukes Restaurant (Everyone pays for their own lunch. Sorry but trying to limit expenses so funds are raised for camps.)

6pm - 7pm VIP meet and greet with Bethany Hamilton and Sonya Balmores at OneLove Church (Appetizers will be served.)

7Pm - 8:30pm Promised Land movie screening (You will be in the VIP seats)

Sunday - May 6th

10:30am Church Service at One Love church

6 Discuss & Comment

26
Mar

Word: 2 Peter 1:3-9

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

In the passage above, Peter stresses the importance of keeping the Gospel at the core foundation of our daily living, “not [forgetting] that [we] have been cleansed from [our] past sins”. This good news is designed to transform our lives and bear fruit in us. Transformation is an active and ongoing process. We are never to move past or move onward from the gospel message but are to assimilate it into our daily lives, recognizing that ongoing transformation requires daily recognition of what God has done for us in the gospel.

In a study titled, The Gospel Centered Life, authors Bob Thune and Will Walker discuss the importance of living “Gospel-Centered lives” just as the title suggests. They state, “Many Christians live with a truncated view of the gospel. We see the gospel as the ‘door,’ the way in, the entrance point into God’s kingdom. But the gospel is so much more! It is not just the door, but the path we are to walk every day of the Christian life. It is not just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation. It is not simply deliverance from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s power. The gospel is what makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to delight in God (sanctification). The gospel changes everything!” As we move forward, let us not put our hope in the false sense of our “goodness” but let us find rest and hope in Jesus our perfect Redeemer who is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1Corinthians 1:30) Not so that God can make much of us but so that we can be freed to make much of Him! (paraphrased from The Gospel-Centered life)

0 Discuss & Comment

26
Mar

Personal Story: Jeremy Hebets

Jeremy Hebets has his first interaction with Walking On Water at age 17 when he attended the High School Surf Camp. “Before coming to the camp,” Jeremy shares, “I was at a turning point in my life. I was getting ready to graduate high school and was hanging out with the wrong crowd and getting involved in the party scene and experimenting with drugs. I was chasing after these things because of the void in my heart from the loss of my earthly father at a young age and a hard life after that. While at camp, my counselor shared with me his story of having a broken relationship with his earthly father and how God was able to change that and be his real Father. At that moment things started to really click for me. For the first time, I realized that the things I was chasing after were just doing damage and not bringing me any healing or freedom. I needed God in my life and Walking on Water played a crucial role in me coming to that understanding. From that point God has taken me on quite the journey. Now it is 12 years later and I am getting ready to graduate from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University with my Masters in Theology and an emphasis in Ministry, Leadership and Care and Counseling. I have also had the blessing, this past year of serving as the West Coast ASP Chaplain and the Hawaii and West Coast Regional Coach for Christian Surfers. It is amazing to see God come full circle using surfers to impact my life and show me who God is and now God has blessed me with the opportunity to do the same with all those He has placed in front of me.

I believe in what Walking On Water is doing for two reasons. The first is, I am a walking testimony of what can happen when being a part of the camp-you can’t help but leave there changed. Second, because Walking On Water is creating opportunities for the youth of today who are being bombarded by a broken society, broken families and lies that look so appetizing, trying to fill their hearts with everything that WONT fulfill their hearts. Walking On Water is not only showing who God is by their actions and deeds but they are teaching the youth what needs to be at the center of their hearts, Jesus Christ. If you are feeling a stirring for someone you know that could benefit from this camp, please move on it because I am so thankful that my family did! God moves in incredible ways.”

5 Discuss & Comment

25
Mar

Feature Film Project!

Over the past 14 years God has truly done more than we ever imagined through the 11 Walking On Water documentaries that have been viewed by over 4 million people in more than 35 countries. We are very excited to announce that we are moving forward to produce our first feature film. This movie will be a powerful story about Wyatt who is the best 17 year old bull rider from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. When Wyatt's little brother dies he quits bull riding and as a way to escape he takes a job at a Christian camp in California. This camp is much like the Walking On Water camp but it also offers horseback riding, archery, fishing, and other sports. Wyatt is in charge of the horses and he soon meets Summer who is an attractive pro surfer who manages the surf lessons at the camp. God works through Summer and the young campers to wake up Wyatt's heart and he eventually goes back to Wyoming to face the pain of his brother's death and to bull ride again. This movie will combine the exciting cowboy world with the beautiful surfing world. The Gospel will be clearly presented through this movie and the main theme will be "A true champion goes towards his pain not away from it". Jesus is the ultimate champion who endured the pain of the cross so that we could all live for eternity! THE SCRIPT FOR THIS MOVIE IS BEING FINALIZED NOW AND OUR NEXT STEP IS TO RAISE THE FUNDS NEEDED TO PRODUCE THIS MOVIE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING THIS MOVIE AND/OR PRAYING FOR THIS MOVIE PLEASE CONTACT: info@walkingonwater.com

3 Discuss & Comment

24
Mar

Register Now For Surf Camp!!

Enrollment for the 2012 Walking On Water Surf Camps are NOW OPEN! This summer we will be offering our usual week long, overnight surf camps for Jr. High and High School aged students along with four additional 5-day long surf camps. The overnight camps will be hosted at the picturesque Point Loma Nazarene University where campers will stay in the college dorms and surf each day at La Jolla Shores. The day camps will run M-F from 9am-1pm and will be held at 15^th Street in Del Mar, CA. If you would like to help us promote the camps by passing out brochures, please email info@walkingonwater.com with your mailing address and we can get them in the mail to you.

Overnight Camp Dates:

July 9-23- Jr. High Camp (ages 11-14)

July 23-27 – High School Camp (ages 14-18)

Day Camp Dates: (ages 6-11)

June 18-22

June 25-29

August 6-10

To get more information, view photos and videos from past camps and to register please visit, http://walkingonwater.com/surf-camps/

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