Pastors, churches, Christians, Elders, Bride of Christ, what is the Missions Budget Challenge?
Simple…
“Consider how much your church is spending on foreign missions. Now consider how much you are spending to enable the children in your church to have a Christian education at home. How does it stack up?”
My conviction and challenge for you is every church should put AT LEAST as high a priority on the mission field of the children in the church as they do on faraway tribes.
Well over 80 percent of the kids in Christian churches still go to government schools, to be educated in the religions of Secular Humanism and Marxist Statism.
No matter how faithful Christian adults are in the church, if the next generation is being trained by the state to be secular humanists, the church dies in a generation – and this is exactly what we are seeing.
We recently sat down with homeschooling expert and mother of five, Nicki Truesdell, to talk about homeschooling multiple children in different age groups, how to bring History to life, and how to LOVE language arts and teach it so our kids will love it too. Nicki shared valuable insights about managing multiple subjects at various grade levels, with a special emphasis on language arts and history. Her practical advice, gleaned from years of homeschooling experience, offers a roadmap for simplifying the homeschooling journey while nurturing a love for learning in our children.
1/ As a homeschooling parent of five kids, Nicki Truesdell understand the challenges of managing multiple subjects at different grade levels. But fear not! I’ve got some tips to make it easier.
2/ Online classes and co-ops can be helpful, but they’re not accessible or affordable for everyone. So, I recommend combining children into groups to simplify teaching.
3/ One way to do this is by using history as the core subject. Everyone studies the same time period together, allowing for shared learning experiences.
4/ But don’t stop at history! You can also teach literature, Bible, and science at different levels within the group. Adjustments can be made based on ages, like research for older kids and coloring pages for younger ones.
5/ Having multiple copies of books on different levels is a game-changer. It allows each child to dive into the subject at their appropriate reading level while still staying within the same topic.
6/ When it comes to teaching science, following the timeline of historical events can make it even more engaging. It helps kids understand the context and impact of scientific discoveries throughout history.
7/ Math andlanguage arts may need to be tailored to individual grade levels, but remember, flexibility is key. Don’t feel boxed in by public school grade levels. The goal is to keep your children learning and progressing, regardless of their “grade.”
8/ To make this work, embrace the “one room schoolhouse” mindset. It’s okay if your kids are on different levels in certain subjects. Focus on creating an atmosphere of continuous learning and growth.
9/ “As a history lover who was homeschooled myself, I’ve always made extra time to read and learn about different time periods. History is relevant and important because it helps us avoid repeating past mistakes.” Nick Truesdell
10/ “Sadly, many people have been taught a distorted version of history. So, I encourage parents to learn alongside their children. Embrace hands-on learning experiences and make history relevant to their lives.” Nicki Truesdell
11/ Creating a timeline that starts at the beginning of the world and includes personal events and ancestors helps kids understand their place in history. Combine historical fiction and factual resources for a well-rounded perspective.
12/ Thanks to the Internet, finding artifacts, virtual field trips, and videos that bring history to life has never been easier. Take advantage of these resources to enhance your children’s learning experience.
13/ Field trips, museum visits, and participating in historical reenactments are also amazing ways to immerse your children in history. These hands-on experiences make learning memorable and fun!
4/ Food can also be a great way to engage children in history. Try cooking historical recipes together and explore different cultures through their culinary traditions.
15/ Reading is an essential skill for lifelong learning and excellent communication. If your child doesn’t love reading yet, don’t panic! Keep encouraging them and expose them to various books. They might surprise you!
17/ Reading aloud to your children for 30 minutes to an hour each school day can foster a love for reading. Let them take turns reading too. It’s a great way to spend quality time together and expand their literary horizons.
18/ Depending on your history studies, assign specific books for your children to read. Make sure to tailor the assignments to what they enjoy, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction. Variety keeps things interesting!
19/ Don’t be afraid to expose your children to books they might not have chosen themselves. Sometimes, they’ll find them interesting even if you don’t. Broaden their horizons through literature!
20/ Strong communication skills are vital in any field. Reading lays a solid foundation for language arts, and writing follows naturally. Encourage reading lots of books together, independent reading, and listening to audiobooks.
The truth is, we just didn’t want to call this article “Homeschooling Multiple Ages: 22 Secrets to Simplify Teaching and Make History Come Alive,” so we rounded down to 20 and have included two more secrets because they’re just so valuable.
21/ Copy work is an effective way to improve grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Let your child copy down words from a book, whether it’s jokes, scripture, poetry, or historical speeches. Start with a sentence a day for younger ones and gradually increase.
22/ Crafts are a fantastic hobby that can enhance your homeschool experience. It solidifies lessons, like when we made Sumerian clay tablets. Plan a craft day once a month or a few times a year. It might get messy, but the memories will be worth it!
Nicki Truesdell is a second-generation homeschooler and the author of Anyone Can Homeschool. Texas born and raised, she is mother to five children and a homemaker at heart, who loves books, freedom, history, and quilts. Nicki believes that homeschooling can be relaxed and that history is fun, and both can be done with minimal cost or stress, no matter your family’s circumstances.
Yvette and I got to do one of our favorite things over the weekend. We attended a homeschool conference in Moore, Oklahoma where we showed Schoolhouse Rocked and spoke on a few panels. More importantly, we got to connect with homeschooling families. We always leave these conferences encouraged and energized.
We were once again struck by how many NEW homeschooling families were there. One of the most important things that COVID-19 did was open millions of parents’ eyes to how desperately public schools were failing. And many parents chose to bring their children home for good!
By What Measure?
But is the public school system actually failing? From the consumer perspective – that of the student, parent, and taxpayer – it’s clear we are not getting what we desire. Students are provided with poor academic outcomes. Parents have their authority undermined and their trust betrayed. The American taxpayer watches as every year school spending increases while school safety declines, test scores decline, and the anti-Christian, anti-family, and anti-American values being taught in the classroom result in moral decline, political unrest, and cultural chaos.
