Category Archives: Articles

Is Shame Killing Your Creativity?

“Evil’s intention for shame is not simply to make our interpersonal lives miserable; It wants to cripple our creativity as artists . . . as much as it wants us to merely feel bad about ourselves.” – The Soul of Shame, Curt Thompson, MD. Your spiritual and creative lives are interwoven. The emotions of your […]

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Power of Beauty

A few months ago I spoke at the headquarters for the largest non-profit in the world, World Vision International. As I spoke in their chapel, I challenged them to consider the role that beauty and art play when God transforms entire cultures. I showed them the often overlooked passages of scripture which make this clear […]

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Narcissism & Hollywood

So Hollywood is narcissistic?  Tell me something I don’t know, right?   Well, though we live here in Los Angeles, and we see our share of fantastically ridiculous behavior, I was recently surprised and grieved to learn more about the narcissism in this city and how it is effecting our culture at large. Now, I must […]

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God’s Imagination & the Incarnation

“The Word became Flesh” –John 1:14 “We cannot begin to live a life we cannot first imagine, and images stock the imagination’s repertoire.” –Margaret Miles, Seeing is Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies. If God has an imagination, then Christ in human form is the ultimate expression of that imagination, and the incarnation itself […]

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Arts, Humanity and Christianity

In Matthew 26, there is a surprising passage where a woman named Mary broke an alabaster jar and poured perfume on Jesus’ feet as a way to express her humility and devotion.  Jesus said it was beautiful, because this expression of her love for God was extravagant, elegant and shared no concern for what others […]

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Forgiveness in Hollywood

How do you ask a room full of executives, actors, writers and producers expecting humor to forgive someone of an offense? That was exactly what happened recently at the Cinematheque Award Ceremony when Robert Downey Jr. received the prestigious honor.During Downey Jr.’s acceptance speech, he said. “I asked Mel to present this award for me […]

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The Call to Create Culture

The Call to Create Culture by Joel Pelsue. Remember The Da Vinci Code? Consider the astonishing impact this fictional book had on our culture: It has 60 million copies in print, was translated into 44 languages, and the movie earned $215 million in the domestic box office and $540 million in overseas receipts. The Christian […]

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