Page 3127 – Christianity Today (2024)

Christians gathered in New Jersey last week to commemorate the January 14, 1907, revival in Pyongyang, North Korea, which sparked the spread of Christianity throughout Korea in the early 1900s.

Prayer, Service, Action, Love, Truth for North Korea (PSALT NK), an organization which raises awareness of North Korea’s humanitarian crisis, invited people to join them Friday evening at the Korean Community Church in Englewood, New Jersey. Large posters draped over the balcony on both sides of the sanctuary read in Korean and English, “Come back to me again 1907.” Young and old led 300 to 350 people in English and Korean songs and ardent prayers for another wave of revival in North Korea.

The Friday worship service kicked off a two-day conference led by PSALT NK’s executive director, Michelle Kim. She called the gathering in hopes of empowering first- and second-generation Koreans to pray and advocate for today’s North Koreans, who are starving under the dictatorship of North Korea’s president, Kim Jong-Il.

On Saturday, the revival-seekers gathered at Chodae Community Church in Norwood, New Jersey, to view a multimedia exhibit on what was described as genocide in North Korea and to listen to international speakers. “This is a spiritual battle we’re fighting,” Kim said. “This work we’re doing, we’re talking about eternal perspectives and that only exists in the spiritual realm. It’s not only about saving bodies but finishing the job and saving souls.”

Today’s North Korea, isolated and wracked by misrule, war, and famine, is strikingly different from what it was a century ago, when a new and vibrant Christian presence blossomed in response to a 1904 revival in Britain. Hundreds of Koreans in Samuel A. Moffett’s church, the First Church of Pyongyang (Chang Dae Hyun) heard about the south Wales revival and hungered for the same in Korea. At first, nothing happened.

The week of January 8, 1907, 960 men registered for a men’s winter Bible study conference at First Church of Pyongyang, which was the largest church in Korea at that time. The days were filled with Bible study, and at the evening services, which were open to the public, 1,600 to 2,000 people gathered.

On January 14, 2007, after missionary William Blair preached, Graham Lee, Samuel Moffett’s assistant, opened the meeting for prayer. Moffett’s son, Dr. Samuel Moffett, who spoke at the centennial conference, told Christianity Today, “Lee asked two or three people to open (with prayer). Twelve to twenty people started to lead. He said, ‘If that’s the way you want to lead, then let’s all pray together out loud.’ And that’s when the wave rolled in.”

In his book, The Korean Pentecost, William Blair said, “The effect was indescribable—not of confusion, but a vast harmony of sound and spirit, a mingling together of souls moved by an irresistible impulse of prayer. The prayer sounded to me like the falling of many waters, an ocean of prayer beating against God’s throne. It was not many, but one, born of one Spirit, lifted to one Father above.”

At the official end of the service, missionaries dismissed those who wanted to leave, but more than one-third of the congregation stayed, many wailing in repentance as if in terrible pain. “The Korean-Buddhist tradition doesn’t confess things,” said Clark. But the Pyongyang revival began with the confession of sins, a legacy of European missionaries.

Kiel Son Choo Moksa, one of the first Korean leaders to graduate from Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary and later the pastor of First Church of Pyongyang, was asked to preach the next morning. Moffett said he literally “had himself all tied up and was struggling to get out. He said, ‘This is what revival does. It tears away your sins and sets you free.'”

Families walked more than 200 miles to participate in the great Pyongyang revival. Dr. Donald Clark, a speaker at the centennial conference, said that his grandfather invited one of the revivalists from Pyongyang to travel to Seoul to hold meetings there.

“We haven’t had anything as conspicuous [as the Pyongyang revival] in the last 100 years,” said Dr. Moffett. “But this was the foundation for the growth of the church in Korea. The growth was immense and explosive. You can’t say it’s disappeared. They’re celebrating. When did Pentecost disappear?”

After World War II, Seoul became the new center of Korean Christianity as Christians fled the Communist regime in North Korea, moving their churches and seminary with them. Other Christians stayed in North Korea and went underground. But Clark says that many still think of Pyongyang as the authentic center of Korean Christianity and want its church to be restored. “There’s a nostalgia among those who migrated to the south.”

For PSALT NK founder, Michelle Kim, the 1907 revival was a precursor of things yet to come. “Our name is prayer, service, action, love, and truth–that’s PSALT. It starts with prayer … but there are a whole bunch of others words. You have to do something about it. [God] wants to see if we’re real about this–and we’ll continue to knock on that door until it’s knocked down.”

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

PSALT NK’s website has information on their conference celebrating the 1907 revival.

Samuel Moffett, who witnessed the 1907 revival, has written several articles for Christianity Today. They include:

What Makes the Korean Church Grow? (November 23, 1973)

Why We Go | Recapturing our motivation for missions. (1994)

Westminster Theological Seminary’s SaRang Korean Missions Center researches the Korean church and has archived its history.

The character of the Korean church was largely set by the 1907 revival. Called the Korean Pentecost, and detailed in a book by that name written by missionary observers, the revival began practices such as early morning and evening prayer and the public reading of Scripture.

Korean Pentecost: The Great Revival Of 1907, by Young-Hoon Lee, is a scholarly history of the revival, published in The Journal of Asian Mission.

