Feb. 26, 2023, column in the Amarillo Globe-News:

Is God moving in America? Asbury revival, other actions surface

By Mike Haynes

                “They say Aslan is on the move…”

                That’s what the character called Beaver tells four English children after they arrive in the magical land of Narnia in C.S. Lewis’ beloved book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Aslan is a majestic, all-powerful lion, obviously the Christ figure in the children’s book series.

                 Narnia has been in a state of eternal winter under the control of the White Witch. I won’t go further into the plot, but Aslan is the key to turning things around.

                In many ways, our 2023 world looks like winter. People are split in countless ways with war in Ukraine, nuclear-armed nations repositioning themselves, cultural disagreements, racial unrest and conflicts on abortion, for starters.   

                We need hope more than ever, and happily, there are some rays of sunshine.

                On Feb. 8, students at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, attended a regular Christian service in Hughes Auditorium. At the normal time for it to end, they didn’t leave. They stayed – singing, talking about Christ in their lives and worshiping God. Students from other schools and people of all ages came to Wilmore to take part in the spiritual happening. It made national news as the “Asbury Revival.”

                Alison Perfater, the Asbury student body president, told Fox News a theme has been Habakkuk 1:5: “Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

                Perfater said, “There’s a young army of believers who are rising to claim Christianity as their own as a young generation and a free generation.” She said people have arrived from Brazil, Indonesia and most of the U.S. states.

                Nick Hall, a student ministry leader from Minnesota, said he knew the revival had spread last week to the University of Georgia, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Iowa State, North Dakota State – and Texas Tech.

                It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened at Asbury. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, similar unplanned events had happened there in 1905, 1950, 1958 and 1970.

                On Feb. 18, Asbury President Kevin Brown announced that, with multitudes of visitors causing traffic and parking problems and the police worried about safety, the revival would revert to a scheduled public worship service for the next few days.

                “We believe that the continued flourishing of such a movement invites us to commission our Asbury community, visiting students and other campus guests from across the world to neighbor-serving, God-honoring work,” Brown wrote.

                Those who remember the 1970 revival believe it had long-lasting effects. I’m not sure if there’s a connection, but many pastors in our part of Texas received their Christian education at Asbury Theological Seminary, a separate institution adjacent to the university.

                Mark, a friend in Florida who is active in ministry to the deaf and other Christian activities, told me he sees several signs of God moving in America, including at Asbury.

   

             As polls show that Christianity is on the downswing in this country, we have the first regular series about the life of Jesus – “The Chosen” – drawing millions of streaming views and placing in the box office top 10 when shown in movie theaters.

                Commercials from the “He Gets Us” advertising campaign were featured during Super Bowl 57. The ads promote messages such as “Jesus loved the people we hate,” and “Jesus invited everyone to sit at his table.”

                As Jesus predicted, the messages received pushback. A certain New York member of Congress tweeted, “Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.”

                “He Gets Us” spokesman Jason Vanderground replied, “The goal is that the two commercials will not only inspire those who may be skeptical of Christianity to ask questions and learn more about Jesus, but also encourage Christians to live out their faith even better and exhibit the same confounding love and forgiveness Jesus modeled.”

       

         Mark also mentioned a movie that started this week, “Jesus Revolution,” that tells the true story of evangelist Greg Laurie, then a young man, who met a charismatic “hippie” street preacher and a traditional pastor in the 1970s who linked arms to help start a Jesus counterculture movement. Not a low-budget Christian film, “Jesus Revolution” stars Kelsey Grammer, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Jonathan Roumie, Jim Gaffigan and Joel Courtney.

                And could even the ongoing split of the United Methodist Church be a movement of God? Although church splits mean people are disagreeing with each other, I see a silver lining – especially for those on the side of sticking with and respecting the traditional, biblical beliefs of the church. While those remaining in the UMC can proceed with the updates to the faith that they believe are necessary, those leaving now can practice freely the teachings of Jesus as orthodox Christians have for centuries. Maybe the split is unleashing a movement.

                Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has been credited with the advice to “see what God is doing and join in.” It seems that, even in this dark world, the Lord is providing plenty of places to do that.               

