Santa was good to me this year. He's actually good to me all year round, so Christmas can be a little anti-climactic some years. And even though we know it's not about the "stuff", it does give us the chance to make someone smile. I suspect even those participating in the Advent Conspiracy gave and received a gift or two.

We did some creative regifting this year. I had bought an iPod Nano a few months ago to use at the gym. Shaniah really wanted one, and she wanted the red edition, only available online. Time and money got away from me, so I got a neat red cover for mine and got her a new set of headphones to go with it. Maddy got Shaniah's Shuffle, which she was thrilled with. I just use my iPhone at the Y now. I'm so deprived.

Our family gift was the Wii. It's been funny. I think I've seen four pictures that our friends took on Christmas morning with their kids holding their Wii box. The kids all have this perma-smile on their faces and a glazed look in their eye. Maddie was so excited she almost had to change her pullups. That's a different kind of "Wii".

I had arranged for a spa treatment for Lynn at the Elmwood Spa in Toronto. They had some really good deals in conjunction with the Delta Chelsea, so the whole family got in on that one.

Lynn got me a nice sweater vest. Not sure when I took a liking to those, but I did. This is a nice brown one. Maddie likes to rub my belly and comment on how soft it is (the vest). I also got an 8-cup french press, coffee grinder, and a pound of Sumatra beans from Starbucks. Enjoying a cup right now ;-).

So it's been a very good Christmas. Enjoyed the programs offered at a few churches (ours and Lynn's parents) and had some good reconnections with family.

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I thought this was awesome! The company I'm partnering with built a website for Ice Culture, and this is what they do. The website is great, and the company is totally chill. (Psssst. If your church needs a cool website like this, drop me a line ;-)

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We shot this video for www.propertyguys.com. Sue shares why she loves being a Private Sale Consultant.

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A video we made for www.propertyguys.com. Do you think she likes her job? We'd like to film more like this for people that are passionate about what they do.

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I find myself in a unique situation. Some might call it frightening. I find it mildly stimulating.

We are in the process of raising support to become full-time missionaries with HCJB Global Canada. As Jesus used his voice (spoken word) and hands (healing and compassion) to make a difference, HCJB seeks to do the same through media and healthcare. We are "supported" through partnership with individuals and churches that share the same vision, and it can take up to a year, sometimes two, for that support to come in.

Obviously I have to provide for Lynn and the girls during this time, which brings me to the point of this post. I've never been unemployed, having pastored for 15 years, and I have done a variety of other things, from detailing cars to serving subpoenas and divorce petitions, to shooting video and building websites. But what do I do now? I'm not looking for a new career per se, as I hope to be full-time with HCJB by this time next year.

I have a few great opportunities. One with REM Web Solutions, offering effective and easy-to-edit websites to churches, and the other with Celebrating Life as a wedding and funeral officiant. Both utilize my life-experience and skills.

If you had a year to do anything, what would you do?

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I've decided to specialize a little and create a blog dedicated to my media work, website and video. You can find it here, and feel free to subscribe if you have an interest in maximizing media!

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"You can do it!"
"You're awesome!"
"You have made my day!"
"I couldn't have done it without you!"

None of these phrases take longer than a few seconds to say, but their power is immeasurable. And when someone affirms you with them, you never forget. Mark Twain said he could "live for two months on a good compliment. Proverbs 18:21 says that our words "have the power of life and death." We prove this every day.

Maddie is our little extrovert. Like most nine year-olds, she has her moments. But for the most part she brings sunshine into any room or circumstance. I was laying on the couch after a stressful day this week. It was around four o'clock in the afternoon. Maddie purposefully walked across the room, threw herself on me and said, "You're the best Dad ever. I love you." A hug and peck on the cheek and she was gone. Mission accomplished. No one told her to do it. She doesn't get a bonus in her allowance because of it. She just did it. And it changed my week.

When you have the opportunity to do so, are you an encourager? It really doesn't take that much time or effort. But it's power is almost beyond description.

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I've just paid for my second month of iPhone service, and I never thought I'd say this of Rogers, but I couldn't be happier. For a third of what I was paying for my Blackberry, I have a LOAD of better functionality. Rumour has it that RIM is working on a competing product for this fall, but I'm loving my iPhone so far, and will for the next 3 years ;-)

My favourite apps? The built-in apps are all useful: Phone, GPS, camera, internet interface (Safari), and of course the iPod (music and video). Facebook has been really useful, as messages come through as text, and Twitterific works well too for "mini-blogging". Shazam allows you to identify any recorded song. Just hold it out so the mic can pick up the sound, and seconds later you know the song and artist and can download it through iTunes. Cowbell, Tiny Violin, BubbleWrap, iPint and Dice are favourites with the kids.

I use the new Kicker speaker system for making presentations (I can plug my laptop into it) and can definitely recommend it for sound quality and volume. Blows away the competition (Bose and Harman Kardon) in my opinion.

