Month: April 2017

REVIEW: Is “Fate of the Furious” OK for kids & teens?





Dominic Toretto is the type of guy any mom would want her daughter to marry. Well, sort of.

He puts family first. He prays. He even forgives peoples … sometimes.

But in between all of those good deeds, this intimidating-looking man enjoys racing cars on streets and fighting bad guys in alleys. He’s incredibly good at it, too, but his fortune may be running out.

That’s because a mysterious criminal mastermind named Cipher is holding as ransom two people Dominic loves, vowing to let them go only if he helps her obtain weapons—including a nuclear bomb—that would destroy civilization. If he doesn’t follow her orders, she will kill them.

Will Dom allow millions to die in order to save the ones close to him?

It’s all part of The Fate of the Furious (PG-13), which opens this weekend and is the eighth movie in the wildly successful Fast and Furious franchise. It stars a well-known cast, including Vin Diesel as Dom, Michelle Rodriguez as his wife Letty Ortiz, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as his friend Luke Hobbs, Kurt Russell as Frank Petty, and Charlize Theron as Cipher.

Like every previous movie in the series, Fate of the Furious showcases street cars doing the impossible—this time racing through narrow New York City streets, speeding along snow-covered ice, and even winning a race driving backwards (yes, that happens).

For families, the good news is that the movie includes less sexuality than past Fast and Furious films. That’s because our heroes are growing up, maturing and settling down!

The bad news: This one is just as violent and just as littered with coarse language as ever. And even though the sexuality has lessened, it still contains a few (brief) scenes of women in various amounts of immodest attire (details below).

It’s safe to say Fate of the Furious isn’t for small kids, even if Mattel has a partnership and is selling toys. But is the film OK for older children and teens? Let’s examine the details …

Warning: minor spoilers

The Good

For those looking for a central theme, Fate of the Furious may give you whiplash. That’s because its infatuation with fighting and violence is balanced with a strong focus on the traditional family.

“What’s the best thing in your life?” the evil Cipher asks Dom.

“Family,” he quickly responds.

Early in the film, he and his new wife talk briefly about starting a family, and later in the film he tells everyone, “You never turn your back on family.” At one point he even cries when thinking about a newborn son.

Luke Hobbs continues this trend when he tells a government agent, “The only thing I love more than saving lives is my daughter.” He says this while coaching his daughter’s soccer team.

Dom says “grace” before a meal, and we hear him say “thank-you” to God in the prayer a few times before the scene changes.  

The car chase scenes are stellar, even if they (like every other film in the series) require a suspension of belief. On more than one occasion I found myself laughing at the outlandish-nature of it all while asking about the filmmakers, “How’d they do that?”

The Bad

Fate of the Furious is mostly bloodless but also excessively violent, with punches frequently tossed. Hobbs takes part in a jailbreak and battles not only the inmates but also the security guards in a lengthy fight. A fight aboard an airplane is just as brutal. The movie also continues a troubling trend in recent movies: men fighting women. Even if it’s hero vs. villain, it makes me uncomfortable.

We experience two people being shot in the head; one taking place in the street (which we see) and one happening off-screen (which we hear, seconds after the camera turns away). Lastly, there are plenty of guns, semi-auto and automatic rifles fired in the film.     

The language, too, is excessive, with more coarse words than most PG-13 films. I counted at least 70 instances: s–t (19), a– (14), d–n (10), he–(9), misuse of Jesus Christ (3), misuse of God (2), GD (6), SOB (1), bi–h (4), f-word (1), and ba—rd (1). Johnson’s character is the worst offender.

Early in the film during a street-racing scene, we also see a few women in much-too-revealing swimsuits. Later, we see Dom and Letty in bed on their honeymoon (everything is concealed). After Dom is taken by Cipher, she kisses him.

The plot also is, at times, confusing and goofy. A villain openly steals a country’s nuclear football—the nuclear codes—but then waits a while before trying to use them. Wouldn’t the country have changed the codes by then?

The Worldview

The hit TV show 24 (and its sequel 24: Legacy) was popular for presenting tough ethical dilemmas in the plot. I thought about that as I watched Fate of the Furious. After all, what should Dom do? I think I would have prayed for a third option.

