It didn't take God this long....

to write the Ten Commandments when He gave them to Moses! Yes, it's taken a couple of days, but here's the end result of the styrofoam commandments.

I believe we left you off by saying we were going to coat them, paint them and hang' em up!

Well, to answer a popular question, we use a product called "Scupt or Coat" (which can be purchased either directly from the manufacturer, or from a theatrical supplier such as "Rosebrand" to whom we alluded in our July 23 post). It has the consisency and smell of a really thick Elmer's glue, but it's not. It dries into a clear plastic, and not only strengthens the styrofoam, but allows us to use any paint - latex, acrylic or spray - on the surface. That's important, because we painted the majority of the surface gray dappled with white, using latex paint, but we spray-painted the writing area with an artificial stone finish.

Once the basic paint was dry, we went back and filled in the letters with black paint.

Now, for those who have NO interest in making styrofoam props, and have patiently checked back with us, let us assure you that we're hoping the impact of having such large teaching aids such as 4 foot tall "stone" tablets, will have a bearing on their hearts & minds, and they'll remember these for a long time.

We of course, will never forget them, if only for the smell in our apartment that lingers!

Now that the "tablets", as we came to know them, are done, Lee has taken them to Summerama, the name we use for VBS at Rutherford Bible Chapel.

Today is the first day of Summerama, and Lee had almost 30 kids in her class. The theme is "Galilee by-the-Sea", for which we decorated her room as a village on the shore of the sea. You can see her room's decor above. Her group is the first and second graders, and they're called the "Loyal Lukes" (each age group is named for a disciple called by Jesus). Today's lesson is about Jesus choosing his disciples. We'll bring you a full report in a later post.

In the mean time, here's our prayer list: 1) Pray for Lee as she teaches these kids; 2) Pray for Ashlee, Kimmy and Victoria, Lee's helpers in her group; 3) Pray for Doug has he prepares for Friday night's closing program which requires the building of two fish puppets.

We're SO thankful the Lord has given us this work to do. We prayed for so long that He would indicate what it was He really wants us to do, and where He wants us to be. Well, He answered, and for now we're busy where we are, working with Summerama and coming up this fall we'll be working with the Sunday School at Rutherford Bible Chapel. More about that later, too. But for now, we're happy to be useful, and happier to be used!

'Til our next rambling volume, thank you for visitng our site, and may God bless you with His joy!

Somebody was praying...

THANK YOU for all your prayers. West Essex was a WONDERFUL evening sharing in ministry at that church. The enemy certainly was working hard at pulling us down, but our Heavenly Father prevailed, and we had a glorious night of encouragement and fellowship.

Is'nt it great, after a program, when a child seeks you out to come say, "I loved your puppet"? DigDag had been talking about being a secret agent for Christ, and at least one child made a personal connection to him. That's the kind of impact we hope to have.

Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Lee told a story (Max Lucado's You are Special), and for each character, we took a person from the audience to play the part. Each character got a hat to wear to designate his/her part. For the main characters, Doug provided the voice, as the "actor" opened their mouth. It's a precious story, but the results of using the VBS workers as volunteers was hilarious! There are too many hams teaching VBS these days! Ha ha!

Using the "coloring book" (Bible edition) illusion, Doug presented the importance of reading our Bible. It may seem "blank" to us at first because we don't understand it. But as we read more, and people explain more, we begin to understand more (the line drawings now appear in the book). Then, we pray and ask God to explain it to us, and HE opens it all to us, so that it becomes a wonderful book, filled with color and understanding. (You really had to see the child's reaction when Doug vanished a box of crayons right in front of his face!)

Finally, DigDag came out in a Secret Agent outfit and made believe he was a secret agent working for Mr. Big. The details of his message appear in yestserday's post, so we'll spare you the details, but he brought the point home by pointing out that we are ALL agents of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we need to trust our Saviour, come together with other believers, learn and read His Word every day, do what He tells us, and lead others to Him.

We're exhausted! Whoever said working for the Lord is a piece of cake only attends fellowship diners! Try doing children's ministry - - it'll drop you to your knees!

