The Norfolk Examiner picked up my Lenten Series in an article today. Here is the link: How can Protestant grandparents help grandchildren understand the Lenten season? Thanks, Cindy, for a nice write-up!

Focus on the Family’s 30-second Super Bowl ad featuring 2007 Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow is stirring up attention all over the place — and it hasn’t even aired yet! Focus on the Family Vice President for Pastoral Ministries H.B. London shares the inside scoop:

Would you believe all the commotion and publicity the 30-second Super Bowl® ad sponsored by Focus on the Family has received?

By our estimates — and they are pretty accurate — the pre-Super Bowl hype of the “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ad has registered to date 2,265,490,170 impressions. That is “billion” with a “B.” Amazing!

The interesting thing about all of this is that no one in the media has seen the ad. And, unless there is a big leak before Sunday, no one will see it until it is shown during the Super Bowl pre-game show and the first quarter of the game itself.

Another interesting phenomenon is that, even those in the liberal media who have opposed us before — and disagree even now with most of what we stand for at Focus on the Family — are defending our right to run the Super Bowl ad.

On February 2, 2010, The Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins wrote, “I’m pro-choice and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I’ve heard in the past week, I’ll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the ‘National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women all the time’ (referring to the group NOW). They aren’t actually ‘pro-choice’ so much as they are pro-abortion.”

She continues, “If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem.”

Interestingly enough — a little inside stuff here — our Super Bowl ad never mentions abortion. Also, as we have reported in other columns, not one dollar was spent from our regular operating expenses at Focus on the Family to underwrite the cost of the “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ad.

You can read the Sally Jenkins article mentioned here: Tebow’s Super Bowl ad isn’t intolerant; its critics are. And don’t forget to watch for the commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. It will air twice: once during the pre-game show and then again during the first quarter.

From The Christian Institute:

A Christian family from Germany have been granted political asylum in the US after facing the threat of prison for home schooling their children. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, who are evangelical Christians, were forced to flee Germany as they wished to educate their five children at home.

Home schooling is still illegal in Germany under laws introduced during the Nazi era. The German law means that parents who choose to home school their children can face fines or even imprisonment … The family endured harassment from the authorities, and on one occasion police officers came to the family’s home and forced the children to attend school. The family fled to the US after Germany’s highest court ruled that in severe cases of non-compliance social services could remove home schooled children from their parents.

Describing the case, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman said that “the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate”. He added: “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German Government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”

The Romeike family were represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

HT: First Thoughts

Whereas I have spoken out freely against abortion on this blog in the past, I thought it was important to share my view on this weekend’s murder of Dr. George Tiller. Dr. Tiller, who built a reputation for his willingness to perform late-term abortions, was shot and killed Sunday while serving as an usher at his church. Although details have not yet been released, it is most likely that he was killed because of his work in the abortion trade.

Murder is not pro-life. It is wrong to take the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, and it is wrong to take the life of the late-term abortionist who takes the life of the child in the womb. There is no justification for murder. Pro-life leaders across the nation have rightly denounced Sunday’s murder as an evil deed that stands directly opposed to the values of the pro-life movement. Please pray for the family of George Tiller even as we continue to work and pray for the protection of human life within the womb.

I found this news story out of New Hampshire disturbing. I do not believe the definition of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples, so I should be glad that the New Hampshire House of Representatives did not pass this bill. However, I am disturbed because of the reason why it did not pass.

Reuters:

A bill that would have made New Hampshire the sixth state in the United States to authorize gay marriage stalled unexpectedly Wednesday over concessions to religious groups opposed to such unions.

The state’s House of Representatives objected to language in the bill that would have allowed religious groups to decline to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies or to offer gay couples other services …

A version of the bill with more limited religious protections passed the state’s House of Representatives on March 26.

So as I understand it, the New Hampshire House of Representatives would have voted to pass the bill if it did not contain language protecting the right of conscience for religious groups. This would imply that they want to use the bill in the future to require religious groups to participate in same-sex ceremonies — even if such participation were to violate their conscience and religious beliefs. That would be a dangerous precedent as well as a violation of First Amendment rights. (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”)

HT: Stand to Reason

Today is the National Day of Prayer for the United States. The purpose of the National Day of Prayer is to gather the people of our country to come together and pray, particularly for our nation and for those in leadership on all levels of local, national, church and educational areas of influence.

Let me encourage you to participate in this special day of prayer for our nation. Over 40,000 prayer events are scheduled to take place this year across the country — at churches, schools, government buildings and other public gathering places. Some local pastors and I will be hosting an event in Agawam, MA during the lunch hour. To find an event near you, click here.

Some of you have been following and praying for the proposed merger between Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and New City Church in South Florida. This morning Tullian Tchividjian preached his candidating sermon at Coral Ridge. The membership of Coral Ridge voted following the service at a special congregational meeting with 91% of the congregation voting to support the call. So, it is now official. The two congregations will unite for their first worship service on Easter Sunday, April 12th.

This is a culmination of many months of meetings, planning and prayer between the leadership of the two congregations. Please continue to pray for a smooth transition for both congregations as they come together to serve the Lord in South Florida. (Note: Coral Ridge was founded and pastored by Dr. D. James Kennedy who went home to be with the Lord in September, 2007 at the age of 76. Tullian will be the church’s second pastor.)

