faith Archives

Focus Featured in The New York Times

Saturday’s print edition of The New York Times featured an exclusive profile on Focus on the Family. You can access the piece by clicking here.

As I’ve shared countless times on the radio, I believe it’s our responsibility as Christians to be willing to go wherever the Lord leads us. For me this includes being willing to talk with anyone at any time about anything. It stems from my heart for evangelism and my desire to share the good news of the Gospel with those who do not know Him.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: faith, news, pop culture, staff March 12, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Do This NOW!

Do It Now

By Berton Braley

If with pleasure you are viewing
any work a man is doing,
If you like him or you love him,
tell him now;

Don’t withhold your approbation
till the parson makes oration
And he lies with snowy lilies on his brow;

No matter how you shout it
he won’t really care about it;
He won’t know how many teardrops you have shed;
If you think some praise is due him
now’s the time to slip it to him,
For he cannot read his tombstone when he’s dead.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith March 11, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Bible Sets a Record

I received an email from Roma Downey and Mark Burnett yesterday about Sunday night’s premier of History Channel’s “The Bible,” which garnered nearly 15 million viewers.

Here’s what she wrote:

Number one on tv…Number one on history website…Number one on twitter. People all over our nation are talking about the Bible. People are talking about God , what a blessing that is…

It begins!

We are so grateful to you all for your love and encouragement and prayers.

Topics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, faith, pop culture March 5, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Hollywood Makes the Case for Teaching the Bible in Public School

The following essay was penned for The Wall Street Journal by our friends, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett.

As a friend of mine wrote on Facebook this morning, “All thoughtful, no thumping.”

But what do you think?

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Why Public Schools Should Teach the Bible

Westerners cannot be considered literate without a basic knowledge of this foundational text.

By ROMA DOWNEY AND MARK BURNETT

The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2013

Have you ever sensed in your own life that “the handwriting was on the wall”?

Topics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, faith, kids, pop culture, religious liberty March 1, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

5 Faith-Building Apps for Children

Like it or not, our kids are growing up in a world of gadgets and gizmos. Before they can even walk, many little ones know how to turn the page on an iPad or even open up a favorite app on a smart phone.

Navigating technology can be challenging enough for adults, but many parents contact us wanting to know how much screen time is safe for their kids. Should Junior be allowed to use the iPad?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting, technology February 28, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Exclusive Video Clip: The Bible

The highly anticipated five-week miniseries, The Bible, debuts this coming Sunday, March 3, on the History Channel.

Produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Voice) and his wife Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) the ten-hour presentation is a dramatic and ambitious project. It’s also a labor of love for the Burnetts, who began this endeavor with a noble and classically evangelistic goal: to encourage people to read the Bible.

Let’s face it – it takes some moxie to lift up the Bible in the middle of Hollywood.

Topics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, faith, pop culture February 27, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What to Pray For – If You Want to Be Successful

What causes someone at the top of their profession to lose control of it all?

I think one person got it right when he said: “Success will take you further than character can keep you.”

Whether a professional athlete, the CEO of a company, or an employee looking to move up the ladder, character matters.

As you’ve likely realized, success doesn’t alleviate the demands upon us, it only intensifies them. To handle that stress, you need more than talent or intellect.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith February 26, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Are You a Prude?

A recent article in Relevant magazine, “Confessions of a Prude”, explored the role cultural relevance has for Christians.

The author writes:

We culture-savvy Christians recoil at the labels assigned to us by society… sheltered, out-of-touch, or prudish.

True?

Well, just think of how often we seek to be culturally relevant, watching every movie, keeping up with every popular program on TV and making sure we understand the references on “Saturday Night Live.”

After all, don’t we have an obligation against coming across as self-righteous?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, relationships February 15, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Power of Our Words

I love reading stories about how people came to their faith in the Lord. It’s humbling to see, time and time again, how God lovingly pursues us, calls us to repentance through the Holy Spirit and gives us the gift of His Son.

I want to share one such story with you.

In My Train Wreck Conversion, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield (photo courtesy of CT) shares her story of being a woman who, in her own words, was a “leftist lesbian professor” who “despised Christians.” Steeped in her postmodern intellectual worldview, she was convinced that Christians hated her – and she was going to attack.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family February 12, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Another Reason I Love Chick-fil-A

How are friendships forged and formed?

There are many ways, of course, from the traditional to the unorthodox, but C.S. Lewis once put it this way:

Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another: “What! You too?”

Dan Cathy is the president of Chick-fil-A and the son of the company’s founder, Truett Cathy. Dan is also a friend of mine, and I was reminded again this week of how much I appreciate the man when I saw a column about him from a homosexual activist in the Huffington Post.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, faith, relationships January 30, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura