02.14.2009 - "Spokeman Review" Newspaper Article
The scene on the screen starts with a teen or young adult sharing their struggles with suicidal thoughts, self-mutilation, alcohol, crime, pornography or abuse. They talk about pushing the envelope and finally reaching a point in their lives when they've fallen into utter despair and hopelessness.
"Like the walking dead, millions of young people are alive on the outside but dead on the inside," says the female voice-over. "Devastated by the pain of life, they turn to drugs, sex and fame to find happiness. ...
"Remarkably, some have overcome their adversities. These are their stories. We call them 'Second Take.' "
Rock music blares as the scene shifts to a room full of excited young people standing in a semicircle - applauding, jumping up and down and hooting as though they were at a concert.
Their enthusiasm makes way for the entrance of Landon and Heather Schott, a youthful, attractive husband-and-wife team from Spokane whose on-screen presence has drawn viewers from all over the world.
"Second Take" is a TV series filmed and produced by young people in Spokane. It's about troubled kids who turn their lives around. Their on-camera narratives are testimonies to their Christian faith - how God pulled them away from the edge and gave them hope.
Launched last fall, the half-hour show is now broadcast by Daystar Television Network to more than 2 billion homes in 200 countries worldwide.
"This television show was put in my heart," said "The Rev" Landon Schott, founder and president of The Rev Ministries and co-host of "Second Take."
"This is a show for young people that doesn't have the typical Hollywood message of live life and have fun without considering the consequences. ... We want to prevent lives from being destroyed so we tell stories about people whose lives have been put back together through the Lord."
Schott, 25, is the eldest son of the Rev. Vince Scott, who heads All Nations Christian Center in Spokane.
Filmed and produced at his father's church, at 1201 W. Spofford Ave., in the West Central neighborhood, the show involves about 30 volunteers who are all 25 or under.
Their organization, The Rev Ministries and "Second Take," is registered as a tax-exempt nonprofit dedicated to serving youth and evangelistic ministry.
A "second take" is basically a do-over - a chance to stop, reflect on one's actions and start all over again.
Many of the young people profiled on the show in pre-taped segments are from the Inland Northwest and changed their lives as a result of Landon and Heather Schott's ministry.
"It is our sincere desire that this show not only serves as a form of entertainment, but as a tool that opens the eyes of millions and helps them to see, that through the power of Jesus Christ, they too can turn their lives around and have their very own second take," the show's Web site says.
At the end of each program and on the Web site, viewers who have questions or struggles or simply want to talk to someone about faith and other issues are asked to call a toll-free number or to e-mail. Volunteers in Spokane take the calls and offer prayer and ministry.
The show draws both Christians and non-Christians, the Schotts say, of all ages. But "Second Take" appeals especially to young people not only because of the music, the set and also the stories, but also because of its hosts.
Heather and Landon Schott exude charisma - they're beautiful, they wear cool clothes and they approach others with a smile, hug or handshake.
"We dress like them and talk like them," said Landon, explaining the large following among teens and young adults. "They don't stop on a channel with a 70-year-old preacher talking to grandparents. They want common ground. ...We also get to the heart of the issues."
The couple also hope viewers see them as role models so they can make good choices.
"We can be an example - two young people who lead good lives," Landon said.
He said he has never been drunk or touched a drug. He was a virgin when he married Heather at age 22.
"I've met people who made mistakes and had their shortcomings," he explained. "I've never had a rebellious attitude or felt the need to test the waters. You don't have to do those things to be cool and to be happy.
"I've always been about helping young people. ...God was my life."
Landon Schott grew up in Seattle, in a Christian household along with four siblings. His father, who has been in ministry for 30 years, mentored him at an early age.
The family traveled all over the world, planting churches in Mexico, Australia and other countries. Landon was 14 when he preached his first sermon in India. He started preaching full time when he was 16 and became ordained at 18.
Heather's background was different. Her parents got divorced when she was 2 and her family experienced a great deal of dysfunction, she said: "I went through a rebellious stage until God healed so many parts of my life."
They met at church in 2003. He was 20, she was 18. Two years later, they were married.
The day after their honeymoon, the couple became youth pastors at a church in Columbus, Ohio. They also worked in Florida, California and other parts of the country.