Thanks again for your prayers. Today, we're off to start decorating Lee's classroom space for Summerama (and the now-famous ten commandments tablets). Stay tuned there's much, much more to come!

DETOUR!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog/prop class to bring you this important message:
"WE HAVE A PROGRAM TONIGHT, AND WE'D LIKE YOU TO PRAY!"

Now, there's nothing out of the ordinary about this program. It's been on our calendar for several weeks, and we've even talked about it here on the blog. But sometimes we get caught up in the hustle & bustle of "things" (like making styrofoam props) and to our own shame leave the ordinary things in the "I'll get to it" pile.

The program for tonight is about being an agent of the Lord Jesus. The central feature is a routine DigDag will do with Doug, while dressed as a "secret agent". We'll open with a fun sing-a-long song from Uncle Charlie's "Made2Praise" series, "Wanna Be". It's a fun song - a parody, of course - whose words are "Ohhhhh - I wanna be more like Jesus - I wanne be more like Him".
Next, we'll do a fun audience participation piece that features people from the audience on stage, wearing funny hats. Each person assumes a role in our story. The story is Max Lucado's "You are Special". Lee reads the story, and Doug puts the words in the mouths of the participants. It's hilariously funny, yet poingant. Doug will follow up with a visual lesson (gospel illusion) using a "blank" Bible which depicts what some people see when think of the Bible. They think it's a "secret code" that they just don't get. Then they read it, and it just becomes words (this time colorless pictures appear in the book when the pages are rifled). Finally, God speaks to the hearts of men, and when they read it, it's filled with life and life-giving power (finally, the pages are shown with full color illustrations). To close the program, DigDag will come out as a "secret agent" and talk about his boss, "Mr. Big", whom he's never met, but still trusts. Then the other agents, some of whom he knows, but others he's never met - sort of like a family! He'll talk about the instructions he got to be an agent - - they're all written in an instruction book, which he hasn't COMPLETELY read, but he's working on it. He learns more every time he reads more. He then explains the secret of being a good agent: rely on Mr. Big, stay in close touch with the other agents, read the instructions and do what you're told! Finally, DigDag reveals that Mr. Big isn't a fictional character, but he's really the Lord Jesus, and we're ALL agents of the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust, unite, train and follow - then lead... and don't be secret! We each can be a super agent just the way we are.

So there you have it - the long and.... well, the long of it, anyway! Please pray that the Lord will use this message and that we'll have freedom of heart and mind to share it freely.

Pray for Lee today as she has to go to the church early to set up. Doug gets out of work at 5 and the program starts at 7, so it's a tight schedule. Just pray that frayed nerves don't get in the way of the Gospel!

We'll get back to the styrofoam soon - stay with us, we'll be right back!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

For those who are following our styrofoam saga, the kids next week won't know what went into a simple teaching aid. Still, Lee has plans for the Ten Commandments next week, and they WILL be cut in stone! haha!

Now, you know we don't cut stone, and you DO know that we are styrofoam junkies, so here's what we did today to make the ten commandments more authentic (and we're hoping you can match the correct step with the correct picture):

The styrofoam was prepared yesterday by carving out a layer of foam using hot wire tools from Hot Wire Foam Factory. Today we printed out the wording on an overhead transparency (to assure proper spacing and spelling), projected it onto the styrofoam (upper right) and traced the letters. Then, using a wood-burning tool, we heat-carved the letters into the foam (that's us in the dining room hot-carving the tablets). You can see the carved letters in the foam look pretty good! We then took the tablets outside and "chunked" up the edges with the claw end of a hammer. The tablets on the couch give you a good idea of the size and look of the styrofoam.

Tomorrow, Lee will coat the styro with a hardening agent, which will also allow us to use any paint. Otherwise, spray paint will eat the styrofoam.

And that's as far as we go for today.

Keep in mind that through all this styro madness, Doug is practicing a new script, and we're planning our program for Friday night. We're so thankful that Friday's program doesn't require all that many props! There'll be singing and DigDag, and a lot of fun! The main theme for the night will be "Agents of the Lord Jesus". Please pray for us.