The Korean Pentecost: The Revival That Prepared Thousands For Eternity, edited & compiled by David Smithers is a short history compiled from The Korean Pentecost and other sources, available from the Revival Resource Center.

More Christianity Today articles on Korea‘s revival include:

Prophecy and Politics | How revivals and the Olympics made Korea the wunderkind of missions. (March 1, 2006)

Honoring Pioneers | The early missionaries to Korea serve as examples to modern-day ones. (March 1, 2006)

Liberating Faith | When Korea threw off Japanese rule in 1945, it was as much a victory for the church as for the nation. (Aug. 12, 2005)

My childhood church had a silver cross suspended in the sanctuary. It was the visual focus of our worship. I recently returned to the church and the cross was still there, but few people notice it anymore. A large screen now hangs in front of it.

We live in an image-oriented culture, and that reality has impacted the way we worship, the way we design our churches, and even the way we preach. But how do we reconcile the discipline of preaching – a traditionally verbal form of communication – with our culture’s captivity to images – a visual form of communication?

Next week thousands of church leaders will descend upon San Diego for the annual National Pastors Convention. Marshall Shelley and I will be there to facilitate an open dialogue with three church leaders on this subject. We’ll be talking mainly about the use of visuals and technology in preaching – both the dangers and the opportunities. Each of the participants reflects a different ministry setting, but all are committed to faithfully communicating the gospel.

The panel participants are:

Jarrett Stevens is director of the college and singles ministry, and teacher for 7|22 at North Point Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Previously, he served as a teaching pastor in Axis, the Next-Gen ministry of Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago.

Shane Hipps is the lead pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church – a missional, urban, Anabaptist congregation. Prior to pastoral ministry Shane had a career in advertising as a strategic planner where he gained expertise in understanding media and culture.

John Palmieri is pastor of the multi-cultural New Life Community Church in Melrose Park, IL. Prior to his pastoral ministry in urban Chicago, he was involved in the business world.

We invite you to share your stories of using images and technology in worship. What has worked well? What was a disaster? And what questions do you have for our panelists? Questions submitted by Out of Ur readers, along with the questions of pastors in attendance, will help direct the conversation. We will publish portions of the conversation in an upcoming issue of Leadership.

The hungry heart will plunge with longing into James Sire’s new study, Learning to Pray Through the Psalms. But be forewarned. While this intelligent exploration may be written mostly for private study, it seems best navigated in a group. Indeed, to pray through Sire’s “country of the Psalms,” as Eugene Peterson describes the Psalter—with its deep and rocky calls for deliverance and vengeance—is to plow through spiritual fire and water. It may be best not to attempt this journey alone.

Thankfully, Sire offers 10 finely wrought chapters—based on specific psalms—with small-group study instructions on “how we might more profoundly employ these psalms as our own speech.” With Sire as guide, groups can traverse the rich and salty range of the Psalms—finding timeless words for their modern feelings of pain and thirsting, joy and anger, wonder and praise.

As such, says Sire, this book “is more like instructions for riding a bike than a presentation of a theory of prayer.” Rather than more talk on prayer, Sire aims to help people actually pray the Psalms. It’s in such praying, Sire promises, that we discover that “Yes, yes, oh yes. This is what I want to say to God.”

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Learning to Pray Through the Psalms is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

Other reviews of books on prayer and the Psalms include:

When You’re Sick of Prayer | Two books that make a delightful difference. (December 21, 2006)

Stranger in a Strange Land | Words to God’s Music: Laurance Wieder’s splendid new version of the Psalter. (May 1, 2003)

The Psalms at Prayer (January 9, 1995)

Devotions on the Run | Help for going short and deep. (May 19, 1997)

A lot has happened since The Passion of The Christ came out three years ago and broke a series of records, becoming the top-grossing R-rated movie, the top-grossing foreign-language film, and the top-grossing religious movie of all time—at least in North America. (The Matrix Reloaded is still the top R-rated film worldwide.)

Major movie studios have tried to replicate its success—by setting up faith-oriented divisions like FoxFaith, or by producing entire biblical movies of their own, such as The Nativity Story—and the careers of several of the film’s key players continue to reflect the film’s influence. Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus, will do so again in an audio Bible for Thomas Nelson. Hristo Shopov, who played Pontius Pilate, reprised the role last year in a remake of the Italian film The Inquiry. Benedict Fitzgerald, who co-wrote the script, recently wrote a prequel of sorts called Myriam, Mother of the Christ, and sold distribution rights to the as-yet-unproduced film to MGM.

And then there is director Mel Gibson, who bucked a wave of controversy over the film’s raw violence and alleged anti-Semitism, only to be caught making racist remarks shortly before finishing the similarly gory Apocalypto last year.

It will probably be a few more years before we have enough perspective to properly assess the film and its impact on our culture, but now is as good a time as any to revisit the film, and the two-disc “definitive edition” that comes out today is an illuminating place to start. It includes both the original film and the slightly shorter, slightly less violent version known as The Passion Recut; and it includes multiple audio and text commentaries, as well as hours of documentary features.

The bonus features run the gamut from the usual making-of vignettes—and yes, they do go into some detail explaining the special effects that made the flogging and the crucifying look so realistic—to more explicitly religious materials, including a virtual pilgrimage to the places in Jerusalem that mark the fourteen Stations of the Cross. Surprisingly, many of these featurettes are copyrighted 2005, which suggests the set was finished over a year ago, but was then held back for some reason.

