TRIBE BUILDING CONTEST BEGINS: NOW!!

Build Your Tribe

Begin Your Quest

Last year's Tribebuilding Contest for Curse of the Spider King was a HUGE success! We had six active tribes who worked together to do some absolutely amazing things! Venom & Song, book 2 of The Berinfell Chronicles will ship to stores beginning June 9th, so in honor of Book 2's release Christopher Hopper and I are launching:
Tribebuilding Contest 2


This year's contest will use the same general rules as last year's contest,  so if you know the basics, skip the next part (in purple text). If you are new to Tribebuilding, make sure you read.

The BASICS:

1. You will gather 14 people (friends, family, etc) to join your Tribe. As the gatherer of this tribe, you become the Tribe Leader.

2. Your goal is to have each member of the tribe do as many of the Tribe Tasks as possible, earning Vanadil Points for your Tribe.

3. Tribe Tasks are things like reviewing Batson or Hopper books on Amazon, Borders, CBD, B&N, etc. or making posters or videos, or blogging, etc.

4. The Tribe leaders send me a Tribe Report on the 7th of every month. The report lists what each tribe member did and how many points total were earned.

5. That's it. That's the basic contest.


Major Changes for this year's version:

1. Tribe can earn GINORMOUS points for Creative Open Category Projects! It will vary by concept. Just propose an idea, and I'll tell you how many points will be offered.  

2. Last year, we had six of the seven tribe names taken. If those tribes want to participate again, please let me know immediately so we can secure the Tribe Name for you. Additional tribes can create their own tribe name.

3. Tribe must be at least 14 people, not 21 like last year.

4. Tribes need not be geographically close in location to each other, but it helps when we plan the private book party.

5. Amazon Blitz, coming soon, so do NOT order Venom and Song just yet. If you order ON THE BLITZ DAY, it will mean ridiculous points for your Tribe! I mean OUTRAGEOUS, IMPOSSIBLY LARGE Numbers! WOOT.

Be on the lookout for RULE CHANGES coming soon.

I've outlined the entire contest and uploaded it page-by-page as you see below. You can click all the images and read right from the Web.

OR

You can click HERE and download the pdf file.

Also, Tribe Leaders from last year, please email me about Rules/etc. that didn't work too well last year or were confusing. I'd like to make this year's even better than before.

 Let the games BEGIN!

Tribe Names Claimed Last Year:
*Note: email me right away if you want to reclaim your Tribe's Name, or I will open them for new Tribes!


Valorbrand: taken by Kiada/Starfast/Robby  

Silvertree: Taken by Keeneye 

Ashheart: Taken by AmyA

Nightwing: Taken by Jacob Parker  

Swiftstorm: Taken by Seth 

Shadowtear: Taken by TimV 

Oakenflower: Unclaimed


Flaming Arrow:Created by Sir Andrew

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Did you think I forgot to mention prizes?


In addition to the prizes from last year (Private Book Party, Swords, Signed ARCs, etc), how about having EVERY member of your tribe mentioned in the Acknowledgement section of Berinfell Book 3*???


How about access to a special "Member's Only" Website full of Berinfell Lore, original Desktop art, games, and more!


CH and I are still thinking about additional prizes, so check back often for updates!


PS: Last year's Prize Winners will begin receiving prize packs in June! Thank you for your patience!

Will the Real Prodigal Please Stand Up?

This past Sunday, we had a guest speaker preach on The Prodigal Son. It was a captivating talk, and I learned a ton. Strangely enough, though, as much as I learned from the speaker, I found myself thinking about another aspect of the parable. It stemmed from the actual meaning of the word "prodigal"--one of the points the speaker made about the word's real meaning struck a chord and made the parable more meaningful to me than perhaps ever before. So, buckle your seatbelts, Dorthy, because Kansas is going bye bye!

In common use, the word "prodigal" has come to mean "wayward" or "errant," "lost" even. But the original meaning is quite a bit different. Prodigal actually means "recklessly extravagant, wasteful, or lavish." Wasteful and reckless, we get. It makes sense. After all, the son, took his portion of his father's estate and wasted it on carnal pleasures: food, drink, fair-weather friends, and female companionship. But "extravagant" and "lavish" bring to mind the provision of absurd luxury or giving in abundance. Maybe we can apply that to the son and therefore call him prodigal. But I got to thinking someone else in the story might actually be more prodigal. I was thinking that someone might be the father…who is symbolic of God. Before you cry "Blasphemy!" or start gathering flaming brands and pitchforks, hear me out. 

