2012 Christy Award Winners

The Christy Awards were presented last night. Haven't received a press release with the winners and the site wasn't completely updated as of 10:15 am today, so I can't give you a list of the winners. Check back on their web site and eventually the complete listing should be there.
http://www.christyawards.com/ca_new/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=10&Itemid=56

Book Review: Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley

Recognizing the Symptoms of a 'Heart Attack'By Lauren Yarger
The re-release of "It Came from Within" as "Enemies of the Heart: Breaking free from the Four Emotions That Control You" (Multnomah, 2011) gave me a chance to read the 2006 work by Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church in the Atlanta area and author of other bestsellers such as "How Good is Good Enough," "When Work and Family Collide," and "The Principle of the Path," among others.

The book doesn't deliver any shocking information that will make you feel like you've just been jumpstarted by defibrillator paddles, but it does offer a solid "regimen" of healthy diet and exercise to fend off disease caused by four enemies of the heart: guilt, anger, greed and jealousy.

In examining how these destructive forces damage our hearts and cause the flow of our life to get clogged, Stanley offers practical advice and insight, like saying up front that whatever got us in the condition we're in didn't happen overnight and it won't be fixed that quickly either. Like a physician, he points out warning signs and offers some prespecription for getting healthy again.

If you're serious about wanting to make a change, this book is a good place to start. Broken into four distinct topical sections, the book also includes stury questions makingit a good selection for a growth group/life group.

You can download a chapter of the book at the publisher's website. You can purchase the book here. You can listen to Stanley's sermons here: http://www.northpoint.org/messages.

Book Notes: We All Married Idiots by Elaine W. Miller

Our friend Elaine Miller has released her latest book, We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can," (Lighthouse Publishing, 2012) which is causing quite a sensation. Here's some information on the book, how to purchase it and how to contact Elaine if you are interested in having her speak at your church or women's event.

From the publisher:

Author Elaine W. Miller has just released her new book, We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can, and readers all across the country are benefiting from her research and expertise.  “This book is for every husband and wife,” said Miller, a popular author and speaker known for sharing biblical insights with warmth, enthusiasm, and humor.

Based on Miller’s 20-plus-year ministry to married couples, as well as her own love story, We All Married Idiots tells amusing and poignant stories, teaches Biblical principles, and challenges the reader with marriage-changing application questions. Targeted for married couples, it can be used by small groups, couples, or for personal study. Since publication, Miller learned of a minister using We All Married Idiots for marriage counseling. Another quoted We All Married Idiots in a wedding ceremony.

Published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, the book is available as a print book at on-line book stores and your local book store and as an e-book on Kindle and Nook.  You can learn more about the author and her book by visiting her Website at www.SplashesofSerenity.com.

Order the book here. Contact Elaine here.

Book Review: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

A Really Large Book About a Larger-Than-Life Man
By Lauren Yarger
OK, I admit it. When it came to Eric Metaxas' best selling biography about Dietrich Bonhoeffer I was a real wimp. I definitely wanted to read the story of this amazing man, a Lutheran pastor and founder of the "confessing church," who ultimately was executed for his part in a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. I just couldn't get past the 600-plus-page volume called "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" (Thomas Nelson, 2010).
I'm not opposed to reading. In fact I love it, and I probably do a lot more of it than most folks, but with my schedule, finding time to carve out a reading session that would allow me to finish the book in one or two sittings was next to impossible and the sheer weight of the book didn't make it an easy selection for throwing into my bag for commuting on the train.

So I did my best and made three or four attempts over a year and a half before I realized that I likely would never be able to sit and read the volume all the way through. Metaxas is exhaustive in his research and while this is a good thing when reporting a full picture of a life, it is slow-going for anyone with an attention span trained these days more for the instant nature of the Internet and news flashes told in 140-character Twitter posts.

I respect Metaxas as a Christian and a writer. He hosts the popular Socrates in the City discussion series in New York and recently took over writing the BreakPoint series when Chuck Colson died. He has written a slew of children's books, has penned several great books for people with questions about Christianity or Jesus and wrote the companion book for the popular movie Amazing Grace about the life of William Wilberforce who was instrumental in the movement to abolish slavery in England. So  really wanted to read Bonhoeffer . . .
I finally discovered that the book had been released as an audio book and that turned out to be the solution I needed since I spend so much time commuting in my car. Finally, I was able to enjoy the story of this amazing man. He was a prominent theologian and the "confessing church" refers to his leadership in opposing the German government's efforts to control the church. He spoke in opposition to Nazi treatment of the Jews and he and others joining him helped Jews in hiding and were sent to concentration camps and prisons.

Bonhoeffer is an amazing example of faith in action, standing for what is right and sacrificing ones life for God's purposes. His story most certainly is relevant in current times.