Like the film itself, this DVD is a thoroughly Catholic affair; while evangelicals like Larry Ross are interviewed briefly to discuss the film’s marketing campaign, commentary on the film itself—and on the fates of Mary and the apostles after the events of the film—tends to follow a traditional Catholic perspective.

This becomes most clear on the film’s audio commentary tracks, of which there are four. Two are devoted to different sets of filmmakers, and a third is given to composer John Debney, who talks about his return to the Catholic faith and how Mary “spiritually helped me get through this film.” The fourth commentary looks at the film from a strictly theological perspective, and in addition to Gibson and Fr. William J. Fulco, the Jesuit priest who translated all the dialogue into Aramaic and Latin, it includes two former Protestants: one, Fr. John Bartunek, now works sometimes as a press liaison for the Vatican, while the other, Gerry Matatics, is a radical traditionalist Catholic who rejects all the Popes for the last 40 years.

The comments they make on the film and the traditions on which the film builds are frequently insightful, and should deepen everyone’s appreciation of The Passion. Ironically, however, some Protestants who have used the film as an evangelistic tool may recoil a bit when the theologians indulge in the odd bit of Catholic apologetics, explaining why they no longer believe in “sola scriptura,” and so on.

If one thing comes through loud and clear, it is that Gibson may be an artistic genius but he sure isn’t a scholar. There is a stunning moment in the film where Mary rushes to Jesus, after he falls under the weight of his cross, and Jesus, before pulling himself back up, tells her, “See Mother, I make all things new.” This line actually comes from Revelation, not the Gospels, and its incorporation into the Gospel narrative is one of the film’s many daring, and brilliant, ideas. The funny thing is, Gibson can’t seem to remember where it comes from; when he says on the audio commentary that it comes from Acts, the theologians quickly correct him.

Pastors and scholars everywhere may also roll their eyes when Gibson claims, in the making-of documentary, that “the Gospels are synoptic; that means they are synopses.” Actually, in biblical studies, the word means nothing of the kind. Instead, it refers to the three Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke—that seem to “see” the life of Jesus “together,” because their contents overlap a fair bit. John, while canonical, is not a “synoptic” Gospel, because it comes from a rather different point of view—yet Gibson speaks as though all the Gospels were “synoptic.” (It’s all a little reminiscent of how Gibson went around last year saying that “apocalypto” means “new beginning,” when in fact it is a Greek word meaning “I reveal.”)

So, take everything Gibson says with a hefty grain of salt. But by all means, watch the film again (and again, and again, if you want to check out all the commentaries!) and ponder it on its own terms. It is the work of art, and not the artist’s fitful attempts to explain it, that ultimately matter—and this two-disc set does its part to enrich our understanding of Gibson’s flawed but breathtaking masterpiece.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

What do we mean by “redeeming” films? They’re all stories of redemption—sometimes blatantly, sometimes less so. Several of them literally have a character that represents a redeemer; one even includes the Redeemer. With others, you might have to look a bit harder for the redemptive thread, but it’s certainly there. Some are “feel-good” movies that leave a smile on your face; some might leave you uncomfortable, even disturbed, and asking, “How should I process that?” But you won’t be able to shake it from your memory, either.

It’s interesting to note that our top four choices in the list below are all based on true stories, while the rest of the list is based on fiction. That’s not by design, but we find that intriguing. Was there something subconscious going on in our voting? Do we tend to gravitate toward the true stories of redemption over the fictional ones? Perhaps. Or were these four movies simply better than the others in the list? Again perhaps.

Whatever the case, check it out for yourself. We present the list in reverse order, with the No. 1 movie at the bottom. (Just imagine the drum roll in your head and play along, OK?)

10. Children of Men

December featured the released of at least two movies about pregnant young women whose babies represented the future hope of the world—The Nativity Story, which depicts the biblical account of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Christ, and Children of Men, which depicts a future world plagued by global infertility, in which no babies have been born for 18 years. But along comes a miracle: A pregnant girl who, like Mary, must make a harrowing journey in which to give birth to a child who could save mankind—and there’s even a very brave “Joseph” to lead her along the way. (Our review.)

9. Akeelah and the Bee

So, only 10 minutes into the movie, you know how it’s probably going to end. But this heartwarming story is rendered so believably well, and the main characters—especially as played by Keke Palmer and Laurence Fishburne—are so endearing, that you don’t care about its predictable outcome. It all adds up to a sweet, family-friendly flick that underscores such themes as persistence in the face of obstacles, families and communities rallying together, and the virtues of fair play and honesty—not to mention the way-cool message that it really can be hip to be a fabulous speller. (Our review.)

8. The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada

In his directorial debut, Tommy Lee Jones—who also wrote the screenplay—plays a Texas cowboy whose good friend Melquiades, an illegal Mexican alien who has been working for Jones on the ranch, is killed by a racist, trigger-happy border patrolman. Jones’ character spends the rest of the film seeking a sort of revenge, but in a redeeming-but-harrowing way, employing tactics that are quite difficult to watch. He’s not out so much for vengeance as he is to honor his dead friend—and to make the murderer understand the gravity of his sin. Does it work? See for yourself. (Our review.)

