Gospel.com Blog

The Mission Network News website has a new look! MNN, if you’re not familiar with their ministry, is a mission news service that aims to keep Christians informed about evangelical mission activity around the world. They offer daily news reports from around the world, as well as interviews about current events. You can listen to news stories online, or find a radio station near you that broadcasts MNN’s daily reports.

Recent stories have reported on a Bible translation ministry that’s helping the government of Uganda and church planters at work in Romania. If you’ve been looking for a way to keep up-to-date with missionary work around the world, add MNN to your list of daily reads!

Need a break from the hectic pace of the holidays? Gospel Communications and the mad genius behind Reverend Fun have put together a hilarious animated Christmas cartoon. Take a quick break from whatever you’re doing and watch this short bit of holiday fun!

(The cartoon is also available on Youtube, where you can get the code to add it to your own website or blog if you like.)

The Christmas holiday can lay claim to some of the most stirring and beautiful music in the Christian church’s library. This week’s featured hymn at the Center for Church Music is one of the most famous Christmas hymns of all–“O Come, All Ye Faithful”–stop by for MP3s, lyrics, sheet music, a devotional based on the hymn, and the complete history behind the song. And when you’re done, take a look at their resources for other famous Christmas songs, including “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Away in a Manger.” If you’re struggling to get into the holiday spirit, a few minutes spent reflecting on the church’s classic Christmas tunes might be just what you need!

Looking for some fresh Christmas music as the holiday approaches? At The Culture Beat, Alex Wainer notes a musician whose music reflects his Christian faith, but who has managed to remain outside the “contemporary Christian music” scene: Sufjan Stevens. On Stevens’ recent Christmas album, Alex notes:

Wary of what Stevens calls “that Creepy Christmas Feeling” we get from seeing the celebration of Jesus’ birth exploited for commercial gain, his musical goal is to quiet down the stress and clamor and retake the holiday’s mixture of the divine and human, when Immanuel came to us to dwell in mortal flesh.

That sounds like a message worth listening to.

Do you feel “called” to do the work you do? The idea of “calling” is an important one in the Bible, and many people today struggle to find their life calling–the primary task, job, or duty that God wants us to do with our lives.

But when we talk about a life calling, it’s important to understand the Biblical concept behind the idea. Does a true calling mean that you need to work in the church or in a Christian ministry? Is working in the secular world a “lesser calling”–somehow less important or spiritually worse than being a missionary or pastor? An article at The Navigators looks at the Biblical idea of calling, and at the misconceptions that can sometimes keep us from doubting or fulfilling the tasks that God puts in our lives to accomplish.

Living Hope Ministries, a new Gospelcom.net Alliance member, provides media materials and information in order to reach Latter-day Saints (Mormons) with the good news of Jesus Christ… and to educate and equip Christians to do the same.

Living Hope has produced several feature-length documentaries that examine the fundamental claims of Mormonism, and provide a Christian, evangelistic response. These DVDs are available at minimal cost to those seeking to use them in ministry and outreach. They are also available, in their entirety, for online viewing! In addition, a growing body of information is available on LHM’s website geared toward assisting Mormons in their search for Truth, and educating Christians on the current challenges facing the LDS Church.

The winter release schedule hits its Oscar stride this week, with dynamite releases like The Pursuit of Happyness, reviewed by Jenn Wright. She worries that “the release of Will Smith’s latest acting/producing project… may not receive the attention it deserves” due to the focus this time of year on traditional activities.

Other solid releases this week include Charlotte’s Web and Dreamgirls, both reviewed by Kathy Bledsoe. The former is an excellent choice for all the family, and the latter goes into limited release this weekend while going wide the week of Christmas.

This year’s Christmas-season fantasy film is the simple but pleasing Eragon, reviewed by Michael Brunk, and two solid arthouse films hit the screens, too: The History Boys and Venus, both reviewed by Mike Smith.

Also this week, Greg Wright pays his annual visit with Micheal Flaherty, Walden Media President. The two discuss Walden’s branding strategy and the relative successes and failures on Walden’s release schedule–including Charlotte’s Web, out today.

Are you waiting right now for the right window of opportunity to act on something? Maybe it’s time to step forward and act, rather than waiting for just the right circumstances to come along! In a new article at Youth Specialties [note: large PDF file], Valerie Burton encourages us to look around at the ministry opportunities in our lives, and to worry a bit less about waiting for the “perfect time” to act on them.

You needn’t jump into something without thinking it through first–but as Burton notes, sometimes we spend so much time waiting for the right circumstances that we miss the window of opportunity entirely. Read the whole article and consider whether there are ministry opportunities in your life this holiday season just waiting for you to move on them!

Looking for a way to volunteer your time and talents, but don’t know where to start? ChristianVolunteering.org, a new member of the Gospelcom Alliance, is a free website with the goal of matching hundreds of thousands of volunteers to Christian volunteer opportunities in urban ministries and short-term urban missions.

How does it work? Volunteers just type in their zip code to find a list of Christian volunteer opportunities, or search available opportunities by interest area or skills. Organizations looking for volunteers can also post their opportunities for free. If you feel a call to volunteer in urban ministry or mission work, stop by ChristianVolunteering.org to match your skills with a good cause!

Do you realize what and why you are celebrating this Christmas season? It’s easy to lose sight of the real significance of the holiday amidst all the busy-ness of our lives. We may eagerly anticipate the gifts, music, decorations, food, family gatherings and such. Others of us fear and dread the Christmas season, seeing it as a time of stress and family dysfunction. But Christmas should be much more to us than just a holiday to relish or avoid.

In an article at Into Thy Word Ministries, Richard J. Krejcir reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas, starting with the holiday’s history and moving on to explain why it’s so important to capture the spirit of giving, not just getting.