Gospel.com Blog

Here’s your weekly roundup of noteworthy blog posts from around the Gospel.com community. Lots of good stuff here this week:

• Jonalyn Fincher (of the Soulation apologetics ministry) muses about the claim that “if churches cater to men, then the women and children will follow.” Is it true that churches can win over entire families by focusing on the “man of the house”?
• The Internet Ministry Conference blog reminds us that the deadline for early bird conference registration is coming up soon—June 3. Complete with an amusing video to help make the point!
• Over at The Culture Beat, Jim Dahlman talks about “going green” as part of faith. Is eco-friendly living an aspect of the Christian call to stewardship? And don’t miss Alex Wainer’s reflections on the latest Indiana Jones movie.
• Jim Watkins takes issue with the premise of Sex and the City, and provides some useful data about cohabitation and sexual activity before marriage. (If only the filmmakers had employed Jim as a movie consultant during filming!)
• ThinkChristian wants to know: how far do you live from your church? Take the poll and share your thoughts!
• The Outflow blog asks whether or not the church is filled with passionate Christians. People got outrageously excited when World of Warcraft hit local Best Buy shelves—do you see the same level of excitement about the infinitely more important Gospel message in the church today?
• Dave Zimmerman writes about a supremely hot summer day, and what he learned from it, over at Strangely Dim.
• What’s it like to sit on the other side of the author table at a book signing? Lisa Rieck shares an author’s perspective over at IVPress’ Behind the Books blog.

That’s all for this week. See you Monday!

Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens.

Topping the blockbuster-wannabe list this week is the Sex and the City film, which has been variously described as Satanic or an attempt to promote loose morals. Reviewer Mike Brunk simply notes that whatever the HBO series was, the film simply amplifies… and draws out to nearly two and a half hours. (more…)

It is not uncommon to hear the phrase “unreached people” tossed around when talking about missions and global evangelism. When I hear that phrase, my mind conjures up images of remote African villages or communities hidden away in the heart of the Amazon. But Northern Canada Evangelical Mission reminds us that there are people groups right here in north America that have been traditionally overlooked by the evangelical church. NCEM focuses on reaching one of those groups in particular: the indigenous people of Canada.

You can read more about NCEM and their many missions programs at their website. But a great way to get to know their ministry quickly is to watch the 7-minute video The Carving, which showcases the incredible work of an award-winning snow carver and uses it as a metaphor to explain their beliefs and their ministry.

Watch the video and then take a look at NCEM’s various programs, which range from Bible camps to summer missions to the Tribal Trails TV broadcast. If it’s a ministry you’re excited about, there are plenty of ways to get involved!

Al Menconi Ministries has put together a nice video introducing their media ministry and talking about the importance of making wise entertainment choices for your family. You might already know about Al’s ministry—we’ve noted the site’s many essays about entertainment topics and video game reviews—this video does a good job of introducing Al and his discerning approach to entertainment:

As you can see, Al Menconi Ministries isn’t about telling you what you can and cannot watch; they’d rather help your learn to make entertainment choices that are right for your family and in line with the Bible’s moral teachings.

Ever felt stressed? Like the whole world was asking you to do something for them? Like the very things that you call good in your life are the things that are most stifling?

Well, here’s an article I ran across from the Narramore Christian Foundation’s Psychology for Living site called, “Say No to Burnout” that you should read.

Here’s a few insights from it:

When I discovered that burning out was not God’s will for my life, one of my biggest problems was, “How do I say no?” I quickly learned that I could not wait for people to approve of my saying no. I couldn’t wait for their permission or for someone else to do the task in my place. I simply had to say no, whether or not anyone but God Himself understood.

And:

I have found that friends who are committed to burnout will, of course, urge me to burn out with them! They may even try to make me feel guilty if I don’t become involved in activities which in themselves are good, but which may add too great a burden to my already overextended schedule. In the process I’ve discovered that the advice of even godly friends is only as valid as their own perspective on burnout.

It’s Friday, and time for another blog roundup—where we point out some of the best blog posts from around the Gospel.com community over the last week. Here’s what people are blogging about this week:

• Are you using the internet to mobilize people for your church or ministry? The Internet Ministry Conference blog points out a good post by Mark Beeson.
• Over at The Culture Beat, Alex Wainer is hunting down allusions to Narnia in the popular TV show Lost.
• GetReligion put a post up earlier today about the religion-news angle of the latest development in the Texas FLDS ranch situation.
• James Watkins talks about God’s timing—in particular, the subtle ways that God prepares us to deal with unexpected crises in our lives. He uses a sobering piece of news from his own life as an illustration.
• The Outflow has a good post up exploring a Biblical perspective on worrying.
• Is there something you want to say, but don’t feel you can say at church or in front of other Christians? ThinkChristian links to a simple but provocative question at FlowerDust.net.
• Behind the Books has posted the first several chapters from Andy Crouch’s much-anticipated upcoming book Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. You can download a PDF of the sample chapters or join the book’s Facebook page.
• Andy Unedited has a useful post outlining practical ways to publicize your work through the media.

