Steven Lawson

Pop. The students of San Francisco Christian Academy instantly recognize the noise. Pop. Pop. Academy teachers know the sounds too. Gunfire. Across the street. Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco—as the famous song goes—but he probably didn’t leave it here in the city’s tough-as-nails Tenderloin district, otherwise known as “the Loin.” …

Miracles in a Tough-as-Nails San Francisco Neighborhood Read More »

All eyes will be on glitz, glitter and glamour of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Show this Sunday as Hollywood’s awards season reaches its apex. But another very different awards celebration did not go unnoticed. Celebrities, studio executives, writers and producers gathered February 18 for the 19th Annual MovieGuide Faith and Values Awards Gala.

While The Social Network, The King’s Speech and Black Swan are Oscar favorites, it was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader that won MovieGuide’s $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of 2010.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third in a series of Chronicles of Narnia movies Walden Media has released, and is the theatrical presentation of the acclaimed series of children’s books by C.S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, released in 2005, was the first movie (and book). It also claimed a MovieGuide award and an Oscar, and is the 38th highest box office grossing film of all time. In 2008, Walden Media released Prince Caspian: the Return to Narnia.

As part of an intensive missions thrust, 55 teams from the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry spanned the globe earlier this year, serving the poor, praying for the sick and reportedly seeing miraculous healings.

From Nicaragua to Norway to Thailand, 1,189 students spent up to two weeks in March serving others and expecting an "open heaven" for ministry during the outreach led by Bethel Church in Redding, Calif.

Photo by Julie Peters: Bethel students play with children in a trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua after putting on a concert and feeding the hungry.

The Blind Side topped the winners at the 18th annual Movieguide Awards this week in Beverly Hills, Calif., taking home the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for most inspiring movie of 2009.

The film, which also received a best picture Academy Award nomination, stars Sandra Bullock and tells the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless youth who was adopted by a white family in Mississippi and eventually went to college and became a professional football player. It beat out the Arthur Blessitt documentary The Cross, Disney's A Christmas Carol, Knowing, T.D. Jakes' Not Easily Broken, The Soloist, and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself for the top prize.

Mark Stuart of the Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline was in Haiti when the magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the Caribbean island nation Jan. 12.

"The whole earth shook, and it felt like the end of the world," Stuart told a packed house at Ventura Missionary Church last week. "Haiti was the world's worst place to live before this happened. Now I cannot even describe the hurt, the needs, the devastation."

Thousands of college students from across the United States and Canada rang in the new year by making a fresh commitment to missions, responding to a call to their generation to mesh evangelism with social advocacy.

More than 16,000 students, missions leaders and pastors converged at the Americas Center in St. Louis, Dec. 27-31 for the 22nd tri-annual Urbana Student Missions Conference sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Focusing on the conference theme "He Dwells With Us," Urbana 09 director Jim Tebbe called on attendees to expand their vision of missions, seeing it not only as a global thrust but also as a local Bible study, outreach and service project.

Actress Jenn Gotzon, who portrayed Tricia Nixon in Frost/Nixon, said Christians are working behind the scenes in Hollywood.

February 20, 2009 -- Few of the nominees for this year's Academy Awards earn nods for promoting biblical values. But Christians say there is much to be hopeful about in Hollywood, even if the year's most faith-friendly films aren't being recognized on Sunday.

Actress Jenn Gotzon, who portrayed Tricia Nixon in Frost/Nixon, which is nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, said Christians were praying behind the scenes.