Related post:  Interview with Tullian Tchividjian

Please pray for the First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL who lost their pastor today when a gunman opened fire during the morning service. Please pray also for Pastor Winters’ wife and daughters at this time of loss.

Pastor Fred Winters with his wife Cindy and their two children, Alysia Grace and Cassidy Hope

From the church website:

Today, a little after our 8:15 service began, a man entered First Baptist Church and fired several gunshots at our Senior Pastor, Dr. Fred Winters. Pastor Winters was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds.

Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss.

In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives. We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God’s Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in.

To those who believe in the power of prayer, we covet your prayers right now.

With Congress debating the current trillion-dollar stimulus package, it might be good to stop and ask ourselves, “Just how big is a trillion?” Yes, it is a “1″ followed by 12 zeros, (1,000,000,000,000), but how big is that in dollars? Here are some numbers from The Family Research Council:

• If you stack up $1,000 bills, $1 trillion would need a pile that is 80 miles high.
• $ 1 trillion is more than the combined gross revenues of Wal Mart, Exxon, General Motors and Ford Motors.

With a trillion dollars:

• We could pave the entire U.S. interstate highway system with 23.5-karat gold leaf.
• We could buy 16.6 million Habitat for Humanity houses
• We could hire 1.9 million additional teachers

Amanda Shaw notes the cost of other large items in our past:

* The Marshall Plan cost $12.7 billion ($115.3 billion, adjusted for inflation)
* The space race cost $36.4 billion ($237 billion with inflation)
* The Korean War cost $54 billion ($454 billion with inflation)
* The New Deal cost $32 billion (estimated; $500 billion with inflation)
* The invasion of Iraq cost $551 billion ($597 billion with inflation)
* The Vietnam War cost $111 billion ($698 billion with inflation)

So, the total cost of the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, and the New Deal—using all figures adjusted for inflation—is less than that of the current economic stimulus package. That’s how much $1.1 trillion is.

And Mary Rose Ryback points out that $1 trillion is more than $1 million spent every day since Christ’s birth.

So, yes I know we are in a time of economic trouble, but we should think very carefully about whether and how we are going to spend a trillion dollars that we don’t even have. What do you think?

HT: In Light of the Gospel

Related post: Bailing Out the Bailout

Here is a neat simulation from the BBC of last week’s US Airways crash landing on the Hudson River in New York (Airbus A320; Flight 1549). This simulation gives you the pilot’s view from the cockpit. (Update: I have added a second video below along with the actual audio from the flight.)

(Video length: 2:25)

UK Company Just Flight Recreates ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ Landing For BBC And ITN Reports (Monday 19th January)

Millions of viewers around the globe watched incredible scenes unfold as Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger performed a miraculous emergency landing. Reports of this astonishing event were augmented by graphical footage provided by British flight simulator company, Just Flight.

Just Flight’s experts sprang into action to recreate the spectacular A320 landing manoeuvre for both BBC’s 6 O’clock and News at Ten bulletins last Friday – and then ITN’s 11pm news programme. They assisted with reports on the crash by providing a simulation reconstruction after a call came in from the BBC early Friday morning. BBC reporters then visited Just Flight’s offices to write their stories and the footage was constructed in time for lunch.

Using their software, Just Flight was able to simulate the incident in astonishing detail, including the full-engine failure and resulting fires at 3,000 feet, the dramatic turn at the George Washington Bridge at 1,000 feet when both engines had cutout and the final ditching opposite the 48th Street Pier on the Hudson River. This event recreation highlighted for viewers the heroic skills of Captain Sullenberger.

And here is another view along with the actual flight audio:
(Video length: 2:07)

Christianity Today reports on how the current financial crisis is affecting seminaries in the United States. Salt Lake Theological Seminary in Utah officially closed in October, although faculty and staff are continuing to work on a volunteer basis to allow graduating seniors to complete their degree programs. Larger seminaries are also feeling the pinch, including my own alma mater, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

With the stock market dropping 50 percent by November from its October 2007 peak, schools that rely on endowment income remain the most vulnerable. Dennis Hollinger, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, said the school lost $600,000 in endowment income in 2008. Some restricted endowment gifts have gone “under water,” meaning they are now worth less than the original gift, and the seminary cannot spend from the principal.

Hollinger said the Massachusetts school has cut close to $1 million from its budget of $20 million by canceling activities, realigning programs, and declining to replace departed staff. The school also closed its full-service bookstore, though a smaller shop will continue to sell textbooks.

Other schools discussed in the article include Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Please continue to pray for families, churches, seminaries, students and businesses during this time of economic stress.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Here are Christianity Today’s top ten religious stories of 2008:

1. Election 2008: Democrats woo evangelical vote, making only slight gains from Bush era.
2. Voters turn back California Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision.
3. Christians in Orissa, India, again become scapegoats for Hindu extremists.
4. Anglican Communion continues to implode in slow motion.
5. Christians flee Iraq and Gaza.
6. Candidates’ religious associations come under scrutiny.
7. Ministries hold their breath as financial crisis threatens the global economy.
8. Muslim and Christian interfaith dialogues get serious.
9. Todd Bentley’s Florida Outpouring divides charismatic movement.
10. Texas authorities raid FLDS ranch.

I liked CT’s list better than TIME’s list, which for some reason included Extraterrestrials May Already be Saved as part of its top ten. You can click here to vote on CT’s top story of the year.