Eventually, they felt called to return to the Pacific Northwest, where Vince Schott had planted a church in Spokane in 2005.
All Nations started out with only eight people, according to Landon. Now, the church has about 500 members at three local campuses.
The Schotts and others involved with "Second Take" filmed their first four episodes last summer. When they got started, most of them didn't have any experience in producing a show, editing film or being in front of a camera. They even had to rent curtains and other props for filming.
But they believed in the power of storytelling, Heather Schott said. If they could get local people to share their experiences with others on camera, they were convinced that the show would be compelling enough to encourage others.
" 'Second Take' has had a huge impact on the lives of my boys," said Susan Goodson of Spokane, a foster mom to four youths ages 12, 14, 16 and 17.
"(Landon) has been a role model to them. The boys just plugged in to 'The Rev' and got all fired up for the Lord."
Goodson became a Christian nearly 30 years ago through the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club." Television can be a powerful evangelistic tool, she said, so she and her boys watch "Second Take" whenever they can.
In the last few months, "Second Take" has received support from local production companies, churches and others who want to help it succeed.
The global broadcast deal with Daystar launched at the end of November. Volunteers who answer the phones and respond to e-mails are hearing from viewers in Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines, Netherlands and other parts of the world.
The phone lines are jammed on Friday nights after the broadcast, they said. Young people in the region are contacting them about appearing on the show as well as volunteering behind the scenes.
"We prayed about this for a long time," said Landon Schott, looking back at the development of the concept that he first came up with when he was 18. "It was in my heart.
"We needed to give young people wisdom to battle peer pressure. We wanted to let them know they're not alone."
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You can read the full article with pictures and captions here. www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/jan/11/second-to-none/
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01.01.2009 - 2009 The Year of "Required Fruit"
Every year the Lord places a personal word on my heart that always ends up to be extremely accurate. A few examples would be in 2003 the Lord told me it was the year of "Devine Connection". That was the year I met my wife Heather. In 2008 the Lord laid on my heart the year of "Dreaming To Doing". Many of you know that I have been dreaming of this ministry/show since I was eighteen years old and not only have we launched The Rev Ministries, but "Second Take" airs around the world in over two-hundred countries to over two-billion homes. So every year for the last eight years God has given a personal word/direction to me. A couple weeks ago I was getting ready in the morning and the Lord said, "This is the year was the "Year of Fruit'". I was instantly excited because I have a good general idea about the basic principles of sowing, reaping, first-fruits and there are 9 Fruits of the Spirit. One of my favorite scriptures is (Gal 6:7-9) "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." I immediately began to study as much as I could, what I found shook me. The Lord took me to...
(Mark 11:12-14) "The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it."
I heard the Lord speak directly to me and he said 2009 is the year of... "Required Fruit". Jesus approached a fig tree and seeing leaves he expected to find fruit, and because there was none he rebuked it and it died. After studying the scripture I learned it was approximately 5-7 days before the Passover that Jesus would suffer. So that means it would be the last week in March, and the harvest started at Passover. Even though it wasn't the exact time of the harvest it was close enough that Jesus expected the tree to bare fruit. The fig tree is the church; it has the appearance that it's flourishing or an appearance/form of Godliness, (2 Tim 3:4-5) "having a form of godliness but denying its power." Jesus was going to Judea and the people of God had become professionals of religion and rituals but no substance! This is the year that an appearance of fruit isn't good enough. God is inspecting our lives and he is requiring his people to bare fruit, spiritual fruit... (Gal 5:22-24) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control."
This year is not about money, it's not about fame, it's not about ANYTHING material. It's about people of God getting real, stop pretending and becoming true Christians. This is not something you can get by running down to the alter and get oil slapped on your forehead or give an offering for! This is something you have to day in and day out work for. (Gal 6:7-9) "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." This is the personal word God gave me and I believe it's a prophetic word for this nation. 2009 is the year of "Required Fruit".
(Luke 13:6-9) "Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 8 "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"
You can listen to the audio message by click here. www.myspace.com/therevministries
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11.26.2008 - Am I Loosing My Mind?