 Feb. 12, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

NFL player consoling teammate speaks volumes

By Mike Haynes

                Nobody ever would accuse me of being a University of Texas fan, or even a Cincinnati Bengals fan, but two weeks ago I became a Joseph Ossai supporter.

                Ossai is the Cincinnati defensive end whose name I heard called several times for outstanding play during the Bengals’ 23-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League’s American Conference championship game two weeks ago.  

                He was born in Nigeria and came to the United States with his family when he was 10 years old. Ossai played football for Conroe Oak Ridge High School in the Houston area. After an All-America college career with the Texas Longhorns, he was a third-round 2021 NFL draft pick by the Bengals.

                The 6-4, 263-pound rusher had five tackles in an impressive effort against Kansas City – the team I was rooting for primarily because its quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, who played collegiately at Texas Tech, my alma mater.

                But in the eyes of many, especially Bengal fans, Ossai is more infamous than famous because of one play near the end of that game with the Chiefs.

                The score was tied at 20, and Kansas City was at the Cincinnati 47-yard line with just a few seconds left. Mahomes scrambled to his right for five yards. Ossai gave him a shove to – the defensive end thought – push him out of bounds. But Mahomes already was out of bounds, and a yellow flag came flying.

                The 15-yard penalty put the Chiefs at the Bengal 27-yard line, plenty close for Harrison Butker to kick a field goal as time ran out to win the game, 23-20. So Kansas City will play Philadelphia in the Super Bowl today, and the Bengals have to say, “Wait ’til next year.”

                Why am I an Ossai supporter? After all, I didn’t want my favorite NFL player, Patrick Mahomes, to be hit, period, considering he was playing on an injured right ankle. But Ossai immediately was made the scapegoat for Cincinnati’s loss. He sat on the bench as the game ended with his head down and resting on his gloved hands, apparently crying with the thought that his penalty had given the game to Kansas City.

                And for a long few minutes, Ossai was alone on that white bench. The perception was that his teammates wanted nothing to do with him.

                Two days later, my wife, Kathy, shared a post with me that cemented our empathy for Ossai and brought the incident into correct perspective. It included a photo of just one Bengal, Devin Asiasi, leaning over in front of Ossai to comfort him at the end of the game. The bench around Ossai was empty.

                I couldn’t confirm the origin of the post, but it showed that it was sent from the Jason Foundation, an organization for the prevention and awareness of youth suicide, and was attributed to former NFL star Terrell Owens.

                “He made a costly mistake,” the post read. “Thousands (if not millions) of people saw it, got (mad) and walked away from him, including his teammates. The fans left him. … his teammates went to the locker room, coaches left him … hurting. They left him on the battlefield alone. …

“But there was one … one person that refused to leave his brother no matter what happened. He picked him up. Never forget who that one person is. They are worth more than gold. That’s leadership, that’s a friend, that’s a brother.”
                With further checking, I saw that other teammates and coaches did lend support to the distraught player, Sports Illustrated reported that lineman B.J. Hill stayed near Ossai during locker room interviews and told reporters he would “shut it down” if they asked any “dumb questions.”

Pointing out that plays earlier in the game also could have changed the outcome, Hill said, “That’s my brother. I’ve been in that situation before, too. I had a chance to make a game-winning sack (against Dallas). I just missed a sack. I’ve been there. Trying to blame it on one person, I’m not going to have that."

Ossai has said he and his family are Christians. Of course, scripture repeatedly stresses the need for believers to help each other.

“Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing,” Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

I suspect that in the long run, Ossai will hold on to passages like that, which often are proven true among athletic teammates. That photo of the talented player hunched over on the bench with one teammate consoling him is an unforgettable image.

Football players normally don’t have to literally risk their lives for their teammates, but the photo and the words in someone’s post certainly bring to mind the exhortation of Jesus in John 15:12-13: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

  * * *

Mike Haynes taught journalism at Amarillo College from 1991 to 2016 and has written for the Faith section since 1997. He can be reached at haynescolumn@gmail.com. Go to www.haynescolumn.blogspot.com for other recent columns.