As for now, it's time to turn in for the night. Remember: Psalm 127:2 God gives sleep to those He loves!

night night!

We started work today on Lee's class for Summerama next week. We're making two "stone tablets" four feet tall that contain the ten commandments. Pictured, you see us cutting the styrofoam that will become the "stone" tablets. Stay tuned for the whole process, but in the mean time, we're thinking about the original REAL stone tablets.

When God called Moses up on the mountain, He gave him something that had never been given to any man before. God wrote his laws in stone and gave them to to Moses. When Moses came down the mountain, he saw the people reveling, got angry and threw them against a rock, smashing the stone tablets. While we don't know what was on his mind, I think he may very well have been upset - not so much at the sinfulness of the people - but more that because of their behavior, these people didn't deserve such a gift from God.

We think of the ten commandments as a set of rules. We memorize them, recite them, almost thoughtlessly refer to them, but one thing we don't do is treasure them as a gift from God. God loved - and still loves - us so much that He gave us ten different ways to separate ourselves to Him.

What if we thought of the ten commandments as God's gift to us? His way of saying "I love you". Not rules to be adhered, but ten different ways to say, "Let me make you better.'

Well, today it rained cats and dogs here in New Jersey. We’d have posted a photo, but it would pretty much look just like the image you probably already have of our Garden State! But rain has never deterred Lee from getting done what has to get done.

Through her tenacious efforts, Lee was able to make two new supplier contacts today – one with a foam manufacturer and one with a theatrical supplier. When she walked into the foam company, they of course asked what she wanted the foam for. When she told them “puppets’ they responded by saying, “Well, we’ve got what you need – we supply Sesame Street!” Good contact!

Theatrical supplies can be hard to find unless, of course you live in the New York City metropolitan community. One 15 minute trip turned out to be the warehouse of Rosebrand theatrical supply company – one of the largest in the country.

So, why mention these menial details? For the same reason Ellie McFearsome, the elephant in the “Ark-eology” program, talks about taking showers. Sometimes we don’t realize that God gives us things that are right in front of our face, and they’re special things that others may not have, but they’re just what we need. No matter where we go, no matter what we do, God goes before us and prepares the way. He provides like no one else!

Puppet Noir

This week puts us on a two-track course that leads to two different ministries.

One is coming up next week, and we call it, "Summerama". Other churches have a Vacation Bible School, but our has "Summerama". I takes place next week, and Lee will be teaching the first and second graders. At present there are almost 50 kids pre-registered for that class! While we don't expect them all to show up, please pray for Lee as she plans for a large class.

There'll be helpers, and we'll tell you more about them in time, but for now, we're trying to figure out how to decorate a room to look like a sea village on the shores of the Sea of Galilee! The room itself has plenty of room, but the walls are dark - dark brown, which doesn't lend itself to a cheery sea-side village for kids. Just wait til you see what she has up her sleeve! We promise photos by the weekend, but in the mean time, pray for us as we gather palm trees, ocean waves, desert tents and sand dunes.

Doug will be joining in on Friday night, August 3, for the closing program - and we'll tell you more about THAT later, too.

More urgently, we're participating in the Vacation Bible School at West Essex Baptist Church (see - we told you other churches call it 'Vacation Bible School'!). Their theme is "SonForce Kids" which is a spy-kids theme. DigDag is taking on a "puppet noir" look for the occassion. He'll be wearing this outfit, so get your imagination warmed up for a secret - SHHH! - SECRET agent puppet.

Please pray for both of these programs. There's a lot of planning that goes into both of these weeks, and a lot of prep work. We appreciate your prayerful support.

A-flying we will go

After church this morning, we decided to have a lunch in the beautiful sunshine God gave us. How about take-out and a park? Where that took us was a surprise to both of us.

Not far from the KFC is the NJ Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum - which includes a M*A*S*H exhibit. So, there, amidst the authentic helicopters and medical tents, were picnic tables... where we ate our KFC!

OK, so it's a little odd to have lunch in a surgical tent amidst old aircraft, but we weren't there for the ambience! It was just a chance to spend some time together.

