Last spring I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for NFL players put on by Pro Athletes Outreach (PAO), a group which exists to unite a community of pro athletes and couples to grow as disciples of Jesus and positively impact their spheres of influence. They have a fantastic outreach to professional football and baseball athletes and their wives. I’ve seen firsthand the amazing difference they’re making. In the off-season I exchanged emails and texts with dozens of NFL players and cha..Continue reading→
Home
Thoughts
Motherhood Is a Marathon
I wanted to do great things for God. In the spring of my senior year of college, on the brink of embarking upon my own journey into adulthood, my future was undecided and that was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling. As a philosophy major, my path was narrower than I had realized, but I was sure it would take me on some grand and glorious adventure. I knew the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. “Glorify” sounds like such a grand term. It evokes images of battlefie..Continue reading→
1 Peter 5:7–8: How Not to Battle Anxiety
Anxieties attack our faith and torment our peace. The question with anxiety is not whether it will come, but rather, how can I fight it when it does? Watch NowContinue reading→
Is Love of Money Really the Root of All Evils?
Is the love of money the “root of all evils” or only the “root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10)? “All evils” is the formal English equivalent of the original Greek (pantōn tōn kakōn). It is remarkable that all older versions of the Bible translate 1 Timothy 6:10 in the more literal way: “The love of money is the root of all evils” (or all evil). This includes the Wycliffe Bible, Luther Bibel, Geneva Bible, King James Version, Douay-Rheims, Darby Bible, and Revised Standard Version. Bu..Continue reading→
Hot Topics
Military’s Highest Court Denies Marine’s Religious Liberty Claim
In the majority opinion, the judges noted that because Sterling did not indicate until during her trial that the signs had any religious significance to her, the words on the signs could have been interpreted as being “combative in tone.” They concluded the order to remove the signs was valid and did not place a “substantial burden” on her exercise of religion. But in a dissenting opinion, Judge Kevin A. Ohlson argued that, in its decision, the CAAF went far beyond what was necessary to decide S..Continue reading→
This Republican Mayor Has An Incredibly Simple Idea To Help The Homeless. And It Seems To Be Working
In partnership with a local nonprofit that serves the homeless population, a van is dispatched around the city to pick up panhandlers who are interested in working. The job pays $9 an hour, which is above minimum wage, and provides a lunch. At the end of the shift, the participants are offered overnight shelter as needed. Republican Mayor Richard Berry was driving around Albuquerque last year when he saw a man on a street corner holding a sign that read: “Want a Job. Anything Helps.” Throughou..Continue reading→
How Much Should a Christian Olympian Give Up for Gold?
Three-time gold medalist Josh Davis and Rio correspondent Tim Ellsworth on picking between evangelism and family, the athlete’s faith community, and what the Games have in common with missions trips. Did you see the Americans’ sweep the hurdles last night? Do you go to bed at night still thinking about Katie Ledecky breaking her own world records? Do you have dozens of hours of unwatched pool play handball games on your DVR? We have a podcast for you. Two-time Olympian Josh Davis—who swam wit..Continue reading→
Whose Hate? Which Victims?
“So what do victim impact statements and the concept of hate crime have in common? They both point to an evaluation of the moral significance of criminal acts, and of victimhood, that prioritizes the psychological and the subjective.” One of the great problems in today’s world is that hate is rather limited in scope. For society to flourish, we really need more hate—or at least a broader understanding of what hate is. Confused? Well, bear with me a moment while I explain. Last week The Spectat..Continue reading→
Life & Society
Do You Live Like Your Story Matters?
