Blog - Page 268 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The White Countess

By John Armstrong|2007-05-15T08:01:49-05:00May 15th, 2007|Categories: Film|

The White Countess is the final collaborative film project of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, two of the most remarkable visual story tellers of our era. This brilliantly told story is situated in Shanghai just prior to the Japanese invasion of World War II. Shanghai was a glamorous, corrupt boomtown filled with émigrés from many parts of the world. The countess is a Russian aristocratic émigré who had fled Russia following the Revolution. She meets an American who was formerly a diplomat. The American lost his wife and child in an explosion and also lost his own sight. The American diplomat is played by the superb actor Ralph Fiennes, two-time Oscar nominee, who I still think played a great Martin Luther in the most recent movie version of his life. The countess is Natasha Richardson who starred in the movie version of Patty Hearst: Maid in Manhattan.

The film ends with a spectacular mass exodus from Shanghai with the countess, Sophie, being abandoned by her self-righteous in-laws, played by the famous Redgrave sisters, Lynn and Vanessa. The in-laws try to secretly escape […]

Our ACT 3 Board Meeting

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:18-05:00May 14th, 2007|Categories: Missional Church|

This evening we begin our annual three-day board meeting for the trustees of ACT 3. We will convene in our home with nine of us present beside me. The agenda will include the usual reports about the past year as well as updates on our financial situation and stewardship of our budget and resources. There is much to rejoice about in this business.

What excites me about this particular meeting, and thus what I ask you to pray about if you read this blog regularly, is the time we will spend tomorrow and Wednesday discussing our ten-year vision for impacting churches and leaders to become missional in their orientation and self-awareness. This is what drives me at the end of the day. I believe in reformation, revival, commitment to orthodoxy, sound preaching, prayer and healthy pastoral ministry. But the driving purpose of this ministry is to help the church, through its leaders and people, to become missional.

I am convinced that at the beginning of the twenty-first century we have witnessed tectonic shifts in Western culture. The marginalization of Christianity […]

What is Important to Me?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 14th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

Some years ago I met a minister from Atlanta, Dr. Monte Wilson, who has proven to be a true friend for nearly thirteen years. Monte has been investing his life in a James 1:26-27 ministry for over a decade now. His primary work is related to caring for orphans and widows in Africa and doing the kind of work that political liberals talk a great deal about but compassionate Christians like Monte risk their lives to carry out in places like Darfur.

Monte is an astute conservative politically. He is also has a first-rate theological mind. He is a Reformed Episcopalian minister ecclesiastically, though he retains a good dose of his charismatic and Baptist roots. He understands that the gospel of the kingdom is meant to impact people and cultures both. More than labels he is a refreshingly honest and courageous man who doesn’t really care much about many of the issues that once amped up his emotions and fired him for battle. For this, and many other reasons, he has had a wonderful and salutary influence upon me.

If I […]

Walking in the Race to Empower

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 13th, 2007|Categories: The Church|

The Race to Empower is a Chicago Mother’s Day race/walk to
raise money and awareness to fight against the dreaded disease of breast
cancer. This year marked the sixteenth annual event. It was my first experience of
being at this massive gathering in Grant Park, located in downtown Chicago.

My son-in-law Jason has been a part of this event for many
years, especially since his late mother died from a long struggle with breast cancer the
year before he married my daughter Stacy. Linda Kifer was deeply committed to living
her life with courage and dignity during seven hard years with cancer and gave a great deal to help this cause in the years prior to her passing away. I
wanted to share this experience with Jason as a “dad” and a friend.

Jason and Stacy own a martial arts academy called Superstar Karate. All of us, which included about
thirty students from the academy who came along, walked and ran (I walked). We all wore
black shirts that said: “Real Martial Artists Wear Pink.” This slogan was then
connected to the theme of the day and […]

The Transfiguration Syndrome

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 12th, 2007|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

A friend informs me that there exists in American evangelicalism a phenomenon that he calls “The Transfiguration Syndrome.” Peter’s desire to build three tents/shrines/retreat centers dedicated to each of the three figures that he encountered on the mountain of transfiguration is the background for this expression. My friend wonders if Peter was a modern evangelical if he might have stayed there on the mountain and build and direct the shrines, with new things to sell at the CBA Convention and a whole line of products for every seeker who came to visit. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

If you look at two mountains side-by-side the smallest possible area is on the top of each mountain. 99.9% of the movement going on is all about going down and then climbing up to the other mountain top. But people are always trying to find shortcuts to jump from one mountain to another. This is especially true with younger ministers who find the "success syndrome" appealing. They want to skip the going up and the going down process altogether. They do this buy into building shrines, […]

Why Comparison Never Helps

By John Armstrong|2007-05-10T21:59:43-05:00May 10th, 2007|Categories: Divine Providence|

Recently a friend referred to his own developed theory of dealing with pain and suffering by saying to me, “Comparison never helps!” I wrote that statement down and then thought about it for a good while. I have to agree with it at a very deep level.

