Blog - Page 161 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Making a Feature Film with Hope

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 9th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Film, Personal|

Yesterday I wrote about film making and the presence of Christians working in this medium. I had some positive and negative things to say about evangelical attempts to make feature films. I would like to tell you more about how my friends at Intrigue Films view this and why I identify with their efforts so deeply.

Intrigue Films was birthed out of the conversion of several friends of mine in Phoenix, Arizona. These guys made the video of The ACT 3 Story which you can see on our Web site. They have also made a new feature film (without a title at this moment) that I had a role in as a minister counseling the lead actor.

I will tell you more about this film in a moment but first I want to tell you about my experience with […]

Do Christians Have a Place in Feature Films?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 8th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Film, Personal|

Readers know that I have a real love for film. In recent years I have studied film and watched more than my share of feature films. I wrote a few weeks ago about a seminar ACT 3 hosted in San Clemente for film makers, script writers, actors and producers. That event was attended by only ten but this was about what we wanted in the first place. My goal was a small intimate group of earnest young Christians who love film and who are devoted to making and marketing feature films with a Christian worldview.

Our special guest teacher was Brian Godawa (photo of him teaching our group), who is the author of the two best books I can recommend to you on film and worldview.: Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment and Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination. We enjoyed a lot […]

It's Time for the Oscars

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 7th, 2010|Categories: Film|

Movie fans, even those like me who dislike a lot about Hollywood culture and lifestyle, generally pay attention to the Oscars. We are particularly interested in things like “Best Picture,” “Best Actor,” “Best Actress,” etc. I do not usually watch the whole show, but I do pay some attention, and I always want to know what movie was deemed the “Best Picture of the Year” by the Academy. The Oscars will be presented in prime time tonight.

“Avatar” will win the best picture or I will be shocked at the Academy. I have been shocked before but this would be a huge surprise. The surprise movie might really be “The Hurt Locker” if any film is to knock off “Avatar” as the surprise film of the year. It was interesting to see that the British Academy actually gave the best film award to “The Hurt Locker.” I am less certain […]

The Sounds of Baseball and Spring

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 6th, 2010|Categories: Baseball, Personal|

I have spent the last few days in Florida and have a few more to enjoy. This has become an annual ritual designed to recharge my batteries and to rest. I usually come with my daughter and son-in-law and this year we are enjoying five Atlanta Braves spring training games. I have to admit nothing gets me ready for the summer, after way too much cold and snow in Chicago, like a week in Florida. This year is no different. All baseball fans know that in the spring everyone looks like a winner. I think the Braves have improved a bit, but the Phillies will still be hard to pass in the National League East this year. One can always dream when he is in Florida, and not one game for real has been played yet.

This year I am enjoying this time away because a dear friend made it possible. I do not have the monetary means to […]

Evolution, Science and the Constant Warfare in Evangelical Churches

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 5th, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Science|

For well over a hundred and forty years the church has waged an all-out battle against the idea of evolution. Some of this battle has been important in terms of protecting the centrality of God as the creator. A lot of it has been harmful to the cause of Christ and to the pursuit of truth. Witness the way many non-Christians actually think about Christians and science. No matter what you think about evolution itself you easily get my point. We look silly and foolish to millions of people. The question is simple: “Is this offense that we often give really necessary to our communication of the good news?”

One of the saddest things I have seen, for over forty years of public ministry, is the way anyone who believes in the idea of evolution is completely repudiated by large segments of the evangelical church. This simply should not be the case. A better grasp of the science, and the theology, of this whole debate would go a long way.

It has always interested me that […]

Evangelicals and the Early Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 4th, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church History, The Church|

Recently I wrote a blog about the very helpful five-volume series Ancient Christian Doctrine, based upon what the church fathers said about the Nicene Creed. In particular I recommended the book, We Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (2010), edited by Angelo Di Berardino.

This whole post brought up the subject of the study of the early church. One of the more exciting developments, at least among evangelicals, is their growing love for the early church and the writings of the fathers. And on of the most personally exciting developments, so far as I am concerned, is the new Wheaton Center for Early Church Studies at Wheaton College. This Center, directed […]

Whither Brian McLaren?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 3rd, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Emergent Church, Missional-Ecumenism, The Future|

The journey of pastor, leader and author Brian McLaren is one that has attracted a lot of attention. He has sold a lot of books and spoken to thousands of people around the world. Over the years traditional conservative evangelicals have often reacted against Brian. This growing mistrust, sometimes for good reason, has only grown over the last five years in particular. Others, who are more liberal (some are anti-evangelical and anti-confessional) have followed each new book by Brian with incredible interest and profound appreciation. Consider the endorsers of Brian’s book, first a list of respected evangelicals and now, generally speaking, a list of fairly liberal Christian leaders and authors. I started reading Brian when his first book came out years ago. On the whole I would describe my view back then as one of appreciation. I encouraged missional thinkers to read him and to wrestle with his ideas, especially what he wrote in his first book: […]

Ancient Christian Doctrine (5): We Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:11-05:00March 2nd, 2010|Categories: Church Tradition, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, Illinois) has given the church some of the finest academic resources, and they are often quite accessible to serious (non-technical) readers. Their various dictionaries on the disciplines of biblical theology come to mind, as does the well-established and surprise best-seller, the multi-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. There is an observable hunger for serious Christian scholarship and this hunger portends for better days to come. If we are commanded to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37) then such a recovery of scholarship for the people of God is a time for celebration. Several Christian publishers have very intentionally fed this growing hunger for solid, readable academic resources; e.g. Baker Academic and Brazos Press, Zondervan Academic and Eerdmans come to mind. But InterVarsity may lead the way, at least in terms of early church resources.

The most recent series of early […]

Celebrating 61 Years of Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:12-05:00March 1st, 2010|Categories: Personal|

Today I celebrate, on a very modest private scale I assure you, my 61st birthday. It honestly does not seem possible that I have reached this age. I suppose it is impossible to truly imagine oneself being 61 when you are 21 or 31. Somewhere, after age 50, I began to think about the length of my life differently. At 60 (as seen in this photo at the Sox game with my daughter Stacy and son-in-law Jason) I began to think about life in terms of how a team approaches a football game. After 60 we are in the fourth quarter, with the major difference being we have no idea when the buzzer will sound ending our earthly life. (One could also think of being in the ninth inning I guess, but you have no idea when […]

More on the Launch of the New Book

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:12-05:00February 28th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

As I mentioned yesterday the new book, Your Church Is Too Small, will be delivered next Friday. If you have ordered a copy it should arrive within two or three weeks as it takes some time for the publisher to ship to the supplier and then for the supplier to get the book out to those who have pre-ordered it.

If you live in Chicago I invite your to attend the book luncheon on Wednesday, March 17, at 11:45 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in Carol Stream. It is best that you register for this event at www.act3online.com but if you simply show up you should be able to join us for lunch. The cost is $20, almost all of which is for the lunch itself. I will make a brief presentation about how and why I wrote the book and […]