The Woadani are a native tribe in the jungles of Ecuador along the Amazon river. They live simply as one might imagine but bore the distinction of being one of the most violent people groups known to exist. This violence perpetuated through generations of revenge killings. One family group or clan would murder with spears or machetes members of another family group or clan who had previously murdered their members. These killings had become so frequent that their entire ethnic group would have likely ceased to exist, had the killing not stopped.

This is the setting of Beyond the Gates of Splendor, a documentary on the tribe and the missionaries who impacted their lives so greatly. Five missionary families had gone down to Ecuador to reach out to many of the native peoples of that area and support the work of nearby missionaries. In 1956, the men were killed after a successful conversation with some Woadani ended in one big misunderstanding and a lie that the foreigners were there to kill them. They were speared to death.

Later, some of the Woadani very apologetically ask two of the women to come live with them. They do and by their love and teaching, many come to know Jesus through his "carvings", the Bible. Little else changes in their community, but the love of Christ alone, impacting an entire people group causes the killing to drop by more than 90%.

As you watch it, the documentary then follows one of the boys whose father was killed as he becomes friends with the men and boys of the Woadani and after he grows up, he brings his family down to Ecuador to live with them for a while.

I had already read "End of the Spear" a book by Steve Saint (the boy above) which tells both the history and of his journey back to live with the Woadani people. It's priceless though to hear and see the actual people from the widows to the grandchildren to the Woadani themselves tell the story from their perspective. And seeing Mincaye, one of the Woadani tribesmen who killed his father, walking through a grocery store with Saint is amazing.

Make sure you check out this documentary!

In a project called CompassionArt, several of the world's best worship leaders and song writers collaborated on 15 songs and all of the proceeds from record sales, royalties and even church performances will go to charities. Coming from a variety of styles and backgrounds, the writers met up in Scotland in 2008 for one week to hammer out the songs. The group was Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu G, Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Matt Redman, Martin and Anna Smith, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin and Darlene Zschech.

Check out this CNN piece where they interviewed Houghton about his experience:

CompassionArt is truly a unique album in that it mixes worship and social injustice. It's a perfect blend, as they make the case that since there is no poverty in Heaven, there shouldn't be any here. Not all of the tunes talk about poverty or social issues but even when you are singing along with a straight up worship song off this album, you can't help but think about it.

Another unique thing is the DVD that accompanies the album. It features a documentary on the process of writing the songs, and seeing all these people working together is quite amazing. Also, chord sheets and lyric sheets are included so you can perform the songs in your church. Remember, all proceeds from that also go to the selected charities so you can't go wrong there.

Additional artists came in for the recordings including Kirk Franklin, TobyMac, Cece Winans and Amy Grant.

All the songs are great but my personal faves are the first 4 tracks, "Come to the Water", "Shout Praise", "King of Wonders" and "Lead Me to the Rock".

This is one where you need to get the physical album to get the full deal! And give one to your worship pastor!

Deidox, produced by the Chronicle Project, are short films about real people and how God is working in their lives. Brent Gudgel and Dave Mahanes bring these untold stories to life in these films which are available for individual and large group use.

Lindsay is a young teacher who works in Middle School 223 in the Bronx, where 50% of the kids live below the poverty line. Watch the video below for a preview.

As part of her class, this young woman recited (is that the right term?) "Go Hard" by Lecrae in American Sign Language. This seriously impressed me because the verses are certainly not simple and she even seems to get her groove on a little bit. That's the way to do a class project! Great song and great job!

Another one buy a different woman for Canton Jones' "Holy Ghost Girl" can be found here: YouTube - Holy Ghost Girl in Sign

Thanks to DJ Wade-O of the Wade-O Radio Show for pointing out these vids!

Rachel comes back home after trying a career as an actress, and she had to start off as a video girl. Grandma forces her to go back to the church of her childhood. She meets her old best friend and one of the young pastors gets interested in Rachel.

