The recently-televised Oscars Awards eclipsed all previous viewing records. Needless to say, I didn’t tune in and don’t view a lot of films. My daughter on the other hand, has an interest in theatre, the film industry and acting. She is a prolific writer of poems and short stories and is working on “the great American novel” (I think it is approaching 100 pages at present).
One of her interests is to develop a story line and script, recruit friends to act in or help film her project. She then edits it using her Mac computer with the help of iMovie, provides the music and other necessary accompanying features to develop a 10-15 minute DVD containing the finished product. Her most recent effort, “Timeless” is a film about two friends meeting early in life and sharing 60-70 years over long distances and separate family households of husbands, children and the ultimate loss of spouses. The story ends in a nursing home as the two roommates continue their friendship that spans time and space until one dies. The final scene shows the remaining friend placing dolls on her friend’s grave along with a note and picture the two had compiled during their early childhood days; very touching with a worldview message of how Jesus intends for us to reach out to one another in relationships.
Many of her friends and kids around the country are doing the same; some with a similar focus on Biblical worldview, others focused on another worldview; however, they all are expressing themselves through film and share it with one another as well as watch it on the big screen.
Much of the film industry today doesn’t focus on a Biblical worldview, although there is certainly a discernable worldview in most films – mostly one we wouldn’t as believers subscribe. Like my daughter, there are many young teens and adults who want to use the film industry to make a difference for the Kingdom and have God establish the work of their hands (Psalm 90:17). What would a film production company look like if the produced movies focused upon a Biblical worldview? How would it potentially develop with Christian filmmakers educating a new generation of filmmakers, actors, writers by focusing them on Biblical worldview themes? What might be God’s intent in reclaiming this important media for His Kingdom if Christians with talents, abilities and responsibility we took seriously His claim of ownership over all realms?
The Wilberforce Forum on Monday, March 15 will welcome to the program David Kirkpatrick, former President of Paramount Pictures, Touchtone and Walt Disney Studios where he oversaw some 200 movies including Forrest Gump, Top Gun, The Firm, Ghost, Witness, Ordinary People, Hunt For Red October, Terms of Endearment, Dead Poet’s Society, Elephant Man, An Officer And A Gentleman, Reds and Little Mermaid. He also was responsible for such successful franchises as the Indiana Jones, and Star Trek series. David is currently the President of Plymouth Rock Studios in Massachusetts building a firm focusing on producing films with a Christian Worldview heart. In addition, Nancy Fitzgerald, President and CEO of Anchors Away Ministries will join us in the discussion of how film impacts today’s teen and could be used to develop and reinforce a Biblical Worldview in teens through the use of film.
Join the discussion on Monday, March 15 beginning at 8 p.m. EST by navigating to the Colson Center for Christian Worldview (www.colsoncenter.org) and opening the Wilberforce Forum Program icon on the front page of the site.
Is it "Snowmageddon" or Climategate?
By Robert Acuff|Published Date: February 15, 2010
Pick up any major newspaper and you don’t need to peruse very far from the front page to find an article, opinion or even a faith-based piece addressing climate change. To say the least, the snow blanketing much of the Northeast and particularly the Nation’s Capitol, have introduced new terminology to our vocabulary, i.e. snowmageddon, snOMG, and snowcalism to name three. The term ‘snowmageddon’ has been introduced to indicate not only the storms dumping large accumulations of snow, but also to change the landscape of the discussion from ’global warming’ to ‘climate change’. Or as one senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress wrote (see ‘On Faith’, Washington Post, February 11), “it is ‘global weirding’, in fact, and that's climate change in its erratic weather pattern manifestation.” All this on the heels of what is being called ‘Climategate scandal’; the salacious exposure of hidden emails and side stepping of the Freedom of Information Act in Great Britain by scientists contributing data to and writing reports for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); the same scientists that produced the 2007 report for the IPCC indicating serious temperature increases in the Earth’s climate based on data collection that they refused to share with the public.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference was recently held in Copenhagen, Denmark (December 2009), where the Copenhagen Accord set the framework for the global concern by governments to climate change. Basically, the Accord focuses on three key issues; 1) It raised climate change to the highest level of government; 2) The Accord reflects a political consensus on the long-term, global response to climate change; 3) The negotiations brought an almost full set of decisions to implement rapid climate action near to completion. Although the Accord is not a legally binding document as yet, it again targets developing countries in assisting them in adapting to a warmer world and helping to transition to a lower carbon dioxide emission economy through financing by developed countries ($30 billion) by 2012. This approach potentially limits their development and economic success; a topic of concern previously addressed on the Forum.
What are we to believe? What is fact and what is fiction? What impact if any, will be wrought from unscrupulous scientists desiring to preserve their own self interests and research in an attempt to shape the debate and influence global public policy focusing on the climate? This Monday, February 15th we once again welcome Dr. E. Calvin Beisner founder of and the National Spokesman for, the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation (www.cornwallalliance.org), to the Forum as our guest. Dr. Beisner attended the Copenhagen Conference and we will be discussing this as well as Christian Creation Stewardship and our response as Christians, to environmentalism.
The Wilberforce Weekend Conference: a Commissioning, a Reminder, a Returning
By Robert Acuff|Published Date: February 01, 2010
“we must not deceive ourselves: the eyes of men are upon us”, Jacques Ellul
The Wilberforce Weekend Conference was held on January 15-17, 2010 at the National Conference Center in Lansdowne, Virginia. This weekend highlights the compilation of a year’s worth of intensive Biblical Worldview training for BreakPoint Centurions, their commissioning and the opportunity to become acquainted with an individual who has exemplified the character of William Wilberforce through the award named in his honor.
Does Current Healthcare Reform Legislation Violate the Doctor-Patient Covenant?
By Robert Acuff|Published Date: December 31, 2009
Join us at 8pm Eastern for The Wilberforce Forum.
Dr. David Stevens is the Chief Executive Officer of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the nation’s largest faith-based organization of doctors. Dr. Stevens, as spokesman for more than 17,000 doctors, recently (December 14, 2009) sent a letter cancelling his membership in the American Medical Association (AMA) and is encouraging other faith-based physicians to consider taking the same action. In his communication to the AMA, Dr. Stevens states that the AMA has “violated the doctor-patient covenant and sells out our professional heritage”. He further states that the organization representing approximately 17 percent of US physicians, has vigorously lobbied to overturn the right of conscious rule implemented during the previous administration to protect healthcare providers from performing procedures or dispensing drugs that they believe harm rather than preserve the sanctity of life.
The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
By Robert Acuff|Published Date: November 25, 2009
A special edition of the Wilberforce Forum aired last evening with four of the one hundred fifty-two original signers of the Manhattan Declaration (www.manhattandeclaration.org) which was released last Friday during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The Declaration is the compilation of thought from Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians focusing upon three basic tenets of the Christian faith: the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage between a man and a woman and the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
The Forum welcomed Jeanne Dennis, Dean Stinchfield and Sue Thielke each a Commissioned Centurion on Monday September 28, to discuss their ministries and outreach into the culture. We asked each to give a brief overview of their ministry and to probe how God has pursued and sustained them during the development of their faithfulness to Him.
