GodTube Raises $30 Million

Mashable reports that GodTube, a faith-based YouTube of sorts, has raised $30 million at a $150 million valuation. The funding comes from GLG Partners, a hedge fund. It is not GodTube’s technology that sets it apart but rather that the service caters to a very specific yet huge audience.

Christian television is enormous in the US, and GodTube has been able to capitalize on people’s desire for religious programming by taking the proven concept of video sharing, a brand name clearly inspired (although some would say stolen) by a market leader, and industry best practices to become a big business.

As Mashable noted in August, the site actually got its start running on a $300 script. It simply exploded from there, entering the top 1000 web sites in September and never looking back.

Bad Commercials

We’ve all seen them on TV or during the previews at the movies. Visually, there is a major disconnect between the visual aids and the message or the marketing department must have just experienced major cutbacks, because what was once supposed to be funny is now downright offensive. This is TV. So how bad does a commercial have to be to be a “bad commercial” on the radio?

Yesterday I found myself listening to my favorite talk radio station (give it up for my talk radio peeps) and I heard the most heart-felt blunder my ears have received in quite some time. The commercial goes something like this:

Soothing music begins playing in the background as the voice of an experienced woman narrator begins highlighting the problem of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory loss issues. After 30 seconds of this concerned plea to get help for those who have memory problems at a particular institute, the commercial closes with this line:

“When you experience memory loss, remember us.”

Are they serious? This gave me such a good laugh, I am still chuckling over it! Seriously, if you can’t remember your spouse’s name or what country you live in, how are you supposed to remember some institution? I hope you have as much fun laughing with this one as I did. Coming to think of it, I can’t even remember the name of the institution. Hmm…

Ryan Cook
Music & Media Pastor
Desert Breeze Community Church

Dealing With The Reality Of An Immortal Soul In A Mortal World

Our church recently experienced the loss of a dear sister, Cyndee Luque, to cancer. At her funeral ceremony, there were over 500 people in attendance to pay respects to their respective friend, spouse, mother, daughter, co-worker, cousin, sister, and ministry partner. What a beautiful picture of a person who lived their life with conviction and devotion to Christ and how extensive her reach was with the love of God. The troubling part is: how do we, as creatures with an immortal soul, deal with a mortal situation like death? After all, as Christians we know where Cyndee is today, but how does her close family and friends keep a realistic perspective in this time of tragedy?

The Apostle Paul had one of the best perspectives on life and death as a fully-devoted follower of Jesus when he wrote in Philippians 1:20-26:

“20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” (NIV)

What a perspective! If we, as believers, could grasp the concept that to take advantage of the countless opportunities to be the light in a dark world is only to further the work for Christ, yet the worst thing that could ever happen is we would die and be with our Lord, how much more would we look at life in a whole new light?

Our guys Bible study that I am a part of has been going through the book of Acts for a couple of months now. It’s amazing to see courage and determination of the early church members to reach out to their communities and those around them, through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit that guided Cyndee to have the incredible impact she did on those around her. She had the eternal perspective that life is too short to waste so do everything possible to love those around her.

St. Francis of Assisi once wrote:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel and when necessary, use words.”

This isn’t a cop-out to standing up for one’s faith, but certainly it means that we can be a witness and a testimony to those around us simply by the way we live.

So how do we deal with the reality of an immortal soul in a mortal world? Keep our focus on Jesus…the author and perfecter of our faith; and look for opportunities to be the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” to those around us. After all, we never know if will be us who worships in the church auditorium one Sunday and worships in God’s holy sanctuary the next.

“Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.” – Psalm 96:9 (NIV)

Ryan Cook
Music & Media Pastor
Desert Breeze Community Church

Kids Say The Funniest Things

A friend of mine sent me a handful of statements made by children with regards to the Bible. I hope you enjoy!

Lot’s Wife
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, “My Mommy looked back once while she was driving and she turned into a telephone pole!”

The Good Samaritan
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.  She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?” A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw up.”

Did Noah Fish?
A Sunday school teacher asked, “Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?”‘No,’ replied Johnny. “How could he, with just two worms.”

Higher Power
A Sunday school teacher said to her children, “We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times.  But, there is a Higher Power.  Can anybody tell me what it is?”One child blurted out, “Aces!”

Moses and the Red Sea
Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School.

“Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.  Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements.  They sent bombers to blo w up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.”

“Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked.

“Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”

The Lord Is My Shepherd
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23.  She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter.  Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm.  After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.

On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know.”

Being Thankful
A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, “So your mother says your prayers for you each night?  That’s very commendable.  What does she say?” The little boy replied, ‘Thank God he’s in bed!”

Untimely Answered Prayer
During the minister’s prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews.  Tommy’s mother was horrified.  She pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, “Tommy, whatever made you do such a thing?” Tommy answered, soberly, “I asked God to teach me to whistle, and He did!”

Time To Pray
A pastor asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. “Yes, sir,” the boy replied. “And, do you always say them in the morning, too?” the pastor asked. “No sir,” the boy replied. “I ain’t scared in the daytime.”

All Men/ All Girls
When my daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past). For several weeks, after we had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli would say, “And all girls.” This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing.  My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her, “Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?” Her response, “Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying ‘All Men.’”

Say a Prayer
Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at his Grandmother’s house.  Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served.  When Little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.

“Johnny! Please wait until we say our prayer.” said his mother. “I don’t need to,” the boy replied.

“Of course, you do,” his mother insisted. “We always say a prayer before eating at our house.”

“That’s at our house,” Johnny ex plained. “But this is Grandma’s house and she knows how to cook!”