One thing we did learn was the historical significance of New Jersey, and Teterboro in particular, in the history of American aviation and the space program (much of the LEM vehicle, used on the moon for the Apollo space missions was developed and built right here in New Jersey).

After an afternoon at the museum, there's only one perfect ending... A NAP!

We still say, "There's no problem in the world that can't be solved by a GOOD NAP!"

"Go and do likewise"

The message at church this morning was based on Luke 10, the good Samaritan. That story ends with two sentences, "The one who had mercy on him." and "Go and do likewise."

What followed that story was a presentation on the plight of the believers in the Congo. This is a country where war and political unrest have ravaged the small villages in the remotest parts of the country. There were schools, churches, libraries and homes - all without roofs. Still, the villagers have not lost their faith. The churches are slowly beginning to fill again on Sunday mornings, and life is coming back to these communities.

But the needs are still great. We saw schoolrooms filled with kids, but no books. Try teaching a class of 80 kids, and all they have are a notebook and pen to write whatever you say. Printed literature is hard to come by. Building supplies are expensive to purchase, and even at that, delivery of materials isn't guaranteed.

That all being said, "Go and do likewise" takes on a new meaning. After spending some time with Mr. Wolcott, the speaker, we've asked to get in contact with people who can help us learn how to equip those schools with books. Pray with and for us that we'll be able to help in some small way to provide some of those needs for those precious children. Others have taken up the challenge of roofing the buildings, but to date, there isn't an organized effort to equip the schools. These kids are anxious to learn. Pray with us for help.

Today we took a walk after lunch, enjoying the beautiful countryside. Hard to believe it's New Jersey, isn't it?!

We purchased some supplies preparing us for a program this week in which DigDag must be dressed as a "secret agent". Wait til you see him!

Be praying this week for that progam. Also, please be in prayer as we prepare for next week when we will be responsible for the closing program at our own church's VBS. More about that to come.

Thanks for checking in and praying with us. Your prayers are GREATLY appreciated.

An I-Fest memory

Left to right this is Ellie, Lee, Edgar and myself. It's one of my favorite pictures from I-Fest, because it shows BOTH of us with both puppets.

Although Doug gets a lot of attention for being the performer, most people don't realize the amount of work Lee does on each presentation. Just to give you an idea, Lee finished all the "wood" finish you see on the ark, plus all the sewing and the skins of the puppets. She picked out the fabrics and made the patterns. She also advised on the script and stood with me all through the performance. For those who think that vent is a one-man show, you're sadly mistaken. This effort could never have been completed by one person. Thank God for the partnerships He gives!

Who we are...

This is our logo. It features three puppets that started us on our journey.

The most prominent puppet is DigDag, Doug's ventriloquial sidekick. He's the one with the large head, red shirt and cap that says, "DigDag".

Counterclockwise from him is Katie Bear. She's a tender and affectionate Teddy Bear, who learns most of her Bible through lessons with Miss Lee.

At the top of the circle is Walter. He's actually a marionette designed and built as an un-named character in a puppet play based on Max Lucado's book, "The Great House of God". However, the more we worked with him and attributed personality traits to him, the more we realized how much his character resembled Doug's dad! We took one glance at each other and knew immediately that his name should be "Walter". He remains the "wise sage" of our troupe.

For those who don't know, DigDag & Doug are one part of Everlasting Arms Ministries (EAM) in East Rutherford, NJ. Our official website is: http://www.everlastingarmsministries.com/.

EAM consists of Doug and Lee Nearpass and our creative ministries, encompassing puppets, ventriloquism, storytelling, drama, music and lots and lots of fun. Our ministry reaches young and old alike, making our program ideal for family programs.

Sometimes we're busier than we can imagine, and other times we're taking time to refresh, recharge and reboot.

Our most recent venture was half way across the country to Bourbonnais, Illinois, where we attended I-Fest, the International Festival of Christian Puppetry and Ventriloquism. It's the best Christian conference on creative ministries of any kind for my money, even though it stays firmly tied to puppetry and vent (that's why we like it so much!). We'll be posting more as the days rise up, but for now, let's just say, "Welcome" to our blog. We hope you'll find it of interest and value.

God be with you 'til we meet again!