7. Tsotsi

In yet another 2006 film focused on the welfare of a baby (like Children of Men and The Nativity Story), this one takes quite a different twist. Here, the infant’s primary “caregiver” is a violent street thug—the title character—from the slums of Johannesburg who, after stealing a car, literally ends up with a baby in his lap. What will he do with it? Will he have the same disregard for this child as he does for other human life? Or might the baby actually get to him, perhaps changing the way he thinks about the value of life? You can probably guess which happens, but the end result is a powerful depiction of redemption.

6. Charlotte’s Web

Spiders are supposed to make people scream, not cry. But here’s one arachnid that is certain to get your tear ducts moving. Based on arguably the best-written children’s story of all time, there’s no way the film could be as good as E. B. White’s nearly-perfect book. But director Gary Winick and the cast—including Dakota Fanning as Fern and Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte—do a terrific job of bringing this beloved tale of redemption to the big screen. Family, community, friendships, self-sacrifice, humility, God’s creation—those are just a handful of the themes handled beautifully here. (Our review.)

5. The Second Chance

Who’d have thought a couple of CCM veterans—Steve Taylor and Michael W. Smith—would make one of the year’s most redeeming films? Taylor directs and Smith stars—with newcomer jeff obafemi carr—in this unassuming but effective depiction of the intersection between a “rich white suburban church” and a “poor black urban congregation.” But it’s much more than that. Smith plays the clueless white worship pastor who learns a thing or two about racial reconciliation—and life in general—from Jake (Carr), the African-American pastor of the inner city church. And Jake learns a few things too. The film had the potential to be trite, but it isn’t. (Our review.)

4. Joyeux Noel

It’s a story that’s almost too unbelievable to be true—and the fact that it is true is likely due to divine intervention. In German-occupied France, on Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers who had been trying to blow one another’s heads off called for an impromptu cease-fire, crawled out of their trenches, and began fraternizing, even fellowshipping, with one another—singing carols, playing soccer, exchanging pleasantries and cigarettes and chocolates. The miracle truce continued for about a day, and then they went back to their regular warring. But for 24 hours, it was truly a blinding light of redemption in the midst of a dark and hellish time. (Our review.)

3. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

Would you have the nerve to stand up to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, telling them that their methods and philosophies were sinful? A 21-year-old German woman had that kind of courage, a valor driven by her faith in Christ to do the right thing and say the right thing—even if it meant risking her life. Sophie Scholl, who distributed flyers decrying the Hitler regime and defending the Jews, stood up rigorous interrogation by a Nazi officer for hours on end. Their exchanges are riveting, and Sophie’s bravery—as depicted by Julia Jensch—is a shining example of what it means to stand up for truth, no matter the consequences. (Our review.)

2. The New World

Depending on how you feel about Malick’s filmmaking style, the viewer is likely to either love or hate The New World. Eschewing any sort of traditional narrative approach, Malick nevertheless delivers a film that is stunning in its visual beauty and cinematography. At its core, it’s the story of Pocahontas, John Smith and John Rolfe, but even deeper, it’s about how we respond to the still, small voice of the Spirit that whispers in our hearts. For Pocahontas, it’s initially the “spirits” of the Native American world, but later, through the love of Rolfe, she comes to know the true Spirit of Christianity. (Our review.)

1. The Nativity Story

It’s fitting that the story of how the Redeemer came into the world would top our list of the year’s most redeeming films. Interestingly, though, while this film obviously points to God’s redemption through the birth of his Son, his actual redeeming sacrifice is still a future event; in that respect, The Passion of The Christ is more the story of Christ’s redemption than this. But in The Nativity Story, we especially see Joseph’s part in this greatest story fleshed out in ways like never before. Through the imagination of writer Mike Rich, the direction of Hardwicke, and the evocative acting of Oscar Isaac, Joseph really comes alive here, and we get a glimpse of what Scripture means when it simply calls him “a righteous man.” Righteous, and redemptive, indeed. It’s a Christmas story that will ultimately sit on the DVD shelves next to all the usual holiday classics. (Our review.)

Editor’s note: Three of the films in the above list—Joyeux Noel, Sophie Scholl, and The New World—were technically 2005 films; Joyeux and Sophie were actually 2005 Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Film. But very few people—including our critics—actually saw these films until early 2006, so we decided to make them eligible for our 2006 voting. Additionally, the late 2005 version of The New World, which screened only in New York and L.A., was 150 minutes long, but the early 2006 version which released to more U.S. theaters (and on DVD) was edited to a 135-minute version, a very different movie.

We asked each of our voters to describe one movie they wish had made our list of 10 most redeeming films.

