Grammy-nominated, faith-based hip-hop artist Lecrae is coming to West Michigan in March as part of the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Music.

     The reflective musician will give a keynote address at the conference, as well as perform in an open-to-the-public concert March 28 at VanNoord Arena.

     Securing the high-profile Lecrae, who only recently performed on “The Tonight Show” on NBC-TV, is a coup for the biennial festival. The visit was announced last week by coordinating committee member Ken Heffner.

Read more: Award-winning Music Artist Scheduled for Calvin College Visit Add new comment

The idea that turned the nation's largest Christian retail chain into a giving engine to support widows and orphans now expands to movies. Family Christian Stores' new sister company, Family Christian Entertainment (FCE), announces the Atlanta shoot, starting Jan. 26, of 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, the 2004 New York Times best-selling book about Pastor Don Piper's near-death experience.

Survivor Tova Friedman said it’s vital to keep the Holocaust on the forefront of public thought.Tova Friedman considers Jan. 27 her birthday, even though it’s not the actual date she was born.

Jan. 27 is when 70 years ago Friedman was among 7,000 prisoners liberated by the Soviet Army from the Auschwitz death camp.

But, Friedman said, being liberated from the Third Reich’s atrocities has not emancipated her from the unsettling memories of the Nazi regime’s systematic mass murder of six million European Jews, known as the Holocaust.

A big event is soon to arrive for Christians and for those simply interested in archaeological examinations and historical events of the past. A one night screening of Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, a documentary, is being shown nationwide in select theaters Monday, January 19. It will be screened at Celebration Cinema North and River Town Crossings in Grand Rapids at 7 pm. And it will screen as well in Benton Harbor at the Celebration Cinema. It is directed by Timothy P. Mahoney.

“Did the Exodus really happen?” asks Mahoney in a short video on the website, FathomEvents.com. “That’s a question that led me on an incredible 12-year investigation.” We are not certain of Mahoney’s conclusions, but we do know that he wanted to examine the “physical evidence from a scientific perspective.” Referring to the audience of this film, he said, “We let them make up their own mind.” The documentary features a panel of experts sharing their point of view.

Third Day   The new year features a smorgasbord of faith-based musical expressions in churches and other venues around West Michigan.

     January started with a bang thanks to Winter Jam, the jam-packed Christian music tour featuring Skillet, Jeremy Camp and numerous other artists that filled Van Andel Arena back on Jan. 4. Read a review online.  You can see a repeat of Winter Jam at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Feb. 21).

     Other nationwide tours by well known artists such as Third Day, David Crowder and Matt Maher are coming through the area over the next several months.

BSHOP’s coffee shop, the Pavilion, serves free coffee with a purpose.Ryan Waalkes and his handful of staff members purposely live on the West Side of Grand Rapids. They do so with their eyes wide open.

It's an ethnically diverse area where salt-of-the-earth people live, where the marginalized poor can use a friend.

The West Side is where God has called Waalkes to live and minister to through the urban ministry he helped found in 2005 called Bridge Street House of Prayer (BSHOP). The name of the ministry is based on Isaiah 56:7, because BSHOP is where the hurting and outcast can experience the presence of God.

December/January New Releases from Kregel

Focusing on the theme “Unity in Diversity: Learning from World Christianity,” speakers from around the globe highlight the 2015 West Michigan Veritas Forum, which will take place on Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 8-10, at Pillar Church in Holland.

The mix of keynote addresses and panel discussions, the Forum will explore the growth of Christianity around the world and its implications for a fresh understanding of the Gospel. The public is invited to attend any or all of the events, and admission is free.

Ever notice how New Year’s Resolutions are often about how we wish we were different?  Lose weight.  Lower golf handicap.  Watch less TV.  Quit smoking.  Quit drinking.  Quit less-than-useful habit du jour.  Get out of debt.  Off-load stuff accumulating in the basement, the attic, the garage.

The moral of the story is that a lot of us want to improve ourselves and our lives, or at least our general condition.  But we have this problem called the human predicament.  As Pogo famously said years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”  It’s not family nor friends.  Not our environment.  Not even the economy that keeps us from fulfilling our dreams.  It’s us.

