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Doctrinal Beliefs

Values

Virtues

With mid-August, school, and pre-season football getting kicked off there’s also another staple of the end of summer that will soon be upon us…the last summer, early fall movie release. Several blockbuster hopefuls are set to hit the Silver Screen very shortly. A quick Google search of fall 2009 releases will yield a lengthy list of all the cinematic pictures getting ready to be released.

Despite the variety in genre, actors and actresses’ and even content, all movies share at least one thing in common. They all are given a rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Ratings ranging from G to NC-17 are awarded to deserving movies for their content, theme and screenplay.

But what exactly do those ratings mean? To read exactly what the MPAA says about their rating system click here to visit the official MPAA website. While I strongly recommend you visiting this site here are my summaries for each category.

G (General Audience)—All ages are allowed to come see the show. However, a G rating does not signify a children’s film nor guarantee zero content that parents may find offensive. As a general rule of thumb, G’s are pretty safe.

PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)—PG movies typically have the markers of safe and family friendly. Although, while this may be true in a general sense even the MPAA recommends all parents investigate PG movies before allowing their children to view. Under the PG banner a movie can contain “some profanity, brief depictions of violence and brief nudity.”

PG-13 (Parents Strongly Caution)—Ok, Mom’s and Dad’s you really do have to read the MPAA description of this rating. It uses the word nudity, a lot, lays out specifics as to how and how often the “F-Word” may be used and is the longest of the rating descriptions.

R (Restricted Audience)—Very plainly stated by the MPAA, R-rated movies contain “adult material”. Specifically an R-rated movie contains “adult themes, adult activity (veiled language for sex), hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, and drug abuse.” The MPAA counsels parents to take this rating very seriously.

NC-17 (No One under 17 Permitted)—Typically we do not see this rating given very often. It comes with some pretty heavy stereotypes and movie makers choose to stay within the boundaries of R-rated movies instead of having to deal with the negative press that this rating would generate. A good of thumb for this rating is simply to stay away.

Movies always seem to be a very interesting topic for debate among people. From what my parents tell me two generations ago Christians wouldn’t be caught dead in a theater, and if you did get caught you would have rather died than suffer the embarrassment of people seeing you at the show. Fast forward to today and even Christians my age and younger are way too permissive about what we watch. Even when movies clearly challenge biblical morals and doctrines you’ll here statements such as “that’s the culture, we can’t get away from it so we might as well watch it.”

I’d like to call, Community Grace and all Believers, to a biblical and balanced perspective towards all media and in the context of this article specifically movies. Is watching a movie a sin? No it’s not. Is turning away from our God-given ability to think, reason, investigate and make wise decisions the best way to use our time? No it’s not.

So let’s let God, through the Apostle Paul, guide our thinking about film and media. Philippians 4:8 says, “ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Where movies fit these categories I say “watch away”, where they don’t, biblical wisdom leads us to stay away.

Here are two valuable resources that the Clothier’s use to determine a movies Philippians 4:8 credentials.

www.screenit.com –This site is extremely valuable in breaking down the brass tax of movie content. It will itemize and give a detailed list of all areas of a movie’s content. The one drawback is if you do not pay for a subscription you’ll have to wait a week after a movie opens in the box office to read its review.

www.pluggedinmag.com – This is a very conservative media review site that explores not only movies but all media. Published by Focus on the Family you’ll find good synopses from a Christian perspective. The site does not break down brass tax facts for all categories but rather gives a commentary about the movie.

As school looms ever nearer I would encourage you to have a family discussion about movies and media. Read the rating descriptions and Philippians 4:8 together and decide how your family will process and filter movies specifically and media in general. Teenagers are never too young to be given some “guided ownership” over what they watch and fill their minds with. In fact, they need you Mom and Dad to help them biblically balance convictions and culture.

For His Glory,

Timothy C.

So by now I”m sure you have heard all of the cool things that God did both corporately and incividually at Momentum this year.  It was a great week!!!

Thank you for being patient those last few days with my short posts that lacked pictures.  We were getting back to our dorms around 12:00am and having to be up by 6:30 am the next morning.  In an effort to get you up to speed, grafically speaking, here are the pictures from the last few days.

What am amazing two days!!! God has worked so powerfully. These days have also been long and exhausting. More details, pictures and stories will come. For now… bed

Getting Instructions for Limited Senses

Our afternoon began with some team building games.  We had a great time on the football field playing and solving puzzles together.  After we played two team building games we got in a circle  and encouraged one another while passing around some yarn.  At the end, after each person had shared, the yarn made a really cool web, as it was stretched and connected to each person.  We spent time talking about being united in one heart and one soul (Acts. 4:32) and then had a really neat time of prayer together.  After that was done some guys ran the “40″ and timed themselves.  I think Chris O’Hara took the gold as fastest guy in our youth group.

Kondo

Tonight Kontdo Simfukwa (sp) from Christ’s Covenant Church spoke during the main session.  He spent much of his time teaching through Eph. 5 and Genesis 2 on the love that Jesus has for the church.  He then challenged students to love the church as Jesus loves the church.  “You cannot love the Head (Jesus) and hate the body (the church)” said Kondo.  Students were then asked to do 3 things.  If they do not love the church, 1. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to cause in you a love for the church and 2. Call your pastor and tell him that you are “so in” (committed).