Aquamarine

In Aquamarine, a mermaid comes to land with three days to prove true love exists. She, her new human pals and the audience all assume that means finding the clichéd Hollywood version of instant romantic love. Instead, Aquamarine packs a twisty ending that instead lifts up the biblical ideal of love and shows it in an everyday, living sacrifice way. In fact, this family film is a wonderful parable for 1 Corinthians 13: Aquamarine’s love cares more for others than self, loves at all times, puts up with anything, isn’t always “me first,” and never dies. (Our review.)—Todd Hertz

Babel

Babel was conceived as a film about the desperate condition of mankind, but it became a film of unexpected hope and optimism. Not that the desperation is gone—indeed, it’s hard to imagine a film that more vividly and painfully portrays the inability of human beings to truly communicate with one another, the pride and egotism that keep us apart, and the high price we pay for our fractured relationships. The film’s title, of course, is taken from the Bible, and it does indeed speak with a prophetic voice—first with a shout, then with a whisper—about mankind’s muddled communication, and the hope that we find in genuine acts of Christian love and compassion. (Our review.)—Josh Hurst

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is the harrowing story of one man’s dying, as unadorned and realistically rendered as a home movie. This fading old drunk can do little to earn our affection as he’s shunted from one overtaxed, understaffed Romanian hospital to the next, yet his pain, his weakness, his fleeting moments of dignity stir us to compassion. Writer-director Cristi Puiu believes, in the face of all this, that “there is a God who created a perfect world” where “everything is related to everything.” This sad, raw film is his memento mori, a remembrance of death that has the power to quicken our humanity.—Ron Reed

The Fountain

Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Darren Aronofsky’s romantic sci-fi drama isn’t as hard to follow as it is to grasp. And while there’s some Buddhist imagery and themes, some are also undeniably Christian in this cinematic parable centering on the Tree of Life. That’s the beauty of it—like a painting in a museum, it exists for you to interpret on your own. For me, it’s a haunting meditation on fear and love, reminding us to be grateful for the time we have—to live with hope even when the shadow of death looms. (Our review.)—Russ Breimeier

Half Nelson

The juxtaposition of strength and weakness is a central theme in Half Nelson. It features the quiet, but compelling performance of Ryan Gosling as an inner city school teacher hooked on crack, and Shareeka Epps, a student who catches him just after shooting up. The two form a halting friendship that demonstrates how the watchful presence of another human can shine a sort of light into our dark corners. Half Nelson offers viewers a chance to honestly grapple with their own hypocrisies and inconsistencies—large and small—and suggests that wholeness is possible.—Lisa Ann co*ckrel

A Prairie Home Companion

Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion has entertained radio listeners since 1974, showcasing American music, history, and community with a non-stop parade of talented guest performers. Visionary director Robert Altman’s final film brings Keillor to the screen at last, capturing the home-cooked goodness of his storytelling. Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, and others improvise memorable comedy, reminding us that the best things in life are often found off the beaten path, where old-fashioned, hand-crafted good times flourish. Companion reminds us that the highway of ego, glamour, and greed runs perpendicular to the meandering backroad of joy. (Our review.)—Jeffrey Overstreet

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness celebrates the commitment and sacrifice of Hollywood’s most responsible struggling father since Cinderella Man. Will Smith stars with real-life son Jaden Smith in the fact-based story of unsuccessful salesman Chris Gardner, whose marriage breaks apart and who goes broke pursuing a longshot chance at a better life. Chris’s efforts to protect and care for his son under increasingly dire circ*mstances are both heart breaking and deeply moving, and young Jaden’s matter-of-fact performance suggests both the resilience and vulnerability of childhood. Hard work and hope collide with hard reality and hard luck as The Pursuit of Happyness earns its title, and its happy ending. (Our review.)—Steven D. Greydanus

Superman Returns

Director Bryan Singer had done a great job with the first two X-Men movies, so when he jumped that ship to this one, I thought we’d get a terrific movie about the man of steel. Well, it’s not terrfice, but it is very good—and clearly, as Singer even said he intended, depicts Supes as something of a Christ figure. Sure, he’s shown saving the world, but perhaps the most compelling scene is when he hangs in the atmosphere, arms outstretched almost in a crucifix position, head bowed, eyes closed, and he’s tuning in to the world’s desperate cries for help—hearing our prayers, so to speak. No, he can’t save our souls, but he sure can stop a runaway jet and a speeding bullet. (Our review.)—Mark Moring

Ushpizin

A devoutly Hasidic Jewish couple struggles with infertility and the “tests” that God sends their way during the harvest festival of Sukkot—including a couple of AWOL prisoners who drop by, one of whom knows the husband from his pre-conversion days. With a real-life couple playing the fictitious couple, and a real-life convert playing the fictitious convert, Giddi Dar’s film is a delightful and suspenseful celebration of faith, marriage, and hospitality.—Peter T. Chattaway

We Are Marshall

When a plane crash kills almost the entire Marshall University football team and staff in 1970, the town of Huntington, West Virginia is devastated. As they bury their sons, husbands, fathers, and football heroes, some of their spirit dies as well. But then the three remaining players and new coach Jack Lengyl begin the controversial work of rebuilding. Is it too soon to move forward? Or is this a needed step in the grieving process? Either way, we see hope rise—in realistic fits and starts. With it comes the realization that sometimes winning comes in simply showing up. (Our review.)—Camerin Courtney

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

When we ask subscribers what they love most about Leadership, we often hear the same answer: “the cartoons.” That’s why we are pleased to bring this lighter side of ministry to Out of Ur. Here is your chance to share your wit, humor, and appreciation of life’s ironies by submitting a caption for this Leadership cartoon by Tim Walburg.

What captions come to mind for this cartoon?

Winning entries will be published in the Spring 2007 edition of Leadership. Please include your name, your church’s name, city, and state. To be published in the print version of Leadership, entries must be received by February 20, 2007.

