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
Doxological Calvinism
Doxologies punctuate the Bible because they punctuate the life of faith. This at least was Paul’s understanding of the life of Abraham: “he was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:20). Let me invite you to take a simple word-association test. The usual procedure for such a test is that the administrator says a word and the subject responds with the first word that comes to mind. Thus, the word horse might immediately prompt the word cart from some people, but race (as in horse race) f..Continue reading→
The Kingdom Comes Not Through Maneuvers But By Repentance
Today’s Essenes are the gnosis-exalting hip churches and the law-exalting fundy churches, each preaching legalism of a different sort and rendering different sorts of people untouchable. They advocate withdrawal from either “church people” or “the world,” as if true kingdom enlightenment exists in an ecclesiological utopia hermetically sealed off and protected by either their cultural savvy or their cultural avoidance. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered..Continue reading→
NT Commentaries Withdrawn Over Plagiarism Allegations
The author, Peter T. O’Brien, was presented with the findings and provided the following response: “In the New Testament commentaries that I have written, although I have never deliberately misused the work of others, nevertheless I now see that my work processes at times have been faulty and have generated clear-cut, but unintentional, plagiarism. For this I apologize without reservation.” At the beginning of July 2016, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. received allegations against one of its New..Continue reading→
5 Lessons My Parents Taught Me About Sexuality
“These days, as I get older and consider marriage and my future, it’s the God-designed preciousness of sex that I think about more often. Sex, I’ve learned from my parents, is something to be esteemed without being glorified. While portrayed as a cheap commodity in culture today, God created it as a valuable gift.” “Sexuality”is an electric buzzword in our culture, igniting opinions like wildfire. With clashing commentary from secular society, Christians in recent years have increasingly recogn..Continue reading→
Life & Society
[Audio] How Pastors Can Preach about Religious Freedom
My friend Dr. McKay Caston (who happens to also be my pastor) preached a sermon recently that demonstrates how pastors can and should preach about religious freedom. It is fine example of speaking the truth in love and preparing a congregation for the rising tide of persecution in America. McKay has agreed to let me post the audio here and share his sermon notes below. You can follow his blog here. I encourage you to share them with pastors and church leaders and prayerfully encourage them to en..Continue reading→
Movies
Watch: New footage from Star Trek Beyond as it premieres at Comic-Con, plus a new featurette on Captain Kirk
Star Trek Beyond opens in regular theatres tonight, but some lucky fans got to see the film last night at the San Diego Comic-Con, where it was shown on an outdoor IMAX screen with live orchestral accompaniment. The studio has posted a number of clips from that event — clips that include bits of new footage that we haven’t seen before — as well as a new featurette on Captain Kirk. Check ’em all out below the jump. Here is the featurette on Captain Kirk: And below are the videos from Comic-Con, ..Continue reading→
Four things from the Young Messiah DVD commentary
At last, I have acquired a copy of the American Blu-Ray of The Young Messiah! While it doesn’t have all that many bonus features, it does have a few of them, which is more than I can say for the Canadian disc, which has none. (The American Blu-Ray also comes with a DVD copy of the film, which the Canadian Blu-Ray does not.) The bonus features include a 10-minute featurette on the making of the film and about seven minutes of deleted scenes, none of which add all that much to the story. But the d..Continue reading→
Watch: Spock and McCoy disagree on their next course of action in a new Star Trek Beyond clip
Star Trek Beyond comes to theatres tomorrow night, and the stream of promotional videos shows no signs of letting up. The latest clip from the film expands on a moment that we’ve seen in the trailers, in which Spock and McCoy are surrounded by some drones after they are stranded on a mysterious planet. Check it out below the jump. Here is the clip (and by the way, did the original Spock ever address Doctor McCoy by his first name “Leonard”, the way he occasionally called Kirk “Jim”?): The studi..Continue reading→
Grace and beauty in “Babette’s Feast”
Hey everyone, Chris here. I’m currently on vacation with my family. But awhile back, I was introduced to a new film writer whose insights I’m greatly enjoying. His name is John Irwin and he blogs about film at beezfilms.blogspot.com. Looking at his list of favorite films, I found that we shared a few in common, and I asked him if he’d like to write about one of our shared favorites, one I’ve wanted to write about for awhile but just haven’t had the time. So today, enjoy this guest post from John..Continue reading→
Ben-Hur news round-up: Is the new film a “Trojan horse”?
Another week, another round-up of Ben-Hur news items, plus a few new TV spots. First, Christian Today has a few quotes from Roma Downey, who calls the film “the most riveting opportunity of our [i.e. hers and Mark Burnett’s] careers”: “It’s a feast, a beautiful re-imagining of this epic story. I think that the movie in many ways is a Trojan horse, because it’s an action/adventure movie and it delivers on that, and viewers won’t be disappointed with that. It’s epic. But…it’s a story of redemption..Continue reading→
Is there a big spoiler in the new Star Trek Beyond TV spot?