Because of our natural human fixation on “the seen,” we tend to think only of the impact of our story in this brief season of our existence: the here and now. Although that impact is not unimportant, as immortal beings we should be far more concerned with how our story will sound when it is told there and then, in that next season of existence that will extend through all eternity. Unfortunately, for many Christians, the goal is simply to get across the finish line after surviving this earthly ..Continue reading→
Preschooler Made to Care about LGBT Agenda in Colorado
According to The Denver Post, a 4-year-old Aurora, Colorado girl was “kicked out” of a preschool last month when her parents raised questions about books read in her class, including ones that told stories about same-sex couples and worms unsure about their gender. The girl returned home from school one day concerned that her daddy might not like girls anymore–and her mommy is a girl. Montview Community Preschool & Kindergarten in Denver — run as a private, parent cooperative — used the stories ..Continue reading→
Disney Demands Georgia Let Go of Religious Freedom
We should have seen this coming. After all it was a Disney / Pixar film that captured the mantra of the secular Progressives: “We scare because we care.” Just as we describe in You Will Be Made to Care, Disney has joined the NFL and other compassionate bullies to try to shut down even stripped-down religious freedom protection in Georgia under the auspices of opposing discrimination. They are threatening to take their Marvel movie-making magic somewhere else if Georgia passes HB 757 to protect r..Continue reading→
Republican Convention Rules: It Takes a Majority
It takes a majority. It takes a majority of delegates to win the Republican nomination for President. It is not complicated. It is not new. These rules have been basically the same since the founding of the Party. A majority of the delegates to the convention must vote for a candidate if he or she is to become the Party’s nominee. Yet Trump and his fans are demanding the rules be changed to accommodate him. They are demanding that the Establishment (whatever that is anymore) rip up the rules and..Continue reading→
Movies
Watch: Idris Elba on being the villain in Star Trek Beyond
The film comes out in ten days and I still don’t have a very clear sense as to what Star Trek Beyond will be about — but one thing we do know is that the big “villain” of this film will be an alien who questions the Federation’s assumptions about itself. This aspect of the movie is teased in a new featurette that went online today. Here is the featurette in question: Incidentally, the film premiered in Australia last week, but no reviews have surfaced yet (at least not in any of the trades), an..Continue reading→
The first four clips from Ben-Hur are now online, and a few other things we learned about the movie today
A lot of new footage from the upcoming remake of Ben-Hur went live today. First, the ShareBenHur.com website posted four clips from the film as part of a “faith-based” discussion guide. And then, a 20-minute montage of film clips was included in a simulcast hosted by Rick Warren and producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey that was streamed to churches and other venues across the country. These clips give us our best look at the film yet, and they reveal some of the ways that this new version of B..Continue reading→
Box office: Pets, Dory set new records for animated films
A couple of animated films set a few new records at the box office this week. First, The Secret Life of Pets made an estimated $103.2 million between Thursday and Sunday nights, which is the biggest opening ever for an original animated film (previous champ: last year’s Inside Out, which opened to $90.4 million). The film also had the sixth-biggest opening of any animated movie ever, behind four sequels (Finding Dory, Shrek 2 + 3, Toy Story 3) and one prequel (Minions). Second, Finding Dory gros..Continue reading→
Prophet Joseph — episodes twenty-one and twenty-two
Synopsis. Joseph continues to encourage his fellow inmates. One day, while they are all on a food break at the quarry, Joseph sees a Canaanite chasing a runaway camel, and Joseph, without revealing who he is, asks the man for news of his family and gives him a cryptic message to take back to Jacob. Apopis is woken by a bad dream and learns that Inarus, too, has had a dream. They ask Joseph to interpret the dreams, and Joseph, to prove his words are trustworthy, makes a prophecy that comes true w..Continue reading→
Review: The Secret Life of Pets
Dear parents: It’s inevitable — you’re going to see “The Secret Life of Pets.” Your kids, who have likely already flipped for “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory,” will eat up this comedy about what dogs and cats do when their masters are away.They are going to love the cartoon antics, slapstick shenanigans and anthropomorphic tomfoolery. Sure, they may have just seen a giant octopus drive a truck in “Finding Dory,” but that won’t stop them from cackling with delight when a homicidal bunny causes a tra..Continue reading→
Chariots of Fire returns to theatres and gets a “sequel”
The Olympics will be upon us soon, and to mark the occasion, Chariots of Fire — the Oscar-winning 1981 film about two athletes, one Jewish and one Christian, who represented Great Britain at the 1924 Olympics in Paris — is coming back to theatres for one night only. An unofficial “sequel” has also started playing in China. The “sequel” in question is The Last Race, a Hong Kong-Chinese film that focuses on the last years of Eric Liddell, the Christian athlete from the earlier film. Liddell was bo..Continue reading→
Paramount releases new character posters for Ben-Hur