 

 Jan. 29, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Reflecting on Elvis' birthday celebration, Lisa Marie's service at Graceland

By Mike Haynes

                A week ago today, Jason Clark and the Tennessee Mass Choir ended a memorial service by singing – while slowly swaying left and right – “The Lord our God is mighty, the Lord our God is omnipotent, the Lord our God, He is wonderful.”

                On the same stage in front of the Graceland mansion, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet had vocalized “How Great Thou Art” to piano accompaniment, much the same as their predecessors had done at many sold-out concerts in the 1970s – but of course, this time without the stirring voice of Elvis Presley.

                That spiritual music was just part of the event at the longtime Memphis, Tennessee, home of “the King of Rock ’n’ Roll” that honored his only child, Lisa Marie Presley. Lisa Marie had died of a heart attack at age 54 on Jan. 12 – four days after her last visit to Graceland to attend the annual birthday celebration for her father, who had died in 1977.

                My wife, Kathy, and I were on our first visit to Graceland during that birthday week, inspired by the 2022 hit movie, “Elvis.” We showed up at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 8 with 800 to 1,000 other fans to see the five-foot birthday cake and Lisa Marie, who had been almost a recluse at her home in Los Angeles since the death of her 27-year-old son, Ben Keough, in 2020.

                In Lisa Marie’s brief comments under a tent on the Graceland front lawn two weeks ago, she thanked the devoted fans who braved the cold weather. “I keep saying you’re the only people who can bring me out of my house,” she told them. “I’m not kidding.”

                Then she spent an hour or so slowly walking down a line of fans, roped off from the tent, signing autographs and posing for pictures with people, almost 100 percent of whom were wearing Elvis shirts or other paraphernalia.

                So with our friend Leslie, we watched Lisa Marie’s service online last week. It took place a few yards from where her dad’s birthday cake had been.

                I know little about Lisa Marie’s beliefs. I do know she sang a beautiful duet, along with her father’s voice from many years ago, called “Where No One Stands Alone.” The lyrics include, “Oh, Lord, don’t hide your face from me,” and “Take my hand, let me stand where no one stands alone.”

 

               Elvis’ faith is well known. Despite the celebrity life he lived, he made his love of God clear. His stepbrother, Billy Stanley, published a book last year called, “The Faith of Elvis,” in which Stanley offers example after example of the megastar’s generosity and his trust in the Bible. The much younger brother says Elvis often urged him to read scripture. According to Stanley’s book, “EP” once told him:

                “Remember, Billy, the mind is the devil’s playground. Everybody knows the master of confusion is the devil. The mind believes it is the strongest organ. But the heart is God’s playground. The heart is what keeps you going.”

                That recollection rings true to the place where Elvis’ Christian walk began: a small Assembly of God church in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he lived until his family moved to Memphis when he was 13.

Kathy and I took a bus tour from Memphis to Tupelo a couple of days before Elvis’ birthday celebration and sat for a presentation in that church. Surrounded by three video screens, we saw a 15-minute recreation of a 1943 worship service with impassioned prayer and preaching plus a gospel quartet doing “I’ll Fly Away” and the congregation singing “Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?” followed by shouts and clapping.

Plus, the video showed a young boy portraying an 8-year-old Elvis singing his first public solo: “Jesus Loves Me.” The future star probably stood next to the original, simple pulpit that remains in the small, white church.

It’s easy to see why Elvis Presley had a life-long love of gospel music. His first goal was to sing in a gospel quartet like those of his youth. He released several gospel albums and in the 1970s included songs such as “Swing Down, Sweet Chariot” and yes, “How Great Thou Art,” in his concerts. He and his buddy musicians often jammed in the studio or after performances to tunes such as “Bosom of Abraham” and “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

The presence of Lisa Marie’s father couldn’t be overlooked at her service last Sunday, not with the Blackwoods’ harmony, recollections by Elvis’ “Memphis Mafia” member Jerry Schilling and one of the most iconic houses in the world serving as the backdrop.