Here is how this theory works. I break my arm but you loose your arm completely. You feel that compared to me you have it much worse than I do. The problem is my arm still hurts and I am experiencing real pain. For the two of us to compare ourselves, and our respective levels of pain, will serve no good purpose. Your pain is not my pain, end of discussion.

But Christians, like all people, tend to do this comparison shopping of providence all the time. It’s just that Christians can do it with a greater sense of warrant and piety since they believe in God’s active involvement in their lives. But you are you and I am me. We know that no temptation has taken either of us that is not […]

My Annual President's Letter

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 8th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

Each May I write to everyone in our database to allow
them the opportunity to hear our vision and financial needs clearly stated. (We
do not do major donor contacts month by month so this is our simple method of choice. We explain
and ask that you pray and decide to do what you will.) This year my letter was mailed by U. S.
postal service to over 1,500 readers at the end of April. With nearly 2,500
readers of the ACT 3 Weekly, and
thousands more readers of these blogs that I write each day, I am now making this same
letter available to all who can receive it in various Internet forms. I humbly ask
you to read this letter, which is quite short and to the point, and then to respond
to it in whatever way that you feel led by God.

The purpose of ACT 3 is clearly stated in these words:

ACT 3 is a ministry to advance the missional mandate of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the third millennium, through the witness of Scripture and the wisdom
of the Christian tradition.

[…]

Two Inspiring Faith Films

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 8th, 2007|Categories: Film|

I recently watched two films (now on DVD) that were wonderfully inspirational. The first film was: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Pacifist and Nazi Resister (2003) The second was: Mother Teresa (2003). Both were worth the investment of my time.

Bonhoeffer is the story of the German pastor/theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died at the end of World War II as a martyr. He was indirectly connected to an underground movement that attempted the assassination of Adolf Hitler. (By the way this plot almost succeeded thus one wonders what would have happened had Hitler died two years sooner. How many lives would have been saved by this heroic, but ethically difficult, act?) The film is a riveting narrative on the nature of true faith and discipleship. Bonhoeffer has not become a role model to many modern Christians simply because he died at the end of the Second World War. He is a hero and role model of obedient faith because of the way he both lived and died as a faithful disciple of Christ. If you have ever read Letters and Papers from Prison you will […]

Who's Kidding Who?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:19-05:00May 7th, 2007|Categories: Politics|

There is clearly a "Christian Left" growing among evangelicals in America. We have heard a great deal about the "Christian Right" for more than two decades. I frequently critique this movement unfavorably. But what is the Christian Left?

The Christian Left is almost as hard to define, in one certain sense, as the Christian Right. And it is equally hard to tell, at least at this point, how many people actually fit this new designation and just how many potential voters this movement really represents. Is there real political power in this movement? Time will tell. It seems to be a small right group now but the movement is clearly gaining in terms of public notice. It is especially appealing to some evangelical Christians who draw a lot of attention to a select set of issues that they have linked to the Bible in a certain way.

There can be no doubt that since the 2004 presidential campaign this movement has grown in popularity. It is becoming increasingly outspoken in how it frames the political issues of the day in […]

A Beautiful Commencement Day at Wheaton

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:20-05:00May 6th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

Commencement Week at Wheaton College was this weekend. My son, Matthew John, received an M. A. degree in Christian Formation & Ministry. This obviously made the day special for our entire family. It was also a very special day for me because I had the privilege of teaching some of those who received their degrees in the class of ’07 (Grace Lee, Yreille Belizarie, Wendy Bisset and Nancy Mowers). As I watched my students proceed into Edman Chapel, cross the platform to receive their degrees, and then a few of them get special honors bestowed upon them, I couldn’t help but celebrate this personal achievement. These were my students, people that I came to know and love over the past few years. I am an adjunct professor of evangelism, thus I teach only two or three courses each academic year but what a thrill this investment is in the lives of such choice servants of God. This teaching position allows me to meet some truly remarkable Christians who come to this unique place to better equip their minds and lives for Christ and His […]