1. Billy Graham, preacher, evangelist, founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
2. Charles Swindoll, senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, and founder of Insight for Living Ministries.
3. Charles Stanley, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta, and founder of In Touch Ministries.
4. Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the best-selling book, “The Purpose-Driven Life.”
5. John MacArthur, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., and president and featured teacher of the Grace to You ministry.
6. Barbara Brown Taylor, religion teacher at Piedmont College in northeast Georgia and author of 12 books including “An Altar in the World.”
7. David Jeremiah, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego County, Calif.
8. Max Lucado, minister of writing and preaching at the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, and the recipient of three Christian Book of the Year awards.
9. John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and author of more than 30 books, including “Desiring God.”
10. Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church – all in the Atlanta area – and founder of North Point Ministries.

I am familiar with most of these names, and I would say most of them have had a positive influence in my life. Still, none of them have influenced me as much as the pastors who have faithfully preached God’s word to me over the years in the various churches where I have attended.

Would you believe all the commotion and publicity the 30-second Super Bowl® ad sponsored by Focus on the Family has received?

By our estimates — and they are pretty accurate — the pre-Super Bowl hype of the “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ad has registered to date 2,265,490,170 impressions. That is “billion” with a “B.” Amazing!

The interesting thing about all of this is that no one in the media has seen the ad. And, unless there is a big leak before Sunday, no one will see it until it is shown during the Super Bowl pre-game show and the first quarter of the game itself.

Another interesting phenomenon is that, even those in the liberal media who have opposed us before — and disagree even now with most of what we stand for at Focus on the Family — are defending our right to run the Super Bowl ad.

On February 2, 2010, The Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins wrote, “I’m pro-choice and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I’ve heard in the past week, I’ll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the ‘National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women all the time’ (referring to the group NOW). They aren’t actually ‘pro-choice’ so much as they are pro-abortion.”

She continues, “If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem.”

Interestingly enough — a little inside stuff here — our Super Bowl ad never mentions abortion. Also, as we have reported in other columns, not one dollar was spent from our regular operating expenses at Focus on the Family to underwrite the cost of the “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ad.

You can read the Sally Jenkins article mentioned here: Tebow’s Super Bowl ad isn’t intolerant; its critics are. And don’t forget to watch for the commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. It will air twice: once during the pre-game show and then again during the first quarter.

Christian musician, Tom Howard, passed away yesterday (January 29, 2010). He was hiking with his wife at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville when he had a heart attack and could not be revived. He was 59 years old. Tom was a great pianist, composer, arranger, singer and songwriter. I first heard his music back in 1977 with his View from the Bridge project released through Larry Norman on Solid Rock Records. Here are two of my favorite songs from View from the Bridge. Enjoy, and please keep Tom’s family and friends in your prayers.

“One More Reason”
[See post to listen to audio]
Click “►” button to play | Length: 5:20

“All Through the Day”
[See post to listen to audio]
Click “►” button to play | Length: 4:16

Related links:

• Funeral Service: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2:00PM; St. Bartholomew’s Church, 4800 Belmont Park Terrace, Nashville TN 3721
• Facebook Group: In Memory of Tom Howard, Musician, Arranger
• Tom Howard: From Jesus music pioneer to behind-the-scenes virtuoso (great article from November, 2008 by Mike Rimmer of Cross Rhythms)
• Tom Howard Cross Rhythms Artist Profile
• Goodbye, Friend (Franklin Springs Family Media)

A Christian family from Germany have been granted political asylum in the US after facing the threat of prison for home schooling their children. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, who are evangelical Christians, were forced to flee Germany as they wished to educate their five children at home.

Home schooling is still illegal in Germany under laws introduced during the Nazi era. The German law means that parents who choose to home school their children can face fines or even imprisonment … The family endured harassment from the authorities, and on one occasion police officers came to the family’s home and forced the children to attend school. The family fled to the US after Germany’s highest court ruled that in severe cases of non-compliance social services could remove home schooled children from their parents.

Describing the case, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman said that “the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate”. He added: “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German Government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”

The Romeike family were represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

HT: First Thoughts

“I think the Discovery Channel should be on a different channel every day.”  -Comic Craig Sharf

[See post to listen to audio]
Click “►” button to listen to the message | Length: 29:08
Click here to download the MP3. (Right-click; Save Target As)
Click here for the full manuscript.

Here is a brief outline of the message:

Five reasons why we should affirm the sanctity of human life in the womb:
    1) God has ownership rights as Creator. (13a)
    2) Human life should be treated with special reverence and awe. (13b-14)
    3) God designed the womb as a place of nurture and protection. (15a)
    4) God personally fashions the baby in the womb. (15b-16a)
    5) God has a plan for each child’s life even before the child is born. (16b)

What can you do?
    1) Pray concerning the problem of abortion.
    2) Vote for people and policies which affirm life.
    3) Support mothers in crisis and those who give them aid.

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Why do I meditate?