But touches of her own life included songs by Alanis Morissette, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses plus tender words by her mother, Priscilla Presley; her daughter, Riley Keough; former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton; Pastor Dwayne Hunt; and her friend, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. A new friend of Lisa Marie and Priscilla, “Elvis” movie star Austin Butler, was in attendance.

In a moving talk, Wharton said he and others who knew Lisa Marie “won’t connect in this same place in the same way ever again.” But I pray that Billy Blackwood’s introduction to “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” which Elvis included in his later shows, will come true for the family and for everyone:

“May this song be the ushering in of God’s peace and presence in your life.”

Jan. 15, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News

Higher quality in Christian films includes Amarillo studio

By Mike Haynes

                Most of the 1,300 seats in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts were filled the night of Dec. 1, 2022, with some in the audience decked out in black tuxedos or glitzy dresses and others wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

                The dressed-up people had walked between velvet ropes to enter the building through a door marked “VIP.” In the lobby, actors were posing for photos, and posters showed the stars of a film that was created in and around Amarillo. The event was a movie premiere, Hollywood-style, something rarely seen in the Texas Panhandle but which its producers hope will become a regular occurrence.

                Sharpened Iron Studios, located on the city’s historic Polk Street, was displaying its first completed feature film, “What Remains,” that stars two veteran, recognizable actors, Cress Williams and Kellan Lutz, and Anne Heche, the actress known for high-profile television and movie roles. Heche died Aug. 14, 2022, at age 53 of injuries suffered in a car accident not long after “What Remains” finished filming, and the studio described the movie as her “final film appearance.”

                In a live question-and-answer session after the Dec. 1 premiere, studio CEO Sean Doherty said he believes Heche became a believer in Christ as a result of working on the film.  

                It’s notable that such talent came to Amarillo to shoot a movie. It also is notable that “What Remains” hits on Christian themes in a production by a faith-based studio.

                The founding of Sharpened Iron a couple of years ago seems part of a trend toward more excellence in popular arts created by Christians and promoting Christian beliefs and values. Part of the trend is away from direct evangelizing in favor of more subtle messaging – something the best authors, screenwriters and songwriters in the secular culture do.

                “What Remains” does include a pastor as a key character and discussions of guilt and forgiveness in a plot involving a past murder. The clergyman (Williams) struggles with how much forgiveness he can give to the man (Lutz) who had killed the pastor’s wife. But the obvious spiritual issues don’t overwhelm the murder story, in which the local sheriff (Heche) plays an important part.

                I hope Sharpened Iron continues to produce quality stories that promote Christian themes without preaching them and that also can compete with mainstream movies at the box office.

The studio isn’t the only Christian effort to create spiritually relevant art for general audiences. In the same month that my wife and I attended the “What Remains” premiere, we saw “I Heard the Bells” at a local theater. It’s the story of the famed writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the tragedy that led him to write the poem, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” during the Civil War. The poem later became a beloved Christmas song.

The Longfellow film was produced by Sight & Sound, which refers to itself as a ministry to spread the Christian gospel. Sight & Sound started in Pennsylvania in 1976 as a multimedia show and has expanded to several U.S. locations, including a live theater in Branson, Missouri. “I Heard the Bells” is its first feature film.

                The 1860s story is a decent telling of Longfellow’s life and the genesis of the poem, but its production values don’t match those of “What Remains.” To be fair, it’s a period piece, so maybe that’s harder to do. But it’s noticeable that a Union army parade that must have included hundreds of soldiers is represented in the movie by about 20 actors. The overall quality is good, though, and the lead actors don’t come off as just well-meaning people picked from a local church to fill out the cast.

                Probably the best example of recent Christian TV/film production is “The Chosen,” a worldwide phenomenon available through a streaming app and other online platforms. The series showing details of the life of Jesus and his followers has offered some episodes in movie theaters, including the first two episodes of its season 3. That pair of shows premiered last November and has made more than $14 million at the box office.

                “The Chosen” is shot primarily at the Salvation Army’s Camp Hoblitzelle at Midlothian, south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with some scenes done in Utah. Financed heavily by donations, it is first class in all areas, including acting, writing, music and cinematography. Angel Studios creates “The Chosen” along with other dramas, comedy shows and children’s animated stories.

