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One More Gun Death Too Many–and Three Things You Can Do About It

“At about midnight we heard the shots ring out.   My friend ran to the door and I heard him yell, “Shane, a kid has been shot, come down.”  As we looked down the street we could see a young man staggering as he walked down our block.  Then his knees gave out and he fell to the ground.  We called for an ambulance, and ran outside to be with the boy.  My friend talked to him tenderly, looking into his eyes as they struggled to stay alert.  We could see the wounds in his chest, torn by bullets.  I grabbed his hand and held it as we prayed… and as we hoped.  The ambulance came and drove him off.  The next morning we heard that 19-year old Papito died that night from the gunshot wounds, on February 5, 2010.  Papito was the fourth shooting in the last few months within walking distance from our house.”

Read the full article here:

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Flock Is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries – NYTimes

MEMPHIS — In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer.

“Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you.”

An hour later, a member of his flock who had bowed his head was now unleashing a torrent of blows on an opponent, and Mr. Renken was offering guidance that was not exactly prayerful.

“Hard punches!” he shouted from the sidelines of a martial arts event called Cage Assault. “Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!”

The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team’s coach. The school’s motto is “Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide.”

Mr. Renken’s ministry is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts — a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low. Mixed martial arts events have drawn millions of television viewers, and one was the top pay-per-view event in 2009.

Recruitment efforts at the churches, which are predominantly white, involve fight night television viewing parties and lecture series that use ultimate fighting to explain how Christ fought for what he believed in. Other ministers go further, hosting or participating in live events.

The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing. “Compassion and love — we agree with all that stuff, too,” said Brandon Beals, 37, the lead pastor at Canyon Creek Church outside of Seattle. “But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter.”

The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility.

“The man should be the overall leader of the household,” said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group.

Read the whole article here.

We will be screening the film in Chicago on Sunday, Feb 7 at 2PM at the United Church of Rogers Park.  Jamie will be attending will will answer questions after the screening.  You’ll make it home with plenty of time before the Super Bowl.  More info is available here.

Special thanks to Tom Harris for making this happen!

www.thedailyshow.com

With these good ol’ printable flyers, you can spread the word around your community or workplace with ease. There’s one specifically for December 17, and another blank one for you to fill in your own date for your own event. Don’t forget, you can visit our shop to schedule your own screening as well.

We also have a press release available if you are a member of the Media.

The crew and I can’t wait to show off the film on Thursday. See you there!

You can order the book here and the audio book here.

In case you’re unaware, we here at Jamie Moffett Media Design & production have been plenty busy working on our next documentary project. It’s called Return to El Salvador, and it follows two Salvadoran couples 17 years after a brutal Salvadoran civil war, following them back to their home country and exploring the emotional and political toll it held for the people of El Salvador and it’s infrastructure.

Our editors have been burning the midnight oil for the past two months of post-production and the results are looking fantastic. It’s too much to keep to ourselves, especially given the way the project has grown over the past few months. So on November 3rd, we’ll be having big party to celebrate the work we’ve done so far.

Join us for a screening of some never-before-seen clips from the movie, plus appearances by our esteemed producers and investors to talk about the exciting future of this project. Expect the night to be filled with drinks and fun (first beer is free!). Hang out with the crew and see what sort of behind-the-scenes dirt you can dig up!

Should be a great time for all, so come on out! Get your tickets here – we’re meeting up at the Urban Saloon in Philadelphia on 2120 Fairmount Ave at 8:00pm. Remember, your $15 ticket purchase (and any other from our shop) goes directly towards producing more films like these.

Thanks so much for your continuing support. See you there!

I know this is short notice, but this weekend, Director Jamie Moffett will be attending the National Youth Workers Convention in Los Angeles.  A screening of “The Ordinary Radicals” will be a “Late-Night Option” this Saturday.

But Jamie needs a place to stay.  If you live in LA, or, even better yet, will be attending NYWC and don’t mind sharing your hotel room, please email ryan@theordinaryradicals.com ASAP.

Thanks so much and see you in LA!