by Jason Joyner | Dec 1, 2010 | Biblical worldview, Blog, holiness, movies, YWAM
“Surely you can’t be serious!”
“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”
The Net was abuzz this week with the sad passing of Leslie Nielsen, the actor who defined the slapstick genre of movies with Airplane!, the Naked Gun series, and numerous other movie spoofs. What a great story. The guy was in the movie machine back in the 50’s as a standard handsome leading man, and then was able to find success in his love of comedy after Airplane! took off (groan) in 1980. My mom’s name was Shirley, so we always loved that joke and played off of it and the irony for her saying it.
A child of the 80’s, I really enjoyed these movies. The slapstick and play on of words were great, but there were lots of things I didn’t get watching them initially as a teenager (I was rather naive, thankfully). There’s a ton of sexual innuendo, but I didn’t understand much of it. I thought they were harmless movies.
In 1991 I went on a Discipleship Training School with YWAM. We had three months of training in Montana, learning about the character and ways of God, the Bible, prayer, evangelism, worship, etc. Then we had a two month practical outreach in Thailand. It was a such an investment for me to make, right out of high school. It really changed so much of my perspective, from learning so much about God and who He is, to seeing the bigger world and all the needs out there. Quite a perspective for this Idaho boy.
What does this have to do with Leslie Nielsen? It’s not a cheap attempt to draw search engine traffic here. On the flight back from Thailand the movie was The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (gotta love the 1/2!). I had watched it prior to the DTS and thought it was hilarious. Something was different this time. I saw so much that went against God’s standards and ways. It was like I had a different lens to look through, and there was so much junk in it. Maybe it was that my internal lenses were cleaned, and I could see garbage for what it was.
I didn’t enjoy it the second time, and I think I ended up not watching the rest of the movie.
Leslie Nielsen was a remarkable comedic actor, with great timing and funny faces galore. Still, those movies too quickly went for lowest common denominator humor. As an immature 17 year old, it was awesome. After spending 5 months pursuing the Lord in a concentrated manner every day, it was repulsive. The show didn’t change. I did.
I think of that experience sometimes when I see what goes on in popular culture. I wasn’t trying to be holier-than-thou about it, but it was a natural response after getting close to Him. I’m sad to say that I probably am not bothered by a lot of things I watch anymore, because I have to live in “real life” and don’t have the time to dedicate to Jesus like I did in those days. When you get to live like that, then your spiritual sensitivity naturally goes up.
I have no excuse for not being there now. I could do a lot better in my relationship with the Lord, even though the DTS was a special time that is hard to replicate in the day to day of living.
So strange as it may seem, when I think of Leslie Nielsen, I think of holiness. I am reminded of such a wonderful time in my life. And I think of Shirley. A laugh, a tear, and a sigh mixed together.
Thanks for the chuckles, Mr. Nielsen, and for the memories. Here’s hoping God’s grace finds you.
—
by Jason Joyner | Dec 1, 2010 | Biblical worldview, Blog, holiness, movies, YWAM
“Surely you can’t be serious!”
“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”
The Net was abuzz this week with the sad passing of Leslie Nielsen, the actor who defined the slapstick genre of movies with Airplane!, the Naked Gun series, and numerous other movie spoofs. What a great story. The guy was in the movie machine back in the 50’s as a standard handsome leading man, and then was able to find success in his love of comedy after Airplane! took off (groan) in 1980. My mom’s name was Shirley, so we always loved that joke and played off of it and the irony for her saying it.
A child of the 80’s, I really enjoyed these movies. The slapstick and play on of words were great, but there were lots of things I didn’t get watching them initially as a teenager (I was rather naive, thankfully). There’s a ton of sexual innuendo, but I didn’t understand much of it. I thought they were harmless movies.
In 1991 I went on a Discipleship Training School with YWAM. We had three months of training in Montana, learning about the character and ways of God, the Bible, prayer, evangelism, worship, etc. Then we had a two month practical outreach in Thailand. It was a such an investment for me to make, right out of high school. It really changed so much of my perspective, from learning so much about God and who He is, to seeing the bigger world and all the needs out there. Quite a perspective for this Idaho boy.
What does this have to do with Leslie Nielsen? It’s not a cheap attempt to draw search engine traffic here. On the flight back from Thailand the movie was The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (gotta love the 1/2!). I had watched it prior to the DTS and thought it was hilarious. Something was different this time. I saw so much that went against God’s standards and ways. It was like I had a different lens to look through, and there was so much junk in it. Maybe it was that my internal lenses were cleaned, and I could see garbage for what it was.
