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Link to Facebook page (with discussion and news): Restless Heart on Facebook.com Filmed in Europe, RESTLESS HEART is the first full-length feature movie on St. Augustine. Born in North Africa, Augustine studied in Carthage, becoming an accomplished but dissolute orator. After converting to Manichaeism, a guilt-free religion, he was called to the imperial court in Milan to serve as an opponent to the Christian Bishop Ambrose. But when the Empress Justina sent imperial guards to clear out a basilica where Augustine's mother, Monica, was worshipping, her constant prayers and the witness of Ambrose won him over to Christianity. Serving in...

Recently, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, perhaps at the instigation of its incoming archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone, denied permission for drag queens to emcee at charity events in the community hall of Most Holy Redeemer, a Roman Catholic church in the Castro district. That prompted this letter to me from the Rev. Robert Warren Cromey, who will identify himself in the letter: "When I was rector of Trinity Episcopal in the late nineteen nineties, I conducted at least five funerals of drag queens in the church. They were usually held on Saturday afternoons. Neighbors' heads would lean out the windows in...

Once more with feeling: The demise of traditional Protestant congregations has been greatly exaggerated. Yes, mainline denominations have been losing members for a number of years. Yes, many churches are dwindling in number and resources and even closing. And yes, seeker-driven worship and the emerging church movement and screens and projectors and guitars and drum sets and pastors in golf shirts appear to be the wave of the present and the future. But despite all that, there are well-established Protestant congregations in America that are vibrant and healthy and still adhering to traditional church structures and liturgies. It can be...

Do you want to be as close as possible to the church in Acts? Have you washed your hands of the institutional church for the pure and authentic New Testament experience? Now you can wash your body of it too with all new Acts Body Wash. After just one shower, your home church will not only look just like the church of the New Testament, but will smell like it too! Acts Body Wash is specially formulated to replicate the smells of the first-century Near East. Based on the most accurate historic research, our scientists have painstakingly produced what is...

“Grace is not your average Lutheran church,” so says the ELCA’s Grace Lutheran Church in a Houston, TX. I say that isn't necessarily so. I believe Grace Lutheran gives us a picture of what many ELCA churches ARE like and what most ELCA churches will be. And it’s time that all the Midwest ELCA churches, rural ELCA churches, head-in-the-sand churches and members everywhere understand what the ELCA has become. Let me tell you about Grace Lutheran. Their church website recommends giving kids a children’s book about homosexual marriage. The book is called Donovan’s Big Day. One of Grace Lutheran's church...

Other than constantly feeling like I am going to get in trouble, the only thing Catholic school ever gave me is the ability to tell people I used to be Catholic. There are a lot of former Catholics out there. Granted, increasingly unpopular stances on issues like homosexuality and birth control, paired with the exposure of a massive sex-abuse scandal, hasn’t won the Church much support in recent years. But disappearing churches and churchgoers aren’t unique to Catholicism—most Christian denominations are suffering from a loss of faith. Yet, despite cries that “Religion Is Dying in America!,” I argue otherwise. In...

This week ELCA Bishop of the North Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area, Kevin S. Kanouse wrote a blog (see here) calling those who support Chick-fil-A bullies and he blamed “preachers (?)” for people going to show their support for Chick-fil-A. This after the widespread temper tantrum and bullying from liberals and homosexuals against Chick-fil-A’s president for stating he believes in the Biblical view of one man, one woman marriage. Notice, too, that the ELCA bishop disparages the preachers by placing a question mark after referencing them, apparently implying that he questions whether they are true Christian preachers. ELCA Bishop Kanouse mockingly...

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - The ELCA vote of 2009 divided Lutherans forever. The decision to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to be ordained into ministry caused a ripple effect of defections. On Tuesday many of those ripples gathered for a Lutheran conference at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley. Some of them reflecting on who they have become as a faith community since then. "The positive part about it is its helped people to I think discern who they are and what they believe and what is important in life and ministry," Pastor Steve Dornbusch of Calvary...

MOUNT PLEASANT - It's a long way from Tipperary, Ireland, but John Dominic Crossan has traveled that way to become an expert on the historical Jesus. Crossan will bring his expertise to Mount Pleasant on Aug. 18 and 19 as scholar in residence at First Presbyterian Church. Crossan's recent book, "The Power of Parable," will shape the focus of three lectures Aug. 18. At 2 p.m., he will speak on "Types of Old Testament Parables" and at 3:30 p.m. on "The Challenge Parables by Jesus." The evening lecture, "The Gospels as Parables about Jesus," will begin at 7 p.m. Crossan...

Matthew 19:4-9 King James Version: 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He...

