Mark Driscoll, from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and James McDonald, from Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows were talking on the phone about Haiti. There were organizations sending doctors and medicine, there were organizations sending food and water, and there were organizations helping the orphans and children…but then they had a thought: Who is helping the Church? Who is helping the pastors provide for their congregations? When disaster strikes, people often look to the Church for help…so Mark and James decided to create an organization specifically tailored to helping the local church help the people in their communities.

I’ve had the privilege of partnering with Churches Helping Churches on two previous occasions. You can see my photos taken two months after the earthquake at this blog post. I was thankful to be invited to return for the 1 year anniversary of the earthquake along with fellow photographer Kenny Kim, and videographers: Chris and Oliver

January 12, 2011…one year later…Churches Helping Churches worked with local church leaders to organize one of the largest gatherings since the earthquake. They received approval to host their 1 year memorial rally in a six street intersection in front of The Palace. It was tough to estimate how many people attended, but the NPR estimates over 100k were in attendance. The famous Haitian gospel group Alabanza performed in their home country after being away for six years.

***See more than 60+ photos on my facebook page – Feel free to leave some comments on the blog or in facebook!***

The service started at 6am – The large tower located across the street from the Palace in Port Au Prince

Pastor Ernst waving the banner high

The collapsed Palace in the background

Two Haitian pastors that help Churches Helping Churches – Johny and Jacque. I love these two guys

Over 3000 local Haitian churches helped to bring this service together…congregations were bused in to join in the celebration.

One of the singers from the Haitian band Alabanza

The massive crowd-

Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA

James McDonald from Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, IL

This boy lives in a tent city. He sings at his local church, and he is extremely gifted. The crowd was going wild when he was singing. I have a feeling he will be performing a lot more in the near future.

It was an amazing time of worship. It was a special time for the people of Haiti. Thank you to Churches Helping Churches for having me along, and I am thankful to see what God is going in the Haitian Church and within the hearts of the Haitian people.

with love,
Kenny

Contact – Portfolio – Facebook – Twitter

For each wedding, I am always challenging myself to be creative and come up with a new shot or pose. It’s not always easy, but when it works out, I get a rush like no other. Bobby & Theresa let me decide where we would shoot their creative photos and they built in a lot of time into their schedule. More time = more photos!

Ceremony: St Paul Chong Hasang Catholic Church
675 Dursey Ln
Des Plaines, IL 60016

Reception: Meridian Banquets
1701 Algonquin Rd
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

***more photos from this wedding can be found on my facebook page- feel free to ‘friend’ me if you can’t see them***

I thought this was a fun photo of Theresa’s wedding veil being put on-

Her purple & silver wedding shoes!

Wedding dress details

A photo of the gorgeous bride!

Since we took photos before the ceremony, we had a ‘first look’ between Bobby & Theresa before we started the photo session. You gotta love the purple/lavender dresses and flowers!

Some photos in Elk Grove, near Theresa’s home

Real smiles, real laughs in this photo! Such a fun group!

A great bridal party image

Look at their smiles! It just makes you want to smile too!

As I mentioned before, Bobby & Theresa gave me a lot of time and so I was able to come up with some creative photos like the ones below

I absolutely love this photo of Theresa-

A photo of the guys-

Bobby is a huge comic book and Kung-Fu fan, and so we decided to be a little creative and have some fun with their photos- This was just too much fun to create!

The men-

One of the best shots of the day! Bobby brought one of his most coveted possessions, and we HAD to take a photo with it!

Purple/lavender flowers at St Paul’s

This was a first for me in all my years of wedding photography-

I think this photos sums up their relationship- =)

Wedding cake!

This photo could be titled: Retribution!

Thanks again for a wonderful time Bobby & Theresa! You guys are an amazing couple and thank you for your hard work in the schools and giving so much to your students!

with love,

Kenny

Contact – Portfolio – Facebook – Twitter

We stayed a couple nights in Stroncone, a small castle village that is in amazing condition. Walking the streets really takes you back a couple hundred years.

A Stroncone building

Another photos of a Stroncone street

A pretty awesome doorknocker

We then headed to Narni to check out an old church that was discovered underground. Narni Sotteranea is the name of this location.

They also found a rare room used during the inquisition. They ‘tortured’ people who violated the different rules set forth by the Catholic Church at that time in history. This photo is of the ankle bindings on a table made to hold down the violators.

There is also a small prisoner room where there is a TON of writing on the walls. It was pretty surreal to be in a room where people held awaiting torture or just after being tortured.

Afterwards we headed out to Assisi, the site of Saint Francis of Assisi’s tomb. I’ve always been a fan of St Francis as he has a quote that is so often quoted by Christians and Catholics alike:

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

I really wanted to take a moment and reflect in this beautiful church. Photo are forbidden in the Church, but my friend Matt happened to grab this shot of me praying-

Just within walking distance is the oldest church in Assisi – Santo Santo Church. This place is pretty phenomenal.

The view from atop of Assisi

Pompeii is another amazing place. I’ve read about Pompeii in social studies and have seen a couple pictures. But none of this prepared me for what I saw when I was walking around. Pompeii is huge! It is unbelievable what has been excavated and found.

Here you can see the blue and red plaster that covered the brick walls in Pompeii

The plaster mold that shows just how this person died the moment the volcano erupted with hot ash and gas.

Pompeii had an awesome sauna and hot tub-

My friend Matt needed some lip gloss put on-

A kitchen in Pompeii

A wealthy man’s house with a kickin courtyard

The smaller of the two amphitheaters in Pompeii

More to come tomorrow!

Ciao!

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