Background on the winners
Tamara (Tami) Carr
Tami is married to Ray who she describes as “wonderfully supportive”, they have two children, Sean (12) and Olivia (5). She is a retired orthotist/ prosthetist, who used to make artificial limbs and orthopaedic braces for disabled children. She now homeschools her children and in her spare time enjoys training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. She has a deep passion for missions and for serving in the youth ministry at Bridgeway Church, in Tampa, Florida.
The singers and musicians
Sean Patrick Carr is 12 years old and also enjoys Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do (he is very close to receiving his black belt!) He plays guitar and piano, both classically and in the Elevate Praise Band at Bridgeway Church with his youth group. He recently joined a robotics team and has begun taking Spanish lessons so that he can more easily communicate with his friends in Cusuna next time he visits.
Kathryn is 13 years old, and loves musical theater, singing, and recently began playing piano. She has starred in several live performances, including the lead role of Belle, in Beauty and the Beast. She also sings with the Elevate Praise Band.
Sarah is 9, and lives to dance. She recently played Annie in a live performance, and is now practicing hard for her upcoming role in the Nutcracker. All three attend Bridgeway Church, and have known each other since they were babies.
Cusuna Missions (Bridgeway Church, Tampa, Florida)
Cusuna Missions is a project of Bridgeway Church in Tampa. The church has been ministering to the needs of this remote Honduran village, where insufficient protein and unclean water have led to malnutrition, and even death, for eight years.
There is an old saying: “Give a starving man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day – teach him how to fish and you’ll feed him for life!” Cusuna Missions aims to build a fish farm and feeding centre for the village, providing the villagers with a consistent source of protein, and also to teach the people how to build and maintain their own smaller units.
The project has been working to provide clean water stations, and they plan to start a pilot programme in 2012 to distribute vitamin supplements from the feeding centre. A shortage of shoes is another problem for the people of Cusuna, so the Mission collected over 350kgs of shoes to take out to the village.
Through Cusuna Missions, Bridgeway Church are committed to serve the people of Cusuna, in these practical ways, as well as through the spreading of the gospel message, for as long as is required to make a lasting difference.
For more information on Cusuna Missions, contact Tami Carr at [email protected] or Bridgeway Church www.bridgeway.tv
Community Albums
Community Albums is all about giving people a voice and being heard. They work with many schools particularly in East London, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire to train, equip and motivate pupils to use media to benefit their community and to build better communities through music and media.
The resource they offer to schools is experienced and respected musicians, producers and writers who devise bespoke programmes which deliver community change, and help in the fight to reduce poverty in the UK and the developing world.
Community Albums recently started similar projects in Africa, training children in Ugandan schools to produce their own video highlighting the plight of children in Uganda as part of a Keep Children Safe campaign. The video was presented to the Parliament of Uganda and has also been seen by over 3 million people in the country.
For more information on Community Albums go to www.communityalbums.com
Andrew Musselman
This video was a partnership between Andrew Musselman and Dave Darasch. Dave recomposed the music, and Andrew did the video production. Here is their story.
Dave Darasch and Andrew Musselman of Elora Ontario, first heard about the contest from a friend at church (Central Pentecostal Church) who had came across the video contest online. He suggested that with Dave and Andrew's talents, they'd likely do well in the contest. Dave is a musician who has been writing and playing music for the past 30 years. Andrew is a video producer who recently started his own video production company, Eclin Media www.eclinmedia.com
Dave decided on an edgy re-composition of the song, while adding a few of his own new lyrics into the mix. The church's youth pastor, Amanada Whitelaw, also added the female vocals to the song.
As for the video and story telling, Dave and Andrew wanted to create something that was closer to home for most people in first world countries. They decided on telling a story of a wealthy young man who sees a cold and lonely child in need and decides to help out. The young man shows God's love to the little girls family in secrecy without expecting anything in return. Andrew says "Its a simple story about loving your neighbour as yourself, and doing it without expecting anything in return." This story has been viewed more than 20,000 times, and continues to share this Christ like story with others.
A special thanks also goes out to everyone from Central Pentecostal Church who volunteered their time and talent in creating this video.
CRANE (Children at Risk Action Network)
CRANE is a network of Christian organisations working with children at risk in and around Kampala, Uganda. The network currently works with over 120 organisations that together have over 500 staff and 400 volunteers and care for more than 29,000 children.
CRANE members work with children who are at risk as a result of factors such as domestic abuse, HIV/AIDS, commercial exploitation, drugs and addiction, orphaning, displacement, homelessness, and early pregnancy. They are helping to support children through advocacy, wealth creation, community development, counselling, education, emergency relief, faith development, family support, feeding and nutrition, healthcare and rehabilitation, recreation, residential care and outreach.
CRANE advocates for the plight of children at risk for a protective environment in which they can flourish and achieve their God-given potential. CRANE is a VIVA Equip project. To find out more go to www.viva.org/equip or www.cranenetwork.org
You can also read the Judges Comments here.
What about Love? : Bible songs inspired by Friends and Heroes Series 1
Music is a powerful force – and a song can carry a life-changing message into the lives of everyone who hears it! That's why Friends and Heroes asked some of the UK's leading song-writers to create songs inspired by the Bible stories in Friends and Heroes Series 1. They then chose an amazing record producer, Mark Edwards, who found some awesome musicians and vocalists, including Ben Castle and Jonathan Viera, to bring the songs to life. The result is What about Love? : Bible songs inspired by Friends and Heroes Series 1.