From the perspective of the founders and the architects of the system it should be understood that government schools are a raving success. The worldview and values taught in the classroom are adopted by the majority of the students and the system produces millions of mostly compliant workers who will continue to pay taxes and won’t overthrow their leaders. Further, they will continue to feed the system with fresh generations of disciples to repeat the process.
I often say, “public schools are the world’s most effective evangelistic organizations.” The vast majority of disciples who pass through the system come out dedicated, unquestioning adherents to the religious worldview of the schools – regardless of the religious upbringing they receive at home or church.
“The model for utopia…equal poverty for all”
John Dewey
In order to understand the true aim of the public school system and what they are succeeding at, let’s look at what the father of progressive education, John Dewey, had to say.
“John Dewey (1885-1952) is generally lauded as the father of progressive education” (p. 1).
“Dewey stated that the only way to undermine the capitalist system was to get rid of the emphasis primary schools placed on the development of high literacy and independent intelligence” (p. 1).
“Destroying the brainpower of a nation is an act of war against that nation” (p. 4).
“Dewey admitted that the reading program he was proposing would not be as effective as the traditional method” (p. 7).
“The plea for the predominance of learning to read in early school-life because of the great importance attached to literature seems to me a perversion” The Primary-Education Fetich by John Dewey (p. 8).
“The model for utopia…equal poverty for all” (p. 9).
As homeschooling parents we have the perfect opportunity to fight back. We have the privilege of training our kids’ hearts and minds in truth, day by day. In the words of Deuteronomy 6:5-7, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Meeke Addison, co-host of Airing the Addisons on American Family Radio, recently joined Yvette Hampton on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast to talk about how to train our children for the cultural battle that they will inevitably face. She explains why we need to keep a close eye on politics, pop culture, and the church; and how to equip our kids to effectively engage in and transform culture.
We pray that the Schoolhouse Rocked Ministry is a blessing to you and your family. Here are a few ways to be involved in this important mission…
Share the movie (it’s FREE to stream) and podcasts with your friends and family.
Here’s what happens when you put a night person on a live show at 8:00 in the morning.
I was very thankful for the opportunity to be back on America Unhinged with Dr. John Diamond to talk about the critical state of education and how we can save the sinking ship.
Last Monday, Garritt was racing down the sidewalk with our daughter, Lacey, when he fell and broke his elbow really seriously. After a full week of extreme pain and very little sleep, today he had surgery to have his elbow replaced. As you can imagine, this has meant a ton of stress and exhaustion for our whole family, and he is just starting the recovery process now.
This injury has already meant a canceled trip to show the film to a large group and to attend NRB (the National Religious Broadcasters Association) convention for a bunch of very important interviews. Additionally, it has made keeping up with the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast and other critical work impossible. In addition to your prayers, we need your help. So much of what we do each week revolves around promoting Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution to a world that desperately needs this timely film. You can do this so much better than we can!
For the next few weeks, please do everything you can to get the word out about the film. Share the website, https://SchoolhouseRocked.com , everywhere you can. This is where you can see the trailer, buy the DVD, and stream the film – along with listening to the podcast and downloading the free Homeschool Survival Kit. And if you haven’t already seen it buy two copies of the DVD. I promise you will want one for yourself and one (or more) to loan out to friends and family.
We’re counting on you. Be creative and totally show us up.
Do your kids like audio adventures? If so, they are sure to enjoy the Brinkman Adventures Audio Drama! Our family was introduced to these fantastic audio adventures during our 3-month cross-country road trip and we love them!
Every episode is an interesting, adventurous, convicting, and life changing story based on real missionaries around the world. Your family is sure to be encouraged by the many stories of God’s faithfulness, and you are sure to enjoy this episode with Sarah Bultman (Aunt Sarah) and Josh Bultman (who plays Ian Brinkman) as they share more about Brinkman Adventures.
Sarah Bultman is a beloved daughter of the King who has the privilege of raising up the next generation of Christian world-changers through her work with the Brinkman Adventures. Her passion is to see Kingdom-minded people raised up and thriving so that the Gospel will saturate every part of society and reach the ends of the earth. She has helped create the 66 action-packed Brinkman Adventures episodes that air on more than 500 station outlets all over the world. She is the author of the Brinkman Adventures curriculum and the co-host of the Brinkman Podcast. She is a life and ministry coach that helps people get unstuck and find their “why” so they can launch, grow, and thrive in their calling.
Josh Bultman is a recent home school graduate who has been a part of the Brinkman Adventures from the beginning. He started as an actor in the show at age 8 and has helped create many of the 66 episodes.
He is the audio engineer and sound designer for the Brinkman Adventures Audio Drama and Brinkman podcast. In addition to acting in the Brinkman Adventures, he also is a character in the Jake Muller Audio Drama.
He has lived through many of the stories told on the Brinkman Adventures and loves to see people encouraged to use their talents to further the Kingdom.
You can find the Brinkman Adventures Audio Drama, listen to the Brinkman Podcast and purchase the curriculum atwww.brinkmanadventures.com
Download three FREE EPISODES of the Brinkman Adventures here:
Listen to the Brinkman Podcast and hear from some of the real missionaries that the Brinkman Adventures are based off of: Brinkman Podcast
Automated Transcript:
Listen to Sarah and Josh Bultman on The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast (11/18/2019 episode)
Hey everyone, this is Yvette Hampton, your host of The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast back with you again today with another really exciting episode. And as always, we always try to bring podcast episodes to and resources to you guys that will encourage you and equip you in your homeschool journey. And back in June or July, I actually can’t remember if it was the end of June or beginning of July that I met the Bultmann family. We were at the firmly planted homeschool resource center finishing filming for Schoolhouse Rocked with Heidi st John and the resource center is Heidi and her family’s ministry and they have of course a whole bunch of people who work there with them. And one of the gentleman who works there, his name is Pat Roy and some of you may recognize his name and he was the the founder of the Jonathan Park series that many of you, especially with older homeschool kids, you would remember that.
