“The Jesus Film,” released in 1979, has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most translated film” in history, having been written in more than 1,200 languages. Celebrating the film’s 35th anniversary, Cinedigm and Mission Home Video have added a new musical score and digitally remastered the production frame by frame […]
My wife and I had heard that international adoption would be one of the most difficult and rewarding things we’d ever do. We found that to be true when we adopted our daughter Laura from Colombia. We can’t believe it’s been more than five years since we first saw our baby girl, who was 6 […]
The pattern of the Christian year is an exercise of the Church’s discipline. The annual celebrations of Christmas and Resurrection Day force the Church to ponder again the truths of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection. Christians understand that every Lord’s Day is Resurrection Day, but Easter Sunday is the festival which draws all Christians face to […]
Our youngest son, Ethan, recently mentioned to his mom and me that he had heard a couple of great new Christian songs he really liked. We asked what they were, hoping that we had been listening to enough Christian radio to perhaps recognize them. Imagine our surprise when the songs he named were 100-year-old hymns. […]
My son, Jess Rainer, and I recently spoke in Texas on the topic of the Millennials, America’s largest generation of nearly 79 million persons. Because we co-authored a book entitled “The Millennials,” we have had the opportunity to speak on the subject on many occasions. We reminded this audience in Dallas of the birth dates […]
During a recent spin class I introduced myself to a new, unfamiliar instructor. “Hi, I’m Kathy.” Warmly she says, “You’re Kathy Litton aren’t you?” It’s a reminder that I am often known and observed by others. Not just in a relatively small community but on social media, in my business dealings and on airplanes. I […]
A good question and one worth asking: Does our SBC have anything significant to say to this 21st century? I ask the question here in response to the contemporary idea that the age of denominationalism is past. It does us no good — and actually does us harm — to dwell on our size, numerical […]
Throughout history Christianity has experienced seasons of magnificent renewal. By “renewal” I am referring broadly to periods when the faith experienced a renewed vitality, expansion, influence, or resurgence after a time of inactivity or decline. Examples of renewal include the rise of the Modern Missions Movement initiated by William Carey in the 1790s and the […]
Perhaps a long-sought secret to the vitality of the Baptist movement is swarm intelligence, the “collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems.” The most useful metaphor for Southern Baptists’ cooperative work heretofore has been the “rope of sand” introduced by James L. Sullivan in his short book “Rope of Sand with Strength of Steel” in 1974. […]
In August 2011, I saw the Amazon River for the first time. It was while I was traveling from Lima, Peru, to Iquitos, a city of approximately 700,000 people located in the Amazon Basin of Peru. The city is surrounded by rivers and is only accessible by air or boat. Little did I know that […]