No doubt, the film contains several Christian elements, but the violence and language overshadow it all. It’s the type of film that should force us to ask: Does the violence and language further the plot? Or is it there just to get a rush and laugh out of 20-year-old (and 12-year-old) males? The answer is obvious.

Lastly, Fate of the Furious sends the audience a mixed message about women. Are they to be objectified or treasured? I know what Scripture says; I’m just not certain how some of the heroes in the film would answer the question.  

The Verdict: Family-Friendly?

Fate of the Furious deserves its PG-13 rating. Leave the kids at home. And consider bringing earplugs.

Discussion Questions

Does Dom really put family first? What would you have done in his situation? What did you think when Cipher said the “idea of family … is a biological lie”? Cipher said she believes in fate; is fate biblical? Did you think the movie had too much violence? Does movie violence desensitize us to real-world violence?

Entertainment rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars. Family-friendly rating: 2 out of 5 stars.  

The Fate of the Furious is rated PG-13 for prolonged sequences of violence and destruction, suggestive content, and language.

Lubbock pastor finds renewed ministry at the altar

LUBBOCK For Robert Cortez, pastor of Lubbock’s Thrive Family Church, big things happen in October amid tears at the altar.

Saved at age 15 in a Dallas church when he fell down, crying before God at the altar. Decades later, in his mid-50s, Cortez again found himself awash in tears at a church altar, ready to quit the ministry entirely.

Although his saxophone skills earned him the promise of a “full ride” to then Texas Tech College if he finished high school, Cortez left home at 15. 

The family dynamics were tense; his parents had separated and Cortez started skipping school. 

“I became disrespectful, a disruptive kid,” he recalls. After authorities nearly arrested his father for his son’s truancy, Cortez hitched a ride to Dallas with a friend who dropped him downtown at 4 a.m. “without a penny in my pocket.” 

He walked around the city for 13 hours. Using Dallas skyscrapers as landmarks, he managed to find his aunt’s house. It was Wednesday night, and his aunt insisted he accompany her to church. 

At the conclusion of the service that evening, Cortez “felt the altar calling [his] name” and went forward to pour his heart out to God. “Tia, something has happened to me. I feel clean,” he told his aunt. 

“You got saved,” his aunt replied.

Afterward came a reunion with his mother, then preaching to the homeless on Dallas streets, and eventually, evangelizing throughout South Texas with his brother. The teenagers traveled, conducting revivals and supporting their ministry with income as shoe salesmen.  

Cortez’s schedule was daunting: morning hours of prayer, afternoon Bible reading and study, preaching at night. He learned when he studied the Bible more, his sermons improved.

He returned to Lubbock, where he met and married his wife, Sylvia. As a newlywed, he felt “the push” to start his first church. His wife agreed. 

Fast forward 40 years. After pastoring churches in Lubbock and Lamesa, Cortez faced a crossroads in October 2013. Grace Beyond Walls, the church he had founded 10 years previously, had suffered two splits and dwindled, kept afloat chiefly by the Spanish language FM station operating out of the facility. The church needed an affordable building.

Times were tough. The Cortezes could not even afford medicine for Sylvia’s asthma. “I listened to her wheezing one night, and I felt less a man,” Cortez says. He planned to send out resumes, get a job and quit the pastorate.

The next morning, the Cortezes arrived at the church before their morning radio show. They unlocked the sanctuary door and approached the altar on opposite sides. No words came. They just cried. 

“After awhile we get up, get all happy and do the morning show,” Cortez says. They decided to keep the church going till January.

A phone call later that morning from Jerry Newman, worship pastor of Southcrest Baptist Church, changed everything. 

“Do you still need a building?” Newman asked. “Come talk to me.”

Cortez hung up the phone and headed to Southcrest without telling Sylvia why. It turned out Southcrest had received a church facility as part of an estate. 

“Pastor [David] Wilson thought it would make a great Hispanic church,” Cortez explains. In a two-hour meeting, Cortez explained his church’s revamped strategy, plans for English language services, and a name change to Thrive Family Church. Southcrest presented him the keys to the building.

