To Save a Life Movie and the next Sherwood movie project

Last Thursday I was able to see a prescreening of an upcoming movie called To Save A Life. Here is my honest critique of the film...

I believe the movie has a fantastic message for a limited audience. The movie gives a very honest, abrasive and brutal look at the realities of teen suicide, teen drug use, teen alcohol use, teen "cutting" and teen sexuality. While spending time in all of these teen problems there are three cuss words thrown in for good measure (the "A" word once and the "H" word twice).

The following text is from the movie's website:

Jake Taylor has it all: friends, fame, a basketball scholarship and the hottest girl in school. What could be better?

Enter Roger Dawson. Roger has nothing. No friends. No hope. Nothing but putdowns and getting pushed aside. Things couldn't get worse...could they?

Jake and Roger were best friends when they were kids. But the politics of high school quickly pulled them apart. Now Roger doesn't fit in Jake's—or anyone's circle—and he's had enough. He walks onto campus with a gun in his pocket and pain in his heart and makes a tragic move.

Jake's last-ditch effort can't stop Roger, and the sudden tragedy rocks Jake's world. Something breaks loose inside and sends him questioning everything. Most of all, he can't shake the question Could I have saved Roger? In a quest for answers, Jake finds himself looking for the next Roger and reaching out to the outcasts and lonely. But he quickly finds that crossing class castes threatens all his world is built on. And it could cost him his own friends, his girl, his dreams and even his reputation. Is it worth the price to find the answer to his ultimate question: What do I want my life to be about?


The movie falls short I believe at doing what it wants to do. It does have a great message. We see the main character become a Christ follower and when he does his world gets worse, not better. Which I believe is very true-to-life. Just because you follow Christ it doesn't mean you won't ever experience hardship again.

But the in-your-face approach to the issues teens face may be closer to glorifying it than warning against it. Just from a technical stand-point, the movie was slow in spots. I found myself looking at my watch more than once. Also, it was way too long.

All in all I believe this movie gets a "B-". It shouldn't be seen by anyone under the age of 15.

But there is ANOTHER movie that I am absolutely stoked about seeing...the announcement of this project just happened yesterday (November 15th). The creators of Fireproof the movie announced their next new film Courageous. This is going to be a film about fatherhood! I cannot wait! These guys know how to do movies! This is definitely a movie you are going to want to see.

UPDATE:

The Christian Post published an ARTICLE about the Courageous Movie. It says that filming is set to begin next year with a tentative release date for early 2011. Bummer we will have to wait that long!

Veteran's Day 2009

Every year I get the privilege of participating in the Memorial Day and Veteran's Day service held on the south side of the Iowa State Capital Grounds between the Korean and the Vietnam Monuments. It is a simple service that can draw a pretty sizable crowd (if the weather cooperates). I usually perform the invocation and the benediction.

Before I offered my closing prayer, I shared a few remarks with the crowd. Here is what I shared:

How do you honor someone who risks their life to defend your freedom?
How do you remember the thousand upon thousands who gave their lives fighting for our independence?
How do you remember those whose blood was spilled in foreign lands...kids who had their whole lives in front of them?
And how do we pay tribute to the soldiers who defend us today, right now?


Maybe we start by just saying, "Thanks." Today we celebrate and honor those brave men and women for their service to this great country that we call America.

THANK YOU! Thank you for my way of life. Thank you for my ability to raise my family in this land. Thank you for the privilege I have of worshiping my Savior each and every week without threat or fear.

Thank you for showing me what the greatest love looks like. Jesus said that there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We will never forget your sacrifice!

Winning the debate on the "terms"

The debate for same-sex marriage is not going to go away anytime soon. In Iowa, if everything works according to plan, the issue won't be up for vote with the people before 2012. And once the people of Iowa get the opportunity to vote, same-sex marriage will be handily defeated in our state. Same-sex marriage has now lost in every single state -- 31 in all -- in which it has been put to a popular vote.

Recently I attended an event sponsored by the Iowa Family Policy Center called, "Handling the second-hand effects of same-sex marriage." It was very informative. The keynote address was from Jan Mickelson, radio talk show host for WHO Radio. He spoke directly to a room filled with ministers and told them that we have to deal with this debate using the right terms.

He said, "The reason the abortion debate has been controlled by those in support of abortion is because they controlled the language of the debate." Don't use terms like "unborn baby." Instead use the term "fetus." Don't speak about life or death, speak about liberty and choice.

The moment a person in support of abortion has to get technical in describing what it is that they actually do, they lose the debate every single time. A prime example of this playing out in real life is the very recent story of Abby Johnson, a director at a local Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who quit after viewing an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. Here's the point...when those on the other side, have to face the ugly facts of the debate...they lose.

The debate for same-sex marriage is no different. If we truly press those who are homosexual to describe what it is that they do that makes them homosexual, they lose every time. The "Ick" factor is too high.

