10.7.05 The Gospel Movie

I've been wanting to talk about this movie, since they began shooting the film at the beginning of this year, but I was forced into keeping all my behind the scenes info to myself. My sister, MeLana, who's sitting directly behind Boris Kodjoe with a smirk on her face, is in the movie as a choir member. She also performs in the movie as well. She forced me to keep silent (contract violation she claimed. Well, now I have the greenlight to chat about it. Did I tell you my sister can sing the shivers out ya? :)

The cast:
Rainforest Films' The Gospel, which stars Boris Kodjoe, Idris Elba (HBO's The Wire), Omar Gooding (Showtime's Barbershop series, Baby Boy) and Nona Gaye (Crash, The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions), Keisha Knight Pulliam(The Cosby Show,Beauty Shop) with a special guest appearance by gospel songstress Yolanda Adams. Others: Clifton Powell, Dwayne Boyd,Frank Taylor, American Idol's Tamyra Gray, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Martha Munizzi, Michael J. Pagan, John Fitzgerald Page, Brandon Thaxton, Hezekiah Walker, Delores Winans, Aloma Wright. Atlanta's Frank Ski, B Chase Williams, our Music Minister, Ms. Latonya Moore, MeLana Jones-my lil sis.

The Premise as quoted from Upscale Magazine Online:
The Gospel tells the story of David (Boris), an R&B artist who abandoned his church-based family for superstardom. After learning that his pastor father (played by Clifton Powell) is near death, he returns home only to be confronted by his family's hostility. Not to mention his music empire is in jeopardy and his childhood rival (Idris Elba) is campaigning to become his father's successor.

The Heart of the Story as quoted from Yahoo! Movies:
A young singer turns his back on God and his father's church when tragedy strikes. He returns years later to find the once powerful congregation in disarray. With his childhood nemesis creating a "new vision" for the church, he is forced to deal with family turmoil, career suicide and relationship issues that send him on a collision course with redemption or destruction.

The music: Kirk Franklin produced the soundtrack. We have been playing it in our home since August. I'm telling you this is the best gospel album of the past three years. Its's that good.

Click on this Blog Title to direct you to The Gospel Movie Site. The movie will be at a theatre near you 10.07.05.

Dee (Can you see how proud I am of my sister:) )

9.05 Celebration of Christian Fiction

Mary Demuth, author of Building the Christian Family You Never Had, sponsor's this months' Celebration of Christian Fiction.

We writers are a communal bunch. Every month, several writers get together for a writers jamboree, pontificating about some aspect of writing. This month's subject is the craft of writing. Scroll through the entries below to feed your writerly soul.

-Demuth

Writer's blogging this month include:

Marcia Laycock of Writer-Lee
Kathleen Popa
Paula Moldenhauer of GraceReign
Melanie Beroth Dobson
Mary E DeMuth of RelevantBlog, this month's sponsor.
Linda Gillmore
Deborah Gyapong
Dee Stewart of Christian Fiction Blog. Your entry- Writing as Craft
Violet Nesdoly
Sandra Glahn of Aspire2

If you are seeking inspiration for your own writing, or a lover of Christian Fiction, please click on the title of this entry to direct you to this month's Celebration.

Dee

One Nation under an American God

An excerpt from Evangelical Outpost's Rousseau’s Allies:
Civil Religion and the Pledge of Allegiance...
Yesterday a federal judge in California declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional...Our nation has restricted such sentiments of “ceremonial deism” to the most unobtrusive areas, allowing “In God We Trust” to be printed on our coins and the phrase “under God” to slip in our Pledge of Allegiance (which, curiously, isn’t a pledge of “allegiance” to God but to a flag). We allow recognition for a “Divinity, possessed of foresight and providence” but what we don’t allow is the recognition of the Christian God. And that is what should give Christians pause...That is not to say that we can’t say the Pledge and think of the one true God. But we should keep in mind that this fight isn’t our fight and the “god” of America’s civil religion is not the God who died on the Cross.

Writing Prompt: Create a character who is a minister and a lawyer, who agrees with Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost, and who must defend the atheist who brought this case before your own state's court. Could his congregation and family understand his position? Could Christ prevail through the outcome? If you write this story, or at least an outline, shoot it to vidae at writing dot com.

Whoah! Deep POV.

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee

Public Booksigning for ACFW Conference Participants

An excerpt from Deborah Raney's blog...

Saturday, September 17 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel, in conjunction with the American Christian Fiction Writers annual conference, there will be a public booksigning with a roomful of Christian fiction authors signing books. ACFW will have a bookstore set up in the hotel, or you can bring your own copies to be signed.

Blog Crush of the Month: WordPraize

Darren Rouse at ProBlogger is handing out blog crushes. I thought I would hand out one every month, to showcase some of the great bloggers out there, who inspire me to keep at it.

I have a serious jones for Mary Griffith's Rhythm of Grace Blog.
It's so colorful, fun, and candid. There are also different bloggers on there, including myself. :) I have to stop by every day and see what the ladies are doing. I also love the Wordpraize Yahoo group as well. If you haven't checked out her blog, please do. It'll brighten your day and your Spirit.

Dee

Writing as Craft

Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message.-Jeremiah 18:2

Pulitzer prize-winning author, Richard Rhodes on writing...

Writing is a craft. Its primary function is communication. I mean "craft" strictly: like carpentry or pottery, writing is handmade.... The best way to learn is by doing - and thinking about what you're doing while you're doing it. You wouldn't expect to make superior pottery the first time you sat down at a wheel. People often assume they know how to write because they know how to speak. There are deep and important connections between spoken and written language, but they're not the same thing. If you think they are, tape a conversation and transcribe it verbatim and see how it reads. Better to imagine that you'll be writing in a foreign language of which, at the outset, you know only a few words and only the rudiments of syntax.

I love this pottery analogy, because it reminds me of the parable of the Potter's House. Jerehmiah learns that God is sovereign and in the exercise of his sovereignity he is just and unconditional.

And I thought. Could this analogy also relate to writing also? Does God reign supreme over our writing?

I hope so.

But then I fear what if he does? Am I allowing him to work or is my laziness, my fear of going broke in this writing thing, my urge to see my name on a bound book keeping God from doing his work?

When I don't turn in my monthly writing workshop assignment am I setting God back on his creation?

I hope not.

But if I am, then I can't argue with the notion that writing is a craft that I need to study to show my self approved to the Lord.

Few people know that I am a landscape painter. My works have appeared in art galleries. I remember an Interior Designer called me after one of my exhibitions a few years back. She wanted to purchase a piece for a client. She said my work was great, because it didn't look artsy. Well, Great. I thought. That was the point. I wanted to invite a viewer in to my space, this colorful garden that I created and stay a while. As a fiction writer, I hope to do the same. But just as it took me years of study and practice from understanding different painting techniques, brush strokes, the difference between horse hair and plastic, to critiquing my classmates art. It was a process I needed, in order to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish as an artist. Therefore, craft is important to me. I hope it becomes important to you.

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee

OT: This week's Scriptural Nugget & Writing Prompt

Scriptural Nugget: Let brotherly love continue- Hebrews 13:1

From Evangelical Outpost...

The fact that the government has to have a “safety net” to catch those who would slip between the cracks of our economic system is evidence that Christians fail to do God’s work. The government cannot take the place of Christian charity. A loving embrace isn’t given with food stamps. The care of a community isn’t provided with government housing. The face of our Creator can’t be seen on a welfare voucher. What the poor need is not another government program but Christians who are willing to honor their savior.

Now how can we use this statement to build a short story piece or a novel premace?
Dee