Mr. Bock, who is Presbyterian, is credited with being the first Hollywood marketer to realize that churches had started to install enormous screens to use during their services, sometimes just to display hymn lyrics. More recently, $35,000 video walls have become more common in sanctuaries. “It makes church feel more contemporary,” Mr. Bock said, adding... Continue Reading

When it comes to violations of conscience, however, our hypersexualized culture is not so quick to respond. We’ve become acclimated to sex as an entertainment tool, not realizing that mainstream actors are routinely coerced and manipulated into performing sex and/or nude scenes. In the face of overwhelming societal pressure, they often submit to things they otherwise wouldn’t do.

If Whitefield had avoided altering the poetry of Charles Wesley, perhaps more English speakers today would recognize the word “welkin,” or perhaps equally as likely, our churches would have passed over this Christmas carol long ago and let it fade into obscurity. We’ll never know, but God be praised for Wesley, Whitefield, and tunesmith Felix... Continue Reading

Based on the acclaimed 1966 novel by Japanese Catholic writer Shusaku Endo, Silence is a book about 17th century Jesuit missionaries trying to make inroads for the gospel in the inhospitable “swampland” of Japan, facing intense persecution by a Japanese shogunate determined to wipe out Christianity’s influence in their realm.   It’s been 28 years... Continue Reading

When Penny Serenade or It’s a Wonderful Life becomes the handmaiden of that greater transcendent vision, and the longing is named—our Lord Jesus who has come to fill the eternity in our hearts with His life lived for us and His death on the cross on our behalf—and we receive the gift of heaven by repentance of our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, or share His life with another, then—then—we really get the picture.

One segment of the documentary focuses on the “Great Unconformity” with a trip to the Grand Canyon. The Great Unconformity is a geological formation that appears globally where granite bedrock is separated from sediment layers on top by an erosional layer caused by flood flow.   NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – A new documentary on... Continue Reading

That Dragon, Cancer is as difficult yet as straightforward a game as you will ever play. The purpose is not to gain points or earn badges or compete with friends, but to grapple with hard matters, to consider life and death, to consider mortality and eternity.   Oh my. I had no idea. I had heard... Continue Reading

From start to finish in Hacksaw Ridge, the faith of Desmond Doss is central. It is tested, but it is never in doubt. There are very few major Hollywood films that have characters like this. And contrary to some perceptions (or wishful thinking) about one’s faith, Doss shows that while it is deeply personal to him, it... Continue Reading

Mr. Wagner acknowledged that Hillsong risked being criticized for participating, but said the documentary “fits right into the church’s M.O.,” which includes the evangelist knack for “being right at the forefront of using every kind of media possible to bring God to the secular popular consciousness.”   Michael John Warren, the director of MTV documentaries... Continue Reading

In fact, Stephen Nichols used The Da Vinci Code as the launch pad of his 2007 book, For Us and for Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church. “If we learn anything from The Da Vinci Code phenomenon, it must be the lesson of the importance of getting the person of Christ right,”... Continue Reading