I've been thinking about thinking. Thoughts like, "why do we think the way we think" and "how can I become stronger in my mind?" There has been a few times in my life that my mind was seriously attacked. I remember sitting on the floor of our apartment to confused to cry. My wife Heather was begging me to tell her what was wrong, but I couldn't, I didn't know what was wrong. The only thing I new was I didn't have control of my thoughts at that moment and it was terrifying to not be able to control my own mind. It was the most helpless I've ever felt in my life. We realized it was just a demonic attack and my wife just began to pray over me. That thing soon lifted and I went to my Pastor for council and I was shocked at his response. He told me that, "he has experienced what I went through and that majority of people live in that state"! Then I got it. The devil doesn't have to attack your body, finances, family or anything else if he has a hold on your mind. Then I heard the Lord speak to me. He said, "Landon, you can only think about one thing at a time, what will it be?" JUST ONE THOUGHT! Think about that, with all the multi tasking we can do we still only have the ability to think one thought at a time. Your brain can only go one direction at a time if, a new thought comes in you have to stop thinking about the first one. So, what are you using your ONE THOUGHT, to think about? If your thoughts are selfish, immoral, prideful, lust-full or anything sinful it's impossible for you to be thinking about the things of God. That's why God told Joshua in, (Joshua 1:8)
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." That's why it's so important that we set our minds on Godly things. (Philippians 4:8)
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things." As long as we are setting our minds on the things God, we literally don't even have a second thought for sin or anything else the devil can throw at us. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. Just think about it...
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10.31.2008 - This Might Just Kill Me
I've been thinking about a scripture a lot. (Zechariah 4:6) "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the LORD". I've read this scripture no less then a dozen times and heard it thousands. I'm very familiar with what it says. It says no matter how hard I work or what my giftings and talents are, no matter how much I strive for something that might not be enough. It means there are things that are so far beyond me that in the natural I should not and may not ever obtain them. It goes on to say that true success comes through the Spirit of the LORD. So once we get that, we know the end, but we still don't know the means. The end is the God has, is and will continue to come through. He will continue to show up and show off in our life. He will continue to be glorified through us. We got it, but now the means. The means is the unknown. The means is that it might be by the Spirit but that doesn't mean it might not half kill you and take ever last bit of your might, strength and power. It means even though you breakthrough by the Spirit, it might take every ounce of you during the process.
If you're just killing yourself trying to accomplish something it doesn't mean you're not in God's will it means you're in the means. You're in the middle and you're in process. Don't get discouraged and give up. Just know it happens by the Spirit, God will do his part and that you're still on your part.
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10.01.2008 - Abortion: Who Made The Choice About Who Makes The Choice?
Ok, let's just get this party started Abortion is murder! Wow, ok here we go. It's taking a baby within its mother's womb and taking its life away. Abortion has become this big world wide issue and debate, but there really isn't much too debate. Everybody gets confused because we start arguing subcategories and rabbit trail topics rather than the main topic. Let's review some of them. So we got...
"A Woman's Right To Choose"
So let me ask you this question honey. Do you choose today to go out, or become pregnant? Go into an abortion clinic and dispose/murder the baby? Do you plan to do that, like you would plan a vacation or summer trip? Most likely, unless you are mentally deranged you would say no! So I guess you have already made your choice didn't you? Oh what's that? You want to leave your options open in case you get knocked up, or do something sinful and you don't want to deal with the consequences of your actions. What about the woman or man within that womb, do they get to choose?
"It's Not A Baby; Its Just en embryo"
So let me ask you this question. When were you not you? No seriously at what point in your life did you become you? Let's say your name is Chris and your 20 years old. Were you Chris at 15 years old? How about 10 or 5 years old? Were you Chris at 1 years old, how about at 1 day old? Were you Chris when you were in your mothers womb? OF COURSE YOU WERE! The Bible says, (Jer 1:5) "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;" So if God knew you before you were born it probably indicates that you were you upon conception. Is a movie a movie before it's released to the theaters? YES! This is a stupid distraction from the real issue. People want to sin and do what they want.
"What About If It Puts the Pregnant Mother's Life At Risk"
Were you aware that les than 4% of all abortions have anything to do with a mother's health. It has to do with sin. Abortions are not committed by happily married couples. There committed by hurt broken young girls, with no daddy's, that are looking for anywhere they can find it. So they are living in sin and haven't been led out of that life style yet.