Cortez assembled his few congregants that evening and told them, “God has smiled on us.” The men rushed home for equipment and returned to cut the grass. Remodeling, painting and refurbishing followed. Before the transfer was finalized, Southcrest replaced the church’s aging HVAC system. 

“God covered our mouths and filled our eyes with tears. He saw this coming. He didn’t let us quit.”

—Robert Cortez, pastor of Lubbock’s Thrive Family Church

“God covered our mouths and filled our eyes with tears this morning,” Cortez told Sylvia. “He saw this coming. He didn’t let us quit.”

Today Thrive’s congregation numbers 175, filling the building. A praise band plays contemporary music. Sunday school is held on Wednesday nights. Sundays are devoted to the worship service and begin with fellowship over doughnuts and coffee at 9:30. 

Cortez’s sermons are shorter, cut to 25 minutes. Worship begins at 10 a.m. and ends a little after 11 a.m. Eighty percent of the members have been believers under five years.

Each fall the church holds a backpack drive, complete with bounce houses, hot dogs and a praise band at the school playground next door. This year, in partnership with Southcrest, Thrive distributed 500 backpacks containing Bibles and school supplies. 

When Earl Dickey from the Children’s Home of Lubbock stops by the church to pick up 100 extra backpacks for the orphanage, he hugs Cortez and says, “Y’all are living out what is written in James, caring for widows and orphans in their affliction.” 

The children’s home also benefitted from Thrive’s 2016 Christmas toy drive. With 500 dollars donated by members and help from a major toy retailer, Thrive purchased thousands of dollars of toys for neighborhood kids. The surplus went to the children’s home.

Cortez calls the toy experience a “modern day loaves and fishes story.”

Something similar happened the first year of Thrive’s existence, when they invited the surrounding neighborhood for Thanksgiving dinner. They planned for 125, fed 200, and somehow had food leftover for members to take home.

Cortez’s journey between altars also included retail stints. In the 1990s he managed Family Christian stores in El Paso and San Diego, pioneering the purchase of Spanish product, becoming the chain’s first executive head of Spanish purchasing in Grand Rapids. Family Christian went from $250,000 in Spanish sales to 1.9 million his first year.

Returning to Lubbock when his wife’s father grew ill, he opened a Spanish language Christian bookstore, and after a “long sabbatical” from church involvement, found his way back into the pastorate.

Radio remains a constant. Today, FM 87.7 The Fountain—the third station Cortez has operated—broadcasts 24 hours a day from Thrive Church.

Cortez beams as a pastor fulfilling his calling as he leans forward and speaks into the microphone, “This is 87.7 The Fountain … thank you for making us part of your day!” 

State leaders discuss church revitalization, replanting





KANSAS CITY—State convention leaders from across the country gathered at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City March 20-21 to discuss and strategize for revitalizing plateaued and declining Southern Baptist churches. This marked the fourth year for the state revitalization network meeting.

Gary Mathes, who leads church revitalization efforts for the Missouri Baptist Convention, told the TEXAN the goal of the meeting was to discuss “how we might be more effective in the work of helping struggling churches become vibrant, healthy, gospel-centric, kingdom-expanding congregations once again. To that end we share best practices in the work we do within our respective states, discuss common issues we all face, and collaborate on solutions we can offer to churches that call on us for help.”

Mathes said one of the key matters addressed during the meeting was agreement on definitions for “revitalization” and “replanting” so leaders and churches are on the same page.

They defined church revitalization as “The supernatural work of God that restores health in a church, evidenced by submission to God’s Word, right relationships among members, and a renewed commitment to Great Commission ministry.”

Their definition for church replanting is “The process in which members of a church discern God’s leadership to dissolve their current ministry and work with other churches or denominational bodies to begin a new church for a new season of ministry in their community.”

The leadership team from the states is based on regions: Steve Rice of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (South), Randy Millwood of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (North), Gary Mathes of the Missouri Baptist Convention (Midwest), Darwin Meighan of the Nevada Baptist Convention (West), and Kenneth Priest of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (Southwest).

