By Mark Ellis
Denzel Washington
Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington told GQ Magazine he reads the Bible every day and had an intense encounter with the Holy Spirit in his twenties.
“I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word,” he told GQ’s Michael Hainey. The devout Christian and son of a Pentecostal minister also talked about his father’s influence in his life.
Filed under parenting, teaching, testimonies
By Mark Ellis
Where did those years go?
It seems like it was only yesterday that I was teaching our sons how to ride bikes, attending their soccer games, going on outings with the Indian Guides or Boy Scouts, and sharing wonderful family times in our tent trailer during summer camping trips.
Now our boys are out of the house and it’s very quiet.
Fathers, you only have one opportunity to make a difference when your children are under your roof, and it’s very brief. There are not too many men who get to the end of their lives and say, “You know, I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”
By Mark Ellis
Madonna with choir behind her
For pop star Madonna’s final half-time number at the Super Bowl, she sang “Like a Prayer” surrounded by a swaying gospel-style choir that strongly resembled a church chorus.
The lyrics to “Like a Prayer” sound a lot like many contemporary worship songs in their intimate expression of the mysteries of divine romance. As the black and white robed choir clapped and pivoted, Madonna’s final words were: “I hear you call my name and it feels like home.”
As she sang the word “home” an eruption of light and smoke engulfed the wavy haired singer and she hurtled straight down – a kind of reverse-rapture – until she disappeared from view. To the massive television audience’s surprise and wonder, the words “WORLD PEACE” appeared in a blaze of lighted torches amidst the throng.
By Tonya Whitaker, The Pew
Tebow with game face: Rom.1:16
Tim Tebow has amazed skeptics and longtime followers during this NFL season. Now, football fans will see what the Broncos quarterback and his teammates have planned for the Steelers, as Denver prepared to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 8 in an AFC Wild Card matchup.
While his on-the-field achievements have drummed support, more than a few stories have surfaced about how Tebow’s Christ-like persona has served as an inspiration to others.
Filed under evangelism & outreach, missions, parenting
By Erin Roach
A new sex education mandate by the New York City Department of Education has drawn opposition from parents, congressmen and representatives of the True Love Waits abstinence movement.
Starting in January, the city will require students to take one semester of sex education in the sixth or seventh grade and one in ninth or 10th grade. Schools can choose the curriculum, but the city recommends a program called HealthSmart and another called Reducing the Risk, according to the New York Daily News.
HealthSmart in particular contains graphic lessons which many parents find objectionable, including assignments that would have students cataloguing condom brands at a local drug store, visiting a reproductive health clinic and browsing a provocative sex advice website.
By Mark Ellis
Lady Gaga
Her musical genius and showmanship attracts young fans around the world as she pushes past boundaries tested by Madonna. Dark influences from New York’s underground music scene and the performance art world, along with the trumpeting of gay rights and her own raw sexuality lead some to conclude she represents a threat to the moral fabric of society.
Yet one prominent youth ministry leader thinks parents should watch Lady Gaga with their teens.
“She mixes the sacred and the sexual, like Madonna,” observes Walt Mueller, the founder of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU). “Some in the church will say her music is from the pit of hell,” he notes. “Others will say it’s just music. I find more and more people in the latter group.”
Filed under parenting
‘Undaunted,’ a New Film, Unveils Painful Past
Josh McDowell
By Dan Wooding
Few people know that behind the ministry of the legendary author and international speaker Josh McDowell lies a painful childhood caused by a severely dysfunctional family, sexual abuse and an alcoholic father.
On Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 PM, Undaunted: The Early Years of Josh McDowell, a new docu-drama by Director/Script Writer Cristóbal Krusen will premiere at Chase Oaks Church in Plano, Texas.
Shot throughout Michigan to capture the rolling acreage surrounding the McDowell’s family farm, Undaunted sheds light on McDowell’s darker days as an innocent child growing up in a severely dysfunctional family.
Filed under evangelism & outreach, parenting, teaching, testimonies
By Mark Ellis
After he tore all three ligaments in his knee, he thought his dream of future glory on the gridiron was over. Then God met him in a surprising way that changed the course of his life.
