Free Superbowl Half-time Video with Tony & Lauren Dungy

Are you hosting a Super Bowl XLV party this year?

If so, consider taking advantage of the free half-time video kit featuring Tony and Lauren Dungy discussing the importance of adoption. The 3-minute video along with event resources and instructions on how to download and play the video on your TV are available. Go to http://www.adoptionjourney.com/share/dungyhalftime/ for all the resources and details.

Please pass this information along to everyone you think will be interested!

 

Captivated: New Film on Media Discernment premieres nationwide through National Movie Night

When was the last time you stopped and looked around on a busy city street?  Have you noticed that the majority of people are looking down at a device in their hand?  This rapid acceleration and dissemination of mobile media technology is fundamentally altering how people think and relate to one another.  And that’s just one example.

Important issues related to media use and discernment are discussed in the new film Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture, which will premiere nationwide through National Movie Night the weekend of February 3-5.  The documentary is produced by Media Talk 101, a ministry that has been teaching Christians about how to exercise discernment with media since 2005.  Produced by Media Talk 101 President Phillip Telfer and directed by Colin Gunn who also recently released the groundbreaking IndoctriNation documentary, Captivated was recently selected as a semi-finalist in the documentary category at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) to be held February 23-25.

 Captivated is a wide-ranging look at the comprehensive set of issues involved with our modern media culture.  It asks some of the following important questions:

• Everywhere we go we are surrounded by screens. Have we entered a techno utopia or a virtual prison?
• Should we be celebrating unreservedly or should we be cautious and skeptical?
• Is it the greatest leap in productivity or the biggest setback from the things most meaningful in life?
• Has today’s connectivity drawn us closer to one another or strangely more disjointed?
• Is our social experience richer and deeper or more shallow and artificial?

Discover insightful answers to these questions from media experts, church leaders, and inspiring individuals and families from across the country, including:

• Bob Waliszewski – Director of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In department
• Dr. Jeff Myers – President of Summit Ministries
• Dr. Ted Baehr – Founder and Director of MOVIEGUIDE
• Kevin Swanson – Director of Generations with Vision
• Maggie Jackson – Author of “Distracted – The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age“
• Ray Comfort – Founder and President of Living Waters
• Tim Winter – President of Parent’s Television Council
• Trace Embry – Founder and Director of Shepherd’s Hill Academy
• And many others

You can be a part of the nationwide premiere of this groundbreaking film in your community by signing up to host a movie night for Captivated in your home, church, or other venue.  A project of Freedom Film Distributors, National Movie Night provides Movie Night Hosts with planning and promotional tools to set up and promote their movie night, and with discounts for the DVD.  Please consider being a part of helping Christians learn about and exercise discernment with media through the screening of Captivated in your area.

 

“Captivated” Official Trailer from Media Talk 101 on Vimeo.

If you are reading this post in email and don’t see a video, click here to watch the Captivated trailer.

 

Jason Matyas is the Co-Founder of Freedom Film Distributors, which promotes independently produced films and videos that uphold the values of Faith, Family, and Freedom, and he is the creator of the National Movie Night project, which provides a vehicle for grassroots promotions of these films in communities across the country.

 

Goodreads: Preparing My Heart for Easter Study

Fellow Readers —

Would you join me this February through April on a journey with Jesus? Perhaps you’re looking for a Bible study but your days are filled with work, and your evenings are filled with responsibilities and family time. We can do this daily study together independently on our own time, and ask questions and share with one another online when we can.

The book:  Years ago, after I wrote Preparing My Heart for Advent to help readers prepare for the Advent Season, I considered writing an Easter study but didn’t want to be redundant. However, I discovered there wasn’t a study about the women of the Easter story. And so I began reading the Gospels specifically looking for how Jesus radically transformed the lives of the women he met. Preparing My Heart for Easter: A Woman’s Journey to the Cross and Beyond is the result.