Jonathan Bradford will mark 34 years with ICCF in March 2015.Receiving Jesus' grace and acting as His ambassador to a harsh and indifferent world requires Christians to possess a clear-eyed understanding of why it's biblical to help the homeless find a better way of life, said Jonathan Bradford.

"God is indeed completely sovereign over all dimensions of human engagement and activity," said Bradford, president and CEO of Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF), a nonprofit affordable housing provider that serves more than 2,500 families annually through its programs and services. "Christ's earthly ministry was preferential to the poor, the sick and for the outcast."

West Michigan Christian News writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area's faith-based arts and entertainment events over the coming month. Here are three highlights for January:

Read more: Terry’s Picks: January 2015 Add new comment

Church youth assume the roles of Joseph and Mary at the manger.Several West Michigan churches offer live nativity scenes each Christmas season – depictions of Mary, Joseph and the baby in the manger on that first Christmas night. And the multi-church dramatic "Journey to Bethlehem" in Grand Haven is a supreme effort to tell the entire Christmas story.

But few individual churches put as much effort into such a display as Jenison Bible Church, on 14th Ave. at 44th St. in Hudsonville.

Doug Seebeck is president of Partners Worldwide.Doug Seebeck knows when Christians hear the word “ministry” many often think of pastors, evangelists and missionaries. Businesspeople usually are not in that mix.

“I’ve talked to businesspeople who feel their job is to plant their feet in pews, write a check and stay out of the way,” said Seebeck. “But business is a calling from God.”

A lot of people were disappointed with the recent release of Noah, starring Russell Crowe. It strayed from the biblical text and featured unusual plotlines, such as Noah wanting his own grandchild dead and it included a stowaway on the ark, bent on killing Noah. Well, we have Exodud, sorry, I mean Exodus: Gods and Kings, to now contend with.

The movie is huge, featuring lavish costumes, and sphinxes. When the Hebrew people begin their exodus from Egypt it looks every bit like there are six thousand of them, thanks to CGI. Both Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton are sufficient in their roles as Moses and Ramses, but they don’t fill the long shadows of Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.

But the number of times the film veers from the biblical account is staggering. Here are just a few examples: there is no voice that comes from the burning bush. We see a young boy show up, begin talking to Moses, and he declares, “I Am.” This may be representative of God telling His people to come as a little child, but this scene is definitely not to be found in the Bible. Also, we do not see Moses kill the Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew slave. Instead, Moses kills several people in unaccounted for slayings. He does not demand, “Let my people go,” either. The plagues just start up, the first one being the water turning to blood. The way it is depicted happening? Crocodiles eat several men and their blood apparently infects the water and soon there is blood everywhere.

Angelina Jolie takes a stab at directing a film about a Christian Olympian that was taken by the Japanese as a P.O.W. and she does a pretty good job with it. Unbroken is the name of the movie and it is based on the true story of Louis Zamperini. The movie portrays him as a rebellious youth that drank and smoked but we are shown his praying mother and her prayers work! Following the Olympics Louis is stranded at sea on a raft with two others after their plane went down during the war. Louis (portrayed very strongly by Jack O’ Connell) prays to God and promises that he will follow God if he is spared from a terrible storm. There is a torrential downpour that endangers the small raft and the little group, but the prayer works and Louis is spared. He spends some 45 days on the raft and he and Phil suffer dried, cracked lips, hunger and thirst, in addition to the loss of their third companion. Oh, they have to deal with sharks too as well as a plane that shoots at their raft from the sky.

As I sit in my office on a cold, snowy day, I find myself staring vacantly into the computer screen. It is full of images, scrolling messages, blinking signs, and ads flashing continuously tempting me to click on an icon for the chance to win some fabulous prize. In addition, my cell phone is vibrating, indicating that I have a call or message waiting and my IPod is playing my favorite tunes. Every few minutes I receive text messages from my family and friends.