Ed Tandy McGlasson
From the start — before he drew his first breath – tragedy struck. “I never had a single moment with my father,” says Ed Tandy McGlasson, the former NFL offensive lineman who played for the Rams, Jets, and Giants. He is the founding pastor of the Stadium Vineyard in Anaheim, California.
Ed’s mother was eight months pregnant with him when a terrible accident brought heartbreak. “My father was a test pilot,” he says. “He was killed at 400 miles per hour.” The night before it happened, his mother had a premonition of disaster.
“Am I going to lose you?” she asked her husband. On that last night, Ed’s dad read the story of Jesus walking on the water toward the boat filled with his disciples. As he read, something caused him to circle the word “Come,” the invitation to Peter to walk by faith across the water toward Jesus.
“The next morning he crashed in the sea,” Ed says sadly.
Filed under miracles, parenting, sports, testimonies
By Jay Grant
Pastor Jay Grant
This week my prayer letter to you focuses on one monumental report. Sit back and be amazed… In mid-May, I wrote down this pressing need in my prayer letter: “Debbie V, (a friend of someone in our church), is 20 months pregnant but having extreme difficulties as fluids are in the brain of the child. Please pray for a healthy baby to be born.”
Here now is the latest report on the unborn child as written by the father…
“Thank you for your support and prayers for us and baby over the past several weeks. Today we cried many tears as a result of our ultrasound appointment. Here’s why: We went in today to the high risk lab and were escorted by a man with a somber look and compassionate eyes into the ultrasound room. He couldn’t have been kinder. He introduced himself as Ron, the lead technician, and said he would be performing the ultrasound today.
He explained that he was going to be taking some measurements and then would be looking at the brain where the defect is in order to see how and if things have progressed. He treated us to some great video and photos of our baby in 4D which was quite amazing. He commented on how much the baby was posing for him and how strong the baby was for only 24 weeks. We felt very bonded with our baby. He spent some time on the brain, though not a lot, and mentioned that here is the “Sternum Magnum”; the area where they were concerned about the defect.
Filed under encouragement, miracles, parenting, prayer, pro-life
The fourth chapter of Proverbs contains a beautiful picture of three generations of fathers passing along Godly wisdom to their sons: King Solomon taught his sons, and he remembered his father, King David, who taught him at a tender age. Each was taken under wing by a loving father and given instruction to prepare him for manhood.
“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.” (Proverbs 4:1-4)
 |
| Author with sons, 2000 |
Proverbs is especially useful to prepare young men starting out in life, but we can apply it more broadly to any parent-child instruction – and to all of us who are adopted as children by the Father above, who freely offers us His wisdom and love.
A few years ago, author Gordon Dalbey led one of our men’s retreats and he told us a story about a Catholic nun who worked in a men’s prison. One day, she said, a prisoner asked her to buy him a Mother’s Day card for his mother.
She did, and the word got out to other prisoners, and pretty soon this nun was deluged with requests, so she put in a call to Hallmark Cards, who donated to the prison several large boxes of Mother’s Day cards. The warden arranged for each inmate to draw a number, and they lined up through the cellblocks to get their cards.
Weeks later, the nun was looking ahead on her calendar, and decided to call Hallmark again and ask for Father’s Day cards, in order to avoid another rush. As Father’s Day approached, the warden announced free cards were again available at the chapel. To the nun’s surprise, not a single prisoner ever asked her for a Father’s Day card.
I understand that Mother’s Day is the biggest calling day of the year for the phone company. However, in terms of call volume, Father’s Day is like any other day of the week.
Before his passing last year, Irving Kristol quoted the startling fact that “almost two-thirds of rapists, three-fourths of adolescent murderers, and three-fourths of long-term prison inmates were abandoned by their fathers. Another study revealed that 92% of prison inmates hated their fathers.
This is a grim picture. Something has gone terribly wrong. Why are there so many deadbeat dads? Why have so many young men and young women been wounded by the absence of a father – a father who’s been either physically or emotionally absent, perhaps both. Others have been deeply hurt by the presence of an abusive father.
Dalbey refers to this phenomenon as the “father wound.” I believe that many of us have been wounded to some extent by one of our parents, because none of us had parents who loved us perfectly.
Filed under parenting
