Culture

Mother’s Day Treats

Crystal Durham
1 May 2013
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Celebrating the roles your personal chef, assistant, attorney, therapist, doctor, accountant, seamstress, taxi driver, and tutor play in your life by offering gifts and attention in one day? That’s wonderful! Of course, I’m referring to Mother’s Day. Although it is just one day out of three hundred and sixty five, it is important to take the time to let mom know how much she means to you. There are literally thousands of ways this could be done. But the most memorable ones are made with thought and effort, not credit cards. Something potted or wrapped up in shiny paper will […]

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Sons of Grace

Justin Young
12 Apr 2013
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Mafia associate. Drug-addict. Biker-gang enforcer. God-doubter. Prison convict. Not quite the ideas that pop into one’s mind when describing the typical Christian man. Yet, as we can so easily forget, God loves to redeem and use the rebel, the castaway, and the “hard case.” Sons of Grace is a raw, real and honest account of ten men, told in their own words; men who each battled God in their own way and are thankful to have lost the fight. The brainchild of successful businessman and marketing guru David Hughes, this book is not one for the faint of heart or […]

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10 New Albums Worth Checking Out

Paul Martinez
5 Apr 2013
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We know everyone’s always looking for great new music, so we’ve compiled a list of 10 albums that are worth the download this spring. Enjoy! 1. Francesca Battistelli: Hundred More Years (Deluxe Edition) – Christian Soul/Pop Francesca Battistelli has already left a mark on the music industry since stepping onto the scene in 2008. She has been nominated for a Grammy (Best Gospel Performance) and has won six Dove Awards as well. Battistelli has two #1 Billboard Christian albums and has sold over 700,000 records. Her latest project Hundred More Years (Deluxe Edition) recently came out and includes five new […]

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Beautifully Broken

Dan Siedell
4 Apr 2013
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As an art museum curator, what I enjoy most about my work are the artists—watching them work in their studios, talking to them about the creative process and writing about the effect that their work has on me. The gratuity of devoting hours, weeks, months and years to make something so insignificant and weak as a painting, which has no explicit purpose in this efficient and practical world, continues to surprise me. And yet, it is in this gratuitous, insignificant and impractical space that you can experience God’s grace in unexpected ways. Paul Affanato’s small but powerful project, Beautifully Broken, […]

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Who is the Greatest?

Jonathan Ebanks
2 Apr 2013
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In just over a month, the NBA Finals will be over and one team will be immortalized in the annals of NBA history, while the 29 other teams look to improve their shot at claiming next year’s title. The playoffs give rise to legends and add to legacies, making now the perfect time to examine a batch of players whose basketball careers exemplify success on the professional level and speculate on the seemingly age-old controversial topic: who is the greatest NBA player of all time? Larry Bird, Boston Celtics The 12-time All-Star was best known for his clutch, pinpoint shooting […]

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Spring Films You Won’t Want To Miss

Rick Deal
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We are coming out of the winter movie dry spell that leaves us searching for a good film like water in the desert. As we look ahead to the coming weeks, these are the films that you likely will not want to miss. Jurassic Park 3D Everyone’s favorite movie with dinosaurs and mayhem is being re-released in theaters this April, in 3D. While some may scoff at the idea of re-releasing older films as a way to simply make more money—and to be fair, they often are—bringing back classic films like Jurassic Park is an opportunity for today’s kids to […]

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New Book Gives Hope & Mercy

Karen Gushta
10 Mar 2013
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Released in January, 40 Days for Life: Discover What God Has Done… Imagine What He Can Do is a book that is bringing hope and fresh enthusiasm to the pro-life effort. It documents peaceful vigils, prayer and fasting, and community outreach campaigns at the local level, which has been changing the face of the pro-life movement. Authors David Bereit and Shawn Carney write about the 2004 launch of the first 40 Days for Life campaign in College Station, Texas, where the pro-life movement was dwindling. At the same time, it appeared that “Planned Parenthood was picking up speed.” While praying […]

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Ray Lewis & Offensive Grace

Jonathan Ebanks
9 Mar 2013
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From an indictment on murder charges to retiring from the NFL as a two-time Super Bowl champion, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis rose from the ashes like a mythical phoenix. Thinking his reputation was tarnished forever, no one had even the faintest idea of how Lewis’ life and career would develop after that tragic fight hours after the Super Bowl in Atlanta on January 31, 2000. Lewis’ lack of guilt remains in doubt to this day, and for good reason. Lewis admits to lying to the police about what transpired around the time of the deaths and accepted a plea […]

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The Lost Medallion

Rick Deal
8 Mar 2013
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The Lost Medallion is a fantasy adventure story that kids are sure to love, and parents are sure to appreciate the positive message and spiritual undertones that the film conveys. The story starts when Daniel Anderson stops by a foster home to drop off some donations on his way to a ball game. After briefly speaking with one of the young girls who lives in the home, Daniel discovers that the woman who normally comes to the house to entertain the children with stories is absent. Albeit slightly against his will, Daniel decides to tell the kids a story of […]

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Free to Receive

Dan Siedell
7 Mar 2013
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Daniel A. Siedell Good News Let’s face it. Evangelicals are a pretty grumpy lot when it comes to art and culture. We’re perpetually on the lookout for artistic evidence to prove that this is the most evil of generations. In fact, it seems as if many of us even delight in being offended so that we can crow about the good old days when the church was the patron of the arts and collectively bemoan the consequences of Modernism and Postmodernism. We want art and culture that is obvious to interpret and easy to use; we want to use it […]

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