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It's been a busy end of summer! We took a 3600km road trip through Northern Ontario, with stops in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. Got to speak in two churches about our new work with HCJB Global Canada, and built a website for a third. It was a little surreal to walk through the front door of First Baptist in the Sault and realize that my Dad was the same age that I am now when our family moved there in 1981. Lot's of good memories, though, and it was good to reconnect with old friends. Had a great time with the Pipers in Thunder Bay, too. (you can see a few pics here.)

I shot some video for a film launch event during the Toronto International Film Festival last week, and this week I've been helping a company in Ohio get ready for a trade show in Vegas in a few weeks. Shooting video for their big screen displays.

We've been enjoying representing HCJB, spending a week up at Elim Lodge (Peterborough) and then the Northern Tour. I'll be heading to Quebec and New Brunswick with Brian Seeley from Oct.4-13, and then it's off to Costa Rica from the 14th to the 25th to film another mini-documentary. Hope to get to Ireland in November to film the first Christian radio station granted a license there in Cork. Pretty exciting!

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Took the girls to Riverside Park for a dinner picnic and splash. As an
added bonus I'm blogging while we're doing it!

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Headed off for a weekend of camping (if you can call it that) with my cousin Shannon and his family up near Arthur. It's only an hour or so away, so we won't get killed fueling the beast. It is a nice beast, though, courtesy of our new best friends the Bowmans! Will post some more pics after we get back Sunday night.

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Madeline decided to spell her shortened name "Maddie". Thought it looked cuter ;-) Who am I to disagree?

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An interesting address to the TED conference.

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I love reading. Always have, for as long as I can remember. In fact Lynn wanted me to take a picture of both of girls sitting on the couch reading the other day. They both love to read, especially Maddy. She is voracious. And not just the fluffy stuff most kids her age read. Her favorite book right now is the Girls Book of Verse and she'll proudly tell you how far into Genesis she has read.

My Mom thinks my life should be committed to paper one of these days. I'm not so sure. I've done some interesting things, and people seem to enjoy hearing my stories, but is it worth publishing? Give me another ten years and I'll let you know. I have discovered that the earlier chapters of my life have shaped the ones yet to be written. Like a good novelist, I'm trying to envision the end so that the chapters from here on out make sense. I'm storyboarding my life. Wish I had started sooner.

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Another great performance... love this guy.

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I'm not sure we've ever spent such an intense week of information download, but it's all been extremely helpful. HCJB Global is a large organization so there's a lot for us to learn. A lot of what we're learning relates to developing presentations we can use to tell others what our personal mission is within HCJB. We're also discovering the different ways the mission is accountable financially, so all donations are well taken care of and receipted.
Here's our new prayer card! Let us know if you'd like a copy and we'd be glad to mail you one. If you think you'd like to hear more about our mission, we'd be glad to speak at a dinner party or at your church.

But we're also learning that HCJB Global is more than an organization. Though it's large, it's very much a family and we're really enjoying getting to know everyone.

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Lynn and I will be attending a training and development week (June 22-29) at our headquarters in Colorado Springs. We're really looking forward to meeting our leadership out there and learning more about the mission. We'll be receiving training in presenting the mission and our role within it, and how to go about raising support, a real challenge these days!

We're also looking forward to meeting three other couples who have joined the mission recently.

I hope to blog periodically and share some of what we learn.

Tags: HCJB Global

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We had a great time at this wedding last Friday. I decided to shoot some video at the last minute, and I'm glad I did. A beautiful day and a beautiful couple.

Untitled from Brian Mullins on Vimeo.

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He died yesterday at 81. I grew up watching sketches like this on the Carol Burnett show, and I think he and Tim Conway were my first comedic influences. Next to my Dad, of course ;-)

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Most of you know that I'm a huge fan of www.snopes.com. Whenever you send me one of those chain e-mails about Christian TV being taken off the air or some other nonsense, I'm the one who replies to all sending you to the Snopes link showing you that it's bogus.

That's what makes this so painful.

A few weeks ago, Lynn put her name and resume into the Nanny Network, hoping to do some childcare for a local family. She got a few good leads, including one from a local businessman who traveled alot, and needed someone to collect his mail, pay his bills, etc. while he was away. He offered Lynn $400 a month to do this, and he sent a cheque for $2500 drawn on our local BMO. Lynn deposited the cheque, took her $400 as agreed, and set up a PO Box for him. A few days later he had her wire a "supplier" in France $1900 through Western Union. A few days after that we received notice that the $2500 cheque had bounced. We've been scammed. We're out $1900 (which we could not afford to lose) and we have no way to find this guy. Almost like he planned it that way.

