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Actress Hopes Pro-Life Film The Order of Rights Will ‘Start a Dialogue’ about Abortion

Church and Ministry

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Actress Hopes Pro-Life Film The Order of Rights Will ‘Start a Dialogue’ about Abortion

A new faith-based movie spotlights the divide over abortion in the U.S. by examining a legal battle not at the U.S. Supreme Court but in a courthouse in Baltimore, Md.

In The Order of Rights, a young woman becomes pregnant and decides to have an abortion but is blocked from doing so when her boyfriend wins a judicial injunction. A court case then ensues, whereby a jury decides if the unborn baby has a right to life.

The movie stars Emma Elle Roberts (Unplanned, Vindication) and Ben Davies (Overcomer, Courageous) in the lead roles of Emma and Ethan, and Cameron Arnett (Overcomer) as Ethan’s coach.

Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., also has a role.

“It is our hope to raise the voices of millions through this film who are speaking out and especially for those who cannot speak for themselves, the unborn,” said Steve Ball, executive producer. “It is also our hope that this film touches those who have experienced abortions so that they know that they can receive forgiveness and begin to heal.”

It is Roberts’ fourth pro-life film. Playing a pro-choice character, she told Life Today, made her more compassionate to those who disagree with the pro-life cause.

“I think that this film, specifically, is a really good example of looking at both sides” of the issue, Roberts said.

Roberts hopes the film helps “start a…

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“I should serve my country”: Amy Coney Barrett’s courage and our best service to our nation

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“I should serve my country”: Amy Coney Barrett’s courage and our best service to our nation

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

The Senate Judiciary Committee has completed its hearings on President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the senators made their final remarks and heard witnesses testify about her character and qualifications. The American Bar Association, which rates federal judges, noted that it has found Judge Barrett to be “well qualified,” its highest rating.

Since Republicans hold a twelve-to-ten majority, the committee is expected to approve her nomination when it votes on October 22. This would set up a vote on the Senate floor the week of October 26. Since Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, her confirmation is widely expected.

How a blank notepad made headlines

Judge Amy Coney Barrett is Catholic and obviously a woman. Both facts make her nomination noteworthy: only 22 percent of Americans are Catholic; only five of the 119 Supreme Court justices in American history have been women. If confirmed by the Senate, she will become the youngest Supreme Court justice since 1991 and the first mother with school-age children to serve on our nation’s highest court.

She did not achieve her remarkable success through family connections or wealth, but through hard work and a passion for excellence. This fact is worthy of reflection as evidence of our country’s founding creed that “all men are created equal.”

In my lifetime, I have seen presidents who came from families of wealth (John F. Kennedy, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump). But I have also seen presidents who came from humble beginnings (Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan). One rose to prominence through military service (Dwight Eisenhower). Two were raised by single…

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Overcoming Decision Fatigue | Church Answers

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I was tired.

If you could have asked me about 3 months ago, I would have told you that I was tired of making decisions as a pastor. This year has been full of decision-making. Decisions that I never expected to make. Decisions that I didn’t feel equipped to make. And I was tired of making decisions.

But don’t miss the past-tense of my statement. I was tired of making decisions. Today, I’m energized in my decision-making.

So, what changed?

I learned something about myself this year as a leader. I don’t like to make decisions if I don’t know where I am leading my church. I don’t make good decisions if I don’t know where I am leading my church.

Several months ago, I sat down with my church leadership team and asked two questions: “Where are we going?” and “Why do we do what we do?” While there was some commonality, there was not uniformity in their answers. It became clear to me then. We were trying to make decisions without knowing where the decisions would lead us.

Decision fatigue had set in.

It was at this point that my main goal was to have clear answers to both of those questions. I wanted the church that I get to lead to have clear answers to both of those questions. We found the answers to those questions and developed a new vision, mission, and strategy for the church. We defined why we do what we do and where we are going as a church.

While this may seem basic (and it is), it can be an easy oversight in church leadership. I think we far too often focus on…

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Teens faring better with more sleep in pandemic study shows

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Teens faring better with more sleep in pandemic study shows

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter

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While the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in declining mental health for many adults, teenagers, particularly those in two-parent households, have been faring better thanks to more sleep and spending more time with their families, according to a new report.

The new report, released Tuesday from the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution of Brigham Young University, is titled Teens in Quarantine: Mental Health, Screen Time, and Family Connection.

It is authored by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, BYU professor of human development Sarah Coyne, Wheatley Institution Associate Director Jason Carroll and W. Bradford Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.

The report cites data from a survey of 1,523 U.S. teenagers during May–July. The survey asked about their mental health, family time, sleep, technology use, and views on race-related protests and the police. The data from the survey was then measured against responses from teenagers to identical questions from the 2018 administration of the national Monitoring the Future survey.

“To our surprise, we found that teens fared relatively well during quarantine. Depression and loneliness were actually lower among teens in 2020 than in 2018, and unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life were only slightly higher. Trends in teens’ time use revealed two possible reasons for the unexpectedly positive outcomes: Teens were sleeping more and spending more time with…

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Don’t be Afraid to Pay for Social Media Ads

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Let’s recap the economics of how social media companies work. Your church gives the social media companies free content (video, photos, etc…). In exchange they provide a free service that will connect your church with social media users.

Of course, somewhere in this exchange, the social media companies need to make money, so they sell ads to companies who can then target users based on what their users display an interest in. Therefore the more users that join their social media platform and use it, the more money the social media platform can make.

Social media platforms have one goal: keeping users engaged. Whether that’s watching videos, interacting with comments, or just scrolling through articles, they want to keep the users on their platform for as long as possible. By keeping users engaged on their platforms, they can charge companies to show ads to their users.