                Since the 1990s, I have written about the need for quality Christian entertainment. I still strongly believe that instead of only criticizing the culture – and instead of trying to shut down voices that we don’t agree with – Christians should produce their own movies and TV shows for general audiences to show the other side and maybe counteract harmful messages that seem to multiply every year.

I’ve addressed the fact that some Christian creations settle for less than the best with the rationalization that the sacred message makes up for a lower standard of work. It seems that assumption is being challenged more and more, which is encouraging.

The greatest story of all time needs to be told in the greatest possible manner.

Jan. 1, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Reading books takes you to new places, deeper understanding

(Note: I mention below that I read seven books in 2022, and then I list eight. Sorry! I guess it actually was nine, because from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, I read 365 devotionals in Billy Graham’s “Peace for Each Day,” which my brother David gave to me. –Mike H.)

By Mike Haynes

                For someone who loves to read, I’m a terrible reader.

                What I mean is that I don’t travel through that many books each year, and for two reasons.

First, I subscribe to the newspaper – now the digital version – and go through it every day, and I get a few magazines in the mail. Plus, like many of us, I look at Facebook and go through emails that sometimes lead me to interesting stories or information. So more transitory sources of words steal time from books.

Second, I’m slow. I tend to re-read a sentence or stop and go back to a paragraph to be sure I got the meaning. It takes me longer than most people to finish a book.

I read portions of the Bible, but only once so far have I tried to go through it in a year. It took me seven years to get from Genesis to Revelation. My wife, Kathy, is about to embark on a Bible-in-a-year journey. I hope she does better than I did.

The thing about books is that, with exceptions, you get a deeper understanding of the topic or the emotions or the plot because the author has filled many more pages than a newspaper or magazine story, and the same material covered with video or audio, with exceptions, tends to be more superficial and not as detailed. I got a good idea of the faith of Bono, the rock star of the band U2, from a magazine story that covered 10 pages, including photos and artwork. It made me want to read Bono’s new book, “Surrender,” which has 576 pages.

I keep a list of books that I read each year, and for 2022, my list has seven titles. That’s a paltry number for true bibliophiles. But all of them are books that intrigued me. After seeing the titles or topics, I wanted to know more.

“Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” by Alexander Radishchev, was one of four books I read over three years because Kathy and I had planned since 2019 to take a river cruise in Russia covering that exact route. COVID and the Ukraine war ended those travel plans, but I learned a lot about 1700s Russia – and about human nature – from reading the book.

I’ve admired Christian author Philip Yancey for decades, so I had to read about his life in “Where the Light Fell: A Memoir.” The troubles he lived through as a child with a strict, fundamentalist mother were nothing like my own upbringing, but his reasoning for finally embracing a brand of Christianity that included more love and grace resonated with me.

I read local writer Kim Barlow’s “My Rehab Is Spelled J-E-S-U-S” so I could write a better magazine story about him. The short book opened my eyes to drug addiction and redemption and was special because I had discussed it with the author.

Kathy and I were blessed to visit Scotland in the summer of 2022, which made “Scotland: A Concise History,” by Fitzroy Maclean and Magnus Linklater fascinating to me even though the book is a little dry. More fun was “Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other,” a book written by actors Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish (with Charlotte Rather) about their TV show, “Men in Kilts,” which itself is a spinoff from the historical fantasy series, “Outlander.”

Our friend Mark sent me “Lennon, Dylan, Alice and Jesus: The Spiritual Biography of Rock and Roll,” by evangelist Greg Laurie and Marshall Terrill. As a fan of the Beatles and rock music in general, I was captivated by the faith – or lack of faith – stories of John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper and other musicians.

Local professor Mary Dodson’s brief “Critical Race Theory Versus God’s Divine Law: Making a Choice” lays out the progression of socialist and postmodern influences that have led to the CRT philosophy in America. It makes a compelling case for the need to stop the downward spiral of our society.