“The group is a network of state conventions, but all of us have a heart to help the local church,” Priest said. “If what one state is doing can help another state, we want to be a part of that and share that process.”

Rodney Harrison, dean of post-graduate studies at Midwestern Seminary, served as the host representative for the meeting and led a plenary session on Charles Spurgeon’s strategy for church revitalization. Harrison, who teaches in both of Midwestern’s doctoral degrees on revitalization, noted the seminary’s interest in the topic as well as the number of state leaders who graduated from the school with the Doctor of Ministry in Church Revitalization.

“The conference reinforced the cooperative spirit of Southern Baptists as being open and willing to learn from one another with regard to how can we best help struggling churches,” Harrison told the TEXAN, adding that the meeting “demonstrates the [state] conventions not only care, [but] they have a plan to serve and support the local church.”

Joining Harrison as presenters at the meeting were John Mark Yeats, dean of Midwestern College; Mark Clifton, senior director of the North American Mission Board’s replant team; as well as several state convention leaders and associational directors of missions.

Clifton told the TEXAN he was “extremely encouraged” by the meeting because “state conventions are taking seriously the issue of declining and dying churches” and willing to work together.

“At no time in our recent history has our overall convention been so focused on creating systems and strategies to rescue dying churches,” Clifton said. “More recently we spent a great deal of time creating systems and strategies to plant churches. And that’s well and good. But when the SBC plants 1,200 churches a year and closes 900 churches a year, the net gain is only 300 churches. That does not even come close to keeping up with the church-to-population ratio.”

Of those 900 churches that close each year, he said, “over 77 percent are in cities larger than 100,000 people. And the vast majority of those churches are older than 10 years of age. In other words, it’s not new church plants that were closing. Nor is it churches within communities that are declining. The majority of churches that are closing are in communities that are growing and within our cities.”

Clifton said NAMB has created resources to help churches and conventions, including books, training, video series, events, assessments, blogs and cohorts. Pastors and churches interested in more information about these resources can visit churchreplanters.com.

For information on church revitalization resources in Texas, visit sbtexas.com/church-revitalization.

Prayer meeting results in 24 professions of faith at Jacksonville College

JACKSONVILLE, Texas—Two days after Jacksonville College professors and staff prayed for God to “move in a mighty way” among East Texas school’s student body, God answered as two dozen students made professions of faith during a chapel service, March 22.

Donny Sadler, dean of students at the college and pastor of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Jacksonville, preached a message from James 2:14 and posed the question, “If a person claims to have faith, but shows no evidence in his life that he has been saved, can this kind of faith save him?”

He then invited students to place their faith in Christ.

“When the invitation was given for students to get out of their seats come to the front of the chapel, it was clear that a spiritual battle was taking place,” Jacksonville College President Mike Smith said.

“At first, no one responded. As we remained in prayer, one student made her way to the front. Then another came forward, and another, until 24 students were at the altar. Staff members met with and counseled each student one on one, and every student who came forward made a profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The school has started a weekly discipleship program these students so they can continue to grow in maturity and lead others to Christ.

“The greatest miracle of all is when a person passes from death to life, and I praise God for allowing me to see this miracle in 24 students,” Smith said. “And I praise him because he answers prayer.”

SBTC gives $200,000 for Midwestern Seminary student center

KANSAS CITY  Southern Baptists of Texas Executive Director Jim Richards presented a check for $100,000 to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Jason Allen during a chapel service, April 4. The amount was the first of a two-part gift designated for the construction of the new Mathena Student Center, which the seminary broke ground on later that day.

The two-story facility, scheduled to be completed in 2018, will house a cafeteria, bookstore and café, recreation areas for family use, a collegiate-sized gymnasium, a walking track, racquetball courts, fitness rooms, conference rooms and staff offices.

The funds, approved by the SBTC executive board in November, were part of a series of grants from reserve funds to help Southern Baptist ministries in Texas and beyond the state. The approved motion granted $100,000 at the groundbreaking service and another $100,000 to be “funded upon the beginning of construction as evidenced by the pouring of the slab.”