However, social media platforms’ goals often do not align with most churches. For most churches, the goal of social media is getting the word out about their events and programs with the hope that the viewer will click on the social media and leave the platform to view the content on the church website.

So how do we solve this problem?

Most churches’ first reaction is to see if they can create more engaging content that will organically reach people. And while that should be a consistent strategy with creating content, it doesn’t always solve the problem.

So eventually at some point we will need to…

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Kanye West Releases New Song, Campaign Ad Urging Americans to Work Together, Rely on God

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Kanye West Releases New Song, Campaign Ad Urging Americans to Work Together, Rely on God

Kanye West, who is currently running for president, just released a new campaign video on Instagram urging Americans to work together and turn to their faith in order to insight change. He also released a new song about his presidential run.

“What is best for our Nation? Our people? What is just? True justice? We have to think about all these things together as a people,” West says in the ad.

“We as a people will revive our nation’s commitment to faith. To what our Constitution calls ‘the free exercise of religion,’ including, of course, prayer,” he goes on to state. The campaign ad ends with the big letters “VOTE” sprawling across the screen and encourages Americans to vote to make a positive change in their country.

In addition to the campaign video, Kanye also dropped a song in a Twitter post, with the caption “The whole team is so energized that I had to release theme music NAH NAH NAH.” The song is set to scenes from Star Wars and a UFC knockout fight. In the song, he raps about his Presidential campaign, saying, “next time you text, can it wait? You are talkin’ to a presidential candidate.”

THE WHOLE TEAM IS SO ENERGIZED THAT I HAD TO RELEASE THEME MUSIC NAH NAH NAH pic.twitter.com/p3NhTV11cN
— ye (@kanyewest) October 14, 2020

The song is also about how we should trust God for protection and let Him fight our battles for us, as evidenced…

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Grape Expectations

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The seasonal selection of Niagaras, Lakemonts, and Jupiters go far beyond the “reds” and “greens” of the grocery store.

The post Grape Expectations appeared first on TASTE.

SBC prof wants discipline for churches that promote ‘wokeness’

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SBC prof wants discipline for churches that promote ‘wokeness’

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter

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Owen Strachan, formerly executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, was named Monday, May 12, 2014, as the organization’s new president. | (Photo: CBMW)

A Southern Baptist theologian in Kansas City, Missouri, is under fire from some pastors and Christian academics for recommending Matthew 18 discipline for those who “teach and promote wokeness.”

“In churches and institutions, those who teach and promote wokeness — binding the conscience of people with new unbiblical laws — must face Matthew 18 discipline. The church has tolerated the spread of wokeness too long. It is time for a line in the sand,” Owen Strachan, an associate professor of Christian theology and director of the center for public theology at the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in tweet Saturday.

The tweet drew attention to a recent series of presentations the professor made at Redeemer Bible Church in Minnetonka, Minnesota, on Christianity and Wokeness.

In Matthew 18:15–17, Jesus outlines a multi-step approach for dealing with unrepentant sin which culminates with excommunication from the church community.

“Wokeness” is commonly associated with the Black Lives…

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Pastor Patrick Garcia resigns from The Hills Church

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By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter

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Patrick Garcia resigned as lead pastor of The Hills Church in Indiana. | YouTube/The Hills Church

Two years after his controversial firing from the multi-campus Crossroads Christian Church in Indiana, Patrick Garcia has resigned as the lead pastor of The Hills Church, created by former Crossroads leaders and members, after confessing to a monthslong affair with another woman.

“I wanted to inform you that I am resigning from my position as the Lead Pastor at The Hills Church. Ashamedly, for the past 11 months I’ve engaged in an inappropriate relationship, both physically and emotionally. The Bible makes it clear that one can’t lead a church while abdicating his first responsibility of leading the home. My family—especially my wife Savannah—deserves better than the husband she’s had over the past few years. The Hills Church deserves a leader of integrity who lives above reproach,” Garcia, 33, said in a statement released by the church on Facebook Sunday.

Garcia said he will undergo “a season of restoration so that the root of my brokenness and dysfunction can be addressed.”

“Let me be clear: No one is to blame for this repeated wicked behavior but me. My…

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Tribe That Formerly Practiced Witchcraft and Killed Missionaries Turns to God

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Tribe That Formerly Practiced Witchcraft and Killed Missionaries Turns to God

The Yali Tribe in Papa New Guinea, which used to kill missionaries, practice witchcraft and engage in cannibalism, is now following God and graciously accepting 2,500 Bibles flown to them.

One-thousand four hundred of the Bibles were children’s Bibles, while the rest of them were regular Bibles. The Bibles came from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), a Christian organization that flies Bibles to areas that cannot receive them in other ways.

One of the Yali Tribe’s church ordered the Bibles after there were not enough to give to the Yali Tribe’s village, MAF reports. The Yali tribe were waiting for the plane to land and the women and children were celebrating by chanting in their local tongue and dancing.

One of the flight pilots, Dave Ringenberg, who is also an Instructor Pilot and the Director of Papua Operations, said that “It was a holy moment – one to be remembered.”

This flight took place 55 years after the tribe was first discovered by Mission Aviation Fellowship in a flight survey in 1965.

The Bibles handed out to the tribe were translated into southern Yali. After 32 years, the translation was completed in 2000. World Team missionary, Stan Dale, and a Yali man named Luliap Pahabol worked together to complete the Gospel of Mark, the first book to be completely translated.

Dale was working on the book of Acts when he and colleague Phil Masters…

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