The women:  I learned “the women” is repeated over and over in the Gospels: The women traveled with Him, supported Him, followed Him to the cross, remained at the cross, saw the tomb, prepared spices, returned to the tomb, first heard and told the Good News, first saw the resurrected Jesus, and helped form the early church.

Jesus so loved the women and transformed their lives. Have you met any of them? Jairus’ daughter and wife, Mary Magdalene, Peter’s mother-in-law, the woman at the well, the widow at Nain, and Salome, to name a few we will meet. We may find our own story parallels some of these and take comfort in these encounters. And yet, we are loved and uniquely created to have a personal relationship with Him, too!

And so, as the women of 2012, let’s meet Jesus anew and take a journey to the cross and then—with our newfound exploration of the Easter story—beyond.

Our study will begin Monday, February 20. In the meantime, you can purchase the book on Amazon.com or order it from your Christian bookstore. You may see two different covers, either book will work! And if you want to get a headstart, go for it!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a mother, musician, playwright, teacher, and live on a sheep farm and infuse the study with stories of lambing, parenting, music, drama, and countless Easter Passion Plays.

I look forward to hearing more about you and how Jesus works in your lives this Lenten season!

Preparing My Heart for Easter: A Woman’s Journey to the Cross and Beyond

Ann Stewart

[Editor's Note: MMCW is currently reading Erasing Hell by Francis Chan on Goodreads if anyone would like to join our group. On February 1st, we will begin the Christian fiction book, A Secret Hope by Vicki Huffman. We also discuss movies. Our family movie for January is What If and for February, Courageous.

The above book link will take you to Christian Book Distributors website where MMCW is an affiliate.]

 

Book Review: Water’s Edge by Robert Whitlow

Water’s Edge

Do you enjoy a good mystery with lots of twists?  If you answered yes, then Robert Whitlow’s new book Water’s Edge is one you will enjoy.  Whitlow spins his story in a southern town with lots of hometown charm.  His main character, a young lawyer experiencing a lot of change in his life, finds himself over his head.  He is trying to put not just the pieces of a mystery together, but also the pieces of his life.  Through the influence of godly supporting characters, the young lawyer learns to trust God.

An extra bonus with Water’s Edge is that it includes a reading group guide.  It is a perfect read for an individual or a small group who enjoy intrigue and fellowship.

Robert Whitlow is a best-selling author who specializes in legal dramas.  You may be familiar with some of his other works that include:
Deeper Water, Tides of Truth Series #1 (rpkgd)
Higher Hope, Tides of Truth Series #2
Greater Love, Tides of Truth Series #3

 

 

 

Page received an advance copy of Water’s Edge for review purposes only. Her opinion is her own, she was not paid or asked to provide a favorable review. The above links go to CBD.com where this book can be purchased. MMCW is an affiliate of CBD.com and receives 10% commission on sales made through our link to help cover the cost of the blog.

Mentoring Moments is Now On GoodReads

Mentoring Moments has formed a book and movie discussion group at Goodreads.com. Our group is open to anyone who would like to read along or share their thoughts on books, movies, and music.

Goodreads is a free forum to track and discuss books. For personal use, Goodreads allows users to create shelves to list books they’ve read, books to be read, and those currently being read. Personal pages on Goodreads have privacy settings meaning users can choose to allow their books to be viewed by the public, friends only, or no one.

Our Group page will be where we lead a variety of book and movie discussions on Goodreads this year. We are starting slow this month with one movie, What If… DVD, and one book, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up (beginning January 16th). I will be leading both of these discussions. The goal is to eventually offer a variety of fiction and non-fiction books to choose from monthly. We may even have some authors join in our chats!

To watch the What If… DVD trailer, click here.

If you would like to join us on Goodreads, find us here:

 

 

 

 

Book and movie links lead to CBD.com. Mentoring Moments for Christian Women has an affiliation with CBD.com, receiving 10% commission on all products sold using our links. The commission we receive yearly goes toward the maintenance of the MMCW blog site. Feel free to search the web for the best deals on all products–we do. MMCW does not receive any commission from Goodreads.com or if a book is purchased through a Goodreads book link.