I focus here on my own wimpiness in being able to read the hardcover, because I know I'm not alone. I have heard from countless of you who have confessed the same reluctance and intimidation because of the size of the volume. So I take this time, some two year after it was published, to encourage you to read it also. It's now available in lighter paperback and Kindle versions as well as the CD audio book which was a Godsend for me. It's well worth reading.

Playwright, Museum Receive 2012 Lights Are Bright on Broadway Awards

Catherine Trieschmann

Playwright Catherine Trieschmann and Discovery Times Square are winners of the 2012 "The Lights Are Bright on Broadway" Awards, given annually by Masterwork Productions, Inc. to recognize individuals and organizations making a difference in the Broadway theater community through faith.
Trieschmann is being honored for her play, How the World Began, which ran Off Broadway this season at The Women's Project in association with South Coast Repertory. It is an intelligent examination of the science vs. creation argument explored from both sides of the issue and prompts debate and discussion among theatergoers. You can read the review by clicking here.

Psalms

Discovery Times Square is being honored for its Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit which featured a number of the scrolls, including the oldest surviving copy of the Ten Commandments, artifacts and a stone from the western wall in Jerusalem on which museum patrons were encouraged to leave notes of prayer. It was presented with the cooperation of The Israeli Antiquities Authority.

"How the World Began breathed new life into a timely debate," said Lauren Yarger, executive director of Masterwork Productions. "Ms. Trieschmann creates complex, likable characters who are opposed on the issues, but very respectful of each other as people."

"The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was a real treat," she continued. "It doesn't get much more literal about bringing the Word of God to the theater district and the museum did so in a way that was meaningful to believers while being interesting to those who had no religious connection to the scrolls. The exhibit also was respectful of all faiths."

Carl Cricco, director of marketing at Running Subway Productions will accept the award for Discovery Times Square. Presentation of the award to Treischmann has not been set.

The Women's Project  in New York, Julie Crosby, producing artistic director, is the nation's oldest and largest company dedicated to producing and promoting theater created by women. Discovery Times Square is is the destination for discovery through unique exhibits in New York. Masterwork Productions, Inc. is a Christian performing arts organization offering the only resource for professional Broadway theater reviews with added information about language and content at Reflections in the Light.

Past winners of "The Lights Are Bright on Broadway Award":
2009 Cheryl Cutlip/Project Dance & Dan Gordan, author Irena's Vow on Broadway
2010 Kia Corthron, author of A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Creek (Playrights Horizons) and Max McLean/The Screwtape Letters (Westside Theatre)
2011 Retta Blaney, producer Broadway Blessing at St. John Cathedral and Dave Davlos, author  of Wittenberg (Pearl Theatre Co.)

A Musical Journey That's ...Amazing

The cast of Amazing Grace. Photo: Diane Sobolewski

Epic Tale of Slavery and Grace Eyes the Great White Way
By Lauren Yarger
It's a love story weaved between the threads of slavery, forgiveness and faith and though everyone is familiar with the hymn that grew out of it, no one has tried to put the epic tale on the stage before. Until now.

Amazing Grace is getting a run at Goodspeed Musicals' developmental Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT with an eye toward hitting Broadway. This might seem like a lofty goal given the large scale of  the production in a struggling economy that has producers holding on tightly to their investment dollars  (even smaller musicals can cost tens of millions of dollars to produce in New York). And the material is religious to boot (religious-themed shows have a hard time getting favorable reviews on the Great White Way.) Given the nothing-short-of-miraculous journey of the musical, so far, however, all things may be possible.



The musical is the creative baby of Christopher Smith, right, a soft-spoken Warwick, PA resident who as a teen had taught himself to play the guitar by watching video tapes. Music provided an escape from a difficult home: his parents divorced and his mother struggled with depression. He wrote a lot of folk music and listened to a lot of music videos. He found that music started to "build pictures" in his head and that he could "feel" how the music should sound.
He attended Catholic schools, but "didn't believe in much of anything" until he was 17 when he met up with a youth director who invited him to join the group at his church.

"I was a nerdy kid who didn't get along with anyone, but these people loved me even when I was a dork."

The experience led him to start attending their Presbyterian church and a personal faith in God. In 1996, helping with a youth activity for the church, he picked up a children's book about John Newton, the writer of the Amazing Grace hymn, and his passions of music and faith fused.

Some research revealed that no one before had focused a stage musical on Newton, the 18th-century slave trader who came to faith, became a clergyman and strongly supported the abolitionist movement in England. He would do it, he decided, despite the facts that he never had written anything for the theater and doesn't actually read music.

 "Daybreak," one of the songs included in Amazing Grace, actually is the third song he ever composed.

