Middletree

Me with Donald Miller after the movie. By contributing a whopping $5 to last year's effort to fund the making of "Blue Like Jazz" via Kickstarter , I put myself in line to receive an invitation to the Fort Worth premiere on March 21. This showing was part of a 30-city tour in which the author of the book by the same name, Donald Miller, appeared in person, accompanied by director Steve Taylor and lead actor Marshall Allman. I went in guessing that the movie probably would stray far from the "Safe for the family" boundaries that many Christian-themed films seem bound to. And as it turned out, I was right. The PG-13 rating was earned. Because the story in the movie (which only bears some resemblance to the book) is essentially about a young man who renounces his faith before rediscovering it in a fresh way, it necessitated the depiction of various sinful behaviors and attitudes. There are a few naughty words, multiple instances of substance abuse, and flat-...

I had a post from my Joshua study get published at Burnside Writers. Check it out!

This DVD-based study kit is meant to accompany Mark and Grace Driscoll's book "Real Marriage-The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together". The kit includes a leader's guide, a study guide for non-leading participants, and a DVD of short (15-20 minute) discussion-starters featuring the two authors. It starts out in an amusing way: Mark and Grace Driscoll are sitting in the church building where they exchanged vows nearly two decades ago. Interspersed with their commentary are clips of their actual wedding. Both are recognizable, but very different. Seeing a 20-year-old Mark Driscoll is a bit jarring. As for the content, it's a good mix of the two talking about their own experiences, struggles, and memories, as well as the lessons learned, which can be applied to most any marriage. I like it. The clips are interesting, the questions insightful, and the material challenging. One potential issue is the frank talk about sex. While it's good for a c...

I've decided to create a new blog dedicated solely to bible study. I am now going through the seemingly un-sexy book of Joshua, but getting some great things out of it. I have written several, but only posted an intro and then two posts. Check out Ch. 1: http://middletree.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/joshua-ch-1/

It's almost April, and that means a new book release I'm really looking forward to: " A Silence of Mockingbirds, " by Karen Zacharias, who wrote a book I fell in love with a couple of years ago: " Will Jesus Buy Me Doublewide? ". "Silence" is a tragic story of the short life of three-year old Karly Sheehan. It will be released in April to coincide with National Child Abuse Prevention month. I have to be honest: I don't look forward to reading a story about a child's murder any more than you do. But while I had been under the impression that child abuse was pretty much licked in the US, I was recently shocked to find that, in the US, 5 kids are murdered every day. As an American, I am ashamed of this. The author believes that this book can empower and educate a nation that has been reluctant to admit that it has the highest rate of child abuse of any industrialized country in the world. I am reprinting an interview with the au...