 

Molly’s 2011 Favorites

 

Best Book:  What He Must Be If He Wants to Marry My Daughter by Voddie Baucham has had a life-changing impact on our family.  Don’t be fooled by the title: this book is valuable for every parent, not just for those whose children are approaching marriageable age.  Baucham’s book greatly increased our commitment to raising up godly children, giving us a vision of what we need to aim for with our boys and what we need to teach all our children—boys and girls–about biblical manhood.  My husband feels this is particularly a great book for fathers.

Best Sermon:  I listen to a lot of sermons:  twice on Sundays, often on Wednesdays and once or twice a week online.  A. Boyd Miller’s sermon Directives on Thankfulness, part of an ongoing series on the same topic, was the most inspiring sermon of the year for me.

Favorite Find for Girls: Tiny Dancer Designs sells the most adorable tutus and tutu dresses!  I like to dress my little girl in team colors at her brothers’ football games and I love the fact that Tiny Dancer Designs offers 42 different colors of tulle for gorgeous custom-made tutu skirts and dresses.  They even have themed tutus and the option to add embellishments. Tiny Dancer Designs’ motto is “Because Every Little Girl Deserves a Tutu”, and their reasonable prices reflect that commitment.   This week they are  offering a sweet deal to our readers.  To get free priority mail shipping (now through 12/31/11) enter the code tutuFS on their facebook page when you place your order.

Favorite online book store: I recently discovered Grace and Truth books.   According to their website, they don’t carry all the popular titles you may find in other Christian bookstores, but instead they sell only “what will glorify God, strengthen His people in their walk, and call all peoples to find joy in knowing His gospel and following Him.”  I ordered several reprinted tracts and books from the 1800s, and these resources have been among the most valuable books I have ever read with my children, aside from the Bible.  They also sell What He Must Be (my favorite book of the year) and Little Pilgrim’s Progress (my favorite kids book of all time).

Favorite Kids book: Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Taylor is my favorite book to read with our children.  Our family has read it through once a year for the past several years.  Everyone enjoys it and it is very spiritually profitable, time and time again.  The chapters are quite short (often just two or three pages) but each one packs a powerful lesson for the children and can even be convicting for us parents, too!  This book is a simplified, yet faithful re-telling of John Bunyan’s classic allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress  which describes the blessings and struggles of the Christian life.

Favorite New Product: I found Lilla Rose hair clips this year and I wear one almost every day now.  They are so much prettier than a scrunchie, and more feminine, too!  I have various sizes to give me more options in how I wear my hair.

Favorite online photo shop:  I like to decorate with photos.  Last year I found Canvas on Demand.  I love it!  I can order professional quality gallery-wrapped canvases at a fraction of the cost.  We have ordered eight canvases from them to date and each one is fantastic.  Several times a year Groupon offers a great deal on these, allowing me to get them for 1/3 their normal cost.

Favorite study helper for the kids:  My elementary school kids all use Spelling City several times a week to practice their spelling lists.  I can type in their list for the week and the website generates games and exercises they can practice with–even quizzes and tests.  Fun for them, easy for me, effective, and it’s free!

Favorite Family Tradition:  Every year I look forward to gathering as a family over the New Year’s weekend to journal God’s providences in our family throughout the past year.

Favorite Winter Treat with the Kids: Hot chocolate and Toast is our favorite way to warm up on a cold day!

Neither I nor Mentoring Moments are affiliated with any of the companies listed in this post, and we did not receive any compensation from the companies mentioned here.

Top Blog Posts of 2011

This week we are taking a break from our regular blogging schedule and looking back at MMCW’s 2011 reader favorites. Today we are sharing our top blog posts, if you missed them the first time around enjoy!

Tomorrow we’ll be sharing our top recipes.

 All That and a Bag of Chips / Kellie Renfroe
How many will admit to feeling scrutiny, not as a teenager, but right now in life? Sadly enough, at the hands of other sisters in Christ? We’ve all been there, in the stands, saying and doing things that tear down instead of build up another’s life. Continued here.

