Kidology.org to release an exclusive clip of the all new Angel Wars next Tuesday!
If you have not seen AngelWars.com you have missed one of the very best Christian animated series for children. Think Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and super heroes all blended together into one visually stunning animated show that mixes awesome music and eye-popping animation so well, you might get goose bumps just watching the trailer. And that’s before you even sit down with the pop-corn to enjoy the entire show!
I’ve been a fan of the original trilogy since it came out, but am excited that an all new feature length version (90 minutes) is coming out NEXT TUESDAY…. and…. that Kidology.org will be releasing an exclusive clip of the show in our newsletter on the same day! Be the first to see an exciting scene from Angel Wars: The Messengers never before seen!
That’s right! While you can view the official trailer at AngelWars.com and there are a few clips here and there, Kidology.org’s free newsletter subscribers will be treated to an exclusive glimpse of the video NEXT TUESDAY, the day of the release! If you are not a Kidology.org newsletter subscriber, join the thousands of others who know where to get the inside scoop on children’s ministry today! Subscribe now so you don’t miss it! We will also be hosting an online Q and A with the creator, Christopher Waters.
But what IS Angel Wars?
Angel Wars is a visually exciting, kid-friendly rendering of spiritual warfare that allows children to imaginatively and visually engage with the spiritual realm. While they are not exactly ‘biblical’ in the literal sense (nor claim to be) they do allow children to imagine what life could be like for angels. However, I imagine real angels may envy the hover boards, gadgets and space ships these imaginary angels get to enjoy! For those who are concerned with aspects that do not perfectly match biblical descriptions of angels, such as the angels having free will, it is important to realize that in any fiction, for the sake of a story, often a few of realities rules must to broken to establish a premise for a story. From that point on, a shared world view can exist in harmony. In Narnia, animals talk. In Lord of the Rings, great evil power can be embodied in a piece of jewelry. In Star Wars, there is an impersonal but guiding and empowering ‘Force’ which binds the galaxy together. VeggieTales not only has talking veggies, but they can pick things up without hands, and no one seems to have an issue with that. In the same spirit, Angel Wars grants a few exceptions to the idea of angels to create a spiritual world (and beings) that kids can relate to, and that allows for some powerful moral lessons. Targeted to attract children ages 5-11, I can’t wait until my little boy is old enough to watch Angel Wars with me. We will discuss the themes and lessons in the stories, and then it will create a wonderful opportunity to look to the Bible to study what God’s Word teaches us about real angels and how they relate to God, this world, and us. In the meantime, I’m enjoying them myself!
What is this new video about? Here is the official description:
In a city of darkness, they are the light.
From some of the world’s most visionary animators comes an action-packed, feature-length adventure of two young warriors in the battle between the forces of good and evil!
Kira and Eli are the newest members of the Guardian Force, a group of angel warriors sworn to protect the world from the powers of evil. Not yet full Guardians, the young duo still has a lot to learn, but when darkness descends over the city, the time for training is over. Faced with the responsibility of delivering hope to a lost city, they must learn to work together to drive back the soldiers of darkness and grow into the warriors they are destined to become.
Karl’s official endorsement:
Angel Wars beautifully combines stunning visual story telling with powerful character lessons. Rarely is something designed for kids so engaging that adults get mesmerized too. Angel Wars delights the eyes, ears and heart all at once. Christian parents, teachers and pastors now have something of excellence their children can enjoy that will teach as well as entertain. It’s Christian and it’s totally cool… imagine that!
Karl Bastian, the Kidologist
Founder and President of Kidology.org
OK, I’ve finally gone and done it. (by popular demand, I might add!)
Often when I am speaking somewhere (or anytime Star Wars comes up, which it does occasionally in my life) I mention that I got to go see Star Wars Episode II nearly a week early at one of the only fully digital theaters in the country (which had scenes not in the release for the general public since George Lucas kept tinkering with the film even after it was shipped off in film to theaters across the coutry and only digital projector theaters actually showed the version that you now see on the DVDs, not many people realize that.)
Anyway – what I often mention is that when we came out of the theater (and yes, I went dressed as a jedi with a friend) we were interviewed by two national networks, both of which aired that night across the country. We were only able to get a copy of the CBS report.
What did I finally do? I put it up on YouTube. (Again, only by popular demand, it’s rather embarrassing actually!)
FINALLY – disclaimers related to the video you are about to watch:
The quote “$110 in tickets” was not because I was going to see it that many times, but was taking my Kids Church Krew when it opened in theaters.
The quote that got me the most grief was “Yoda kicks butt.” I know, as a children’s pastor, that is practically swearing – but if you’ve seen the film, we finally got to see the Jedi Master Yoda FIGHT at the end and it was an entirely new experience, so when I came out and was asked what I liked best, that was the first thing I said. Once they found out that I was a children’s pastor and my friend was a youth pastor (now converted to children’s ministry) they asked us a lot of questions about kids, culture, and the value of good wholesome films like Star Wars, but my “Yoda kicks butt” was the still the main quote they went with, though I kinda liked the line they coined, “these pastors by day, Jedi by night.” Not bad.
(I’m the one with my Jedi hood on the whole time because my hair was a mess and I was trying to hide my identity a little.)
Oh, and yes, it was Mother’s Day – we both ditched our Mother’s to attend this event. Also in this video is the boy who invited me and his mom and dad and his sister, and her friend, and so I must end by saying THANKS again to them for remembering that I was a Star Wars nerd and inviting me to join them and allowing me to bring a fellow Star Wars nerd with me.
Several years ago (before I blogged on an official “blog”) I created a page that showed me and my friend Ryan Yoder assembling my Lego Star Destroyer, which at the time, was the largest Lego kit that Lego had ever created up to that point.
I often am telling kids about it (as I was this weekend in Canada) and wishing it was posted on my blog, so I am posting a post about the post where I posted about it: For all the pictures step by step (and cool star background) SEE THE ORIGINAL LEGO STAR DESTROYER POST.
It took us two full days to assemble the 3000+ pieces of this Lego work of art! So now it is linked and searchable on my blog so I can just tell kids, search my blog for Lego Star Destroyer and you’ll find a link to it!
Well, the second Leadership Lab will be live in only a few days and is titled, Visionary Leadership. I’ll post more about it when it goes live, but due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the 100th Toybox Tale, “A Day in the Life of a Children’s Pastor,” – made for adults, rather than Kids, I did it again, bringing back one of the most asked-for characters I (kinda) created, NoDuh, the Wise One.
In this, the 101st Toybox Tale, you get to listen in on the private session of a children’s pastor with her counselor… NoDuh, the Wise One, as he gently lets her know, that in order to survive in children’s ministry leadership, She Must Confront Vision!
You Must Confront Vision!
ENJOY! I’ll let you know when the rest of LAB 02 goes live!
Luke got to hold his first light saber this week. It wasn’t his, it belongs to his kissing friend, but she let him hold it. It was a light up one from a circus…
Without any instruction or prompting, he knew exactly what to do with it:
Strong in the Force Luke is
Attacking his father!
Good thing it was only a toy!
Being a dad is so much fun!
Uh oh, gotta change a diaper now. Light sabers are fun, but there is the practical side to fathering too… peew, gotta go!
