Gospel.com Blog

The Missions Atlas Project website has been completely overhauled! It’s now WorldMap.org, and they’ve re-organized their vast library of missions information to make it easier to navigate. Their interactive atlas has a tremendous amount of information of use to missions planners–they have reports on the religions, demographics, languages, and missions status of countries all over the globe.

Whether you’re a missions planner working on the strategy for your next missionary trip, or just an “average Joe” who wants to get a look at the current state of world missions, it’s well worth a visit.

Well, the wait is over: Superman has returned, and movie critics from around the Gospelcom Alliance are weighing in with their opinions. The film has caused quite a buzz in Christian circles due to the religious symbolism in Superman’s character and backstory.

Preview Movie Reviews has good things to say about the film, although they note that with some exceptions, this incarnation of Superman lacks the clear Christian symbolism that past versions did. Hollywood Jesus has a very large array of Superman-related reviews and articles up (not surprisingly–Superman and his parallels to Christ have been favorite topics of HJ founder David Bruce for years). HJ has some good supplemental Superman discussion as well–see this article on the “soul” of Superman and this discussion of “saviors” in superhero movies.

Last but not least, the folks at The Culture Beat have been busy discussing Superman and the new movie. See this post on God and Superman and another on the changing faces of Superman over the years. Lots to read–so dive in!

Have you ever done a double-take when you found out where your kid’s youth group was going on a mission trip? Do you feel nervous entrusting your kids to the superivision of others in a an area like the inner-city or a third-world country–common destinations for youth mission trips?

Those are reasonable concerns. But there are ways to both allow your kids to go on their mission trip and avoid too much stress and worrying on your part. The key is to take steps to make sure that you’re informed about and involved with the mission trip from the initial planning stages to the actual trip–and this article from the Center for Student Missions has some practical ideas for doing just that.

What’s the latest World Cup news? What’s newsworthy today from the vast world of sports? They’re talking sports over at the Hot Corner, a daily feature of the Sports Spectrum website. The Hot Corner offers daily sports news and commentary, along with a bit of sports trivia–definitely worth bookmarking if you’re a sports fan of any stripe.

Sports Spectrum is a unique ministy that explores the intersection of faith and sports–tune in to the Hot Corner and enjoy their regular commentary, and check out their magazine and other resources while you’re there.

Writer and Bono fan Steve Stockman visited Regent College with some challenging words about pop culture and the church. Since C.S. Lewis’ death, who in the Christian world has been most effectively raising the flag of faith, grace, and justice? Stockman suggests that U2′s Bono is on such person, and that the church has work to do to recapture the cultural and intellectual leadership it once held.

Bill Reimer addresses these important issues in a recent post at the Regent Bookstore blog. Stop by and find out what Reimer likes–and doesn’t like–about Bono’s media campaign and public ministry in a “post-C.S. Lewis” world.

Do you ever wonder if your life truly has value? Is God pleased with your life–and does He even take note of you?

When everything seems to be going wrong in your life, these are tough questions to ask. But they’re the questions asked this month by Lysa TerKeurst in an article specifically for women at the Proverbs 31 ministry. If you’ve ever hit a bad point in your life–dealing with out-of-control kids, receiving constant criticism from others, struggling with a hectic lifestyle–and wished that you could hear a father’s words of assurance, you’ll find encouragement and guidance in TerKeurst’s essay.

Set your Tivos and VCRs! On June 28 at 8:00pm (EDT) our very own Billy Zeoli will be a guest on on the Trinity Brodcasting Network. Billy — better known as “Z” to his friends and family — will be Paul Crouch’s guest for a half hour discussion about the ministry of Gospel Communications.

If you haven’t seen Z before, you’re in for a treat. The former CEO and current Co-Chairman of Gospel Communications, Z is a powerful speaker and a gifted storyteller. We’re sure you’ll be blessed, informed and entertained all at the same time.

Paul and Z’s relationship goes back over 40 years, when Paul and his wife Jan were youth leaders at a local church in Muskegon, Michigan, where Gospel Communications is headquartered.

If you’re not sure what your local TBN station is, you can use their handy
web-based channel finder to find the local affiliate in your neck-of-the-woods.

Arab World Ministries just celebrated its 125th birthday, and to commemorate the occasion, AWM’s international director David Lundy offers some thoughts on the future of ministry to the Arab world. The metaphor he uses to describe mission work in the Arab world is that of a “blossoming desert”:

To give you one illustration of the desert blossoming, the Algerian government earlier this year established a law giving Christians six months to comply with the decision making it illegal to shake the faith of a Muslim and requiring ministry to be done in registered churches, of which currently there are but 19. Yet in the face of this threat, in Oran recently, 500 NTs and 250 Jesus films were distributed while hundreds of people sat on the ground to view the Jesus film. Afterwards, 40 Muslims accepted Christ as Saviour.

In the face of countless challenges and difficulties, ministries like AWM continue to share the Gospel with the Arab world. Congratulations are in order for AWM and ministries like it–and let’s look forward to many more years of successful ministry across the globe!

What are today’s leading Christian authors and evangelists talking about? At the Luis Palau Association website, you can watch evangelist Luis Palau as he talks to a variety of different guests about an assortment of issues and challenges facing Christians today. Tune in to these short video clips with people like Wayne Watson, Lee Strobel, Mike Silva, and other personalities as they talk about subjects ranging from the Da Vinci Code to effective evangelism methods.

Do we live in a “global village,” a unified international culture without prejudices or differences? That’s the message of a lot of pop culture media, but it isn’t an honest picture of the world we live in. So argues Mark Matlock in “Crash Into Me” [PDF], a recent article at Youth Specialties. Matlock suggests that

We should be concerned about the oversimplification of the diversity issue as we help today’s young people find their place in the world…. the issue of cultural diversity goes much deeper than some trite stereotypes that we face in our daily lives. To oversimplify the depth of what keeps us from unity is a larger detriment that leads to even greater cultural clashes.

He concludes with several ideas for how we can respond to the “simple small world” idea in our ministries and communities.