ART
Throughout history, so-called sacred art has garnered great respect. Who can forget da Vinci’s Last Supper or Michelangelo’s statue of David? Unfortunately, Christian art became tacky and embarrassing, synonymous with velvet paintings of Jesus standing with Elvis or an overly muscular version of our Lord, draped in an American flag. It seems now, by the grace of God,
things are changing. Makoto Fujimura is a popular speaker, writer and artist. He is also a Christian and proves that faith and good art belong together. He was commissioned to illustrate the four
gospels (the first time in over 400 years this has been done by a single artist). The project is an ESV Bible celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. Fujimura generally uses an ancient Japanese technique of painting; the results are strikingly beautiful. But the Bibles are a bit costly: the leather over-board version regularly sells for around $350 while cloth versions are
usually $130.
FIND IT @ makotofujimura.com
BOOK
Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll. Mark Driscoll is founder and preaching pastor at the Seattle, Washington, mega-church, Mars Hill. He is a frequent radio and
television guest often seen on CNN. He is sometimes called a Missional-Calvinist and can be blunt, crude, sarcastic, divisive, arrogant and unrelenting. In short … I like him. That’s not to say I
agree with him all the time. His writing is intriguingly overly simplistic, and offers easy answers to complex and difficult questions. Still, somehow, it’s worth a read.
FIND IT @ amazon.ca
CHURCH
St. Thomas the Doubter church in Dallas, Texas, meets at the Embassy Suites. It’s an eclectic church that uses both the Book of Common Prayer and folk-grass music and is constantly
changing. The idea of the church is simple: Christians have doubts. We should acknowledge them and together seek to work through them. But that’s not what makes it unique. What’s unique
is that the church’s website isn’t really a website. It’s basically just a clever blog. That’s what makes it great. You find their church by accident. You stumble upon it. You read it, you laugh at the funny cartoons and illustrations, you listen to the beautiful refrains and then it hits you. This is a church … where is it? And they’ve got you. If I lived within a couple
hours, I’d check it out.
FIND IT @ thomasthedoubter.com
VIDEO CLIP
Pastor Joe Nelms of Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, made headlines this summer for a rather unorthodox public prayer. Although he had three times previously been asked
to do the prayer of invocation for different NASCAR racing events, this one will surely be remembered. Saying that the prayer was really intended to reach out to a non-Christian audience and boasting many visitors to his church following the event, Nelms has nevertheless gained some new critics. It’s not that hard to see why. The prayer comes off more like an advertising plug as Nelms thanks God for “GM performance parts” and “my smokin’ hot wife.”
FIND IT @ youtube.com Search for “Joe Nelms NASCAR prayer.”