                And I just finished “A Texan in England,” published by celebrated Texas author J. Frank Dobie in 1944 about his year as a visiting professor at Cambridge. It isn’t one of his best-known works – such as “The Longhorns” – but as a Texan who has visited England, I couldn’t resist reading it.

                When you like to read, it isn’t the act of reading that you like. It’s the facts and the stories and the sensations that the words give you that make you feel good. Reading does take you to new places.

                I hope I surpass seven books in 2023. The first one I plan to finish is “Letter to the American Church,” by Eric Metaxas, which was a gift from my mother-in-law, Peggy. And then there’s the one that we probably should go deeper into than we already have. The Bible has a lot of pages, but all of us should start a trip through it – even slow readers like me.

Dec. 18, 2022, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Christmas is a time to eat, drink and be merry

By Mike Haynes
    One of the reasons I like eating out is seeing the people at other tables in the restaurant.
    Not that I watch them closely, but when glancing around the room, it’s gratifying to see people having fun.
    Eating out can be for a special occasion, but even if not, it’s a treat to be away from the house, away from work – and ideally, away from worries. Smiles on diners' faces indicate that troubles often are forgotten, at least temporarily, when friends or family get together over enchiladas or shrimp or even a hamburger that someone else made for them. I like seeing those smiles.

    The same is true of other escapes: a movie at the theater, a basketball game, a concert. Most of us have venues where we take breaks from humdrum – and sometimes difficult – daily life. It’s heartwarming to notice a couple laughing as they exit a funny movie or someone boot-scooting at a wedding reception.
    The Bible doesn’t say much about Jesus having fun, but some of his stories and guidance hint at humor. I’m no ancient language expert, but according to “Father Tim” at clergyconfidential.com, Jesus’ criticism of religious leaders in Matthew 23:24 – “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” – includes a sort of pun. In Aramaic, gnat is “galma,” while camel is “gamla.” We lose a little irony in the English translation.
    When Jesus performed his first miracle, changing water into wine, he was attending a wedding. It’s hard to imagine that he didn’t join in the festivities of a Jewish celebration. He was human as well as divine, and after all, if we believe he is God, well, he invented fun.
    We’re in a month of Christmas parties. I’ve been to three this December, and I couldn’t help looking around at the joy on lots of faces. We laughed at our bad bowling at my wife’s office party, and it was nice meeting a coworker and her husband, plus finding out they are active in a local church.
    My wife and her mother volunteer with the Amarillo SPCA animal shelter, and the people involved in that organization spend the year in the important work of saving dogs and cats. But at the SPCA Christmas party, all were at ease guessing how many M&Ms were in a container and displaying big smiles in a group picture taken by a restaurant server.
    It also was nice when wait staff members received unexpected small gifts from the animal shelter volunteers.
    Because I spent 25 years working with Amarillo College mass media students, I get invited to a lunchtime party each year with media students and faculty. It’s rewarding to see young people enjoying an hour or two away from writing news stories, editing video or studying for finals.
    Some college students are confident and become the life of the party as gifts are exchanged, while the more shy ones tend to have apprehensive looks on their faces that fade away when they see their teachers being silly and playful. Who wouldn’t laugh when one gift was a box of rocks – with a small amount of cash taped to each one.
    The Old Testament – the Hebrew scripture – mentions laughter more than the New Testament, and Jesus, whose life is described in the NT, certainly quoted and endorsed the OT. The sometimes depressing book of Job includes this verse: “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy” (Job 8:21).
    The famous statement in Ecclesiastes 8:15 says, “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.”
    Of course, much of Jesus’ message is serious business. But Christmas is one of those times when we can eat, drink and be glad, and for good reason. The God in whose image we were made visited us in person with Good News for all people.
    If we believe what he said, then even in times of fear and uncertainty, we can smile.

Dec. 4, 2022, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

New 'Chosen' episodes show disciples' reaction to first mission

By Mike Haynes

                On a movie theater screen Nov. 18, a group of 12 men formed a circle and prayed. Dressed in first-century clothing, their arms around each other’s shoulders, they appeared eager and apprehensive at the same time.