Backstage Pass members can watch the full video of this interview here.
So he works at the homeschool resource center and one night we were there and Pat was there with this family, the Bultman family. And so we got to meet them and got to talking with them. And they started telling us about this audio drama series that they do called the Brinkman Adventures. And I was like, I’ve never heard of the Brinkman Adventures before. And it was really neat talking to them. And this family is just amazing. They have such an incredible ministry. And they were there at a homeschool convention and so they had gone to visit the resource center, so we got to meet them there. And they knew that our family of course travels a lot. We’re on the road all the time. And so they gave us their adventures, that seven seasons as the Brinkmann Adventures to listen to you on the road.
And it was just so fascinating to me that they had done these and that I hadn’t heard of him. So of course we continued on our journey and we started listening to this audio drama series and we were like, this is amazing. And what you guys have to understand about me is I, my mind wanders all over the place, especially when I’m driving. And typically when we’re, when we’re on the road, I do most of the driving because Garritt is sitting in the passenger seat working on his computer. And a lot of times we’ll listen to audio books and I will not be able to focus on the audio book. I’ll get pits and pieces of it, but I’m paying attention to the road and the traffic and stuff. Well, the Brinkmann Adventures were so engaging to me that I could not get enough of them and I would, I mean, I was like my kids.
I was like, okay, we’ve got to listen to the next one. So anyway, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to two of the Bultman family members, Sarah Bultman, who is aunt Sarah and the Brinkman Adventures and Josh Bultman, who is one of the kids who’s grown up as part of the series. And Josh, you’re the son of en, right? Who, who created Brinkmann Adventures. And then Sarah, you are Ian’s sister, correct? That’s right. Okay. So let’s quickly introduce yourselves to our audience and then let’s talk about these exciting Brinkmann Adventures. So I’m Josh boatman and I am one of the actors that plays in the show. I play Ian and I’m a sibling
Of nine other siblings. The oldest boy. I mean I’ve grown up making these things with my dad and with my mom and stuff.
Yeah. And you play a pretty big role because you, you do a lot of the technical part of it.
I also, I also do the sound design and some of the web design too.
Very cool. And Sarah, you have a pretty amazing part as well. Yeah, it’s really fun. So I also act on the show. I’m aunt Sarah, so I come in, in and out a little bit. But be besides that, I help write the stories. I did the graphic design, like the cover art and I’m, I’m the cohost of the podcast that we do the Brinkmann podcast. And I’m, I also wrote the Brinkmann curriculum, which goes with season one. So that’s really fun. Very cool. So let’s talk about these Brinkmann Adventures because the thing that really interested me is that it wasn’t just an audio drama for the sake of telling stories, but what you guys have done is you have taken stories from real missionaries and you’ve turned them in and you’ve changed them around a little bit. But every one of the adventures is based on a true story of real missionaries, right?
Yup. Almost everyone, there is just a few that’s focused just on the Brinkmann family. And those are loosely based on what has happened to either Ian’s family or yeah, our family. Yes. So yeah, but most of them are all about missionaries. Yeah. They are so cool. We, we love mission work at my husband and I actually met on a mission trip to Mexico when we were in high school. And you know, there’s just such a need and we of course feel like the America’s as big of a mission field as anywhere else in the world. Totally. But people who are willing to literally die for the gospel no matter what, what the cost, they are willing to go out and, and surrender their whole life to serving the Lord in whatever aspect God has asked them to do that. And so Sarah, you’re not only part of the Brinkman adventures, but you were a missionary.
How long, how long have you been, yeah, so I started doing missions. I’m back in college when I was, I went to Bible school in Alaska and I’m God just put on my heart to help people understand what missionaries, what they’re really doing. So my dream when I was 17 was to go to other countries and fill missionaries in their homes. I’m seeing what they’re doing and bring those, those films back basically to inspire people back here in the States to support them, but also say, wow, I can do that. They’re just normal people like acting on faith and God is doing amazing things to them. So yeah, back in college I started doing videos for missions in the native Alaskan population and I just remember thinking, wow, this, the landscape here is gorgeous. I’m in Alaska, there’s moose and bear and Eagles and mountains. But I realized the real treasure in those places where the people, you know, those tiny little villages full of incredible people that need the gospel and need to hear him and, and the missionaries, they’re doing incredible things. So
Yeah. So since college, I’ve just had this passion for missions and it was in 2008 that I went to Africa for the first time. And, and you know, when you go there, oftentimes your heart is just, you know, God just put something on my heart so deeply that I’ve gone back almost every single year. Sometimes I lived there for a whole year and work with a certain ministry and other times it’s for three months, one months. So I’ve gone back almost every single year for about 10 11 years now.
Wow. And so some of the Brinkman adventures are actually based on stories of missionaries that you personally know. And you, you’ve heard these stories on the mission field or maybe even been part of some of them. And so you’ve brought these into the the audio drama series and turn them into stories for people to listen to, which is just absolutely fascinating. And so I didn’t actually know when I first started listening, you know, all the way across the country actually while we were listening to the brain pen adventures, I didn’t realize that you had a podcast as well. And I’m not even sure how I, I think maybe I discovered that on your website. And then I was like, they have a podcast and so talk about the podcast because the podcast, I just was like, it just keeps getting better. The Brinkmanns they’re so cool. The podcast actually brings on some of the real missionaries. Yes. These stories that you’re telling,
The goal in the podcast was exactly that. These stories are so incredible. And some people when they listen to them, they’re like, all that can’t be real. But so Ian and I were talking and we’re like, these people need to know that these are real stories for one and for two. We have such an incredible opportunity to get deeper into the heart of this story and let people come even closer to those missionaries and ask, you know, Dave Anderson, who was almost drowning in the varying, see, you know, at the very first story, you hear this plane crash and they’re rescued. And to be able to hear from Dave yourself what that was like, to have to trust God in the middle of like, I could probably die right now. I am, I could drown. I mean I should be freezing to death and, and just hear straight from the missionaries heart and I, and that’s been such a blessing to bring people closer to the heart of this stories. Yeah. So it’s been awesome.
