I’ll get straight to the point. “Run the Race” is probably the best Christian movie I’ve ever seen. Is it really better than “I Can Only Imagine,” a movie which represented a huge artistic leap forward in the genre? Yes. Yes, it is. It’s hard to describe how happy it makes me to say that. Don’t be put off if you watch the trailer on YouTube and aren’t impressed. It’s far better than the trailer or its generic-looking poster. This is a good movie, and one you and your family will enjoy. … [Read more...]

Movies can be a great tool for instruction, but they also have a tremendous ability to throw a monkey wrench into the complex workings of history and honest debate when drama is taken for reality. Such is the case with 1960’s “Inherit the Wind,” a story which is based on but bears only a passing resemblance to the famed “Scopes Monkey Trial.” (Click for further background of the trial and its legacy for the SBC.) In his book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing … [Read more...]

ATLANTA (BP) - For Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Brandin Cooks, Sunday's Super Bowl is an opportunity for redemption. Cooks was part of the New England Patriots in last year's Super Bowl but left the game prematurely in the second quarter with a concussion. He never returned to the game, which the Patriots lost 41-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles. After an offseason trade that sent him to the Rams, Cooks is thankful for another Super Bowl appearance. "I've asked God to redeem me since … [Read more...]

WAYLAND – Seven girls between second and sixth grades learned table etiquette in a Christmas dinner Dec. 8 at Southern Baptist Fellowship Church, here. The dinner was the brainchild of church member Tara Toops, 16, who coordinated the event, contacting several schools and another church in recruiting girls. “We had done a formal dinner at a school (Keokuk Iowa Christian Academy) and we liked to dress up formally. I was thinking of ways to impact the girls and be role models for them.” In … [Read more...]

It’s the time of making (and breaking) New Year’s Resolutions. While I’m optimistic I can keep up with my goals for 2019 – continue to lose weight, read more books and pick up a new hobby (I recently tried axe-throwing!) – I am proud to report that I accomplished my resolution for 2018: watch one movie per week. I know it’s a silly goal, but it was fun. And instead of making 52 trips to the cineplex, I ended up buying tickets 119 times. That’s not a typo. I saw 119 movies on the big … [Read more...]

For several decades the City of Ozark (Christian County) has decorated their city park on the banks of the scenic Finley River. Thousands of families drive through the large park and enjoy hundreds of lights and Christmas scenes - and alas, even a nativity scene and a large lighted cross. Enter the Freedom from Religion Foundation sending threatening letters from Madison, Wisconsin, telling us how to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They threaten a lawsuit to teach us a lesson - an attempt … [Read more...]

The problem is wide spread; the Church in America appears to be declining.  Depending on  which expert you talk with, between 70-90 percent of all churches are in need of some type of revitalization. Why are our churches losing attendance?  Why are salvations dwindling? Why are baptisms becoming increasingly harder to come by? After all, we have the greatest message in all the world.  Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to forgive us of our sins! The bottom line: No one’s … [Read more...]

WARSAW – Taco Bout Missions is bringing in $500 and a sleigh full of gifts for the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH). Four youth set their mind to target MBCH’s Christmas list with a month-long campaign, culminating with a walking taco meal held September 26. These youth are involved in mission programs offered through Missouri WMU, and attend Poplar Baptist Church in Warsaw. They presented the money and gifts they collected to MBCH Foundation Regional Representative Dr. Keith Vawter … [Read more...]

I’ll get this out of the way quickly: “Unbroken: Path to Redemption,” is a better-than-average movie. It’s worth your $10 to go see it. After being thoroughly depressed by another movie with “broken” in the title (still-in-theaters “God Bless the Broken Road”), I was prepared to sit through another 90 minutes of shoddy workmanship with a thin, Christian veneer tacked on as an afterthought. Just two or three minutes into Unbroken (I refuse to write out again that unnecessarily cumbersome … [Read more...]

Before we get into God Bless the Broken Road, let’s take a second and chat about C.S. Lewis. In his book, An Experiment in Criticism, Lewis wrote a Christian artist’s “first priority ought to be excellence and delight in the craft itself, first and foremost, as a painter, musician, poet, writer, and so on, else the artistic craft suffer misuse and abuse. The kingdom content and implications will then be there … naturally, latent, even if indirect, bubbling up.” Practice good art, and the … [Read more...]