                With dramatic night lighting and moving music, they asked God to be with them as they started their first assignment without their leader. They were to go in pairs to communities throughout the region, telling the residents that the kingdom of God was near. And they were to heal people’s ailments and command impure spirits to go away – things they had seen their teacher do but that they had no idea he would give them the power to accomplish themselves.

                It was the closing scene of “The Chosen: Season 3, Episodes 1 and 2,” premiering in theaters across the country in anticipation of the regular streaming presentation of Season 3 of the first multi-season series depicting the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

                Headlines after that first weekend of the theatrical release included the words, “surprised,” “shocked” and “stunned” regarding the box office ranking of “The Chosen.” It opened in the No. 3 spot behind only No. 1 “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and No. 2 “The Menu,” both heavily financed Hollywood productions. Then it moved up to No. 2 with a take of $11.8 million, ahead of “The Menu” at $11.3 million and behind “Black Panther” at $82.9 million. “Black Panther” was shown on 4,396 screens, according to boxofficemojo.com, and “The Menu” was on 3,228 screens. “The Chosen” was on only 2,021 screens.

                Of course, “The Chosen” primarily is a streaming production, filmed in Utah and increasingly near Midlothian, Texas, and financed by crowdfunding, sales of merchandise and theater tickets so that it can be offered free on its streaming app. It’s a sort of intruder into the entertainment field – maybe like Jesus himself was perceived by religious leaders 2,000 years ago.

                It has grabbed the attention of Christians of many stripes as well as others who might not be inclined to enter a church. It has generated some controversy, including from those who think nothing about Jesus should be presented unless it’s word-for-word from the Bible.

Dallas Jenkins, its creator and director, has explained clearly that “The Chosen” isn’t the Bible but that it does not contradict scripture. One of its purposes is to show Christ’s first disciples as human beings with worries, joys and extended families and friends. The storylines for Mary Magdalene, Matthew and Peter, for example, speculate on what might have been going on in their lives as Jesus chose them and as they came to believe and follow him.

Episode 2 of Season 3 shows Jesus encouraging James, son of Alphaeus, who has a physical ailment and wonders how he will be able to heal people when Jesus hasn’t healed him. That conversation isn’t in the Bible, but as Jenkins says, it is a creative, plausible supposition that fits into the biblical narrative. Christ probably didn’t have that exact talk with James in real life, but the scene reminds us that the disciples were real people who would have had serious discussions with their rabbi and savior. And Jenkins cites many examples of viewers turning to the Bible to read the scriptural context of the “Chosen” stories.

The prayer circle that the 12 form after receiving instructions from Jesus to go out “two by two” and tell people about him is an entirely likely occurrence that follows the New Testament accounts, and “The Chosen” makes it an emotional time for the men who have become brothers.  

I remember a sermon many years ago by the late Roy Wheeler, who was the senior minister of Paramount Terrace (now Hillside) Christian Church. He described a football game where the home team’s 11 offensive starters were huddled in the middle of the field with the opponents’ defense waiting for them to break the huddle and run a play.

But in Wheeler’s scenario, the home team stays in the circle, talking about the X’s and O’s of the next play. While the defense waits, the offense doesn’t move. The obvious comparison is to the church, where often we worship on Sunday, attend Sunday school lessons and encourage each other – but don’t go out into the world to spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.

In “The Chosen,” the disciples are preparing for their next offensive play, and I assume we’ll see them in action in subsequent episodes. We know that in scripture, they did follow Jesus’ lead in reaching people with healing and word of the coming kingdom of God.

God changed the world through them. Many believers hope he will continue that revolution through “The Chosen” and through other methods. And all of us need to break the huddle and run the play.

  

Nov. 20, 2022, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Reflections on loyalty to hometowns, churches, God

By Mike Haynes

                Loyalty was the topic of a column in this newspaper last Sunday by Dr. Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University.

                It got me to thinking.

                I have plenty of faults, but after living for quite a few decades, it’s obvious that I’m loyal, mostly to people and place, as Dr. Wendler expertly described. So is Kathy, my wife.