So cool. I think my favorite episodes so far that we’ve listened to, I mean, they’re all so good. And really quickly, I actually want to say though, that the series kind of follows your family. You can listen to one episode and season one and then you could listen to another one in season five and not be totally lost because it’s not a chain of stories. You know, you don’t leave cliffhangers. Well some of them have cliffhangers but, but you can listen to them here and there and still understand the the story. Cause a lot of them are just very specific to that episode. And I love that about it. But I think my favorite one that I’ve heard so far is the one about the carjacking. Oh that one was so much fun. And it tells a story of these. They were in South Africa. Is that correct?
Yeah. Well actually you tell it. I’m gonna let you tell the story cause I want to tell it that you’re going to tell it better than I can. So tell the story of the carjacking. Oh it was so amazing. And actually that happened to some friends of mine. That’s how we heard about this story when I was serving in South Africa. These guys told me the story of how they were carjacked and I was blown away with what happened. So I told Ian and he’s like, we need to do this for the Brinkmanns. So, yeah, it was just, I’m a friend of mine, Raymond, who actually plays himself in the episode. So it really happened to the guy who you’re hearing act. And he was going to buy some cows for, to give to his wife, dad. It was like the bride price, you have to get some cows.
And on the way back home they got carjacked and it was just this very scary situation because in, in South Africa often, you know, people are wanting to get things, but it often ends up in murder. So you know, someone will be killed for their cell phone. So the fact that they had carjacked them, there was almost no doubt in their minds that they are going to be killed at the end of this cause they’re, they just want to get rid of the evidence of who, who saw them. So they were just super afraid and like didn’t know what to do, but they just decided to start praying for the guy who was driving them. They’re all like shoved in the back of the van and they just, they told me, and it’s not in the episode necessarily cause it would take to them, but they prayed for them out loud for almost a half an hour.
Wow. So these guys are driving them and hearing these guys, God, we pray for this guy. We know that you love him. God, we ask that you would get, you know, we just praying and praying and praying and they didn’t like it at first, but then at the end they just said, you know, we want you to pray for us. And and they had a change of heart and in fact they gave them back their bank cards, which was incredible. I mean, they gave them back. Their cell phones just took out the the SIM parts so they couldn’t call. But at the end they let them go, which was very incredible. And even more than that before they let them go. They were able to really witness to those guys and share the gospel and ask, Hey, where would you go if you were to die right now?
And Havi my friend Javier asked that question and he didn’t realize that these guys had just gotten a message on the phone saying the police are onto us. We need to find a way to hide. Because it wasn’t just one car jacking, it was actually a string of carjackers trying to get a whole bunch of mini buses. They had a plan. So they had a whole bunch of guys and they, they knew they’re in trouble. So he’s asking this question, what’s gonna happen when you die? And these guys’ hearts are already racing. Cause they realize we’re in a really tricky situation right now. We’re about to get caught. You know, there’s roadblocks everywhere. We have to find a way to hide. So it was just providential that they were speaking that truth into them. And yeah, at the end, one of the guys, the, the second guy just said, I really want this.
I want God, please pray for me. Helped me to find him. And so yeah, they were able to love their enemies right in the middle of this super scary situation and, and were rescued. And that doesn’t always happen. But it was beautiful to be able to tell that story. And my favorite part was at the end when the car Decker’s let them go, they drove away in their other, you know, someone came and picked him up and they let the car go. They let the guys go, took their SIM cards so they couldn’t call the cops. But then they took the keys to the van and threw them into the Bush because they didn’t want them to follow them and it was dark. They couldn’t find the keys. And they were looking, I think for an hour. And then finally they stopped to pray and I’m like, God, we just want to go home. They please help us find these keys. And right after they prayed that Raymond reached out his hand and just banged into them, they were like painting in a Bush. So God just like, I hear you. There you go. And when I got home, so yeah, so that was just an amazing story and really encouraging to be able to tell. Cause I think what it says to us
Is when we’re in those pressured situations where we’re being taken advantage of or things are going crazy, you know, are we looking at ourselves and the things around us are we like, okay Lord, what are you doing right now? How are you caring about these people? How can I love them? And I just love their example of that. That is an incredible story. And it’s so impactful because, you know, as, as Christians, you know, we, we are, we’re set for eternity. I mean, we, we know for your following Christ, we know that no matter what happens to us, we’re going to go to heaven. And but, but like you said, it doesn’t happen like that. You know, obviously these guys were carjackers and so, you know, they, you’re your friend, the missionary, well, is he, was he a missionary or is he, did he both yet missionaries.
Okay. so they knew that these guys obviously were not believers. And and just for them to have that heart towards these men who had captured them, you know, and that their lives really were on the line and to just pray for, for their, their enemy is what they were doing and be able to share Jesus with them. I mean, that’s, that’s amazing. That’s absolutely amazing. And that’s what God calls us to do, you know, is to pray for our enemies. And so what what a beautiful example, what Josh, let me ask you, what is your favorite episode?