Most Catholics think of their saints as otherworldly spiritual giants, people unspotted by the sins that plague the rest of us. But as Craughwell recounts in this lurid but frequently reverent little book, many saints have trudged hip-deep through the filthy muck of the devil’s playground.

He writes of Saint Callixtus, a convict who was converted and ascended to the papacy; Saint Pelagia of Antioch, a fourth-century sex symbol who later became a hermit; Saint Moses the Ethiopian, a gangster turned monastic; Saint Alipius, Augustine’s friend, obsessed with blood sports but later appointed an African bishop; and even the Irish Matt Talbot, a drunk who quit cold turkey, lived a penitential life, and became a 20th-century saint revered by Catholic alcoholics.

This book will appeal to Roman Catholics more than it will to Protestants. It contains very little on the power of the gospel and the Scriptures in the transformation of sinners into saints. Its stories attest, rather, to the power of the Blessed Virgin Mary, apparitions, and mysterious life experiences.

Still, Protestants will like it. It confirms our settled conviction that saints are also guilty sinners, only sanctified by grace. It is also fun to read. Despite its paucity of facts and overabundance of Catholic legend, it offers quite an education in the earthy, incarnational, redemptive love of God.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Saints Behaving Badly is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

AS LONG as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.Genesis 8:22 (NRSV)

[GOD] gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs— who can stand before his cold?Psalm 147:16-17 (NRSV)

IT IS a pleasure to the real lover of nature to give winter all the glory he can, for summer will make its own way and speak its own praises.Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth

LET US LEARN our obligation to thankfulness—for warm houses, clothes, and beds; for comfortable food and fuel to relieve us against the rigor of the cold!William Cooper, Concio Hyemalis: A Winter Sermon

THE COLD autumn rains, the gray austerity of winter woodscape, the pearl purity of December snowfall—all awaken a desire inside of me that, I know, God will not disappoint.Vigen Guroian, The Fragrance of God

I LIKE these cold, gray, winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

HAVE YOU entered the storehousesof the snow,or have you seen the storehousesof the hail?Job 38:22 (NRSV)

IN SEEDTIME, learn; in harvest, teach; in winter, enjoy.William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

COLD AND CHILL, bless the Lord.Dew and rain, bless the Lord.Frost and chill, bless the Lord.Ice and snow, bless the Lord.Nights and days, bless the Lord.Light and darkness, bless the Lord.Canticle of the Three Youths

I AM weary ofThe winter way of lovingthings for reasons.Richard Wilbur, "Winter Spring"

SPRING, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition.Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook

IS IT too much to say, in winter, that I die? Something of me dies at least.Frederick Buechner, Godric

AND WHAT else was there to do in the winter? Stay inside and read. Or write. Stay inside and dream. Stay inside and look, safely, outside. The Muse might as well be invited—who else would venture out?Patricia Hampl, A Romantic Education

IF WINTER COMES, can spring be far behind?Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind"

THERE ARE only two seasons—winter and baseball.Bill Veeck, "Seasons"

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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Evening Prayer

There are two very different populations in the Christian music listening world. The first is represented by “Becky,” the late 30s/early 40s “soccer mom” whom Christian AC radio targets.

Let’s call the second “Bucky.” He’s much younger than Becky, but he also listens to music much of the day. Sometimes Becky and Bucky listen to the same music, maybe even for the same reasons. But there’s a key difference between the two: Becky’s music is delivered to her across the airwaves and through the speakers of her minivan. Bucky’s music is downloaded and delivered through the white earbuds of his iPod.

The contrast between these two listeners, and the music they represent, is on the minds of many program directors at Christian radio these days. While Christian radio works from a finite playlist of a couple of hundred songs, the iPod and mp3 universes invite listeners to create their own personal playlists from among millions of songs.

Bucky has even set up his own virtual online radio station, where a “music engine” records the artists and songs he likes and then streams songs that match his profile, some he’s never heard of. It is no wonder that Bucky complains that Christian radio plays the same songs over and over. He might even use the word that a prominent Christian artist recently used to describe Christian radio: “boring.”

A trend toward sameness

Just as media, formats, and options in music have exploded over the past few years, Christian radio has changed the way it operates.

For some stations, decisions about which songs to play used to be made based on the gut feeling of a music director, but are now based on opinion data from advanced research services. Many in the industry applaud this evolution, and believe that a tight focus on a target audience and a clear understanding of her opinions are responsible for Christian radio’s sustained growth. Others note a negative consequence and believe that Christian radio is spiraling toward sameness even as the iPod world becomes a playground of variety.

There is a certain logic to this trend toward similitude. Labels are aware that testing well has become a prerequisite for airplay in many markets. Naturally, labels encourage songwriting that sounds like the songs that currently test well, and choose singles accordingly. The consequence is that the variety in the pool of available singles shrinks. Test audiences wind up giving favorable ratings to songs that sound like every other song out there, because the songs they’re testing are all so similar (even if their tastes have actually moved on).

The songs that test well get played, the cycle repeats itself over and over, and Christian radio becomes hom*ogenous. Add to that the trend for stations to cut playlists and increase rotation, and it’s not only the same types of songs that are played repeatedly, it’s literally the same songs.

In the face of a world of iPods and technology, is radio doomed to obsolescence?