Paramount released three sets of posters today featuring the five main characters from Ben-Hur. Curiously, the main set of posters — released via the film’s official social media accounts — did not include any images of Jesus, but the other two sets (at least one of which is aimed at foreign audiences) did. Check ’em out below the jump. First, the main set, which consists of four posters — all of which, incidentally, say the film has been rated PG-13 for “sequences of violence and disturbing ima..Continue reading→
Watch: Trailers for eight independent “faith-based” films, all coming out between August and October of this year
The first months of the year and the last weeks of summer are the slowest moviegoing times of the year. Not coincidentally, perhaps, those are also the two times of year when a lot of the smaller, independent “faith-based” films tend to come out, since they don’t have to worry about blockbusters crowding them out of the multiplex. This year is no exception. In the last few weeks, I have received a lot of press releases and watched several trailers for “faith-based” films that are coming out betw..Continue reading→
“The Fight Within” hits theaters in August in a faith-film cage match
A young fighter grapples with the choices he must make to overcome a troubled past and survive in the world of MMA as he builds a new life of faith and love. “THE FIGHT WITHIN”—a muscular faith film set in the rough-and-tumble world of MMA (mixed martial arts)—premieres in limited theatrical release, nationwide August 12, 2016, from GVN Releasing. With a mashup of faith, fighting and romance, the film’s pro..Continue reading→
Music
Switchfoot and Relient K Announce Second Leg of Looking for America Tour
Switchfoot and Relient K announced this week that they've been enjoying their co-headlining tour so much that they'll be extending it into a second leg in 2017. "Our nation needs hope and healing more than ever- playing these songs of healing every night with our friends Relient K has brought such beautiful moments to life," Switchfoot explained through a facebook post. "In fact, we want to extend the tour and bring these songs to a few of our favorite cities that we missed along the..Continue reading→
Natasha Owens Releases Video For ‘Wings’
Natasha Owens has released the encouraging song "Wings" to Christian radio, and the message of the inspirational tune is already impacting radio and hearts all across the country. The song is the third single release from her latest recording, No One But You, available on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon, among others. The reach of Natasha's ministry continues to expand. Including tour dates with Ryan Stevenson, ..Continue reading→
Ginny Owens Releases ‘Love Be The Loudest’ Friday, November 18
Award-winning singer-songwriter Ginny Owens releases her ninth studio album, Love Be The Loudest, this Friday, Nov. 18, on her indie label, Chick Power Music, with The Fuel Music distribution. The acclaimed new music shares a timely message for today's culture and will premiere on several different platforms this week, including two live events that will be available for audiences internationally. Two songs, the reimagined version of Owens' No. 1 hit song "If You Want Me To" and "The L..Continue reading→
Grayson|Reed To Release New Project ‘Walk’ January 13
Husband and wife duo, Grayson|Reed, will release their first project for Centricity Music, Walk, on January 13, 2017. The six-song EP will be available at all online music outlets, with a nine-song version of the record only being sold at Grayson|Reed concerts. Besides the amazing talents of Mike Grayson (Mikeschair) and Molly Reed (City Harbor), numerous producers took part in creating this project including Justin Ebach, Ben Glover, Jeff Pardo and Seth Mosley. Grayson|Reed co-wrote all the ori..Continue reading→
Unto Us by JJ Heller
Track Listing 01. Winter Wonderland 02. Christmas Is Here 03. White Christmas 04. Unto Us 05. I'll Be Home For Christmas 06. Oh, To See Christmas 07. Count Your Blessings 08. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 09. Let It Snow 10. O Little Town of Bethlehem 11. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 12. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring 13. Silent Night Continue reading→
These Things Take Time EP by S.O.
Just over a year since his highly-acclaimed So It Ends album which charted well in the US and UK S.O. thought an EP would be the perfect transition after completing the So It Ends, So It Continues, So it Ends series of albums. "I thought it would be good to give the fans something," S.O. said. "When you make a trilogy, it's fine-tuned. These Things Take Time was a way for me to give the fans new music as I begin to work on my next project." The EP's artwork a picture of S.O. covered in clay suggests[...]Continue reading→
Waiting For The Dawn by Salt Of The Sound
Salt Of The Sound is the award-winning musical collaboration of Stockholm-based husband and wife duo Anita and Ben Tatlow. Their aim is to create songs that encourage a spirit of reflection both in church environments and in times of personal quiet, while also exploring musical styles and expressions that bring a freshness to the Christian music scene. Salt Of The Sound's new EP Waiting For The Dawn centres around the theme of light, which is echoed in different ways across all of the songs, and features heavily in the Advent traditions of Nordic countries. Waiting For The Dawn combines these[...]Continue reading→
American
More Pregnant Women Choose Life Over Abortion Than Ever Before
Last month the Guttmacher Institute released updated abortion statistics for the United States. Their latest survey of abortion facilities indicate that the number of abortions fell by approximately five percent between 2011 and 2014. The short-term abortion decline is unsurprising. The U.S. abortion rate has fallen steadily since 1980. Furthermore, these declines have been fairly consistent. They have occurred during times of economic prosperity and economic hardship. They have also occurred th..