I would say probably there’s two that I really love. There’s, one is in season four is called heartsong. It’s just amazing story of this guy who was in Russia. He decided to not go to the state church and having his own house church. And so he got arrested after some time and he spent 20 years in jail. I think it was 17 Oh, 17 years in jail. Yeah. And it’s just the whole story of his struggle throughout that time. But it was such an amazing story. Listen to that one is in season four, I’m not going to spoil it. Something happened with so amazing. It just blows your mind. I mean how God rescued him from that situation. First of all, strengthened him and it darkest time of his whole entire life. Whereas, I mean, they’ll just share a tiny bit of that part where they finally kind of broke him and he renounced it was, he was willing to renounce the Lord the next day he’s going to sign the papers and something happened that night as he was just crying and just bro sober.
Okay. Something happened that night. That guy just turned whole situation around. So you have to listen to it cause it’s such a good story. And the actor who played that story, he was so good. He’s probably are, it’s just, he’s amazing. So good. He did so good. Yeah. And then the next one is our Davy ring story operation Moses corrosion. Mozel. Yeah. That one was recent. That one was our recent most for season seven. Yup. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And that story actually, which is so incredible. There’s something called the Sinica awards. So all of the Christian audio dramas kind of are in this award ceremony and that story, actually one for 2008, so yeah. Oh, here we have the popped up. But yeah, it’s just because that story was so fantastic. What that guy did. They’ve Eubank. He was, it was, he was in ISIS territory.
I’m a running through ISIS, gunfire and rescuing people and we were able to get the actual audio from some of those rescues and then Dave [inaudible] comes on at the end and actually talks himself. So it’s just so inspiring and the events are so incredible. And again, they’re actors did an amazing job. Josh did an incredible job with sound design. Just making you actually feel like you’re right there. That is so true. Yes. I definitely, well, we haven’t gotten to season seven yet. Josh, you told us your favorite episodes. What about you, Sarah? Do you have a couple of favorites? Oh man, I, there’s so many that I love. Some of my top would be the ones he mentioned. Another one or two that I really love. The family stories are really, really sweet and bring you into just deeper biblical truths and things that are encouraging to families.
And there are a couple of those that I really love. One actually it’s a bit of a mystery, but it’s, it’s called let’s see. It’s the one about Kate when she’s in the Congo. So do you remember the name of that one crisis in the Congo, I believe, or Palm feller? Well, I like both of them because just the way that the actors, Ashley, just the way that she acted in that was so great. Just hearing like someone who was a youth walking into missions and you know, trying to do her best and she’s in the Congo trying to do some stories and you, you kind of follow her journey of realizing what, what is really going on and how to more deeply share the gospel without trying to just do your own agenda. So that’s, that’s the first lesson.
The first one, but the second one, which I love, is a mystery called mysterious Palm feller. And I love it because they’re trying to figure out who’s knocking down these Palm trees in this mission compound. Well, it turns out it’s linked to this in which doctor that’s coming into town. And this is based on the true story of that happened in the Congo with Glenn. What’s his name I should have had? Anyway, so you can look up his name. His first name is Glenn, but he was in the Congo. And what happened was there is a witch doctor that would come around and basically scared everyone into paying him money for his witch doctor services. And the biggest thing he would say was, all right people, I have this stick. The staff is so powerful that if anyone touches it, you will die instantly.
And he had people so afraid and he also would send guys ahead of time to bury things in the village and then he would, you know, with his magic powers, find them, you know, so that’s, it’s proving that he’s at which sector. So Glen, who is a part of this mission he’s with Kate in the episode. Well, Kate wasn’t there in real life, but he was with Kate and episode and they realized, all right, this guy is come to town and he is ruining everything. They had been sharing the gospel. They’re no a long time and now people were kind of going back to the witchdoctor looking to him to solve their problems instead of the Lord. So Glen said, I need to do something about this. I’ve kind of been avoiding it by half to go. So he went and while he was there, Oh, there’s a huge crowd and there was a witch doctor with his really, you know, staff all dressed up with feathers and he’s just all dressed up just yelling at people that people, you, you need this power.
You know, they, things are going wrong in your village because you’re not doing what the, which doctor is telling you to do. And, and Glenn just got so upset and he said, people, this guy is telling you lies like, don’t believe it. He, he is basically keeping you bound by these lies, by these spirits that aren’t even of God. Like, we need to stand against this. And the man is all mad. What are you saying? Stop. And so Glen said, what’s supposed to happen when I touch this staff? They’re like, you’re gonna die. Don’t do it. So he goes in front of everyone and grabs the staff and just holds it up in the air. He’s like, am I dead? He’s like, people look at me. I am not dead. This is not true. God loves you and this is just keeping you trapped. And everyone was just stunned because that was like so scary and they’re just waiting for him to fall over dead or lightning does strike him.
Nothing happens. And then suddenly all the people get super angry. It was the witchdoctors minions or whatever. They chase him to the building and just, you know, throwing rocks, trying to basically kill him. But God protects him and, and he gets away and he ends up just praying for the witch doctor. And the next day, I believe it was, or the day after the witch doctor came to his door. Oh wow. In the mission compound. And he opens the door. He’s like, Oh my goodness, it’s Yannick and you want it goes, no dress in normal clothes, which side to close. And he said, Glenn, he’s like, I need you to pray for me. And he’s like, what do you want? [inaudible] He’s like, yeah, not believing him. And he said, no, he’s at Glen. When you came up and spoke, he said, I felt my power go from a 10 to a two.
Wow. Didn’t even know what that means. But he said, what you have is real. I believe that your God is the real God. And he said, can you please pray for me? So he talked with them all night long and the next morning he just fell on his knees just weeping, just receiving Jesus into his life as a savior. And I’m to this day, that guy serving as like a deacon and one of the there. Yes. So that story too just blows me away every time. Just like God’s graciousness and faithfulness and then Glen’s boldness to say, I don’t care what’s going to happen to me. I might die, but this is truth and people should not be distorted and ruined by these lies. So powerful story.