In defense of radio

Defenders of Christian radio point to ratings success and fall back on the very research that is criticized, saying that these numbers, and their anecdotal evidence in the form of encouraging calls and letters, suggest they are delivering exactly what their audience wants, not just in the form of entertainment but also in the form of ministry.

KSBJ’s Tim McDermott is enthusiastic when he tells the stories of the people being reached by his station. “We’re doing more than just playing songs. We’re encouraging people, we’re doing missions, changing lives. We’re very involved in local ministry, and we recently highlighted worldwide ministry projects.”

The very technology that some say might make radio obsolete has in fact expanded KSBJ’s mission, enabling anyone with an Internet connection to listen. “We’ve gotten e-mails from Communist China, from India, from Saudi Arabia. You know it’s not you. It’s God working through you.”

Shrinking playlists, growing buzz

Christian artists are equally ministry-minded, and as they seek radio airplay to expand that mission, many express frustration at what they believe is an inordinately difficult task.

Shaun Groves has learned firsthand about shrinking playlists. “At the time of my first record, I was told that radio stations had about 30 or more songs in current rotation. That number was half or less by the time of my third record.”

Andrew Peterson points out that certain intangibles, which often bewilder him, also help determine airplay. “I think a lot of it has to do with ‘buzz.’ It’s this stupid word that has very little to do with the Kingdom and what it’s supposed to look like. If you’re good-looking or controversial or the Next Big Thing, then everyone’s talking about you and you have ‘buzz’ and therefore a better shot at success.

“When ‘Nothing to Say’ first hit the radio, it was remarkably well-received. I think it sounded kind of unique, and it mentioned Rich Mullins. He had died just a few years earlier and his absence was palpable. And for some reason I was given the temporary gift of ‘buzz.’ In the years since then, my writing has gotten much better, but radio’s reception of the singles has gotten worse.”

Those who believe Christian radio has become more uniform would doubtlessly contend that songs that sound unique will struggle to find airplay today.

Chris Rice is another artist whose distinctive sound, embodied in 1997’s “Deep Enough to Dream,” helped him break onto radio.

“The song was different, and it caught people’s attention,” Rice says. “Since then, there is a lot of sameness, and it’s more of a challenge now.” Rice does note that the trend might not last forever: “Radio felt more creative then, but there seem to be seasons or waves.”

‘Edgier than it used to be’

Other artists contend that radio has begun embracing new sounds.

MercyMe‘s Nathan Cochran believes that the dominant Adult Contemporary format of Christian radio is “edgier than it used to be. The Rock genre is more popular than it has been.”

Cochran points out that the mainstream success of several Christian Rock artists may have opened the door for Christian stations to play them, an observation that carries with it a certain bit of irony. Radio airplay charts do indeed reveal groups like Switchfoot and Kutless sprinkled among the AC mainstays. So perhaps AC radio is not as bland as some suggest.

Industry wrangling about airplay and exposure should not diminish what is at the heart of most of the people involved in making music and putting it on the air, which is using God-given gifts to build his kingdom.

Peterson struggles with the de facto need for self-promotion, but remembers his motivation: “The reason I want radio to play my songs is because I make this music in the hope that the people who listen will be encouraged, healed, called Home. I don’t think too highly of myself and my songs, but I do think very highly of my God. If my own story of how he has rescued me, and is still rescuing me, can be a balm to some other soul in some other story, why wouldn’t I want as many as possible to hear the music?”

Michael Card uses similar imagery, calling music “water that you wash people’s feet with.”

The future of the format

It’s not just the size of playlists and methods of choosing songs that may be changing in radio. Emerging technologies, including but not limited to the iPod, are causing program directors to ponder the very future of their format.

Listeners have long lamented the lack of availability of Christian radio signals in so many cities and towns. The advent of satellite radio has changed that notion; Christian radio is available on both of the major providers, XM and Sirius, 24 hours a day, anywhere in the country.

Jim Epperlein describes programming a station at XM as “Radio Heaven.” He declares that “listeners want variety” and notes that the commercial-free satellite format and his decision to repeat songs less frequently allows XM to play far more songs every day than the typical terrestrial station.

Scott Lindy of Sirius has used the expanded playlist to incorporate special music features, including “Spirit Classics,” which revives songs from some of Christian music’s pioneers. “People are really excited. We’ll receive 10 e-mails about, say, a Sandi Patty song before it even ends.”

Terrestrial radio’s answer to satellite just might be HD Radio. Delivering CD-quality sound, HD radio is a free broadcast from existing stations. Listeners need a special HD radio to receive the signal.

One very different aspect of HD radio is a station’s ability to split their signal, providing an alternative feed. Some mainstream stations have already begun broadcasting Christian music on the so-called “HD2” band, and this makes some in Christian radio a bit antsy. Others in the industry are embracing the technology for themselves. KSBJ, for example, is raising funds to purchase their own HD transmitter.

Many believe the Christian AC stations moving to HD will be able to broaden their appeal to different demographics, providing music from other Christian genres on different bands.

Is iPod the enemy?

And let’s not forget the iPod, which KSBJ’s McDermott calls “the number one enemy of radio.” The iPod and the digital music it plays are causing many to rethink their business models.

Derek Webb, who notes, “I’m not in the record business, I’m in the music business,” recently gave away his latest CD online.