So a bunch of Star Trek Beyond reviews went online last Friday, and I read a few of them to get a sense of what the movie would be about. Some of them hinted at a major revelation that comes up late in the film, but they declined to say what it was. Now, however, Paramount has released a TV spot that might just give it away. It’s possible, of course, that the spot in question doesn’t show the precise spoiler that the reviews avoided describing, but it does hint at something very significant abou..Continue reading→
Hail, Caesar! and the road-to-Damascus experience in film
Is Hail, Caesar! the first movie from a major Hollywood studio to depict Saint Paul’s road-to-Damascus experience on the big screen? I think it might be. Last year, I looked at a dozen different filmed versions of the road-to-Damascus story and posted images from all twelve of them, but they were all either produced for television or made by independent church-based filmmakers. I couldn’t — and still can’t — think of a single major mainstream film that has ever portrayed it. Apart, that is, from..Continue reading→
Box office: Ghostbusters gets off to a good but not great start, while animated films continue to set new records
After months of controversy, an all-female reboot of a popular comedy franchise had a good but not great start at the box office this weekend, while a couple of animated films continued to set new records for the animation medium. Ghostbusters — a reboot of the 1980s spooky-comedy series that has been hugely controversial online because it has four women in the lead roles instead of four men — grossed an estimated $46 million between Thursday and Sunday nights. That’s a personal best for directo..Continue reading→
Review: “Ghostbusters”
“Ghostbusters” is what happens when originality clashes with lucrative intellectual property. Truthfully, Paul Feig’s remake of Ivan Reitman’s beloved 1984 comedy is about as good as you could hope for. In its best moments, the cast makes you forget about the original and accept this new version as its own funny, weird thing. But those moments are too often undercut by awkward references to the first film, as if it’s haunted by the specter of Peter Venkman. Feig veers from the trend of doing a b..Continue reading→
Music
Ripcord by king Stevian
king Stevian releases his first single Ripcord to start 2017 off. For his upcoming Album he gives praise to the Father in heaven in Jesus name.[...]Continue reading→
Newsboys Honor Veterans By Partnering With Guardian For Heroes Foundation At Recent Show
Late last month, the Newsboys packed out an arena in Nashville with their 'Love Riot' Tour. The concert served as a benefit for the Guardian for Heroes Foundation, established by late U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. The Foundation helps combat veterans transition into life after the military. RELATED Newsboys Shine Spotlight On Heroes During the show that night, Chris Kyle's brother Jeff spoke about the mission of the organization. BeastMode for the Brave endurance athlete George Ch..Continue reading→
For KING & COUNTRY Unveils New Christmas Song
Today for KING & COUNTRY unveiled their new Christmas single, "Glorious," as part of the Into The Silent Night (Extended) EP. The EP also includes "Little Drummer Boy," "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Into The Silent Night" and two recordings of their previous Christmas hit "Baby Boy." RELATED for KING & COUNTRY Announces Details Of Fall Tour "Christmas is coming, but #GLORIOUS is here! I just saw it's 0.69 on iTunes, for now. We've been working on this since Feb! And how about a ha..Continue reading→
Shawn McDonald Launches PledgeMusic Campaign For New Album
Shawn McDonald has launched a PledgeMusic campaign and pre-order for his new album. "I create with all of me and I love what I do. To thank you guys for allowing me to continue to write and do what I love, I wanted to invite you to be a part of my new album like never before. We've crafted what we hope are some really cool ways for you to engage, support and be a part of the making of a new record. For me this is a journey, it's just faith and I choose to put my journey into song and ..Continue reading→
Casting Crowns Announces Spring Leg Of ‘The Very Next Thing’ Tour
Multi-platinum selling and GRAMMY® winning group Casting Crowns will hit the road again this spring for the second leg of "The Very Next Thing" Tour, featuring K-LOVE Radio's Male Artist of the Year Danny Gokey and special guests Unspoken. Presented by Compassion International and Museum of the Bible, the 40-city arena tour kicks off Feb. 16, in Baltimore and will make stops in markets like Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Orlando, Tampa, Grand Rapids, Minnea..Continue reading→
Ellie Holcomb To Release Sophomore Album ‘Red Sea Road’ January 27
The 2014 GMA Dove Award winning New Artist of the Year Ellie Holcomb will release her sophomore album, Red Sea Road, on January 27, 2017. This record celebrates the Hope we have in Jesus, and the powerful & personal ways Ellie has seen Him make Red Sea Roads through some of the most heartbreaking times of her life. RELATED Ellie Holcomb Expecting Second Child "The past two years for our community have been heavy, full of suffering and loss," shares Ellie Holcomb. "Red Sea Road is a record full..Continue reading→
Spencer Kane Video Nominated For MTV’s Cover Of The Month
Solo pop singer turned Anthem Lights member Spencer Kane is up for MTV's Cover Of The Month for his video of Shawn Mendes' "Mercy." "I need your help! MTV asked me to submit my MERCY video to their COVER CONTEST and I did. PLZ click this and clap 10 trillion times, and I may be able to win," he posted to social media this morning. RELATED Spencer Kane Fills Open Spot in Anthem Lights Kane shared his "Mercy" cover to Spotify, iTunes and YouTube last week, where it already has over 8,0..Continue reading→
Anthem Lights’ New Album Gets Fully Funded On Last Night Of Kickstarter Campaign
Pop group Anthem Lights has spent the last month raising money for their new album Painted Skies. With just over a day to go in their Kickstarter campaign they were less than fifty percent funded, but much to their amazement, the project was fully funded (112% to be exact) on the last night of the campaign. RELATED Spencer Kane Fills Open Spot in Anthem Lights "Do you believe in miracles?? If anyone has been waiting to pledge, NOW is the time. It doesn't look good guys, but we are incredi..Continue reading→
Trip Lee Announces New Mixtape
Rejoice hip-hop fans Trip Lee is back. The longtime Reach Records veteran officially announced his anticipated mixtape The Waiting Room after teasing it for the past month on social media. This announcement comes on the heels of the debut single "Too Cold" last week. The official pre-order for The Waiting Room is live through Reach Records, and on the album's official page they provide some background on the album "Throughout the 10 songs that make up The Waiting Room, Trip wrestles with j..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..