1. Because I am a Christian. Therefore, every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God’s Word in Holy Scripture is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon the firm ground of the Word of God. And, as a Christian, I learn to know the Holy Scripture in no other way than by hearing the Word preached and by prayerful meditation.
2. Because I am a preacher of the Word. I cannot expound the Scripture for others if I do not let it speak daily to me. I will misuse the Word in my office as preacher if I do not continue to meditate upon it in prayer. If the Word has become empty for me in my daily administrations, if I no longer experience it, that proves I have not let the Word speak personally to me for a long time. I will offend against my calling if I do not seek each day in prayer the word that my Lord wants to say to me for that day. Ministers of the Word are especially called upon to perform the office of prayer: “But we will devote oursleves to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). The pastor must pray than others, and has more to pray about.
3. Because I need a firm discipline of prayer. We like to pray according to our moods — briefly, at length, or not at all. But that is to be arbitrary. Prayer is not a free-will offering to God; it is obligatory service, something that he requires. We are not free to engage in it according to our own wishes. Prayer is the first divine service in the day. God requires that we take time for this service. “Early in the morning I cry out to you, for in your word is my trust. My eyes are open in the night watches, that I may meditate upon your promise” (Psalm 119:147-148). “Seven times a day do I praise you, because of your righteous judgments” (Psalm 119:164).
4. Because I need help against the ungodly haste and unrest which threaten my work as a pastor. Only from the peace of God’s Word can there flow the proper, devoted service of each day.

(From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditating on the Word, pp. 22-23).

Eight-to-eighteen-year-olds spend more time with media than in any other activity besides (maybe) sleeping — an average of more than 7 1/2 hours a day, seven days a week. The TV shows they watch, video games they play, songs they listen to, books they read and websites they visit are an enormous part of their lives, offering a constant stream of messages about families, peers, relationships, gender roles, sex, violence, food, values, clothes, an abundance of other topics too long to list.

These numbers are up from an average of nearly 6 1/2 hours a day measured five years ago. The study attributes the higher numbers to increased use of mobile devices such as cell phones and iPods.

It also cites a lack of parental supervision. According to the report, most youth say they have no rules about how much time they can spend with tv, video games, or computers. But when parents do set limits, children spend less time with media: those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day than those with no rules.

“The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”

If you would like some tips on managing media consumption in the home, let me recommend an earlier series from this blog on the subject: Taming Technology in the Home. What are your thoughts about teens and time spent online?

March 5: Alice in Wonderland – Tim Burton’s sets are always amazing, so I am looking forward to experiencing his vision of Wonderland.

March 26: Clash of the Titans – I was a big fan of Ray Harryhausen’s special effects as a kid, but the new effects on this look pretty amazing.

May 7: Iron Man 2 – 2008 was a great year for movies, and Iron Man was probably the best of the bunch. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is back along with Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, and Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. Gwyneth Paltrow is back as Pepper Potts, and look for Stan Lee doing a cameo as Larry King.

May 14: Robin Hood – Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have done some quality work in the past, so I look forward to seeing their adaptation of an old favorite. (Max von Sydow is aboard, too!)

June 18: Toy Story 3 – 1 and 2 were both great, and 3 is in 3-D. What more could you want? (How about Michael Keaton and Timothy Dalton joining the cast?)

November 19: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – This is the only book of the series I actually read, although I have seen all the movies so far. The book starts off with a bang and keeps moving right to the end. I wonder where they will leave the cliffhanger between parts 1 and 2 for the movie?

December 10: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – I love all things Narnia. These books have been a big part of my life since I was a kid, and it is so much fun seeing them come to life on the big screen. Plus, Dawn Treader is one of my favorites.

December 22: The Green Hornet – Aaah, Batman, Lost in Space and the Green Hornet. Those were the days of TV watching as a kid. Here’s hoping they do a good job with this. (I’m not thrilled to see Cameron Diaz on board.)

Also in 2010 (no release date yet): Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil: “Red Riding Hood is training in the group of Sister Hoods, when she and the Wolf are called to examine the sudden mysterious disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.” The first Hoodwinked! was a real hoot – fun characters, clever storyline, great music and great off-beat humor. Hoodwinked 2 looks like a worthy follow-up with a great cast including: Hayden Panettiere as Red, Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as Hansel and Gretel, Joan Cusack as the Witch, Bill Murray as Mr. Alligator, David Ogden Stiers as Nicky Flippers, Glenn Close as Granny, Martin Short as the Woodsman, Brad Garrett as the Giant, and Patrick Warburton reprising his role as The Wolf.

And coming in 2011:
    • May 20, 2011: Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides
    • June 24, 2011: Cars 2 (in 3D)
    • July 15, 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
    • July 22, 2011: The First Avenger: Captain America
    • December, 2011: The Hobbit: Part 1

Also in 2011 (no release date yet):
    • Beauty and the Beast (re-release in 3D)
    • Mission Impossible: IV
    • Terminator 5
    • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    • Untitled Bourne Sequel

Looking ahead to 2012:
    • June 29, 2012: Star Trek 2
    • September, 2012: Spider-man 4
    • The Hobbit Sequel

So what movies are you looking forward to?

Click here for more Movies related posts.