                People all over the Panhandle can say the same thing, but here are my examples. I’ll bet most who read this will find them familiar.

                I worked for 25 years at Amarillo College, and after I retiring, I attend luncheons of the AC retirees’ group. I visit my old department often. AC is a great place and has great people, which still motivates me.

                Kathy worked more than 30 years at the first Amarillo cancer treatment center. She left only to join the team of an oncologist for whom she had worked for several years and who was helping start a new center.

                 Kathy and I met at Paramount Terrace Christian Church. We got married there soon after and kept attending PTCC, switching only from a singles class to a couples class. The church moved and became Hillside Christian Church; we moved with it and still are there after 31 years

                I grew up at First Methodist Church in McLean, 70 miles east of Amarillo. After moving away for college and various jobs, I still have a strong fondness for that church, and Kathy and I give part of our contributions to it. My cousin being the pastor for most of the past three decades might have something to do with it, but my loyalty is deeper than that. I still have a little wooden children’s chair that I’m sure he and I sat on during Sunday school when we were preschoolers. It’s where I started learning about God.

                Lots of people have lasting loyalty to their hometowns, but I doubt that theirs surpasses mine. I love living in Amarillo and love friends and family here. But it isn’t my hometown. My hometown is McLean, at about 725 residents, half the size it was when I graduated from school there. And most of my family still lives in or outside of McLean, attending that same Methodist Church.

                Family is an obvious one, and I won’t spend much space going into details today. But the fact that Kathy and I will be traveling down I-40 for Thanksgiving at the ranch, then rushing back to Amarillo for “Thankmas” – our combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas – with my mother-in-law and Kathy’s brother and family from Oklahoma is testament to the priority both of us place on our kinfolks.

                Also in my hometown is my No. 1 school. I’m the worst athlete in my family, but I’m still proud of having been on McLean football, basketball and track teams. I love that our football coach still returns from the Dallas area to our reunions. To paraphrase the Amarillo High saying, “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.” But it isn’t just sports. My classmates, the excellent teachers we had and the old high school building all make it my school.

                Kathy may not have quite the level of loyalty to AHS that I have to MHS, but she does to her best friends from school and her church youth group. She kept in touch with one who moved to Kansas and then to Florida until that close friend passed away. Several women from her teenage years reconnected some time back and now get together often. One will be staying a weekend at our house in a couple of weeks.

                Then there’s the Texas Panhandle as a whole. I love that when a sports team from the region makes it to state, fans from Higgins to Happy and everywhere in between root for “our” representatives – even if our town lost to their town that season.

                 And the state of Texas. The Alamo, the ranching heritage, the fact that we were a nation and much more. Yes, I like to brag on Texas. And the United States, its history and its flag.

                If you look at the T-shirts in my closet, you’ll know I have sports loyalties. Radio announcer Jack Dale and Southwest Conference football star Donny Anderson from Stinnett made me a Texas Tech fan long before I attended school there. Later, working at Tech for seven years cemented the fact that it’s a great place with great people.

                I often say that my second favorite school is the University of Oklahoma. Family loyalty to OU started with relatives in leadership there and my grandmother and uncle going to school there. Ever since seeing Don Meredith and Bob Hays lead the Cowboys in the 1960s, I’ve stuck with Dallas as my NFL team. Of course, Tech’s Patrick Mahomes has compelled me to add Kansas City as another must-watch team.

                I have some loyalty to West Texas A&M, although I look for T-shirts that say “WT” without the “A&M.” Pistol Pete Pedro, Jerry Logan and Mercury Morris were some of my football heroes, and it is the Panhandle’s university. My mom and dad attended WT, which adds fondness for me. But luckily, they quit school to get married, moved back to McLean and had me.

                I’m sure that blind loyalty can be a bad thing. Sometimes it’s best for people to change jobs or churches or careers or even political parties. But I think there are plenty of good reasons for the loyalties that Kathy and I have. And one of them is a big factor in why we got married.

                Besides both liking the Beatles and salt on our chips, we knew we both had commitments to Jesus Christ. And that’s the most important loyalty of all.