Advances in technology have allowed us to be bombarded with continuous messages nearly every second of the day. Many of them are positive but there are a fair number that are negative. During this politically-charged and economically-challenged year I feel as though because of the things coming into my life, my ears, and my mind I have been reminded that more than ever, I need a Savior.

John W. Smith is the executive director of PastorCare West Michigan.It’s rare to meet the leader of a ministry who wishes his services weren’t needed. John W. Smith is one of them.

“I wish my ministry wasn’t needed,” said Smith, executive director of PastorCare West Michigan (PCWM). “But I know it is.”

PCWM is intended for pastors, their spouses, and full-time ministry leaders such as youth and Christian education directors who need someone like Smith to come alongside them to help them through their ministerial rough patches. Smith accomplishes this through what he calls “confidential coaching.”

   The Collingsworth Family sings at Calvin College on Dec. 11  It seems like we’re barely into the month of December and already some of the area’s Christmas concerts are in the rearview mirror.

     But there are still plenty of opportunities to join a musical celebration of the season at a number of different West Michigan events.

     For an arena-sized experience, gospel music maven Bill Gaither and his Homecoming artists mark the Christmas spirit in a big way at 6 p.m. Sat. Dec. 13 at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.

     Not only will Gaither sing with his Grammy-winning Vocal Band (featuring tenor David Phelps), but he’s brought along fan favorites such as The Isaacs, The Martins, soloist Charlotte Ritchie, funny-man (and former Vocal Band member) Mark Lowry, among others.

     A local choir, coordinated by Chris Hansen of Hark Up Ministries, will sing background on many of the songs.

Are you ready to be “ruined for the ordinary”? That’s what one man said will happen when you take Perspectives!

“Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” is a powerful, in-depth course on God’s heart for all nations and His Kingdom purpose for all Christians. In fourteen sessions with fourteen passionate, experienced instructors you will gain a fresh perspective on the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic aspects of God’s global cause.

Master Arts Theatre, located at 75 77^th St SW in Grand Rapids, is initiating a six season tribute to World War II and to thank all veterans who have fought for our nation. The tribute began on November 21 with the musical, “Sanders Family Christmas”.

The story takes place on Christmas Eve, 1941, just eighteen days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.   The Sanders family is performing at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in North Carolina, just as they had done for the past several years. This year, however, is a little different. The country is in the midst of World War II and the family’s son, Dennis, will be leaving home to join the Marines in just a few days. The play is filled with laughter and song, but yet effectively expresses the deep emotions involved when a loved one goes off to war. The story also shows the concern the average citizen had knowing that the rationing of many items was imminent. But, as the playbill states, this musical is designed to “get your toes tapping, your voice singing, and your heart soaring in reminiscence and old-fashioned joy in the Lord.” The cast certainly accomplishes this goal with their talents and enthusiasm.

  You had to wonder: after local singer-songwriter and worship leader Tommee Profitt signed deal as a major record label producer/songwriter, would he have any time to complete a collection of his own music for a new release?

     But his (and fans’) patience have been rewarded with “Deeper,” a two-years-in-the-making combination of worship themes and heartfelt lyrics set very much in pop arrangements – some on a grand scale.

Read more: New Music Review: Deeper by Tommee Profitt Add new comment

West Michigan Christian writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area’s faith-based arts and entertainment events over the coming month. Here are a few December highlights:

*“Women's Christmas Tea” – Susan Sorensen is the special guest at 3 p.m. Sun. Dec. 7 at Maranatha Bible Conference, 4759 Lake Harbor Road, Muskegon. Sorensen is women’s ministry coordinator at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids and co-author of the 90-day devotional “Praying Through Cancer: Set Your Heart Free From Fear” (Harper Collins). Her holiday message parallels a familiar Christmas carol. Worship leader is Sarah Whaley, chapel coordinator at Cornerstone University. There will also be a special presentation by the Muskegon Rescue Mission. Tickets are $20 general ($15 for Maranatha members) and available at www.vacationwithpurpose.org. (231)-798-2161.