I didn’t enjoy it the second time, and I think I ended up not watching the rest of the movie.
Leslie Nielsen was a remarkable comedic actor, with great timing and funny faces galore. Still, those movies too quickly went for lowest common denominator humor. As an immature 17 year old, it was awesome. After spending 5 months pursuing the Lord in a concentrated manner every day, it was repulsive. The show didn’t change. I did.
I think of that experience sometimes when I see what goes on in popular culture. I wasn’t trying to be holier-than-thou about it, but it was a natural response after getting close to Him. I’m sad to say that I probably am not bothered by a lot of things I watch anymore, because I have to live in “real life” and don’t have the time to dedicate to Jesus like I did in those days. When you get to live like that, then your spiritual sensitivity naturally goes up.
I have no excuse for not being there now. I could do a lot better in my relationship with the Lord, even though the DTS was a special time that is hard to replicate in the day to day of living.
So strange as it may seem, when I think of Leslie Nielsen, I think of holiness. I am reminded of such a wonderful time in my life. And I think of Shirley. A laugh, a tear, and a sigh mixed together.
Thanks for the chuckles, Mr. Nielsen, and for the memories. Here’s hoping God’s grace finds you.
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 19, 2010 | Bible, Blog, books, Loren Cunningham, missions, non-fiction, YWAM
My friends and regular readers of this blog believe that the Bible is a special book.
If we only knew how much…
I recently finished
The Book That Transforms Nations, the latest book by Loren Cunningham. He is the founder of Youth With a Mission, and if there’s anyone who is qualified to write this book, it is him. He has ministered in EVERY country on Earth, as well as numerous territories that don’t count as countries but are distinct areas nonetheless (how many of you have been to Pitcairn Island?).
The book has a straightforward structure. The first part of the book explains the problem, especially in the West, of our turning away as a society in general from God’s Word. He then spends a majority of the book describing ways the Bible has been used to transform cultures, from whole countries like Norway and South Korea to Calvin’s Geneva and yes, Pitcairn Island. Third, he describes how what we believe about God affects how we act in life, and shows how exceptions to the rule actually prove his point, with examples such as Japan and Latin America. Finally, he casts a vision on how we can get the Word out there.
We don’t hear stories anymore of the way God has transformed societies. I was impressed by Hans Nielsen Hauge, the Norwegian who skied to much of Norway spreading the Word, and the difference it made in that land. We may know a little about William Carey and his ministry in India, but I didn’t realize the extent of work done there.
Some of this information isn’t all that new. The idea that how we believe about God affects our culture comes admittedly from Francis Schaeffer (and it isn’t necessarily original with him). Loren touches on the various areas of culture that shape it, the Seven Spheres of Influence, which I have blogged about (after learning them from YWAM). There could be more practical information about how to do what the book is trying to promote: getting the Word out to people and let it transform hearts.
Still, Loren (and his sister Janice Rogers, who has written other books with him) has an easy style to read, and he excels at getting the reader excited about the proposition in the book. I finished and was immediately ready to start tossing Bibles on co-workers’ desks (however, I believe I would better serve the Lord by staying employed for a longer term basis).
What really challenged me was page 198, where he talks about how easy we have it to finish the job, as previous generations had to hand copy the Bible, and travel by foot or animal to get it anywhere. Modern technology puts reaching the whole world with the gospel as a doable goal in our lifetime! His challenge is that “our willingness to obey the Lord and move out is the only real limitation” (p 198).
I encourage anyone who has a love for Jesus and His Word, and a desire to see our country and the other nations changed to check out this book.
by Jason Joyner | Feb 19, 2010 | Bible, Blog, books, Loren Cunningham, missions, non-fiction, YWAM
My friends and regular readers of this blog believe that the Bible is a special book.
If we only knew how much…
I recently finished
The Book That Transforms Nations, the latest book by Loren Cunningham. He is the founder of Youth With a Mission, and if there’s anyone who is qualified to write this book, it is him. He has ministered in EVERY country on Earth, as well as numerous territories that don’t count as countries but are distinct areas nonetheless (how many of you have been to Pitcairn Island?).