Justification is by grace alone through faith alone. It’s a wonderful truth, established by Paul,  classically recovered and emphasized by the Reformers. But as the Reformers learned in the sixteenth century, and as Protestants ought always to keep in mind when teaching this great doctrine, it is open to unhelpful mis-interpretation by those who would affirm it, and to uncharitable mis-representation by those who reject it. We ought, therefore, to teach justification through faith vigorously, but also carefully, and with certain safeguards creatively deployed. A justifying faith that has no connection to good works is the danger so perennial that...

“He removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Dan. 2:21). John Calvin’s theology had an enormous influence on Western thought and the views of some of the founders of our nation.He addressed this passage in Daniel and spoke specifically of God setting up kings: We naturally fancy that they acquire their power by their own talents, or by hereditary right, or by fortuitous accident. Meanwhile, all thought of God is excluded when the industry, or valor, or success, or any other quality of man is extolled! Hence it is said in the Psalms, neither from the east nor the west, but...

Christopher Seton leaves one job on September 2 and starts another six days later. In one sense it is exactly the same job, and in another it is completely different. Father Seton is one of four Anglican priests who will be ordained into the Catholic Church in Melbourne on September 8, reports The Age. Father Seton holds his last service at All Saints, Kooyong on September 2. Then he and - so far as he is aware - his entire congregation will regather a week later at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Caulfield South. There he will minister to...

The ELCA online publication (likely the print magazine also) The Lutheran published another article highlighting some of the actions taken by ELCA synods this year at their synod assemblies. (see Exposing the ELCA’s blog containing The Lutheran’s first report here) Below are the most troubling, pertinent, non-Biblical, disappointing and liberal actions taken by the ELCA’s leadership from my point of view: The Grand Canyon Synod, - “Concluded that the Arizona SB 1070 Immigration Law is inconsistent with collective Christian beliefs and is harmful to the needs of Arizona, exhorting members to advocate for immigration reform that is ‘comprehensive, fair, humane,...

BOB FAW, Correspondent: In Bladensburg, Maryland, the Catholic service unfolds smoothly, a comfortable routine for priests and parishioners alike.But one year ago, members of St. Luke’s parish were devout, devoted Episcopalians. This is the first Episcopal church in the country to convert to Catholicism under Vatican rules designed to attract disaffected Episcopalians.If 20 years ago I had said you’re destined to be a Catholic priest, how would you have answered?FATHER MARK LEWIS: I would have thought you were crazy.FAW: Under a 2009 decree by Pope Benedict XVI, St. Luke’s, like all Episcopal churches that choose to convert, gets to retain...

Thousands of families are set to receive warnings that they could face large bills to repair their local church, even if they have never attended it, after parishes were ordered to enforce a 500-year-old land law.Because of the way land was carved after the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the owners of many houses sited near historic churches have a legal obligation to contribute to repairs. People living in more than 5,000 parishes in England are subject to the historic “chancel repair liabilities”, which affect properties built on former monastic land. Most take out a form of insurance...

Preamble The statement of the Lutheran churches in Africa on MFHS takes place in the context and background of on-going discussions within the LWF communion of churches officially established in Lund, in 2007. According to the statement of the Africa region LWF preassembly meeting in Abuja in March 2010, the African churches participate in this process for the purpose of (a) strengthening the communion, (b) clarifying the generally shared position of the Lutheran churches in Africa, and (c) also to state clearly that this is not THE pressing issue for the Lutheran communion in Africa region. The Lutheran communion in...

United Methodist Rev. Wess Magruder has not only decided to observe the Ramadan fast this year with his Muslim friends, blog about his experience, but break his fast with Muslims as well. Last night, Magruder accepted the invitation of a local Muslim to eat “iftar,” the fast-breaking meal at the McKinney Islamic Association. Having succeeded in fasting from sunrise till sunset for eight consecutive days, the pastor appreciated God's grace in this communal meal. Most importantly, this celebration reminded him of the main reason why he had decided to fast: neighborly love. Magruder writes on his blog how he has...

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to ask for prayers for the Anglican Ordinariate here in the U.S. Based on the discussions at the AngloCatholic website and elsewhere, it's going through some tough times as it is being organized, and the Enemy is sowing suspicion and doubt everywhere in an effort to kill the venture in the cradle. It's time for us Roman Catholics to storm heaven in prayer for our Anglo-Catholic brethren. And if you'd like, please post an encouraging word or two of public support and encouragement of these dear souls, so beloved of God, who...

Dave is a 30 year employee of BAMAR, and I'm asking y'all to say a prayer for him. He's a friend of mine, and he needs our prayers, FReinds. Thanks, God ... Barry/gonzo