And Groves believes radio should not try to compete with the iPod culture, but should coexist with it. “The iPod is the most variety you ever want. Radio can’t complete with that, but it can break hits for you to go buy on iTunes.”

This might be a welcome future for labels, who have noticed that radio is attracting people who want what they call “wallpaper music,” but not people who are passionate about music. Those who desire background music don’t buy CDs, so increasing the size of an audience does not always mean increasing the number of CD buyers.

Christian radio faces several choices as it approaches this potentially tumultuous future. The narrow focus on a target audience might have been responsible for recent growth, but can that focus sustain growth, especially as ratings have flattened in many key markets?

Some stations have already decided to broaden that focus, like Tulsa’s KXOJ, which held a makeshift ceremony and figuratively “blew up Becky.” K-LOVE is trying hard to reach non-Becky listeners, focusing efforts on an audience that only sometimes shows up at church. Mainstream radio, from which Christian radio borrowed many of its research practices, has recently begun to rethink those very practices. With research costs on the rise, will Christian radio follow suit? Are technologies like the iPod and HD radio the enemy, or an opportunity?

With so much to worry about, it is reassuring that so many bright and creative people remain in and are drawn to Christian radio. Their stories of how rewarding the experience is, stories of people touched and lives changed, remind the casual listener of God’s uncanny ability to work when his servants are obedient.

As Marconi’s “radiotelegraph” of 100 years ago meets the innovations of today, God is still using radio to deliver musical “water to wash people’s feet with.”

Mark Geil is a freelance writer andthe director of the Biomechanics program at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He lives in Kennesaw, Georgia with his wife and three daughters.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The professor whose opinion mattered most to me in college is retiring. I’m finding my note of appreciation hard to write—and not just because he was my instructor in advanced grammar. For all he taught me about language, I never had an easy conversation with him about the simplest, everyday thing. He was a constant perplexity to me, his eye kindly but quizzical, missing and revealing nothing. A new memoir by another advanced composition teacher, Patty Kirk’s Confessions of an Amateur Believer, has made me think I should ask my teacher to write his memoirs.

The discipline of grammar is historically aligned with the study of rhetoric, a subject that fascinates Kirk, at least in the sense that her book develops a phenomenology of persuasion: the everyday, non–expert, experience of people who believe and disbelieve by turns. It’s a theme not unfamiliar to readers of other memoirists, Buechner, Norris, and Dillard among them. Kirk’s memoir shares their emphasis on everydayness and their alertness to the obstacles to belief. Like them, she knows what it is to doubt the love of God: her bout with unbelief lasted more than half of her adulthood so far. Like them, she knows what it is to doubt the love of neighbor: her experience of sexual assault left her lastingly leery of uncompassionate Christians. But unlike her best–known counterparts, she emerges from her experiences a curiously conservative evangelical, who reads her Bible every morning and goes to a non–denominational church where “the French roll and grape juice we share only symbolize Jesus’ body and blood.”

Even for unbelievers, close attention to the quotidian requires a kind of sacramental sense of the world. Kirk’s memoir emerges from a lapsed Catholicism that doesn’t believe the too–large chunks of bread her daughters tear off at the Lord’s Supper are actually means of grace. Communion, she says in her essay, “In Memory of Him,” “is simply a medium for reminding myself about redemption.” Even so, she has a good ear for the earthy guesses that children make about sex, a clear eye for the complex relations of farmers and barns, a sacramental feel for what red ink signifies to her grammar students. For all this redemptive remembering, one narrative habit of Kirk’s, I think, keeps her from opening the present as well as she might have.

Confessions of an Amateur Believer divides into four sections—Meeting God, Struggles, Progress, and Rest—whose essays, early and late, open with conflict and work towards resolution. But Kirk’s insistence that every chapter end in believing insight gives her memoir a sometimes over–the–shoulder quality. We often hear what her future self will say (would say? is saying?) to her past disbelieving self from the vantage of an arrived–at insight. I wish that Kirk would relinquish, now and then, the classical narrative style of conflict, struggle, resolution, and denouement. If some chapters ended, for example, with lament, the book might allow more clearing for that grace that comes apart from struggle, in spite of struggle, the grace that comes when we simply take and eat.

Comedian Steven Wright used to say he liked to reminisce with people he didn’t know. But it’s no joke to say that Kirk’s memoir covers history that hasn’t happened yet. She’s enough of a humorist (see especially her piece “Blind Drivers”) to appreciate the paradox. Her humor sometimes achieves a religious vision, a vision that guides her own vocation as an English professor and gathers up the tribulations of other composition teachers—my professor’s included. I think of him now with his long fingers perpetually shuffling and re–shuffling our unripe essays as they overtook his desk. He must have known precisely the fear that one of Kirk’s final essays describes, the “fear that we will lose what we are working for or never get done.” Her answer to this fear is a hope straight out of the book of Amos, an intimation of the Day of the Lord “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes.” Kirk glosses Amos’ prophetic dream envisioning workers “getting in one another’s way, always having to stop and laugh, eating bread and fruit and drinking wine and exchanging jokes and stories as they worked.” Her memoir shows us that when we exchange jokes and stories, allowing our past and present to get in each other’s way, we can find our way into a rich imaginary for work and rest.

Craig E. Mattson is assistant professor of communication arts at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois.

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