Summer SHAKEN

Matt Miles • August 10, 2023

   I feel it appropriate to give a summer ministry update. We have traveled this summer over 15,000 miles with an approximate event attendance of 4800 people, and we have seen the Lord working on worldviews of the young and old alike. Not only have we been called on to do VBS and camps, as usual, but have also done D3 (Dinosaurs, Design and Destiny) events. It is rare that we do D3 events in the summer, as they are typically our “bread and butter” the rest of the calendar year. Through all of it, our mission has been accomplished in overwhelming fashion.


   VBS has been our main focus this summer with a total of 7. It was very impactful to see three of these churches adopt a whole-church approach. Over the past few years we have challenged churches to do VBS for the family. With this approach, we teach the lesson to the students at the beginning. Then the students are dismissed to crafts, games, snacks or other activities while their parents and other adults have their lesson with the same topic studied more in depth. Our desire is that student and parent worldviews are impacted in the same evening, providing great opportunity for discussion on the way home. This has been received well by the churches who chose the “whole church” VBS. There have been numerous times this summer that parents or other attending adults have expressed thanks for teaching them as well. Regretfully, each night at the churches there were still some parents that would drop off their child and not stay, but return at the end of the night, as usual. This seems such a missed opportunity to drive home the Word of the Lord in those families. We are not going to pull back from this endeavor, and our desire is to make this a “normal” VBS strategy when we are invited to teach. We praise the Lord for those families SHAKEN for His Kingdom this summer.


   The couple of D3 events seemed very out of place at first, since most summers are so focused on camp and VBS, but the Lord used these to reach new churches with our mission and message. Establishing the importance of Genesis in worldview development and the Biblical history is priority in these events, and experiencing the excitement of new congregations as their worldviews are impacted is such a praiseworthy thing. We know that the Lord will use these moments of challenge, conviction, and learning for His Glory.


   Some of our fossils were also seen by more than 7000 over the course of several days during a VBS that Answers in Genesis put on at a church in the heart of Dallas. They approached us way too late to make the opportunity work, yet our summer schedule actually freed up for one week. The Lord worked it out for His purpose and the fossils were used as part of the whole event, blessing many with the opportunity to see dinosaurs for the first time in a church and through Biblical glasses.


   From young to old, we have seen worldviews and lives impacted for eternity. Some people have been SHAKEN with a new understanding of the importance of Scripture in their lives. Others have been saved as a response to the Gospel that is clearly seen through the lens of Genesis. We lift our praises to the Lord Almighty for the open doors, hearts and minds this ministry has the opportunity to impact. Thank you for all the support, it is affecting eternal destinies! Blessings.

September/October 2025 Printed Newsletter

October 2, 2025
Ichthyosaur pic

Flooded Marine Reptile

By Matt Miles • October 2, 2025
The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat.  Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.
Furnace

Our God Whom We Serve Is Able

By Ryan Cox • October 2, 2025
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms. 
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