The aftermath of abortions are devastating to the person and people involved. The regret, shame and conviction drive women to all sorts of depression, anxiety, mental illness and even suicide. But there is a solution. Number one there are many other options besides abortion. People are begging and waiting on waiting lists for years to adopt a baby. If you or someone you know has committed an abortion it is absolutely a sin, but Jesus Christ died on the cross for that sin even before you committed it. His amazing love can overshadow every mistake and cleanse you from every entanglement that comes along with this sin. Ask Jesus to forgive you and renew you, he will.
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09.01.2008 - Advice: The Counsel You Take Makes Or Breaks You!
Advice can be a great thing or it can be a horrible thing, it all depends on the advisor. One time I was walking down the street and I had just pulled a couple hundred bucks out of an ATM. I was walking away counting the stack of twenties to make sure it was all there and this bum on the side of the street holding a cardboard sign yelled out to me and said jokingly, "Hey bro; you need a financial advisor? "I respond back and "Ya bro; I'll call your office line to set up an appointment." After that, we both laughed together and I went on my way. If I had stopped and gotten financial advice from a 35 yrld homeless man that would be ridiculous. There is no difference between that and you receiving advice on relationships from people committing adultery and married 3-4 times. The bible teaches us to get advice, but it clearly says get good advice. Prov 15:22 "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
So now we need to determine the qualification for someone to give you advice or counsel. I have set up a three point check list that will help you protect yourself from bad advisors they are the following...
1. Some one more spiritual advanced then you are. Your advisor/counselor needs to have a deeper relationship with the Lord or be walking with the long enough to not interject their personal thought, feelings, and opinions but knows how to her from the Lord and decipher His word. This will help you to use wisdom in your decision making. Not just make decisions out of emotion or impulse.
2. Some one who is where you want to be in life. Your advisor needs to have a better view of your situation than you do. That means they need to be able to see farther because they have experienced more than you have. You advisor/counselor needs to have an aerial view of your life and help you see what's out of your line of sight. They need to be able to see the good things as well as possible mistakes and bad things also. If they're where you want to be, that means they did something right to get there.
3. Some one who has fruit in their life. That means there marriage is good, their kids are healthy and are living right, their house is in order. You want someone that has good fruit, so you know the advice they give is advice that will produce good fruit in your life.
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08.01.2008 - Abuse: Its Not Always What You Think.
In The Bible the Hebrew word for "Abuse" is `alal (aw-lal'). It means to overdo, altreat, or to impose pain. There are many different types of Abuse. There is mental abuse, verbal abuse (that can be a form of mental abuse), physical abuse, sexual abuse, self-inflicting abuse and many others. Abuse means just what it is abuse, YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR! Abuse is not only bad, but not ok. Within abuse there are two main roles, the abused & the abuser. Let's talk about them...
"The Abused"
The abused is the individual on the receiving end of the abuse. Quite often people that are being abuse are abused on many different levels. Not only are you being sexually abused but you feel like you can't say anything or stop it or don't want to get someone in trouble. That become mental abuse. You need to understand this, there is no reason on the planet ANYONE should be abused or allow ANY abuse to continue. So, what to you do? Get away from the abuser, who ever it is! If the abuser is a parent, spouse, family member, friend, teacher or pastor get away from them IMMIDETLY. Then tell the authorities. Tell someone about what's going on, tell a friend, teacher, pastor or police. Many times individuals are afraid of getting their abuser in trouble because they care about the abuser, but this is the deal. If they loved you they wouldn't be abusing you or would love you enough to get the help they need. Don't lie to yourself one more day! You must get yourself out of that situation or it won't stop.
"The Abuser"
The abuser is the individual who more than likely was at one time the abused them self. Because their wrong was never made right they get to the point ware they can no longer control their actions. They end up hurting everyone around them, even the ones they love. If you are an abuser you need to get help from a pastor or counselor. You need to get help before you dig so deep that it will take a life's journey to dig out.
You need to always protect yourself from any form of abuse. Don't let church people or pastors, family or friends abuse you. The Word of God Says, (John 10:10 "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." God has come to give us abundant life and joy not a life of abuse.
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