Hill of Calvary  / Janna Widdifield
Guest blogger, Janna, shares how to create a beautiful hill of Calvary for Easter. Continued here.

Ten Ways to Get Husbands to Talk  / Bob & Cheryl Moeller
Basic Premise: There are no husbands who will not talk, only husbands who do not believe they will be listened to. If your husband believes you will listen to him, he will talk to you. This is a question that we are asked often.  These are some practical ideas that work. Continued here.

Forget My Birthday  /  Jackie Henry
Life is not made up by our days turning to years.  Life is what we make it, the way we conduct our lives, day to day, year to year.  If we try to lead a life of holiness, following after God, then this far outweighs the feeling of aging.  It is the fleshly man that makes us look in the mirror and see the spots.  We should try to look through God’s eyes and see ourselves as He see us.  Continued here.

12 Ways to a No-Regret Life  / Bob & Cheryl Moeller
Teach these practical, transferable 12 crucial life lessons to help your children make wise choices, each day.  From truths learned from personal experience, we want to encourage you to teach your children these disaster-busters. (They work well for adults, too.) Continued here.

Show Me How: Dehydrating 101 / Jan Nellis
That little dehydrator of mine rarely stops.  I’d like to share some of my joy with you in this series on dehydrating just in case you’ve ever thought you might want to try your hand at preserving delicious food from your kitchen. Continued here.

Do I Trust God?  / Lydia Harris
I always thought I trusted God. But situations came up that showed me I didn’t really trust Him as much as I thought. Instead, I trusted in others and myself.  Continued here.

When It’s All Too Much  / Ann Stewart
When her family moved from Virginia to Guatemala with Servants4Him, my friend Maureen and her husband de-materialized.  That meant her family had to get rid of a lot of stuff for the big move. From their ten-year-old daughter to their junior in high school, the family was on board to downsize and de-clutter. Continued here.

Our Merry Little Christmas  / Lydia Harris
Reflecting on our merry little Christmas, I realized that memories of Christmas shouldn’t hinge on one single day. Christmas is only
one small snapshot in our family’s photo album of life. Continued here.

A Mother’s Love  / Vicki Huffman
A Christian mother’s life is guided by faith, hope, and love. A mother’s faith prepares her children and entrusts them to God. Continued here.

Walking the Romans Road / Kellie Renfroe
My pastor recently spent a Sunday evening service walking our congregation through a well-known method called the Romans Road. It allows believers to share the gospel confidently without worrying “Where was that scripture?” All you need is your Bible and a pen to set up the Romans Road. Continued here.

Summer Goals for Family Fun & Growth / Rhonda Ellis
Four part series on taking control of the summer by setting priorities, preparing hearts, setting goals, seeking God’s wisdom and developing family relationships. Continue here.

 

 

 

 

 

Give-Away: Homemade Convenience Foods in 15 Minutes

Cookbook Review: Homemade Convenience Foods by Marcia K. Washburn, reviewed by Molly Evert

I’m running a marathon right now.  My day starts early and ends late as I homeschool our four boys, care for our baby girl, juggle football and Boy Scout schedules for all the boys, and try to keep up with the housework and cooking.  In the fall, there are often nights when we don’t sit down to eat together until 8:30.  I hate feeding my family additive-laden frozen pizza and chicken nuggets.   A trip through the drive-thru is just as bad for their bodies, and it hurts my wallet, too!

When I heard that Marcia Washburn had developed a system to help busy moms get a homemade, nutritious dinner on the table in 15 minutes or less, I was intrigued!  She raised five boys and understands that my sons will polish off the ingredients while I cook if I can’t get the meal done fast enough.

Marcia claims that by following her Homemade Convenience Foods system you will always have the ingredients on hand to prepare at least two dozen different menus.  I read through her book in one sitting, eager to see if her program could give me some tools to feed my family lightning fast, healthy meals on a reasonable budget.  I confess that I hoped that her system was some unheard of miracle which would help me get a gourmet 15-minute meal on the table without any advance prep work at all.  I guess that was unrealistic.  The truth is, I usually can’t even find all my ingredients in 15 minutes because my pantry, refrigerator and cupboards are so disorganized.  Could Marcia’s book really come to my rescue?  I was excited to find out!