Cecile Richards Says More Women Need to Brag About Their Abortions: “It’s Time to be Bold”
Planned Parenthood is desperate for support after Americans rejected its pro-abortion candidates in the November election and chose a strong majority of pro-life lawmakers instead. On Tuesday, the abortion business’s CEO Cecile Richards gave a talk at the Makers Conference urging people to get more involved in abortion advocacy. Richards, who makes close to $1 million a year, and her supposedly non-profit abortion group stand to lose big money from the federal government. Planned Parenthood cu..
Senators File Legislation to Stop Obama’s Rule Forcing States to Fund Planned Parenthood
In his last Christmas as president, Barack Obama made sure he played Santa for at least one group: Planned Parenthood. With just weeks to go in the White House, the abortion industry’s best friend did what it could to protect the industry from an administration sure to be bad for business. Using his power at Health and Human Services, President Obama issued a rule that not only locked down federal grants for Cecile Richards’s group through the Title X “family planning” program, but also blocked..
Washington DC assisted suicide bill puts patients at risk and prioritizes cost over compassion
Do no harm.” Three short words, but to physicians they represent a sacred charge. Three short words that now hang in the balance here in the District of Columbia, after the D.C. council passed the Death with Dignity Act (Act 21-577), legalizing physician-assisted suicide in the nation’s capital. In authorizing doctors to violate the Hippocratic oath of “do no harm,” physician-assisted suicide undermines a key safeguard that protects our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and helps to ensure our l..
Australia
Activists spy on sermons from churches meeting in public schools
Churches that meet in public school halls in NSW on Sundays are under attack for the content of their sermons. The attack comes from a one-man advocacy group linked to the campaign against scripture in public schools. Sermons found on the websites of Hunter Bible Church, Maitland Evangelical Church and The Lakes Evangelical Church (all part of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) on the NSW mid north coast were the subject of complaints ..
Three cheers for missionaries
Over at the Centre for Public Christianity, we’ve been doing a lot of research lately into some of the worst bits of Christian history. The Spanish Inquisition. Sectarian violence. Early-modern witch hunts, and torture techniques I didn’t know existed (see: “squassation”). The casualness with which Crusaders massacred peoples not remotely connected with their war aims. The end result of such disheartening research will, I hope, be worth it: CPX..
Muslim refugees open to the Good News in their own language
In a refugee camp in northern France, a Pashtun man from Pakistan was happy to hear the good news of Jesus in an audio-visual presentation in his own language. It was an evangelistic audio-visual presentation by Global Recordings Network (GRN) giving an overview of the Bible story from creation to Christ and how to become a follower of Jesus. “He sat there holding the player while I showed him the pictures,” recalls Graydon Colville, international di..
‘Christian’ parties fighting for Senate scraps
Australia’s “Christian Values” parties have been left scrabbling for the twelfth Senate spot in three states (SA, NSW and Qld), in the wake of an election that favoured smaller parties. But the protest and conservative voters went to One Nation and Nick Xenophon ahead of the small Christian parties, that include Christian Democrats, Australian Christians, Democratic Labour, Rise Up Australia and Family First. “We have a very good chance of getting the t..
Entertainment
“Prayer Woven Into the Fabric of the Film”: A Q&A with Ben-Hur’s Roma Downey and Mark Burnett
On August 19, an exciting new Ben-Hur will be charging into theaters to tell once again the epic tale of brotherly betrayal and revenge for a new generation. At a recent press event in Los Angeles, we got the chance to speak with executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible, A.D., and Son of God) about this new imagining of a classic film and why they were drawn to the project. What attracted you to this production of Ben-Hur? Mark Burnett: Gary Barber, the chairman of MGM, had se..
Captain Fantastic: The Anti-Christian Christian Movie
Captain Fantastic, a little indie film out today, is a moving family parable about hippie dad Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his eclectic family of six, leaving their near-isolation in the Pacific Northwest to attend a funeral. Did I say “attend?” I met stop. The funeral is that of Leslie, Ben’s wife and the children’s mother. Though we learn she was raised in a fairly traditional, comfortable Christian home, she became a Buddhist when she and Ben got together. And the last thing she wo..
