FROM ADAM LEIPZIG AT CULTURAL WEEKLY: Joan Graves, head of the MPAA’s ratings board, writing to defend the R rating for the film Bully, has said, “Our ratings reflect how we believe a majority of American parents, not just from large cities on the coasts but everywhere in between, would rate a film.” She’s probably right. That scares the hell out of me. Let’s be honest about why a movie with a half-dozen “bad” words or a nipple-slip gets rated... Read more
* The following is a guest post by Martin Day. I have always thought in metaphor and simile. From a young age it seemed natural to me to translate a concept from one form to another, just to prove I’d grasped it. When the same thing happens to a story the result is a parable. It might be simple and charming, it might even tug at an emotion, but at first glance it appears no more than a story. The... Read more
Saw this on Good Morning America today… Read more
It’s all about the numbers… I remember it well. It was the second month at my first full-time youth ministry job. I had inherited a ministry of about 20 students that had gone through turmoil and transition. These students had seen a youth pastor come and go within one year’s time. They then found themselves under the leadership of inexperienced college students. When I took the job I realize that renovating and re-creating a vibrant youth ministry program would take... Read more
————————- From YouTube: “We plot. We plan. We assume things are going to go a certain way. And when they don’t, we find ourselves in a new place-a place we haven’t been before, a place we never would have imagined on our own. It is the difficult and the unexpected, and maybe even the tragic, that opens us up and frees us to see things in new ways. Many of the most significant moments in our lives come not because... Read more
* Guest writer Trent Maida is former film critic and full-on blogger who now does other stuff that you may come across. If someone asked me to describe my faith, like giving a State of the Union for the soul, I’d say “don’t call it a State of the Union for the soul because that sounds like you’re elevating the government to a god-like position,” and when the person realized that I was making a dumb joke on purpose, I’d finally answer.... Read more
Follow Me on YouTube! **** A Quick Note: I hope that the noise of the coffee shop doesn’t throw you off. Let me just say that I had a great time chatting with Donald and Steve both on and off camera – what great and down to earth guys. They are on an exhausting tour promoting their movie and I am grateful that they took a short bit of their morning to chat with me about the project. In theaters... Read more
The following is my contribution to the Patheos Book Club for Fixing the Moral Deficit. I recently read, Ron Sider’s newest book. This is a book that is timely. In an age when poverty is rampant and spending is through the roof, Sider cuts through political agendas and gets to the heart of a biblical approach to budgeting and caring for the poor. To begin let me simply say that I highly recommend the book, Fixing the Moral Deficit: a... Read more
As I recently shared, I have the opportunity to interview both Don Miller and Steve Taylor. Don is the author of Blue Like Jazz, and Steve is the director of the movie. I want to invite you to post questions that you would like me to ask them. Do you have any questions about the book? What sorts of questions do you have about the movie? Share this with others please, so that I get lots and lots of questions! Read more
Kurt’s Note: Below is a guest article by Mennonite Pastor and writer, Marty Troyer. I know him on twitter as @thePeacePastor. Also, I want to add that my friend Julie Clawson just came out with a book called The Hunger Games and the Gospel with Patheos Press. I highly recommend you download that book as soon as it becomes available (assuming you either read the Hunger Games or watch the forthcoming movie). ——————————————————————————————————————– 75 years after the end of... Read more
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