Whew—What a Busy Week (But an Amazing One!)

Hundreds of families heard from keynote speakers, including Heidi St. John, Alex Kendrick, Martyn Iles, me, and others. They also enjoyed a variety of special concerts and got to participate in hands-on programs on topics such as horticulture, forensics, and zoology at both the Ark and Creation Museum. Here are just a few photos from these sessions and programs.

Over the five days, families had so many amazing experiences, but I thought I’d highlight just two for you.

Families Met a Real NASA Astronaut

A NASA astronaut was one of the featured speakers—yes, contrary to what secularists will tell you, a Christian and a creationist can actually be an astronaut!

Captain Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore has had a distinguished career in the US Navy and, more recently, NASA. While serving as a Naval officer and pilot, Captain Wilmore completed four operational deployments. He flew 21 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm and participated in missions supporting Desert Shield and Southern Watch. He also served on exchange as a Flight Test Instructor at the Air Force Test Pilot School.

In addition to a successful career in the US Armed Forces, Captain Wilmore was selected as an astronaut in July of 2000. After two years of training, he traveled to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where he supported launch and landing operations.

Captain Wilmore completed his first space flight onboard STS-129, logging more than 11 days in space. In November of 2014, Captain Wilmore took command of the International Space Station (ISS) until March 2015. During his time as commander of the ISS, he reached an accumulated total of 178 days in space and over 25 hours of spacewalks.

Captain Wilmore has earned many distinctions and honors including the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

(Oh, and when you ask Captain Wilmore what the earth looks like from space, he will say it’s a beautiful sphere spinning in space, and he can show you stunning photos and videos that he has personally taken of that.)

Captain Wilmore has a heart for reaching people with the truth of God’s Word and travels to different parts of the world to share the good news of the gospel. It was a real treat for families to get to meet him.

Outdoor Adventure for Boys

We were also excited that the ministry Trail Life came to the Ark during this event to offer all sorts of activities for the boys. Boys of all ages loved it!

The Trail Life ministry describes themselves as

A Church-Based, Christ-Centered, Boy-Focused mentoring and discipleship journey that speaks to the heart of a boy. Established on timeless values derived from the Bible and set in the context of outdoor adventure, boys from Kindergarten through 12th grade are engaged in a Troop setting by male mentors where they are challenged to grow in character, understand their purpose, serve their community, and develop practical leadership skills to carry out the mission for which they were created.

We’re so thankful for this opportunity to encourage homeschool families and equip them with resources to better disciple their children.

A lot of families have been looking for an alternative to the “woke” Boy Scouts movement, so Trail Life has become very popular. If you have young boys, I encourage you to find out more on their website.

Yes, it was a busy, fun-filled week, and our dedicated and hard-working staff did a tremendous job serving our guests—a big thank you to them for all their hard work! We’re so thankful for this opportunity to encourage homeschool families and equip them with resources to better disciple their children.

We hope you can join us for next year! Registration is now open and will likely fill up quickly, so register early to avoid disappointment.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.