Watch: New Trailer for Hillsong’s “Let Hope Rise” Live Today!
“Let Hope Rise,” the highly anticipated new feature film about the journey of youth-band-turned-international-sensation, Hillsong United, comes to theatres September 19. Here’s a first look at the trailer for the film, just released today.
“Let Hope Rise” Spotlights Rise of Christian Band “Hillsong UNITED”
IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE SEPT. 16 Film spotlights Hillsong UNITED’s remarkable journey from a youth group band at Hillsong Church to a worldwide recording and concert sensation Pure Flix is distributing HILLSONG-LET HOPE RISE, the highly anticipated feature film that chronicles the spectacular and miraculous rise to prominence of the Australia-based band, Hillsong UNITED. Directed by Michael John Warren (Jay Z’s FADE TO BLACK), the film explores Hillsong’s journey from a tiny church in the Sydney..
US
Obama picks a fight with Russians
President Obama has hit Russia with sanctions and the expulsion of diplomatic personnel in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s alleged interference with the U.S. election. He has also threatened cyberattacks against Russia. In return, Russia is promising retaliation of its own. With only twenty or so days left in office, the president has stirred up a conflict with Russia that his successor is going to have to deal with. Donald Trump, with his pro-Russian leanings, will probably reverse Obama’s act..
Checking our predictions for 2016
It’s time to check the predictions we made around this time last year, something you don’t see the tabloids or most highly-paid consultants doing. Your predictions for 2016, as usual, were thoughtful, interesting, mostly-wrong, but with some remarkable accuracies. Go here to read them all and come to your own conclusions. We were still under the World Table comment system back then, so go to that link. If you do a search for the post, it will come up as there being no comments, but click the ful..
Birth as the “moral fault line of our time”
Christmas is about birth, Kevin Williamson reminds us, which is what reminds us most of our physicality. No wonder, he says, birth is also “the great political and moral fault line of our time.” Consider all of the moral issues that have to do with birth, whether preventing it or negating it: abortion, sex outside of marriage, pornography, today’s much vaunted fantasy of sex with robots. Consider the political and ideological issues: fears of overpopulation, health care, feminism, child poverty,..
Top religion stories of 2016
The Religion News Association announced its top 10 religion stories of 2016. Number one: Donald Trump’s election. Why was that a religion story? An important factor in Trump’s win was his support from evangelical voters, even though his lifestyle, moral history, and religious beliefs would not seem to be in accord with those of most Christian conservatives. What this means, though, is less clear. Does this mean Christian voters have sold out, or have they become pragmatic in choosing a candidate..
Church & Theology
Where Grace Abounds
Each year at Lancaster Baptist Church, we introduce a new theme for the year to our church family on Vision Sunday. Primarily we do this through the Sunday messages in which the theme is shared from a biblical text and then, in Sunday evening’s message, developed into ministry goals for the coming year. But one of the most memorable ways we introduce the theme is through teaching our church family a new chorus (typically written by our music team) based on the theme. Our theme for 2017 is “By ..
Growth Points 74: Three Attributes of a Great Year
When I think about a great ministry or a great minister, I think of John the Baptist. Jesus Himself called John and his ministry great: “For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist…” (Luke 7:28). John wasn’t as concerned with being relevant to his culture as he was with being in touch with God. It was his heart for God and the way he uncompromisingly shared God’s message that set him apart. In this growth points video, I share thr..
A White Man’s Meditations on Martin Luther King Day
Most of my childhood, I lived in highly diverse neighborhoods. My neighborhoods and schools were a mishmash of white, black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and more. I recently looked up the stats of my junior high, for example, and the current student population is 33% white, 30% Hispanic, 25% African American, 10% Asian, and a few others. This type of relatively even split is how I remember it. I don’t remember my parents ever making blatantly racist comments. Race was neve..
3 Dynamics of Growth in Grace
Do you need grace today? Do you desire to grow in grace this year? I suppose these are questions with self-evident answers. We know we need God’s grace, and we know Scripture commands us to grow in grace. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.—2 Peter 3:18 This is what we desire for our lives as well as for the lives of those to whom we minister. But how? How do we grow in grace? And what does growth in grac..