After the main session we had youth group time in which we brainstormed ways that we can love and serve Community Grace.  After a good time of sharing I then asked the students if they indeed loved the church.  Planning things to do is great, but if loving the church becuase Jesus does is not our motivation than our plans will be short lived.  Zach Stichter than asked if Pastor Tom was still in the church office (mind you it is 11:15 at night at this point).  I told Zach no but then told the students that Tom IS in Arizona which Cendall Ogle caught and realized that he is several hours behind us in time zones.  So we called PT and one by one students told PT that they were committed to our church and appreciated him as their pastor.  It was really moving and the students were more excited and energetic than I have ever seen them before.

God has so powerfully been at work in our group this week.  There will be dozens of stories and God moments to share.  Thank you for the time you spend praying for us.  Please continue to do so.  I can’t wait to see what God will do tomorrow.

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  Shawn McBride challenged our students from Hebrews to “throw off hinderances and the sin that so easily entangles.”  Many students during our youth group time later on that night talked about hinderances in their lives that they are throwing off.   Students also were convicted that they are more in love with their sin than their Savior.  One thing that was so cool to see take place was during our youth group time students were encouraging each other and sharing Scripture with each other.  Someone would share, then someone else would encourage them with Scritprue and things that God has taught them in the past.  It was so neat to see and listen to them care for each other like that and to watch them take each other to the Word and Jesus.

Thank you, parents and church body, for praying and fasting for our students yesterday.  God is at work in each one of their hearts.  Please continue to pray for them, that God will continue to convict of sin, encourage broken hearts, and deepen their passion and love for Him.

Other Hightlights:

1. Our Girls repeated at Basketball Champs!!!

2. Both Guys B-ball teams lost in the quarter-finals

3. Students are having a great time with each other

4. The food is great!!!

5. Everyone is safe and healthy

6. Team building games today

Thanks again.  Here are pictures!!!

Today has been a great start to what we are praying is a great week.  Right out of the gate tonight God hammered all of us with the reality that we haven’t spent nearly the time in His Word that we must.  Shawn McBride was fantastic and challenged us all to be less consumed with the world and more consumed with the Bible.

FEE was amazing as always.  Their music stirs passion, energy, excitement, and praise.

Be praying for our students as they have already made commitments to be more in the Word.  Tomorrow many of them are waking up early to pray and spend time with Jesus BEFORE breakfast.  Tomorrow (July 14) is also our church wide day of prayer and fasting.  The focus of this day is for the entire church to pray and fast for our students as they are here at Momentum.  Please join in prayer and fasting tomorrow for the students and leaders.

Here are pictures from day 1.

We have arrived…unpacked…stuffed hundreds of folders…and found our beds.   It’s been a good day!  The folders we stuffed were for the Momentum Adult staff.  They will all receive their folders at the staff meeting that happens tomorrow evening when everyone arrives.  We are excited to see the rest of the youth group along with Matt, Zach, Melisa, and Lauren.

Tomorrow morning it’s up for breakfast, which is at 8:00…then whatever we can do serve the CE National Staff and help get RMU ready for Momentum.

Here are some misc pictures from the week that may/may not have been uploaded.  I took around 400 pictures and some video.

Here are the other videos that I took this past week as well.

I am currently writing from Pittsburgh, PA where we have arrived safely. It was a six hour trip, but we all slept almost the whole way. We are exhausted!!

Thursday night we went to Love Park and witnessed to the homeless. We handed out meals consisting of PB&J, a bag of chips, and a water, and also a pair of socks (we ate the same thing, minus the socks ). It was a very cool time to connect with people that we are normally sheltered from in Warsaw. They are people who are more grateful and sacrificial than in most cases of what we are. Surprisingly, all of them are open and LOVE to simply be listened to. Another cool thing to realize was that most of them are believers….definitely something that none of us were really expecting.It was a very neat way to jump out of some of our comfort zones and share the love of Jesus to some hurting people in Philly.

Friday evening, then, we participated in Friday Night Rock, their church’s youth group. We played a game that no one really understood the rules of, but involved water balloons and water guns….and us getting soaked. When we were done, we headed back to UHTC and had a great time of fellowship with the kids in the group and each other–the teens there are awesome people with great hearts to see people come to Jesus. When it came time to go to bed, everyone was disappointed because we didn’t want to stop hanging out with anyone; however, we were all exhausted and by the time we finally crawled into bed we were out in no time The next morning was filled with packing and prepping for a long drive…we are all sad to leave, but we know that God has changed our hearts and are excited to continue our ministries at Momentum and once we get home.

Tomorrow morning we are getting up and heading over to Grace Community Church where we will join them in Worship.  After Worship the plan is to come back to John Sloat’s house, eat, re-pack, head to Wal-Mart and then to Robert Morris University.  Once at RMU we will help the CE staff set up and get ready for what we are praying is a great week.

Once again we are all gassed and ready to go to bed.  Tell Community Grace we say “hi” tomorrow!!!