Jacob Lewis has a blog.

“I have tried to show that, as I see it, the media have created and belong to, a world of fantasy, the more dangerous because it purports to be, and is largely taken as being, the real world… Thus, the effect of the media at all levels is to draw people away from reality, which means away from Christ, and into fantasy, whether it be at the lowest possible level, in appeals to our cupidity, our vanity, our carnality in overtly pornographic publications and spectacles, or, in more sophisticated terms, by displaying in words or in pictures, in one context or another, the degeneracy and depravity, the divorcement from any concept of good and evil, the leaning towards perversion and violence and the sheer chaos of a society that has lost its bearings, and so is materially, morally and spiritually, adrift.”

— Malcolm Muggeridge, Christ and the Media (©1977)

I saw this video a few weeks ago and it reminded me of an A.W. Tozer quote.  It might push a few buttons for some of you, as the subject matter is somewhat taboo, but I think the Church’s reputation is important enough that we should always be asking ourselves the question, “is it truly Biblical?”

“Aside from a few of the grosser sins, the sins of the unregenerated world are now approved by a shocking number of professedly “born-agin” Christians, and copied eagerly. Young Christians take as their models the rankest kind of worldlings and try to be as much like them as possible. Religious leaders have adopted the techniques of the advertisers; boasting, bating, and shameless exaggerating are now carried on as a normal procedure in church work. The moral climate is not that of the New Testament, but that of Hollywood and Broadway.

Most evangelicals no longer initiate; they imitate, and the world is their model. The holy faith of our fathers has in many places been made a form of entertainment, and the appalling thing is that all this has been fed down to the masses from the top (22).”

“A religion, even popular Christianity, could enjoy a boom altogether divorced from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and so leave the church of the next generation worse off than it would have been if the boom had never occurred. I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with the causes rather than with the consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms (18).”

— A.W. Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life (©1957)

Change has become quite the acquaintance of mine.

About 2 years ago I moved to California to learn from [and be a part of] what God is doing at Cornerstone Church.  This community has changed my life, to say the least (I have a wife and kid to prove it!). However, you can’t stay at Cornerstone very long without feeling compelled to share what you’ve learned with other communities.

It is for this reason that Sarah and I began praying where God would have us go. In the past weeks, God has opened several doors leading us to move to Charlotte, North Carolina. We have a few church-planting friends moving/already out there and we’re really excited about being around them. It is there that I will also have the privilege of working on staff with the Halogen TV team on some really cool projects. 

The official date of departure is May 24th, 2010 — so be praying, as there is much change still ahead of us.

It has come to my attention that I am going to be a father.  There are few things in life that are as joyful as hearing this news.  I must say, at first I was pretty frightened by the idea.  I mean, let’s be honest… how can one prepare for this endeavor without feeling somewhat ill-equipped?

Not sure how I’m gonna pull this whole thing off, but it’s always comforting to know that the One responsible for knitting him/her together in Sarah’s womb has everything under control. Thus far, God hath provided — According to His promises, that won’t change.

As for now, we battle the stereotypical morning sickness and sensitive nostrils.

Orissa has one of the worst records for violence against Christians, due in part to the activities of a religious fundamentalist group. Many churches have been destroyed and Christian workers continue to be attacked. There is a law prohibiting conversion and, since 2000, baptism requires the permission of the government. About a year ago, Hindu radicals went on a “bloody rampage that left 50,000 Christians fleeing for their lives into the state’s forests.” (GFA, 2009).