Wise as Serpents: Why the SBC adopted a board of trustees model





Jesus more than once exalted “common” sense or decency in the course of his teaching. In some of those cases he acknowledged that even unbelievers do this; other places he referred to the self-evident reasonableness of behavior with a spiritual application. Some strategies that work in a business application translate easily to the life of churches or institutions with a godly purpose. This is why books intended to support the work of tech companies or financial institutions find popularity among Christian leadership gurus. People have common traits whether they are church members or sales associates. 

Some of the things we observe in our neighbors are true of us, even the smartest of us. When Jesus compared mortal fathers with our heavenly father in Matthew 7, he said to his followers, “if you then, being evil …” Proverbs 14 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” This verse does not say, “There is a way that seems right to an unbeliever…” Here, we are warned of our need for revelation and “many counselors.” 

This is why Southern Baptists have adopted a board of trustees model for our institutions. Those trustees find God’s best leader for the institution, our churches hail their decision as sagacious, and then those boards govern that leader’s work on behalf of those churches. We don’t send only famous pastors and accomplished laymen to serve on those boards; we include your pastor, housewives from your church, and average laymen on those boards. Why hobble genius leaders with amateurs who only visit the head office a few times (in one of our institutions only one time) each year? Isn’t it more efficient to let a godly leader run free toward greater accomplishment? 

It is more efficient, usually. Autocracy can be the most efficient form of governance. But we’ve also observed that “there is a way that seems right to a man.” Our goal should be wisdom rather than efficiency. A good leader will sometimes find the pace set by 40 board members tedious, but a wise leader will know his own limitations. Here are some reasons why even our most crucial Great Commission work benefits from board oversight. 

Gifted and God-called leaders are not infallible—Remember the great, unsolicited advice that Moses’ father-in-law gave him about delegating authority. Moses might have said, “Who spoke to the burning bush, you or me?” Instead Moses heard and took good advice from someone not called to be the leader. Jethro actually confronted Moses when he said, “What you are doing is not good.” 

None of us knows what’s coming—In Ecclesiastes 8, Solomon reminds us that none of us knows the day of his death or the outcome of the days between now and then. The best we can do is seek the Lord, who does know those things. The New Testament witness is that God’s people better discern the will of the Lord corporately. We saw this when the apostles sought a replacement for Judas, again when the church appointed servants to care for widows, and even in the deliberation of the apostles over the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles. Even the best of those leaders made mistakes, misspoke or sinned in the course of a God-called ministry. They seemed to value the companionship and correction of those who shared a commitment to the same work. 

The work of Southern Baptists flows outward from churches—Clothing retailers or fast-food companies live or die depending on how well they hear their customers. They need people to choose their products over their competitors’ and give them money. Our mission is grander than fast food, but it still depends on the trust and support of churches and laymen who agree with how our mission is being implemented. A Southern Baptist leader fails when he loses touch with those who sent him, who appointed his board and who express agreement with the direction of his ministry by funding it. A leader’s friends and direct reports—advisors he selects—cannot be the only voices he hears. 

These are a few of many reasons why even the tedious system Southern Baptists use is better than the alternatives we’ve found so far. Those to whom we are accountable should be as diverse as those who sent us and empower our ministries. That is why I believe responsible and fair news media should have access to a bit more than any chief executive (or his lawyer) is comfortable with. The presidents in Richmond, Alpharetta, Washington, Nashville, Dallas, Fort Worth, Louisville, New Orleans, Wake Forest, Kansas City, and Ontario all need those they lead to know their work in a way not crafted solely by corporate public relations staff. 

We need counsel and accountability, unless we are exceptions to biblical descriptions of mortal, limited, fallible men. There is only one leader like that, and all of us already serve him. 

CHOOSE LIFE: San Antonio medical center offers life-saving alternative to Planned Parenthood





Nobody gave Donna Schmidt options when she had two abortions as a teenager. Schmidt’s parents, the boy’s parents and her pastor recommended the initial procedure in 1970s California. Today, Schmidt, a registered nurse, serves as clinic director of San Antonio’s Life Choices Medical Center to ensure patients in crisis pregnancies understand their choices and receive professional prenatal care. 