The realities are that if we "drink the kool-aid" and adopt the thinking of this age then we will assume all the lines we hear all too often. Lines such as this: It is very discriminatory to not allow two people in love to have the same benefits of marriage that you enjoy. When the fact is, it is very proper for society to discriminate against this for its very propogation. Civilization cannot be advanced by homosexual couples.

Another line is to compare very real civil rights struggles of blacks in American society with that of the same-sex marriage movement today. Here's the deal, I have met many people who used to be "gay" but I have never met anyone who used to be black (except possibly Michael Jackson). Those that faced having to stand at Colored Water Fountains are deeply offended by this notion that the push of the homosexual movement is the same as their own very real struggles with equality.

Having someone try to have their identity and class status be defined by what they do with certain body parts is absolutely laughable. And the only way we are going to make head-way in this debate is to not budge one inch on the terms of this debate. We must not let the homosexual movement set the terms.

We can win this battle, but it is a marathon, not a sprint. We must be diligent and unwavering in our beliefs. One day, the people of this state will be given the opportunity to vote on this issue, and once that happens, those who stand for marriage will see their 32nd victory in popular vote.

Purity Celebration

This video is a special animation we created for part of our purity series we put on DVD.

Back in late September, we began a four-part series with the youth of The Fort where we taught them all about Biblical Purity. Each week had a special focus. We put all of these lessons together on DVD and presented it in a fast-paced style that was engaging and well-produced (if we do say so ourselves).

Week one's focus was purity in definition. We taught that youth what the Bible really says that purity is.

Week two's focus was purity in thought. This is where the real battle for purity is waged...in our thought life. We taught them how to take their thought life captive for Jesus.

Week three's focus was purity in dress. This is where the rubber begins to meet the road in the issue of purity. We tried to give practical steps for the youth in this issue without coming across like a Puritan. It is possible to be fashionable and still maintain purity of dress.

Week four's focus was purity in life. This was the culmination of all that we had learned and we tried to help the youth see how to practically take steps to live a life of purity. We also challenged them to be pure in all arenas of their life...even the virtual arenas of Facebook and Myspace and email and texts. Purity is for every aspect of our life.

Then after these four weeks of lessons, we held a special banquet that the ladies of the church prepared. And the leaders of the church, along with their wives, helped serve to the youth.

We had twenty-one participants in all. We had the young people dress up. And after the fancy meal (also had a few folks who spent a lot of time making the place we ate at and where we worshiped look fantastic) we then went into our auditorium for a special ceremony.

At this ceremony, each young person came forward and made a vow to live a life of purity. Here is the vow each young person took:

Acknowledging that God has made me in His image and made my body to be His temple and has graciously saved me from my sin, it is my desire to please Him.

From this day forward, I, ___________, vow before God and witnesses, in obedience to God’s Word, to keep myself chaste and pure, to give myself totally and only to the mate God is preparing for me.

May this pledge I made today, October 24, 2009, honor you, O God and bring glory to your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

After this, the parent's of the young person placed a purity ring on their finger. And then they signed a document that had the words of their vow on it (that had also been signed by me, the pastor, and the youth pastor).

I have to tell you, in all of the things I have done in ministry, this ranks in the top five coolest things I have ever done. It was truly a very special evening. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Local Elections and Rod Roberts Press Release...

This morning I attended a local preacher's meeting that was also attended by gubernatorial-hopeful, Rod Roberts. He handed me a press release that went out just this morning entitled, "Roberts Announces He Will Vote Not To Retain Three Iowa Supreme Court Justices." In this press release Roberts said, "We need to send a message to the Iowa Supreme Court that they are accountable to the people of Iowa. The problem with judicial activism is that it thwarts the will of the legislature and of the people of Iowa."

I'm proud of Rod for taking this stand. I believe him that he will do this. And I think it is in stark contrast to the front-runner, Branstad, who won't dare publicly come out against these justices because two of them he appointed to their positions on the court.

Also, tomorrow is election day for Mayoral races and city councils. Here is Des Moines, I took time to call every single person running for City Council...even for those running in Ward 1 where I can't vote for them. In every single case (except for Skip Moore), I asked the new candidates the same two questions. 1)If you had been on the council a few years back when the council voted to extend special protections for homosexuals, lesbians and transgendered individuals in the work place (even though there are already laws on the books protecting individuals from discrimination) how would you have voted? 2)What is your position on the issue of abortion?

Unfortunately, all the candidates, except for one, Halley Griess, all of the other candidates would have voted in favor of the ruling by the council AND were pro-death. Halley Griess though, stands out. He is a Christian man who seeks to do right. He believes strongly in the need for new leadership on the council.

He isn't of the same cut cloth like Christine Hensley (who should not even be called a Republican). He is willing to do what is right even when it is unpopular. If you are in Ward 1, get out tomorrow and vote for Halley Griess! He's someone we need to help get the Des Moines City Council back on track!