Wow, that is incredible. I love, love that. These are real stories that you guys are telling through Brinkmann Adventures because to be able to see the power of God work in real life is so different than you sitting in a room and writing out a script and making up stories and you know, it’s like when we read the Bible, we, we read these stories in it and it’s so unfortunate to me that there are so many people who think, well, they’re just stories. They’re just made up. No, no, they’re not. The power of God is so real. We serve an amazing and incredible God and if we will just open our eyes and we will look for him in everyday life. I mean, I think sometimes as Americans we think, well God does those things in other countries. And he used to do those, you know, back in the Bible days.
But he doesn’t really work like that now today. Yes he does. I mean, our family has been privy to many of God’s amazing miracles. And you know, sometimes we have the opportunities to share them and, and in the right context we, we do. And there are other times where people would be like, no, that didn’t actually happen. And sometimes there’s simple things and then sometimes there are bigger things. And you know, God is a God of miracles and wonder. And it’s so neat that you guys are bringing these stories to life to impact people. And to really show people how powerful God really is. And so it’s absolutely amazing. I love what you’re doing. And what there’s just no better way. You know, we’re, as homeschool parents, we believe, and I talk about this on the podcast all the time, when we educate our girls, we find no purpose in educating them.
If what we’re teaching them does not direct their hearts towards Christ and take them to their knees into the cross because then what’s the point? You know, if we just here, and I’m not saying that, you know, listening to fun stories just for fun, it is wrong. And we obviously we do that. You know, we, we read books all the time, but to get to hear real stories of real people and real things that God has done is just amazing. One of my very favorite stories you know, as George Mueller, I absolutely love the story of George Mueller and what God has done in his life. And, and I think I’ve maybe even talked about this too, but my absolute favorite part of that, of his whole story and his whole life of miracle after miracle is when he’s standing with the orphans and they’re there wanting to eat and they have no food.
I don’t know if you remember this, but they’ve, they have no food on their table. And he says, we’re going to stand, we’re going to thank God for the food that we’re about to eat. And they have nothing to drink. They have no food on their plates and they thank God, you know, for the food they’re about to eat. And then a bread man and a milk man both come to the door and provide all the bread and milk that they need. That is the God that we serve. And that is the God that we are directing our kids’ hearts towards. And if we’re not doing that, then we’re doing it wrong. We’re doing it wrong. And so I’m so grateful that you guys are bringing these stories to us. Take us really quickly. We have a few minutes left. Take us kind of through how you bring these stories together. So you, you hear about them. Where, where do they all come from? Cause obviously Sarah, you don’t have that many missionary friends cause you have 66,000 so that’s right. I do. Yeah. So where do the stories come from and then how, how do you bring it all together into a Brinkmann adventure?
So it happens in a lot of different ways. We get stories all the time. Just amazing stories, all like from tons of different sources. My dad was at a homeschool conference last year and some guy came up with two and he said, do you guys take stories? And my dad is like, yeah, we do all the time. And so he tells him his story and we later that year that became an episode called North Dakota gold. And I mean, that was just one of the ways we’ve,
There’s books. Sometimes it’s a book that has a story in it that we just cannot get away from. And we just think this one needs to be told. In fact, there’s one coming for season nine that we’ve been trying to do for a long time of book that we read that we thought this story has to get to more people. Or for instance my brother in law is a pastor in Alaska, so a couple of his guys that comes to their, his mission conference, we featured their stories. Or just other missionaries that come to our church or, you know, we just pray and we say, God, which stories do you want this generation to hear? And so they come to us, like Josh said, lots of different ways, and we just start praying and keeping your ears open. So if anyone listening to this has an amazing story,
Let us know it. We’ll turn it into a Brinkmann adventure. That’s so cool. Well,
Citing. Yeah. So from there then we it’s quite a process, but we kind of all get together in a room and, and bring the story to our attention. We listen to it, we read it. So we have like a writing retreat. And from there we do storyboarding, which is we write down the basic beats, like the biggest beats on cards. And then we have a big board and we’re just putting, okay, this is when he got carjacked when they pulled them aside. This is when he found the keys in the Bush. This is when he witnessed to the guy, here’s when this happened. And so then we put it all out there. And there’s a structure we follow loosely, but is hub helped us so much in story creation called save the cat is, that’s the book that we use, save the cat.
And it just kind of helps you bring all the different beats at the right time and it’s, it’s pretty logical once you get it and it’s like, Oh, this makes so much sense. So after we get all the beats down, then Ian, we’ll go ahead and write a script and then we all kind of come together. We breed it, we offer feedback, we tweak it. Sometimes it needs to be readjusted and parts added and taken away. And then at that point we send it to the missionary and they read through it and make sure they’re okay with everything they sign off. They have us change.
Oh wow. Okay. So you actually get it approved by the missionary to make sure that they’re given a thumbs up. Wow. That’s awesome.
It’s very important to us because it’s their story. So, and then from there we we have everything’s go and then we get the actors and we have actress from Milwaukee area. We have actors from all over and now we’re actually doing remote acting. So a bunch of people in India have acted and just sent in their lines. Sometimes we Skype with people and they have their own recording studio. Like Katie. Yes, we did that one. So I was directing actors in Haiti over Skype, which is fun. And some even in the U S too. Yeah. So let’s do the remote acting and and then it gets all on the computer and there are just hundreds and hundreds of tracks that, that’s where Josh becomes just like the guru of everything. Josh and Ian just mix that down and make it sing. And we have someone who writes original music for us.
Jared Davis swell is incredible, incredible composer and he just makes the story come to life through music. I mean, he loves the Lord so much and he said, I would just love to, he, he reached out to us. He said, I would love to write the score for your audio drama. And he does a lot of the other ones as well, like adventures in Odyssey heirloom there. Yeah. So he does as well. And yeah. Then we just mix it all down. Josh just fully so all the footsteps banging on things and splashing in water and there’s a lot.
Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of other processes to release it. It is fantastic. And then Josh, you like you said in the beginning you are the oldest boy of 10 kids and so we all homeschooled and you’re all homeschooled. Which is amazing because this has given you an opportunity to do this as a family ministry. We talk a lot about that on the podcast that you know, if you, if you guys were all going your separate ways during the day for five days a week, you would not have the opportunity to put as much into this as you do. And you and all, do all of your siblings act in these? Yup. Most of them. Most of them do. Right. And this is the habit. At some point you have at some point. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Which is so cool. And I think I had heard on one of your podcasts that your, all of the character names, well most of the character names of you and your siblings are your middle names.
Is that correct? Okay. Just middle name is Ian and I play Ian and the show. Okay. And there’s like two exceptions where we just changed it because they were kind of hard to say or they were too close to sure. Okay. Oh, the names. But it’s so fantastic. I absolutely love what you guys are doing. And you know, we, I am on a mission to get every family to know about the Brinkman adventures. [inaudible] I felt like I struck gold when we started listening to them. I was so excited when I, when I brought them back to the girls at Heidi’s house and I was like, look what we got. And they were like, Oh, okay, we’ve not heard of those. And, and we have just really loved them. And then you’ve got the podcast, which again, just makes it so much more exciting to get to hear the real stories. The, the actual, you know, some of them, the actual missionaries. And then really quickly, you mentioned something about a curriculum. So you have the Brinkmann Adventures curriculum. You said that goes with season one. What is that getting better Sarah [inaudible] I know
That also was born out of a desire to go deeper into the heart of these lessons or the, his stories. So we decided let’s write curriculum around each story of season one. And so basically it’s for like a Sunday school or homeschool or a homeschool co-op and it’s structured what you would need for homeschool and Sunday school. So it’s about an hour long. You listened to like an eight minute clip of the story that kinda plays the synopsis of it. And then you go deeper into what does it mean to love your enemies? Do you have enemies? So what kind of enemies are actually in your life? You know, they’re not probably the kind of enemies that Raymond and Havi had, but what are the enemies that you have and how can you love them right now? So it’s really practical in helping the kids to apply those lessons to their own life.
But then there’s also fun stuff like crafts that go along with it. There’s games that go along with it. There’s science experiments and object lessons that really help the concept just come alive. So that first one is 12 different S lessons that you can do in each one about an hour long. Okay. Can you go, you also get seasoned one with it. So you can listen to the whole story or just that synopsis depending on your group size and style. But we found that parents and teachers have loved it because again, it’s introducing kids to real stories of God working in the world. So it’s been a super great resource for people.
Very cool. And so that’s geared more towards elementary age kids it sounds like. Yep.
Oh, eight to 12 year olds. Okay. and another resource I wanted to mention that you haven’t mentioned yet is on the website. You can go to the real stories tab and fat is amazing because you just click there and go to the season that you’re listening to and go to the story and it will write in detail what really happened. You know, some of the funny things that you don’t even get to hear on the episode, but some of the deeper details, it has pictures of the real people. So it’s basically like a blog that brings you also deeper into these stories.
So. Cool. And about how long is each episode? 25 minutes and 55 seconds. [inaudible] How long is each episode [inaudible] on the radio so that, Oh my goodness, it’s so cool. And so yeah, you guys are on the radio, you said more than 500 station outlets around the world or all over. I just, I can’t understand where, I don’t know where he’s been, how I hadn’t heard of this. But anyway, for those who have not heard of it until now either. I am so honored to be able to introduce you to the Brinkmann Adventures. You have on your podcast, you have three full episodes on there so people can actually go on there, listen to three full episodes. We will link to those in the show notes so that people can get a really good idea of what the Brinkmann Adventures are. And then what is the website where people can learn more?
Yeah, so the website is BrinkmanAdventures.com. Okay. And they can obviously order any of the DVDs on, there are not going to be these CDs. Yes. Cds are digital downloads. Oh great. Yeah. Okay, fantastic. Well these are great. I mean I can just see people using these for their kids’ quiet times, you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner, any of those things are in the car like us. And that’s typically where we listen to audio books and things like that. So thank you so much for your time. Thank you for what you’re doing. You guys have an amazing ministry. And I love, we love family ministry because it’s what we do as well. We love that we get to work together as a family and just have some kind of impact, you know, and God’s kingdom. Amen. It’s what God’s called us all to do, no matter what it is.
And not everybody has to have, you know, make a movie or create an audio drama. You know, whether, whether you’re, you know, just speaking truth to your children as you’re snuggling them and reading to them and raising up, you know, the next generation of Jesus lovers. Or if you’re making movies or audio dramas it doesn’t matter as long as we’re all doing something to impact God’s kingdom. But I love that you guys get to do this as a family. So thank you for all the work that you put into it. It shows, it is so well done. So professionally done. So thank you for, for your time that you put into doing this and for talking with us today and it’s been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for having us. Yeah, it’s super fun and just blessings on what you do too.
I cannot wait to see the movie when it comes out. Oh, you and me both sister! I cannot wait to see it either, but thank you again. Thank you guys for listening to the podcast today. Remember, please go to iTunes and leave a review for the podcast. Those are such a blessing to us. And not only a blessing to encourage us, but it also really helps others to find the podcast. The more reviews we have the, the higher we move up in their, I don’t even know what you call it, their ranks. So that people can learn more about homeschooling and be encouraged in their homeschool journey. So I hope this has been an encouragement to you. We will be back with you again next week and have a great week.
Today I read a news article about a teacher in Vivian, Louisiana who had been arrested and charged with inappropriate contact with an underage student. The article went on to note that occurrences of this sort of behavior are on the rise, with many similar cases in just the beginning of 2019. It goes on to cite smartphones as the primary reason for the increase in occurrences.