This movie had so much promise but is hindered by a bunch of things. The acting is mostly good but there were some scenes that were pretty bad. The sound editing is really lacking as within one scene the sound from one camera angle has a ton more background noise than the next angle. There were also more than a few awkward camera angles, some where they broke the rule of thirds for no apparent reason.

Ok, all that aside, the plot is pretty good but not great. David and Rachel have several struggles while David's brother Darrel lets his seriousness for the ministry get the better of his relationship with his girlfriend. The clique-ishness of some of the people is a little overblown. My concern is that its not clear that David ever asked Rachel about her relationship with Jesus. Its just kind of assumed that she must have received Christ as a child.

It bugs me that most of the characters don't learn anything through the course of the movie. For instance, Rachel has no idea that this "screen test" is not really for a standard movie. How can she not? At no point in the movie does she seem naive until this supposed "screen test". Oh yeah, then she accepts vodka at this screen test. Oops!

If the overall point, is that people should be real with each other, then, it certainly does that. The more fake they are, the worse the situation in the movie gets.

Maybe its worth a rent but this would not be a movie I'd put on my shelf.

A couple weeks ago, NewReleaseTuesday.com released an iPhone app full of information on Christian music artists. The App Podcast reviewed it and talked about the many features. I've downloaded it too and the sheer volume of data available is impressive.

You can easily check out upcoming album releases and a ton of info on various artists, albums and songs. You can also find lyrics to your favorite song. Researching an artist or finding that album you just can't remember is made super easy.

Max Lucado, author of many inspirational Christian books including 3:16 which focuses a chapter on each aspect of the verse John 3:16, put out a supplementary video for the 3:16 study. For each chapter he has a short video clip discussing the chapter and giving additional anecdotes and stories that help explain the topic. It could be "love", "gave", "Son" or others but each one is broken down. Here's an example:

In addition, the DVD includes a short film based on a story Lucado wrote. "Wherever You Are" is about a girl who has run away from her father, whom she used to dance with, and became a stripper. Her father shows he nothing but love and tried to spend time with her but she ran away. As a metaphor for God's love for us, it works pretty well. The actor who plays the teddy bear-like father does a particularly good job.

ChristianPost.com reports that a student is suing a Los Angeles City College professor for discriminating against his beliefs in a speech on marriage. The student, Jonathan Lopez, spoke about how God has worked in his life and about marriage being defined as between one man and one woman. THe professor cursed at him and dismissed the class early when no one left for being offended by the speech. The report continues:

On the paper, the professor wrote several comments including, "Ask God what your grade is" and "Proselytizing is inappropriate in public school."

"Public institutions of higher learning cannot selectively censor Christian speech," said ADF Senior Counsel David French. "America's public universities and colleges are supposed to be a 'marketplace of ideas,' not a hotbed of intolerance."

Though not entirely surprising, this is saddening. Professors, more and more, are forgetting what college should be about (learning certain subjects, preparing for a career and most importantly, learning how to learn) and instead pushing their own agenda. Seemingly, tolerance only covers certain belief systems.

For the coming week, you can listen to Don Moen's new album for free at NewReleaseTuesday.com. It is titled "I Believe There Is More".

Moen has written several worship songs you've likely heard and sang in your church such as "God Will Make a Way", "Give Thanks" and "Shout to The Lord". Unfortunately, you have to listen to the whole album as one long stream but everything I've heard so far is great.

Accoring to CMSpin.com, Rebecca St. James is busier than ever. In their post,
"Rebecca St. James' Career Balancing Act" they discuss her acting career, books she is writing and music she is working on. St. James is currently acting in "Sarah's Choice".

She portrays a single, successful young career woman faced with the unexpected news that she is pregnant—and the dramatic, life altering decision of what follows.

Rebecca St. James's book Pure also broke into the Top 10 in the "Young Adult" sales chart. Music is also on the horizon, with concert dates upcoming and songs for movie soundtracks in the works. Read the full post for more info on what she's up to.