News round-up: August 14

News round-up: August 14

Grassroots campaigning for purpose-driven movie

While Fantastic Four has not been exciting audiences around the world, one of its stars has a new movie coming out this year that we should be enthused about. Kate Mara plays the lead role in Captive, based on the true story of a woman held hostage in her home by an escaped convict. Co-starring the man who played Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, David Oyelowo, Captive will present the remarkable way that Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life had a huge impact on the two desperate people involved in that siege situation. While so many mainstream movies ignore or dilute Christian content, Captive appears set to focus upon what Warren’s bestselling book has to reveal about how God’s plans for everyone can be understood and lived out.

Captive is slated to be released in the USA next month and doesn’t yet have any Australian release date. Click here to check out the American website which is stuffed with helpful resources and materials to assist with grassroots campaigning. Like many prominent “faith-based movies” in the USA, Captive is being pitched at local Congregations and ministry teams, to assist its promotion and success. We’ll be sure to let you know how Captive fares when it’s released.

READ MORE

 

Generosity encouraged in Los Angeles

A simple yet powerful social experiment has been conducted in Los Angeles’ Union Station. Under the banner of #loveLA, two blokes put up a board in the busy train station. They pinned dollar bills to it and wrote at the top: “Give what you can, take what you need.” Click here to watch the video of what happened. Rather than people filling their pockets with free money, the reaction to the board had more in common with Christian teachings about giving generously, in light of Jesus Christ’s extreme generosity (see verses such as Luke 6:37-38; Acts 20:35; 1 Timothy 6:17-19).

READ MORE

 

Man dies in wilderness, emulating Jesus

A 73-year-old Zimbabwean man has died after reportedly trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. According to Nehanda Radio in Zimbabwe, Khulu Reinfirst Manyuka left home in the middle of June to pray and fast for 40 days. Apparently, Manyuka headed into the bush for a solitary time of devotion to God, inspired by Jesus’ famous 40 days of fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-2). “He was a very spiritual man. It’s unfortunate he had to die this way,” said a close relative.

READ MORE

 

Sydney’s Christian radio station breaks a world record

If you worked at a media company striving to broadcast the good news of Jesus to Australia’s largest city, what sort of world-record would you try to set? Most amount of Bible verses read in one minute? Hymns sung at the highest-pitch ever? Longest sermon in the world, or even “most amount of times ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ is said during a news break? None of those records were set this week by Hope 103.2FM (perhaps one of them is what they will try next. Instead, Sydney’s biggest Christian radio station locked in the world record for…… the highest amount of blankets placed on top of one person. Ever! Check out the video of the bizarre stunt, which aimed to raise awareness for Parramatta Mission’s Blanket Appeal – collecting blankets for homeless people in the Parramatta area.

READ MORE

 

Share

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top