How Churches Are Using Evolving Technologies To Minister

A new study by The Barna Group looks at how Protestant churches across the nation are using various forms of emerging technology to influence people’s lives and enliven their church experience. However, the study reveals that the pace of technology adoption seems to have slowed in the past two years as some churches focus upon making the most of what they already have, and other churches attempt to get by without incorporating such tools into their ministry mix.

“Those tools included large screens used for showing video imagery; showing movie clips and other video segments during church events; sending email blasts to all or portions of the congregation; operating a church website; offering a blog site or pages for interaction with church leaders; maintaining a page on behalf of the church on one or more social networking sites; providing podcasts for people to listen to; and receiving programming and training via a satellite dish,” said a Barna Group news release.

In my opinion, the church often seems to be behind the secular world when it comes to technology when in all reality they should be ahead of the game. GodTube which is a Christian YouTube of sorts and MyChurch which is likened to MySpace are just a couple of examples. Still all the same, churches should work hard to at least keep pace.

That means that churches should at the very least try to incorporate multi-media and video within church services, have a web site that is frequently updated, utilize blogging software to publish church related content, and get involved with social media. Of course this is not always possible with very small churches that have limited talent and resources.

More on the actual statistics of how churches are using these evolving technologies at Crosswalk.com.

New FCC Rules May Threaten the Future of Christian Radio

This is the final day for public comments on a proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change (PDF link) some say would threaten the licenses of Christian radio stations from coast to coast. Apparently the rule change would require every radio station to take programming advice from community advisory boards representative of the area’s population. What does this entail for Christian based stations?

Christian broadcasters would be required to seek advice from non-Christians and even those opposed to the Christian message. Some radio stations fear organized groups of atheists, for instance, could demand representation on the new FCC-mandated advisory boards that would factor into licensing decisions.

World Net Daily has more details including how you can submit your comments and concerns on this final day that they are accepting them.

Ben Stein’s ‘Expelled’ Explodes Into Top 10 Box Office

The Christian Post reports that “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” the pro-intelligent design documentary featuring actor Ben Stein, made history this weekend as it propelled full speed into the top 10 box office. It opened as the widest and one of the most commercially successful releases for any documentary film. In an impressive opening weekend, the film debuted at No. 9 at the box office, earning a respectable $3.2 million while only appearing on 1,052 screens.

What is it about?  The Post describes it as a feature-length documentary film about researchers, professors, and academics who claim to have been marginalized, silenced, or threatened with academic expulsion because of their challenges to some or all parts of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Makers of the documentary said the movie doesn’t seek to champion intelligent design as the sole truth but calls for more academic freedom, where challenges to any scientific theory including Darwinism would be fairly considered.

I for one am glad to see a film like this gain prominence and challenge what was only a theory and not factual truth. In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing itself and supporting it with my pocketbook.

Football Coach’s Prayer with Students Ruled Unconstitutional

The Christian Post reports that a football coach of over 20 years and one time recipient of the USA Today’s “Caring Coach of the Year” award, has come under attack recently for his practice of holding prayer sessions with his students before games. The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled unanimously Tuesday against coach Marcus Borden on the grounds that it was unconstitutional for him to pray and “bow his head and take a knee” alongside his students, in what, the court argued, would be an endorsement of religion by a school staff member.

Jo Ann Magistro, the school superintendent who pursued the case, was among those who were reportedly “pleased” with the ruling. “The district pursued this case to protect children who could not protest pressure to participate in religious activities at school events,” she said, according to The Home News Tribune. She went on to say, “Today’s ruling accomplished that goal. Every student is a valued member of our community and their religious beliefs, or lack there of, can never be used to separate them from their peers and teammates.”

Conservative groups, however, described the ruling as a violation of constitutional rights. “No school is justified in policing its employees’ thoughts and penalizing them based on what they think is going on in their heads. What next? Will they bar coaches from silently moving their lips if others think it is a prayer?” the Family Research Council (FRC), a conservative organization that lobbies for the defense of Christians, said in an e-mail statement.

Borden’s attorney plans to appeal the ruling.

Study Reveals Decline in Teen Pregnancies & Abortions

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a new study has revealed record drops in the rates of teenage pregnancies and abortion. According to the results, both abortion and teenage pregnancies have been steadily dropping since 1990. Overall, the total number of abortions fell 24 percent to 1.22 million in 2004 from a historical high of 1.61 million in 1990. Teenage pregnancies also declined during the same period, accounting for only 12 percent of all pregnancies in 2004 – a drop from 15 percent fourteen years earlier.

Stephanie Ventura, the lead researcher of the study, noted that among the reasons for a decline in abortion rates and teenage pregnancies was the overall decline in total pregnancies and a new tendency among women “to postpone child bearing and delay the start of their families.” Lower abortion rates reflect “a lot of different reasons: changes in access to abortion, changes in attitudes about having a baby and a decline in teenage pregnancies, which end in abortion in many cases,” she added, according to Bloomberg News.

More details in the original article on The Christian Post.

Christian Photographer Accused of ‘Discriminating’ Against Lesbian Couple

The Human Rights Commission of New Mexico ruled on Wednesday that an evangelical Christian photographer discriminated against a lesbian couple because he refused a job to photograph the couple’s same-sex commitment ceremony. The commission ordered Elaine and Jon Huenins, owners of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, N.M., to pay the lesbian couple $6,600 in attorney fees.

“It is just a stunning disregard for the First Amendment,” said Jordan Lorence, a senior legal counsel for the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the photographer couple in court. “W e will appeal this ruling to state district court,” Lorence told Cybercast News Service.

A couple of observations. First of all, if the lesbian couple was only awarded what it cost to sue the photographer, then what is the point? It seems that the only benefactor here is the lawyer who sued. Secondly, am I susceptible to a future lawsuit because I won’t provide my business services to a web site promoting homosexuality for example because it conflicts with my religious beliefs? Ludicrous I say!