So we went to the bank (ours and BMO), and they have their fraud people on it. Also reported it to the local police as we have some indication that he may be local. When I went to Snopes, like I should have done in the first place, I found the very similar "reshipper scam". They prey on people that want to work from home to earn a little extra money, the very people, like us, who can ill afford to lose any extra cash. That was a rent payment and a car payment for us.

I tell you this just so you can be wary. If they can scam me, they can scam you too!

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My friend Yossi and I are aggressively marketing our unique real estate video tours with our new website www.realestatevideopro.com. Stop by and check it out, and if you're a real etsate professional, or know one, we'd be glad to meet and explain how real estate can help you sell your property!

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She would argue that she's in her 13th year, and I guess she'd be right, but we're trying not to rush her to that milestone. We're really proud of Shaniah - it's not easy to make the changes she's had to make this year with the move back to Canada, and she's done really well. We had a lot of fun a few weeks ago when we went on the ultimate Daddy Date to the Dominican Republic for ten days. Other than losing her camera, and getting an emergency haircut (long story) it was an awesome time of filming and visiting friends.

Happy Birthday Shaniah ;-) I love you!

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Nowhere too exotic this time, depending on how you view rural Ohio. I'll be leaving this afternoon for Tallmadge to spend another week filming at www.wardjet.com. I'm really enjoying the time I spend there... a fascinating product and a great organization.

Shaniah has her 12th Birthday party today, beginning at the pool at the Y and then coming home for more festivities. Her email address is shaniah.mullins@gmail.com if you want to send her some birthday love ;-).

We just published our Spring '08 newsletter too, so if you'd like a copy let me know!

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Well this could be interesting. Since I spend so much time on Facebook, it makes sense to be able to update my blog from there, right. Will see how it goes!

As for today, I'm getting ready for the Fellowship Regional Conference in Cambridge on Thursday and Friday, where I'll have a display set up for Virtual Visitor. So that means finishing my display, creating a Keynote show, and designing a small flyer to hand out. Virtual Visitor was originally designed exclusively for churches, but other organizations are using it to bring outsiders in, and to "open a window to their world", as our slogan goes.

Maddy's fever is back up again today, not as high as it was, but high enough to warrant a trip to the doctor this morning.

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This was a song and video I presented at our church when I got back from Ecuador in February. It tells some of the story of the five missionaries who were martyred in 1956, and the wonderful new life their deaths brought to the Auca. (Sorry for the sound quality... that's "live" for you!)

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Now that you've got a Roomba to do your carpets, I've found the solution for your lawn!

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Hey folks. Shameless plug here, but won't you consider sponsoring our family for the Kiwanis Mall Krawl this Sunday? We're helping raise money for youth programs that Kiwanis sponsors here in Cambridge, so it's for a great cause. Just go to www.cambridgekiwanis.com and click on the Mall Krawl button, then click on "donate now". Mention that you're sponsoring the Mullins family in the memo box. You'll get a receipt for your '08 taxes, if that helps ;-)

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A personal, inside look at WARDJet, one of the most innovative waterjet cutting manufacturers in the world.

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Thanks to all of you who have responded to the pressing need in Ecuador. You can read more about what HCJB Global is doing here.

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I'm spending this week filming for Wardjet. Lynn's cousin Richard started the company in 1995 after discovering the power of water to cut stone. Essentially, water is highly pressurized (up to 87,000 psi), and garnet abrasive is fed into the stream just before impact with the material, and "advanced erosion" occurs. Think "Grand Canyon" only faster.

The machines will cut anything but tempered glass, in thicknesses up to 15", and is used to cut everything from stainless steel to carbon composites to chicken nuggets to disposable diapers. The benefits over laser or saw cutting are many: no heat issues, no need to sand after, low operating costs, and water and garnet are environmentally friendly.

This all makes for pretty interesting video, if you're into tech and engineering stuff!

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I once heard Rob Bell ask the question, "Do I speak because I have something to say, or because I have to say something?" He spoke the position of a frustrated pastor - standing before, in his case, thousands - wondering what he was doing up there. From experience, I know the struggle. Sometimes, even in the blogosphere, I feel the urge to say something before I really have something to say. And it shows. So no, I don't feel guilty for being silent since February 8, or whenever it was I last posted.

Over the last few days I've had the images of Steve Saint, Jim Elliott, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian and Pete Fleming in my mind. Not just their faces, but their words and their lives. Pages from their journals (found on Wikipedia) where in their own writing they express their passion and desire to see the Auca people transformed from savages to Christ-followers. Images of their wives, gathered around the kitchen table, as Art Johnson tells them how their husbands had died. Just a few weeks ago I stood outside the Saint's old house, dilapidated and termite infested, and looked in the window where the radio once sat, where Nate's wife waited for the radio call that never came.

I'm still looking for words, but they are coming. I'm working on a multimedia presentation to retell the story. I can't compete with Steven Curtis Chapman, or the writers and producers that created The End of the Spear. But I don't have to. The story has had it's own impact on me, and I think it has fresh application for those of us who are called to carry the Good News today.