Talk about missing the point!
The article quotes a report from the Texas Education Association saying, “As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.”
No. That’s not it.
For several decades, American schools have promoted atheism. Even moments of silent prayer have been banned. We have taught generations that there is no God. Therefore, there is no accountability to anyone but yourself.
We have taught kids that they are products of time and chance, descended from pond scum. Therefore, they have no eternal value; they are worthless. We have taught kids that about survival of the fittest, glorifying selfishness as an evolutionary advantage.
We have taught kids that sexual expression should be unhitched from the sacred union of marriage, and that kids should explore their sexuality to discover what pleases them the most, with the only boundary being “mutual consent”. “Comprehensive Sex-Ed” programs are being MANDATED in states and school districts across the country (and around the world). Parents are not being informed of the full reach and scope of this indoctrination, and they are not given the option to opt out of or pre-approve the teaching – which includes descriptive, instructive, pornographic, unnatural content (all presented to curious and immature students who are prone to peer pressure and experimentation, without the wisdom of years to understand the lasting consequences of their actions). Furthermore, in many cases, anti-family activists from Planned Parenthood and Pro-LGBT groups are being invited into the schools to instruct our children in these sensitive subjects.
We have taught kids that the family is a tired, unnecessary cliché.
We have taught boys that masculinity is toxic and that women don’t need a man to be “fulfilled”. “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”
We have taught girls the same evil lie – that men are an oppressive burden and out to steal their personal sovereignty. We scream, “equal pay for equal work!”, and teach them that men conspire to keep them underpaid and overworked. We have taught them that motherhood isn’t a noble role, and that they should desire to be professionals – doctors, lawyers, CEOs, firefighters, soldiers, police officers – anything but wives and mothers. We have taught them that if their unrestrained sexual exploration leads to the unfortunate consequence of pregnancy, they can quickly and “safely” remedy the situation with the friendly aid of Planned Parenthood – an organization that really cares for women – just not those in the womb or the ones who will suffer the anguish of guilt from their abortion.
And now we teach girls that they can BE men!
Recently, we have seen the rise of the enthusiastic promotion of paedophilia as a valid “sexual preference”. We are hosting “Drag Queen Story Hours” at public libraries to normalize perversion and to feed the curious and inquisitive minds of our children poison, while their enlightened parents look on in approval. We see pictures of pre-teen “drag queens” suggestively posed next to naked men, hear of them performing in gay bars, and see toddlers marching in “pride” parades, surrounded by overexcited, half-dressed (or less) perverts, drooling over the fresh meat being plated up by virtue signaling “ally” parents, yet no one in authority bats an eye for fear of being labeled as hateful.
No, smartphones are not the problem, and the problem will only get worse until we accept the truth. Man is sinful by nature. We are selfish and prone to pursue pleasure and gain to the detriment of those around us and even ourselves. Only submission to the authority of the Supreme Creator; only salvation through repentance and faith in His Son, who lived a sinless life, died on our behalf, and rose again; only the aid of the Holy Spirit can cause man to pursue anything higher than self-gratification. We must realize that we are accountable to a holy God, that our sin is repulsive to Him and brings the rightful consequence of eternal separation from Him in hell, but He loves us so much that He sent His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins, and through that sacrifice we can be saved from the punishment we deserve. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (ESV)
Parents, while you still have school-aged children at home, look around. Behold the consequences of the destructive philosophies our public schools have taught and our culture has rapturously embraced. Think about your beloved children’s eternal futures. Don’t sacrifice their souls in the name of convenience or a higher standard of living. Pull them out of the schools that are JOYOUSLY promoting these ideals as virtues. Teach them Truth. Teach then the Word of God. Don’t expect a few hours at Sunday school, AWANA, or youth group to do it for you. YOU do it – every day!
Grandparents, pray for your grandchildren. Pray for your children as they teach, train, love, and discipline your grandchildren. Encourage your children to be countercultural. When your kids suggest they they are considering homeschooling your grandkids encourage them! Offer to help.
You, look for opportunities to minister to families around you. Come beside single parents and support them as they strive to teach their children the truth. Speak up when you see family, faith, and culture being attacked and undermined – and expect persecution.
There is hope. Apart from God, culture will continue to crumble. Teachers will continue to have inappropriate relationships with students. Sin and destruction will be paraded through the streets as aspirational virtues, and we will continue to suffer the consequences, but Jesus saves! God made each and every one of us for a purpose – to glorify Him! That is the point.
“If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” – Deuteronomy 30:16-20 (ESV)
Sarah Bultman is a beloved daughter of the King who has the privilege of raising up the next generation of Christian world-changers through her work with the Brinkman Adventures. Her passion is to see Kingdom-minded people raised up and thriving so that the Gospel will saturate every part of society and reach the ends of the earth. She has helped create the 66 action-packed Brinkman Adventures episodes that air on more than 500 station outlets all over the world. She is the author of the Brinkman Adventures curriculum and the co-host of the Brinkman Podcast. She is a life and ministry coach that helps people get unstuck and find their “why” so they can launch, grow, and thrive in their calling.
Josh Bultman is a recent home school graduate who has been a part of the Brinkman Adventures from the beginning. He started as an actor in the show at age 8 and has helped create many of the 66 episodes.
We have taught kids that they are products of time and chance, descended from pond scum. Therefore, they have no eternal value; they are worthless. We have taught kids that about survival of the fittest, glorifying selfishness as an evolutionary advantage.
There is hope. Apart from God, culture will continue to crumble. Teachers will continue to have inappropriate relationships with students. Sin and destruction will be paraded through the streets as aspirational virtues, and we will continue to suffer the consequences, but Jesus saves! God made each and every one of us for a purpose – to glorify Him! That is the point.
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