Life Choices began more than 20 years ago as the Agape Pregnancy Center. Schmidt, an original board member, was encouraged at that time by her pastor, Steve Branson of Village Parkway Baptist Church in Northwest San Antonio, to become involved. 

A graduate nursing school research paper on the topic of informed consent led Schmidt, then in her 40s, to find healing.

“I started having flashbacks about my abortions,” Schmidt recalled. “God used that class to bring me to abortion recovery.”

God kept “pressing on my heart” to tell Branson about her past, Schmidt told the TEXAN. Both found the conversation transformative as Branson discussed the challenges of addressing abortion from the pulpit. His interest in abortion recovery grew.

Branson has chaired the board of Life Choices for the past five years. “I feel like it’s my center,” he joked, adding that while other churches are involved with Life Choices, Village Parkway “is the main one,” having contributed $800,000 to date. In addition to Schmidt, executive director Charity Farrar and more than half the volunteers and board members attend the church.

From a “mom and pop” pregnancy center, Life Choices has transformed into a comprehensive well-woman health clinic for underserved populations, Branson said. The shift began in 2011 with assistance from Focus on the Family. The clinic was recently approved as a Medicaid provider through the state’s Healthy Texas Woman program.

“We’ve never charged for our services,” Farrar said. “We can be reimbursed for [Medicaid] services from the state of Texas, but the patient never pays.” 

Life Choices provides prenatal and well-woman care, including cervical cancer screening, STD and STI testing. Non-medical services include counseling and classes in parenting, nutrition, lactation and home safety. Personnel facilitate patients’ enrollment in GED and college courses and provide daycare, housing and adoption referrals. Material assistance with diapers, wipes and clothing is also available. 

Until this year, volunteer medical professionals have staffed the clinic, but as of March 1, a nurse practitioner will be employed full time by the center, which expects to see 4,000 patients a year.

A 2017 grant of $100,000 from a local non-profit, coupled with the center’s qualification as a Medicaid provider, has made the addition of the full-time nurse practitioner possible. The grant will cover services for about 670 patients or 1,800 visits. A larger grant is promised next year if the center accomplishes its goals, Farrar said. 

“Our grant is for spiritual wellness, dealing with crisis pregnancies, well-woman care, cervical cancer screenings and prenatal care,” Farrar explained, noting that center personnel will follow up with patients on both health matters and their spiritual journeys.

Life Choices is also a part of the Alternative to Abortion program of the Texas Pregnancy Care Network established in 2006. “We are one of their top providers,” Farrar said, adding that as such, the center certifies that it does not make abortion referrals.

Informed consent is the goal. Life Choices staff use the booklet “A Woman’s Right To Know” published by the Texas Department of Health, which includes information on abortion, pregnancy and adoption to educate clients.

“We give them all of the information. We do not judge them,” Schmidt said. 

“If they walk into an abortion clinic, they are not going to get the whole story,” Farrar added. “We go over all of their options—the risks and benefits—so that they can make an intelligent decision. The decision is completely theirs.”

If a woman chooses to carry a pregnancy to term, Farrar said the center personnel will “walk them through” or provide contacts to adoption agencies. The center makes no referrals to abortion clinics but welcomes patients to return for future services, including abortion recovery.

“We will be here to help them pick up the pieces afterwards,” Farrar said.

“Counseling is very lovingly done. They will be exposed to the gospel: Christ being the one and only way. We will love them through whatever has happened, no matter what,” Branson said.

Still, the goal is to “save babies,” Branson noted, adding that 2,419 infants had been saved in the last five years. In that same time period, the center saw more than 10,000 patients and 509 professions of faith. 

Branson and Farrar credit the gift of two sonogram machines from the local Knights of Columbus Council as instrumental in convincing parents-to-be to choose life. 

With its location near a city bus terminal close to Ingram Park Mall, Life Choices is accessible from all parts of San Antonio and less than two miles from Village Parkway Baptist Church. 

“[At Life Choices], we are doing everything that Planned Parenthood says they do,” Branson said, “but we don’t kill babies.”