This is a new feature which we'll do on Fridays which is to explore the numerous Amish-themed films posted on YouTube. Some are amazingly accurate and authentic, others -, and others are downright dubious or dumb. We'll explore `em all.
FORT FAIRFIELD, MAINE: The first one we'll look at is a breathtaking view of the Amish farms near Easton and Fort Fairfield, Maine. This is a new community of fairly conservative Amish way up near the New Brunswick line. It's one thing to be able to see photos taken from traditional ground locations, but to be able to see this settlement from a 1000 feet or so above. AMAZING. Â This is one community I probably won't make it to any time soon (although I've said that about other communities and then I get surprised:) Â Click here for an amazing tour from the air of the Fort Fairfield Amish settlement. Â The Amish part of the video starts around minute 1:42. Â Can you imagine being one of the farmers in those fields suddenly staring up and seeing some guy in a powered chute hovering above? That would freak me out!:) Â To do this type of tour over Holmes County would be just incredible, or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Click here for this amazing video.
LIBBY, MONTANA: Â I have been to Amish settlements in St. Ignatius and Rexford, Montana, but I have not visited the "Amish" community in Libby. Â The Amish community around Libby was more traditional but over the past decade church members embraced the automobile and the congregation took on a more evangelical bent. Â Some of the congregants there still call themselves Amish but they really no longer meet the criteria that most other churches would use. Â The Amish in Libby do hold revival type services and if you listen/watch the whole video, they definitely throw a spiritual gauntlet down at other more traditional Amish churches. Â Click here to watch the entire video.
The main church in Libby actually goes by the name Eagle Valley Amish Community Church. They had a website that appears to be down now, but here is a link to cached copy that tells more about it.  The Old Order Amish church is traditionally not an evangelical church, that is one of their pillars, so something about this Libby ideology I find vaguely disturbing. But to each their own!
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