First, let's look at the actual text from Luke:

¹¹Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
 ¹³"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
 ¹⁷"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.
      "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
 ²¹"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.^[a]'
 ²²"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
 ²⁵"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
 ²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
 ³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Mannn, is Jesus a great storyteller or what! I love this story. It is SO rich and SO full of hope. And I think for too long, the focus has been on the son who left and came back home. We often call it the prodigal son or the "lost son." Maybe the son is one of the main characters, the protagonist even? But he's not the hero of the story. The father is.

In the narrative of the story, the father allows his son to take his portion of the estate--early. This was to be the son's inheritance. However, the father lets the son take it and leave. In essence, saying, I will not force you to stay. I will not withhold this from you. I won't force my will upon you. The father represents God, and isn't this just like God? He won't force us to love Him. If we choose to run off and spend our time and talents on stupid stuff, God will let us. He doesn't force us to love him. He will allow the consequences of our sin to wise us up, though. And that's just what happened to the son. The son comes to his senses and returns. Do you see the point I'm building here? The father sets aside a certain portion of the estate. Think of this as riches, wealth, material, etc. The father sets this all aside for the son. It's a substantial sum too. The son was able to PARTY it up in the most lavish ways. And the father gives this to the son WILLINGLY. There's no fight. Even though it likely hurt the father's feelings, the father still let the son go. That is reckless, lavish love. 

But even more so is the son's return...or rather, the father's welcome. When the son comes home, thinking he's blown the possibility of sonship, hoping just to be a hired hand, a servant…the father runs to him. RUNS TO HIM. Have you heard that song? The father runs to the son. That's ridiculous, reckless love. And not just that, but the father throws a new robe on the lad, slaps a suh-weet ring on his finger, and calls the entire estate to a halt for a HUGE "welcome home" party. Talk about wasteful. Even the older son recognizes the excess. Anyone else hear the ring of Judas' voice in the older son? But if the word prodigal originally meant excessive, lavish, extremely extravagant, who in this story was more lavish than the father? No one. First he sets aside a portion of the estate, then he gives up the portion to the son, then after the son has wasted it and comes home, the father uses up even MORE resources to welcome the son home in GRAND fashion. Holy cow! What a wasteful father. What a wasteful God. And aren't we glad that He is. 

See, in our eyes, the son was a screw up. He blew it...BIG TIME. He wasn't worth the time of day, wasn't worth even a servant's position. But to the father, the son was more precious than ALL of the estate put together. To the father, the son was so precious...the only thing that mattered was having the son back home with him.

Jesus told this parable. There is no authority greater.  The kingdom of Heaven is like this. God is like this. God is good. He is a better kind of good than we can imagine or identify with. If we think we love our own children, God loves His more.

Now, I know some have interpreted this parable and have identified the "lost son" as a nonChristian who comes back to the father and is "saved." Some say the indignant older brother represents "Pharisee-like self righteous folk." After all, Jesus had a slew of Pharisees listening to Him tell this parable. Maybe the lost son represents the Gentiles and the older brother, the Jews. It might be. But regardless of the other characters, I think we need to focus on the Father. He is the One we should draw near to. He is the one willing to waste everything just to bring us home and welcome us to the place we MOST belong. He is the One who is so generously good that we very well can call Him prodigal.

So what's the take home on this? First, if you're a believer, stop and thank God right now for His goodness. For He gave us this life; He gave us all the good things in this world; He gave us a portion of everything. Praise Him. If you're not a believer, remember how much this Father loves you. He is waiting, not with blame, not with guilt, not asking for an explanation. God wants you to come home. He wants to embrace you and robe you. He wants to give you the family ring and throw a big party for you. And who says Christians don't party? Turns out, no one, but NO ONE throws a party like God's parties! See the invite below:

Who: You (whoever you are, no matter where you've been or what you've done)

What: Welcome Home Party!  (Abundant life on earth and eternity to boot)

Where: Your real home  (Heaven)

When: Right NOW (and much more after this life)

Why: Once was lost, but now are found (God is good. He loves you forever)