That’s it for today! Have a great Memorial Day weekend (that is, if you’re in the United States). See you next week!

Mission Network News reports on the success that Gospel For Asia has had in aiding after the Myanmar catastrophe. Read all about it here.

GFA’s good reputation in the country has gained them several privileges. While many international media sources have reported that aid has been diverted, GFA has been assured that theirs will get where it needs to go. They have also been given permission to open any of their 400 churches as medical centers. K.P. Yohannan reports that this is nearly a miracle. The only obstacle will be finding Burmese doctors and nurses since the country has not been allowing any outside teams to cross their borders to work.

Also, a church leader was granted permission to open temporary orphanage to take care of 90 children that came into their care after the cyclone. The children have no families and are entirely alone.

Also, maps.google.com has a map of the flooding and cyclone path. It’s sobering stuff.

Is this the Movie Event of the decade thus far? Well, if it is, we can always remember that The Phantom Menace was the Movie Event of the last decade… right? George Lucas has a funny way of mucking up expectations.

Greg Wright finds Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to be something of a mixed bag. “What’s really enjoyable about the Indiana Jones films,” he says, “is the way in which familiar bits of cultural trinkets are assembled into something that feels rather fresh. Raiders had that in spades; Last Crusade recaptured the magic.” Crystal Skull tries to mine the same vein, with references to dozens of film, including most of Spielberg’s and Lucas’s. But Greg advises that “we also get what’s rather tedious about the franchise. I’m not sure that ‘this film delivers exactly what you’d expect from it’ is the strongest recommendation in the world. Frankly, once Mutt and Indy left the States for the jungles in Crystal Skull, I felt like I’d seen all of this stuff in other Spielberg and Lucas movies before. Still, the film is never boring, always interesting, and knows how to tell a bloated tale (since we must).” And he finds Forbidden Kingdom and Iron Man to be the more original and entertaining films so far this summer. Let the dissenters begin howling.

Also in limited release this week is The Children of Huang Shi, a historical tale set in World War II China. It felt to Jeff Walls as if he were “watching a B-movie version of Lawrence of Arabia.” But that’s not always such a bad thing. The story of one man’s struggle to protect the orphans in his care, adds Jeff, “is a great story that deserves to be told, and The Children of Huang Shi is an adequate, if not great, method of delivering this largely untold tale of a heroic figure.”

Is it possible to have a discussion about serious moral and political topics without it devolving into a partisan shouting match? Writer and blogger James Watkins has been seeking the Holy Grail of serious-but-civil dialogue for years through his columns, speaking engagements, and blogging.

Watkins’ daily blog talks about just about everything you can imagine, from the humorous to the deadly serious. But rather than shouting angry opinions from a soapbox, he prefers to step back and weigh both sides of any given debate, always from a Christian point of view. And he usually finds a way to inject some good-natured humor into even the most divisive topics. For some examples, see his posts on the same-sex marriage controversy, the US presidential race, and the Jeremiah Wright controversy. He also contributes to our own ThinkChristian blog, which explores the intersection of faith and culture.

So if you’re a bit tired of the Culture War and the bitter debates it sparks even between Christians, take a look at what Watkins is saying—it might prompt you to look at the Big Issues of the day from a more balanced, and even Christlike, perspective!

If you’ve seen the Gospel.com homepage this week, you know that our focus this week is on God and politics. Is there any aspect of public life (save perhaps religion) that can energize, outrage, and divide like good old politics can?

Nobody will argue that politics isn’t divisive, and that the political arena doesn’t get vicious and unpleasant these days. But as tempting as it might be to divorce ourselves from these day-to-day political debates and candidates and votes and scandals, this isn’t a subject that Christians can ignore. Politics is an integral part of living in our society today, and if Christians are called to reflect the light of Christ into every part of our lives, that means we’re called to behave politically in a way that honors God.

And so this week, we’ll be featuring a few ministries and other resources that talk about how Christians ought to engage politics. We aren’t taking sides, and we’re not telling you how to vote—we just want to encourage you to think about government, political parties, presidential candidates, and the voting booth as a Christ-follower, not just a citizen.

We’ll begin by noting a blog—one that’s actually not precisely about politics, but which focuses on an institution that in the eyes of many Christians is is inextricably intertwined with the Culture Wars. The blog is GetReligion, and the always-controversial subject it covers is the portrayal of religion in the media. GetReligion doesn’t just sit back and complain about the media—it looks at how Christianity is discussed in the public sphere and how that discussion might improve.

Contributors like Terry Mattingly, Douglas LeBlanc, Daniel Pulliam, and others offer detailed analyses of how journalists talk about Christianity and religion—and since religion is front-and-center in a lot of political discussions these days, various political and public-square topics crop up a lot. See recent posts that talk about media coverage of the California marriage ruling, sex scandals in the church, and the religion in the US presidential race. And if you’re hungry for yet more, GetReligion contributor Terry Mattingly writes the weekly “On Religion” column, which addresses many similar issues in a slightly different format.

Take some time to explore GetReligion (and perhaps add it to your RSS reader), and tune in tomorrow for more politics!