New Covenant Fellowship - Glendora, Calif.

bible
Verse of the Month
Ephesians 2:6:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

A day for prayer? In Hollywood? Well…why not?

There are at least twenty Christian support groups for believers in the movie and film industry out of what is still the heart of it all—Hollywood, California.

Earlier this month two of us from New Covenant Fellowship attended a prayer and fellowship workshop organized by Karen Covell, a television producer and longtime Christian who coordinates the Hollywood Prayer Network. This all-day session was hosted by the rather famous Hollywood Presbyterian Church where many people in the “industry” have attended church across the decades.

“Perhaps it’s time to view Hollywood as more like Nineveh and less like Sodom,” Karen says, alluding to the Biblical prophet who ran away rather than take God’s message of repentance to a city most felt was beyond hope.

Christians in Strange Places is a series of interviews and reflections by actor, writer and producer Alan Doshna and his friends.

Steve McQueen, epitome of 1960s movie cool for roles such as Bullitt and the motorcycling Yank in “The Great Escape,” died of cancer. That much is known. What is not usually told is that he died with a Bible open on his chest. “One memory that continually blesses me,” writes Daniel Southern in The Message of Leadership, “is that of Steve McQueen sitting in the balcony of a California church drinking up every word of the Gospel as he carefully followed along in his Bible.”

That’s a great image. The church was most probably Hollywood Presbyterian on the very edge of tinsel-town not far from the famous Capitol Records building. According to Southern, the great actor was convinced by his quiet but humble Christian flight instructor—who never nagged him about faith and belief issues—that Christianity must have something. It does. It everlastingly does.

"He Has a Hammer." Born-again Christian Noel Paul Stookey was "Paul"—the tall one— in the sensationally popular folk group "Peter, Paul and Mary"—just back in the public eye after the recent death of Mary Travers. Church pastors will remember many brides walking up the aisle to the tune of Paul Stookey's 1980s hit "There is Love." His wife is chaplain at a university.

Of course for those who were there in the early 1960s, there was always something more than a little spiritual about the trio's best work. Their signature hit with the words "I'd hammer out justice...I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land" was a pop anthem at the August 1963 March on Washington where the trio shared the stage with Dr. Martin Luther King.

For military historians the dates September 17-24, 1944 recall the momentous tragedy of World War Two known as Operation Market-Garden.

This was General Bernard Montgomery's daring idea to send 35,000 airborne troops on an all-out raid to capture the bridge at Arnhem, then 65 miles behind German lines, pivot into the industrial Ruhr Valley and end the war by Christmas. Read more...

Sermon
'To Tame the Savageness of Man...'

The recent slayings of 13 soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas once again brings this country face to face with senseless violence.

At such times I like to recite for my history students and congregations one of the most overlooked public speeches in American history. It was April 4, 1968 and Martin Luther King, Jr. had just been killed in Memphis. Senator Robert Kennedy, younger brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis, Indiana to address a gathering supporting his Presidential bid that tumultuous year.

Against the advice of his aides and police, Kennedy...