Ever have roadblocks in your life?

I sure do. My struggle right now is support raising. My roadblocks are both mental (discouragement) and physical (the “no” word). Being missionary I have to raise my own support (funding) to stay in the missions field. My field is rural Washington State (8% churched) and I reach out to unchurched youth in our town of Arlington. Recently I’ve been promoted to director of our outpost and I’m now in charge of raising more funding.

Support raising has always been a faith thing for me. I do what I can, pray and watch God do the rest. And I can’t complain, I’ve seen God provide in so many ways for my family.

It’s just lately, I have a hard time remembering that. I’ve been out beating the pavement and been getting good responses from people I’m requesting for support, but they’re mainly “Yes, I want to support you, just not now.” People want to be apart of supporting our organization and believe in what we are doing. It’s just a matter of economics and people struggling right now. I had someone tell me last week, “I feel like the enemy is hitting [financially] people to prevent them from blessing the Kingdom through giving.”

My first response is “Oh great!”

Then I take a breath and look at my situation. What are the roadblocks telling me? I know I’m called to be here. I know this is where my family is supposed to be. My heart is so vested in this mission field. So what then? Right now for me, it’s relying on the Lord for provision. It’s praying and waiting. I just have such a hard time with that - the waiting part.

I have to remember that when I’m alone the roadblocks look much bigger. I lack the perspective to see past where I’m at. Especially when I’m walking down this road and I stumble upon this huge boulder impeding my path. All I can see is this boulder. I get frustrated when I realize that there’s nothing more I can do to move it. And as long at it’s there, I can’t continue forward. When I stare at it long enough I lose all perspective and hope. Then once I’ve run the gambit of frustration I realize that this burden isn’t mine and I need to hand it over to the Lord.

[Photo courtesy of IndianaJones.com]

It’s been 18 years since Harrison Ford donned the fedora last. Here’s the first shot released of the upcoming movie - due out next summer.

So what’s your opinion? Is is Indy too old?

For the first time since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, a distributor will be courting the church-going audience with the release of Universal’s $200-million Evan Almighty — reportedly the most costly comedy ever made — this weekend. Today’s (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times observed that in recent years, studios have avoided making films with content aimed at the faithful. (Gibson’s Passion was self-financed; Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia played down the religious themes, although the studio heavily marketed the film to churchgoers.) However, the Times observed, “If Evan Almighty turns into a summer hit, as several competing studio executives predict, the movie could put Hollywood back in the business of making big-budget movies that intentionally embrace sacred subjects.” According to the newspaper, Universal has partnered with Grace Hill Media, the marketing firm that several studios are using to bring the film to the attention of the country’s estimated 200,000 churches. It has conservatively estimated that the movie will earn $40 million on opening weekend. IMDB

This whole thing just doesn’t settle well with me (yes, I’ve said it before). Hollywood marketing towards churches? I don’t think anything good can come from this. The only thing they want is money. They’re trying to find the best way to get the biggest audience. This is not a Christian film. This is a big budget Hollywood film. It’s made to make money. I just find it interesting that churches are so willing to be marketed to. What does this have to do with the Great Commission or the Gospel?So a big fat “thank you” is in order to Grace Hill Media. Thank you for caring so much about our money. Their slogan is “a window to the religous community.” We just let ourselves be suckered into this and the churches are more than willing to jump aboard.

“Here’s the funniest thing: In trying desperately to reconnect with religious Americans, Hollywood assumes religious Americans are so dumb they’ll laugh at anything,” Michael Booth observes in a review of Evan Almighty in the Denver Post.

The only way you’ll ever get bonafide movies that are good (sorry Bibleman, I’m not talking about you) and of merit are when you finance them yourself. We’ve seen that with Mel Gibson and The Passion. Like it or not, that was a movie with clear personal conviction and beliefs. That’s the only way you’ll get something with a remote amount of integrity. And the reason that Grace Hill Media exists is because there is no integrity left in the country’s “200,000 churches.”

For more on my views on Christian movies check out this post on:

I want more R rated Christian Films