Marcia provides several lists of common ingredients you’ll want to keep on hand in your refrigerator, freezer and pantry, and she gives ideas for prepping ingredients ahead of time in order to save time later during the busy weeknight crunch.   Although I am a veteran in the kitchen, I still found several useful ideas and quick-to-make recipes in Homemade Convenience Foods. I spent a few hours shopping, organizing my pantry, and prepping my ingredients for the week, and then challenged myself to make a week’s worth of lunches and dinners in just 15 minutes or less.  Game on!

So how did the challenge go?  I think I did pretty good, and I give Marcia’s book a thumbs up.  I tried to keep lunch prep to less than 15 minutes, though dinner prep sometimes took 20 or 30 minutes from start to table when I used my own recipes.  I usually serve more than one course and I am cooking for seven every night, which may account for the extra time.  Many of Marcia’s recipes truly came in at the 15-minute mark, and using her tips I was able to get many of my own family’s favorite recipes on the table more quickly than usual.  Marcia’s tips were helpful, and even 30 minutes is an acceptable window for supper prep, in my opinion.  I often don’t think about what to make for dinner until about 4:00 pm., and her quick-fix recipes and prep tips gave me a lot more options.

My family enjoyed several of the recipes Marcia included in her book.  Better still, her systems and tips were easily adapted to my own tried and true recipes.  Some of her recipes called for either homemade or frozen bread dough, which was a pleasant surprise for me, since I bake all our bread from scratch, and I will benefit from her ideas for streamlining my bread making process.

One reader will win a free copy of Marcia’s e-book Homemade Convenience Foods.  To enter, please leave a comment about one of your cooking challenges.  For an extra entry, leave a comment with one of your own quick-fix recipes (15 minutes prep or less).  For a third entry, repost this on Facebook and leave a comment letting us know.  This contest will end at midnight on November 15^th.  The winner will be drawn using Random.org from the comments we receive.

Marcia’s e-book normally retails for $5.99, but she is graciously offering our readers a $1 discount on the e-book edition if you purchase by November 15th. Homemade Convenience Foods is also available in a comb-bound print edition for $5.99 plus $2 shipping and handling.  I received a digital copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

Has God Been Faithful to You?

Show Me How: Pinterest

Pinterest is a new website which is set up like an online bulletin board.  It is a simple, lovely way to organize all the neat things you find online.  You can create your own bulletin boards, organized by theme, and “pin” whatever you find onto them.  I have a board for each of my children, baking and crock pot boards, books I want to read, and more.  There is even a Mentoring Moments for Christian Women board!

There are several ways to find content to put on my Pinterest boards.  I added a “pin it” button to my task bar (using the simple instructions on the Pinterest help page).  Now, whenever I find anything I want to remember on the web, I just click “pin it” and add it to one of my boards.  Pinterest is networked with Facebook, allowing me to easily follow some of my friends’ boards.  I also follow boards like MMCW.  Pinterest also allows you to see what others are pinning when you need inspiration on a certain topic.  I like to browse Education for good ideas.

Pinning is a lot more fun and visually appealing than simply bookmarking a site.  If you put a pin on your board, it automatically links back to the web page you pinned.  As a the owner of a web-based business, I like Pinterest because whenever my pages get pinned to someone’s board it introduces their followers to my website, enabling them to visit my site by clicking on their friend’s pin.  A few months ago I had never heard of Pinterest but I find that I am getting more and more click-throughs from Pinterest each day.

Pinterest currently has a waiting list, but it doesn’t seem to take more than 24 hours for approval.  The help page gives very clear direction on everything from how to use Pinterest to setting up Pinterest links on your website or blog.  If you decide to give Pinterest a try, don’t forget to follow MMCW on Pinterest!

 

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