The book has a straightforward structure. The first part of the book explains the problem, especially in the West, of our turning away as a society in general from God’s Word. He then spends a majority of the book describing ways the Bible has been used to transform cultures, from whole countries like Norway and South Korea to Calvin’s Geneva and yes, Pitcairn Island. Third, he describes how what we believe about God affects how we act in life, and shows how exceptions to the rule actually prove his point, with examples such as Japan and Latin America. Finally, he casts a vision on how we can get the Word out there.
We don’t hear stories anymore of the way God has transformed societies. I was impressed by Hans Nielsen Hauge, the Norwegian who skied to much of Norway spreading the Word, and the difference it made in that land. We may know a little about William Carey and his ministry in India, but I didn’t realize the extent of work done there.
Some of this information isn’t all that new. The idea that how we believe about God affects our culture comes admittedly from Francis Schaeffer (and it isn’t necessarily original with him). Loren touches on the various areas of culture that shape it, the Seven Spheres of Influence, which I have blogged about (after learning them from YWAM). There could be more practical information about how to do what the book is trying to promote: getting the Word out to people and let it transform hearts.
Still, Loren (and his sister Janice Rogers, who has written other books with him) has an easy style to read, and he excels at getting the reader excited about the proposition in the book. I finished and was immediately ready to start tossing Bibles on co-workers’ desks (however, I believe I would better serve the Lord by staying employed for a longer term basis).
What really challenged me was page 198, where he talks about how easy we have it to finish the job, as previous generations had to hand copy the Bible, and travel by foot or animal to get it anywhere. Modern technology puts reaching the whole world with the gospel as a doable goal in our lifetime! His challenge is that “our willingness to obey the Lord and move out is the only real limitation” (p 198).
I encourage anyone who has a love for Jesus and His Word, and a desire to see our country and the other nations changed to check out this book.
by Jason Joyner | Jan 26, 2010 | Bible, Blog, resources, YWAM
The best 9 month investment of my life was spent reading a book 5 times.
Back in 1995 (getting farther all the time…) I was privileged to go to the School of Biblical Studies through Youth With a Mission in Canberra, Australia. Yes, we basically read the Bible five times through those nine months.
We learned the Inductive Bible Study method, which places an emphasis on learning the literary and historical context for the book of the Bible one studies, and reading the text and listening to what it says. It is contrasted with Deductive Bible Study, where one goes to the text with a preconceived idea and tries to find support for it in the Bible.
Those nine months did more for me in grounding me in the Word, and was invaluable to this day. Now I have found that it can be a resource for anyone.
There is a website entitled “The SBS Podcast” that gives downloadable teachings from some of the key leaders in the SBS system. You can download them directly from the site, and you can also subscribe to it through iTunes.
I highly recommend this resource for foundational Biblical study. There are topics from the Trinity, to Israel in New Testament times, to specific teachings on books of the Bible. I have a longtime personal friend as one of the teachers, and Ron Smith, who runs the SBS program within YWAM, has been a Bible teacher and author for years.
Oh, and the best thing: it’s free.
I encourage anyone interested to check out this great free resource for the Body of Christ. YWAM’s motto is, “Know Him and make Him known.” One of our best ways of knowing God is through His Word.
—
by Jason Joyner | Jan 26, 2010 | Bible, Blog, resources, YWAM
The best 9 month investment of my life was spent reading a book 5 times.
Back in 1995 (getting farther all the time…) I was privileged to go to the School of Biblical Studies through Youth With a Mission in Canberra, Australia. Yes, we basically read the Bible five times through those nine months.
We learned the Inductive Bible Study method, which places an emphasis on learning the literary and historical context for the book of the Bible one studies, and reading the text and listening to what it says. It is contrasted with Deductive Bible Study, where one goes to the text with a preconceived idea and tries to find support for it in the Bible.
Those nine months did more for me in grounding me in the Word, and was invaluable to this day. Now I have found that it can be a resource for anyone.
There is a website entitled “The SBS Podcast” that gives downloadable teachings from some of the key leaders in the SBS system. You can download them directly from the site, and you can also subscribe to it through iTunes.
I highly recommend this resource for foundational Biblical study. There are topics from the Trinity, to Israel in New Testament times, to specific teachings on books of the Bible. I have a longtime personal friend as one of the teachers, and Ron Smith, who runs the SBS program within YWAM, has been a Bible teacher and author for years.
Oh, and the best thing: it’s free.
I encourage anyone interested to check out this great free resource for the Body of Christ. YWAM’s motto is, “Know Him and make Him known.” One of our best ways of knowing God is through His Word.
—
