Movies and the Bible

Sermon series teaches people to share faith

STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff The Rev. Carness Vaughan speaks June 29 during a sermon in the Summer at the Movies sermon series at Central United Methodist Church in Rogers. Vaughan interspersed showing clips from the movies “Up,” “The Sandlot” and “The Blind Side” on the screen, top, with his sermon on the theme “answering the call.”
STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff The Rev. Carness Vaughan speaks June 29 during a sermon in the Summer at the Movies sermon series at Central United Methodist Church in Rogers. Vaughan interspersed showing clips from the movies “Up,” “The Sandlot” and “The Blind Side” on the screen, top, with his sermon on the theme “answering the call.”

"We know that movies connect with everybody," said the Rev. Carness Vaughan, senior pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Rogers.

"You go to movies. Your neighbors go to movies. Your friends go to movies," he said. "What if you were to have a conversation about a movie that led to faith?"

Go & Do

Summer at the Movies

Sermon Series and Movie Showings

• “Frozen” — showing, Wednesday; sermon July 13

• “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” — showing, July 16; sermon, July 20

• “Chicken Run” — showing, July 23; sermon, July 27

• “The Rookie” — showing, July 30; sermon, Aug. 3

Central United Methodist Church in Rogers offers an 8:30 a.m. early traditional service, a 9 a.m. contemporary service and an 11 a.m. traditional service. Wonderful Wednesdays will feature dinner at 6 p.m. on the front lawn of the church, followed by the movie showing in the sanctuary.

Information: 636-1630, cumcrogers.com

Source: The Rev. Carness Vaughan

Vaughan recently started a sermon series at the church called "Summer at the Movies." The foundational sermon was June 22. The June 29 sermon focused on the Biblical theme "answering the call" using clips from "Up," "The Sandlot" and "The Blind Side," showing people doing something for God or something outside of their comfort zone. This Sunday's sermon will focus on the theme "perseverance" and also show clips from multiple films, including "We Are Marshall," "Rudy," "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Castaway," he said.

The last four weeks of the series will focus on one film with each sermon, with a showing of the film on the Wednesday prior, during Wonderful Wednesdays at the church. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. on the front lawn of the church, followed by the movie showing in the sanctuary.

"We know summer attendance is kind of up and down, so we try to do something just a little out of the ordinary," Vaughan said.

On July 13, the pastor will discuss the theme of "redemption and forgiveness" with clips from "Frozen," Vaughan said. Clips from "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" will be shown July 20, and the theme will be "leaving a legacy and discovering your uniqueness." The July 27 sermon will feature clips from "Chicken Run," and the theme discussed will be "freedom and selflessness," Vaughan said. The theme for the last sermon Aug. 3 will be "using your gifts" and clips from "The Rookie" will be shown, he said.

The sermons last about 25 minutes, and probably 10 minutes of each Sunday service will feature movie clips, Vaughan said. Each of the clips in the sermons and the four movies that will be shown are family-friendly, "so that the whole family can connect," Vaughan said. This series is geared toward kids, youth and adults, he added.

"It's an opportunity to kind of teach our people how to have faith-based conversations with people in the world," he said.

"We want to help people grow in their faith by showing them how the Bible connects with movies, but we also want to help teach them how to share their faith," he continued.

Carole Baker, a member of the church for more than 18 years, in an email Tuesday, said she is looking forward to each Sunday, and one great aspect about the movies selected is that all ages can relate. Families can worship together with each member relating to the lesson by a clip that is relevant to him.

"Whether you love sports movies, animated flicks or family classics, you will hear the message in a new and fresh way," Baker said.

She added that she is "amazed by the way the sermon can tie lessons written centuries ago with modern-day movie clips."

"It shows the Bible is as relevant to our life today as when it was written," Baker said.

Vaughan said the pastoral staff members are "always trying to think of different ways to reach our people." Along with helping the church's members learn how to share their faith, Vaughan said he believes this series is an opportunity for someone who has never been in church before or doesn't have faith in Christ to come to church "in a way that's a little more welcoming" and hear a sermon based on a movie.

Karen Anderson, director of children's ministries at the church, who has also been a member of the congregation since she was a child, said in an email Wednesday that she loves that the pastoral staff chose to do this series because "movies are so much a part of our culture."

"They are a common denominator between churched, unchurched and nominally churched people. Good or bad, all movies have a 'take away' that can be a conversation starter. That's how all relationships are begun ... simple conversation," Anderson said.

Anderson has used movie clips in elementary Sunday school classes for years, and she has "found movies to be a great way to grab the attention of kids and make them examine what they see through a Christian filter."

"Movies can help us to examine our own values and help us to highlight the virtues that we would like to see in our own lives (or not)," she continued.

Anderson said she is looking forward to the sermon on "Frozen," a movie which she describes as "a wonderful example of faith in something larger than yourself -- love -- agape love."

Movies are really just stories, and there are some great storytellers in films, Vaughan said.

"Jesus is a great storyteller himself. That's how he shared about who he was and his mission on earth."

NAN Religion on 07/05/2014

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