"I wrote from the heart years ago," then years later, his wife suggested that the tune would be  perfect for Amazing Grace.

He continued working on the musical off and on for about 10 years, knowing that it had "all the stuff of good drama."

"It has a a personal story of redemption about a man who has made mistakes and comes through tumultuous circumstances," he said, drawing comparisons to Les Mis.

Finally, in 2006, he mentioned the work to a musician friend in Bucks County, PA who was excited by the project and encouraged Smith to show it to others. Smith borrowed some music composing  software from his brother and created an overture (you can listen to it here, along with other selections form the score). He went to offices and homes to tell the story, sing songs and drum up interest in the project.

"The first half million dollars came from right inside Buck's County," he said.

Smith set up a reading at a Baptist church which could seat 600 people and had to find room for 1,200 who showed up. A second reading was set up for New York in the Empire State Building. Attending was Carolyn Rossi Copeland, founder of the former Lamb's Theater in Times Square, and producer of successful shows like Smoke on the Mountain, Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye, Roads to Home and Freud's Last Session, about an imaginary meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, which currently is enjoying a long Off-Broadway run. 

"I went begrudgingly at first," said the producer who says she gets pitched anything with a religious connection because of her time with the Lambs, which was affiliated with the Nazarene Church. Once she heard the music, she was glad she went.
The story, however, needed development, she thought. Smith had stuck close to historic facts and focused on the love story between Newton and his childhood sweetheart Mary Catlett (Smith drew upon his own relationship with his wife, Alana, who was his own high school sweetheart, to create a strong character for Mary, about whom not much is known).

Copeland felt that this story was as much the slaves’ as it was Newton's. She suggested bringing in Arthur Giron as a mentor. He eventually came on as co-writer of the book They added slaves as prominent characters and tell part of the tale from their point of view.  The rewrites have continued through the developmental run at Goodspeed where producer Michael P. Price's input and perspective have been invaluable, Smith said. Audience feedback following some performances is helpful too.

Gabriel Barre directs. The creative team includes choreographer Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Music Director Jodie Moore, Set Designer Beowulf Boritt and Costume Designer Toni-Leslie James.
"There are parts of Amazing Grace that are hard for me to watch," Smith said referring to the depiction of slavery, but he felt strongly about not "Disneyfying" that aspect of the story. "More than 27 million are in bondage today."

So is Broadway ready for an epic musical Goodspeed advertises as "Storms. Slavery. Romance. Redemption?"

Copeland and Smith think so, perhaps following a national tour.

Smith, who defines his own faith as broadminded and not defined by extremism, says the message in the musical is not religious, or preachy, but one which can appeal to everyone.

"It is written into our DNA that we want to be loved in spite of our failures," he said. Amazing Grace is about that (the beautiful tune "Nothing There to Love" puts this sentiment into a soul-touching ballad) and the fact that suffering matters, that people can go beyond perceived limits.

"We're trying to give the audience something so basic to the human heart that everyone will get it."

Apparently they are. The Box Office has done strong business and Copeland reported that the opening-night crowd lept to their feet at the final curtain with people talking about how moving they had found the show.

Amazing Grace runs at the Norma Terris, 33 North Main Street, Chester, CT, through June 10. For tickets and performance schedule: 860-873-8668; goodspeed.org.

Whitney Bashor (Mary Catlett). Photo: Diane Sobolewski

Chris Peluso (Mamma Mia!, Lestat, and Assassins) stars as Newton with Whitney Bashor as Mary. Principal cast members are Mike Evarsite (Thomas/Keita); Harriet D. Foy (The Princess); Chris Hoch (Major Gray); Laiona Michelle (Nanna/Ayotunde); Dennis Parlato (Captain Newton

Socrates in the City Hosts Author of Devil's Delusion

From Host Eric Metaxas:
On June 12 Socrates in the City will host entertaining and brilliant polymath David Berlinski, who will talk on the subject of his book "The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions." Berlinski lives in Paris and is very rarely on our shores. Trust us: you simply do not want to miss him.
William F. Buckley has written: "Berlinski's book The Devil's Delusion is everything desirable: it is idiomatic, profound, brilliantly polemical, amusing, and of course vastly learned. I congratulate him." We couldn't agree more.
Registration for this event is now open and we hope you will join us by clicking here immediately.
 
For information on the Joe Loconte event on May 31st, click here. The cost for this event is still only $25 (until May 27th) and all who register will get a complimentary hardcover copy of The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt, which Dr. Loconte will be happy to sign at the conclusion of the event.

Students with an ID can attend for free, but will not get a free book, although books will also be available for purchase at the event. To ensure a student seat, please email kristen@ericmetaxas.com.