Check out our latest video news here at Reef to Outback.

Here’s another update from the road. I put this together at 3am while we were driving from Denver to LA. Enjoy!

What’s th first thing most people do once they’re married? Go on tour with a band, right?

Sara and I were married just over a week ago and that’s exactly where we are, in North Carolina. We’re on tour with Sara’s band from Australia, Five Star Streets. Don’t worry we are having a honeymoon but not until mid July.

The purpose of the tour is to seek change in a broken world. They use their passion for music to convey God’s heart for various issues of injustice. Scroll to the bottom see a short video update.

As for the wedding everything went very well. Sara and I were so glad to see so many friends and family. It really mean a lot to Sara and I both. We’ll be posting some photos as soon as the all get developed.

Sara here.

So, I have this thing where I don’t think that Nick can ever surprise me because I am always searching for clues. Every little thing he says, I analyze into a trick that’s being played.

Well, he told me he was going camping last weekend with his friends Peter and Sebastian. I fully believed him. And I even said before he left, “Are you sure you’re not coming to New York instead of camping?” He whined and said how he wished that were true.

Liar.

So on Saturday evening, My mom and my cousin Emily and I came home from shopping. Not ten minutes before, I was bemoaning the fact that I felt single all the time and that it was more like planning a party for someone else than a wedding.

We walked into my house and my mom gasped. I turned around and in the living room was a table a chairs, surrounded by rose petals. On the table was a setting for two and a boquet of pink tulips.

I froze.

Either my dad had made something really special for my mom – which was so awkward – or there was something else. I asked my dad what was going on. Nobody said anything. My mom giggled a little and Emily and I looked at eachother in confusion. My Dad said something I can’t even recall and then from around the corner, like an apparition, walked NICK.

I SCREAMED LIKE A LITTLE GIRL. My mom said I was shaking at one point and I think I cried a little. It was like a dream, telling my family to pinch me. I could not believe it.

But now he’s here until the wedding and we can be engaged again! It’s so nice to have my best friend here. I can’t believe we get to share everything now until the wedding!!!

Thanks to all the people who helped make this a surprise. He definitely got me this time….he’s next!

To see my reaction, go ahead and watch this clip.

RTO (Reef to Outback) is going back to its roots. That means that more of our outreaches will focus on people in isolated communities in northern Australia. To get up there we needed something that could handle the terrain. There aren’t many roads so that’s why we recently purchased ‘The Oka’ (pronounced aa-ka). The April DTS will be the first school to take this beast on outreach. We can hardly wait to hear some of the stories that will come of this!

Watto, our all Australian maintenance guy, spent time fixing up the Oka and you can see him in the video below (created by Matt Thomas) talking about why RTO decided to purchase it.

Quicktime 7 or higher required:

High – (450×253 1:19 7.8MB)
Medium – (320×180 1:19 4.6MB)
Low – (160×90 1:19 2.9MB)

Before Sara and I came home in December we made a little tour of the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Base here in Townsville. We hope this will give you a little better idea of where we work. Enjoy!

Our communications department have been working on this video for a while and now it’s finally done. Check it out:

We are finally seeing Impact World Tour (IWT) coming through North Queensland. It’s been two year in the making but it’s finally here. The teams started to arrive last week and headed off to Mt. Isa on Sunday. The tour will be happening there in the next few days. It will come here to Townsville on August 10th. The base here has been pretty crazy getting last minute details set in place and trying to house an additional 100 people. We are expecting to see hundreds even thousands of people come to know the Lord over the next month. God has been so good not just to our ministry but in my personal life to.

He seems to care about every little detail of my life no matter how small. You may have seen in my last article “This is What God Does” how God miraculously provided for me. I guess that demonstration of God’s faithfulness wasn’t just for me. Even our Communications ministry area has begun to see so many fruits of the spirit. We have joy in our work and encourage one another. I know I’ve asked many of you before to pray that I’d find joy in what I do. God is actually answering those prayers. He acutally cares!

Once again thanks to all who are praying for me and continue to read my updates. Keep praying for me and this ministry.

One last thing, I like to include every once in a while projects I’ve been making. This latest one is for the IWT team ‘Island Breeze’. It will get played on the night they perform and includes there logo and the sponsors for the event. If you’d like to see it check it out below. We also just produced a document(shown in picture) that outlines what Reef to Outback is. I’ll probably be sending some out in my next mailout. This video was made with After Effects 6.5 PRO using the ‘Shine’ plugin from Trapcode for those of you who are interested.

See the video (You’ll need Quicktime 7 or higher to view this video):

High – (480×360 1min43sec 8.3MB)
Medium – (360×240 1min43sec 2.8MB)
Low – (160×120 1min43sec 1MB)

You may have remebered when I posted a ‘Reel’ a few months back. It’s basically a montage of all the work I’ve done for the past while. I’ve made a new one that is much the same as the old one but includes a few more clips of things I’ve been working on in After Effects. Our SDC (School of Digital Communications) internship will be starting soon and I’ll be teaching After Effects throughout it. Enjoy.

See the video (You’ll need Quicktime 7 or higher to view this video):

Full – (768×576 45sec 36.4MB)
High – (480×360 45sec 4.4MB)
Medium – (320×240 45sec 1.6MB)

The past few weeks we’ve been focusing on video in the School of Digital Communications (SDC (School of Digital Communications)). We’ve had Jordan Dodson from New Zealand as our guest speaker for the last two weeks. He’s been covering everything from compressing video to the film industry. Last week the students were working in pairs to make a short 5 minute film. They had to come up with an idea, write a script, and shoot their film. Here’s a behind the scenes look of Justin and Sugi’s movie titled ‘Day Off’. I’ve also posted the finished movie. Chris and Vicki also came up with a great movie titled ‘Matches’. Just scroll down to see this movie also. If you want to see other work from the SDC check out: sdc.josiahritner.com

See behind the scenes footage of “Day Off’ (You’ll need Quicktime 7 or higher to view any of these videos):

High – (480×360 1min17sec 7.4MB)
Med – (320×240 1min17sec 2.8MB)
Low – (160×120 1min17sec 0.980MB)

See “Day Off” by Sugi and Justin (You’ll need Quicktime 7 or higher to view any of these videos):

High – (480×360 4min37sec 26.2MB)
Med – (320×240 4min37sec 10.1MB)
Low – (160×120 4min37sec 3.4MB)

See “Matches” by Chris and Vicki (You’ll need Quicktime 7 or higher to view any of these videos):

High – (480×360 3min56sec 23MB)
Med – (320×240 3min56sec 8.8MB)
Low – (160×120 3min56sec 3MB)