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Sorry, folks! Despite my best efforts, the "video blog" won't come together for this trip. I think I may have reached beyond my poor Powerbooks capabilities. Too bad... the footage has been pretty exciting! For now, we'll have to make due with some still pics of one of the more memorable parts of our trip so far.


Yesterday we flew with MAF into the jungle east of Shell. It was sobering to fly off the same airstrip used by Nate Saint and the four other missionaries just over 50 years ago, and then to fly over the beach where they were murdered by the Aucas. Having read the story many times, and used it as a sermon illustration for years, to actually see the places brought it to life again. As the plane banked over the Curaray River and flew low over Palm Beach, we were a little overwhelmed.

We landed on a rough grassy strip near the Waodani village of Tihuanu, and were met by a dozen or so men, women and children. And a rather excited howler monkey. Dyouie, one of the men who had participated in the killing of the the missionaries, met us at the plane, and immediately burst into prayer in Waodani. Dave, one of our team members, gave him some antibiotics, and a sleeping bag for his nights in the jungle. We were all impressed with the friendliness of the Waodani and their love for God demonstrated in their huge, infectious smiles and their love for us. If you haven't read "Through the Gates of Splendor", you really need to.

After entertaining us with a tribal dance - I would have joined in, but I was filming ;-) -we had another time of prayer in English, Spanish and Waodani. We bought some neat souvenirs, a blow gun and a spear, and then had to be on our way so we could make it home before dark. The Waodani walked us back to the airplane, and after some heartfelt hugs, we were back in the air.














It's hard to describe the impact this had on me, on so many levels. Realizing the sacrifice of Saint and the others to bring the Gospel to the Waodani. The courage of Elizabeth Elliott and Rachel Saint in returning to the jungle to complete the work. The transformation of Mincaye and Dyouie and practically the entire tribe. The willingness of MAF pilots, who fly several times a day into the jungles of Ecuador to bring hope to so many.

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After a smooth flight through the air and through customs, we have arrived at the HCJB Guest House in Quito, Ecuador. This trip has been in the works for a while, and was the reason for my initial contact with HCJB last fall. Canadians have played a huge roll in HCJB in the country, so we want to tell some of that story through video. I'm here with John and Ann Rush and David Findlay, all on staff with HCJB Global Canada.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. We're having breakfast with Jesse Saint (grandson of martyred missionary Nate Saint), and Mincaye, the man who killed his grandfather, along with four other missionaries, in 1953. They are all like family now, and the entire story is one you really should get to know. You can read about it here.

After breakfast we'll tour the radio station (their primary ministry) and then the hospital, before driving south to Rio Bamba for the night. I think our flight with MAF into the jungle happens on Wednesday. It's all pretty exciting!

I hope to video blog when we get back to Quito in a few days, so be sure to check back.

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The Kings graciously let us use their cottage on Lake Simcoe for a few nights last week.

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A TED2008 Main Hall Pass has just gone up for auction on ebay. It's the only remaining legal way that someone can get into the event. The auction is being done with our approval, because all the proceeds will go towards the Open Architecture Network, which was created in response to TED Prize Winner Cameron Sinclair's inspiring wish.

The single pass, which guarantees coveted access to the main theater where speakers present, includes three special extras:
- a first-day cocktail with TED super-connector Sunny Bates
- a coffee at TED with the brilliant founder of ebay Pierre Omidyar
- and a lunch with the charming, insightful and delightful Meg Ryan

TED2008 has been sold out for more than a year, so we suspect this is going to make someone very happy indeed. It won't be cheap, but the successful bidder will be making a philanthropic contribution to an organization that's empowering architects and designers to change the world.

TED2008 is Feb 27-March 1, in Monterey, California on the theme "The Big Questions".

Hey folks, it's only $27,400. If all my readers split it between them, it would only be $13,700 each.

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> They won't be forgetting this party anytime soon. Show this to your teenagers.

> And the "It's Not My Fault Award" goes too...

>Next time your shopping in Slovenia, check the ingredients.

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After having dug to a depth of 10 meters last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, California scientists dug to a depth of 20 meters, and shortly after, headlines in the LA Times newspaper read: "California archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers."

One week later, "Moose Jaw Times Herald", a local newspaper in Saskatchewan, reported the following: "After digging as deep as 30 meters in sagebrush fields near Moose Jaw, Ole Johnson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Ole has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Saskatchewan had already gone
wireless."

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Some amazing undersea footage shown at TED. Remarkable stuff. Watch for the Octopus near the end.

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> A bazillion dollar cottage.

> A book that can get you out of any jam. Could even stop a bullet.

> The story I don't want my daughters to read.

> Awesome talks, now available online! You would pay thousands to see them in person.

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