AFA Staff
AFA Journal staff reviews movies, books and other resources
January 2015 – In Mission Air, doctor and pilot Diane Ireland flies with her son Michael on frequent trips to take medicines to Mexican villages where they also share the gospel. Dad Matt and teenager Sophie hold down the home front. Over time, they have established a routine that works well – until a drug cartel feels the impact of the gospel changing lives and cutting into their profits.
Then Diane and Michael encounter three banditos planning to hijack their small plane. They escape but not before one man shoots Diane in the leg and Michael accidentally shoots one of the banditos. When the man later dies, the drug boss sends a bounty hunter to kidnap Sophie Ireland.
Action is a prominent element from the beginning of this film, and it hardly ever slows down. However, faith is woven seamlessly into the story line, and it is clear that Christian faith is a part of daily life for the Ireland family.
Only mild cautions are advisable regarding a few scenes of violence, but none of those scenes portray bloody or gory, graphic details. Husband and wife exchange light kisses.
The Mission Air screenplay was written by Mike Norris (son of Chuck Norris of Walker Texas Ranger) and Gary Heavin (founder of Curves women’s fitness centers). Heavin and his wife Diane are executive producers.
Earth and Sky
Descriptions of grief molded into every shape and scent powerfully deliver Guy Delcambre’s Earth and Sky: A Beautiful Collision of Grace and Grief (nonfiction). Readers will be pulled into the author’s world, longing not only for recourse in each paragraph, but, strangely, for deeper immersion into the man’s vividly recreated pain.
Delcambre’s life had been beautiful, amazingly easy, and happy. The woman of his dreams loved him, and they had three amazing little girls. They relished the everyday moments of their life together as a family and servants of God.
Then the unspeakable happened. Suddenly, Marianne was gone. Her sudden death left Delcambre and his daughters struggling to survive. The honest journey of necessary grief will leave hearts softened, open, and closer to the God Delcambre came to know intimately along the way. Earth and Sky: A Beautiful Collision of Grace and Grief is available at Guydelcambre.com.
Review by Anne Reed
Polycarp
Seen through the eyes of Anna, a young girl who is bought out of slavery by a Christian family, Polycarp: Destroyer of gods is a solid film with a clear message of faithful witness to Christ, even in the face of persecution.
The central figure is Polycarp, who was bishop of the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor. He was martyred by Roman officials around A.D. 160.
Polycarp: Destroyer of gods is slow-moving at times, but the pace accelerates at the end. The scenes demonstrating the faith of Polycarp as he faces the death he knows is coming are quite moving and closely follow the historical records we have of the incident.
Acting ranges from fair to good, and while it is difficult to make a feature film set in the Roman Empire on a presumably small budget, the sets in Polycarp are often quite good.
Polycarp: Destroyer of gods accomplishes its mission of reminding Christians that we are to seek to honor Christ with our deaths as well as our lives. With many of our brothers and sisters suffering intensely around the world, this film reminds us that persecution didn’t end in the second century.
Review by Ed Vitagliano
Family CD entertains, encourages
You’ll feel like the Browns are visiting with you in your living room as you listen to their first CD titled simply The Brown Family. This family trio – dad Mark with daughters Meagan and Erin – didn’t set out to be a family band. But once their talents and opportunities intersected, they began entering the doors God was opening, one of them being at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
In every song, the Browns issue a gentle but clear invitation for the spiritually hungry and hurting, the fearful and faltering to come to Christ. Challenge is the clear message in the Scripture-based lyrics of “Come to the Cross” – So, come to the cross / just as you are. Come to the cross / broken and scarred. Come to Me / all who are weary and burdened / and I’ll, I’ll give you rest. (Lyrics and music by Meagan Brown Kestner).
In “Abba,” comfort and assurance pour out in these lyrics – My love, I’ve heard your voice crying out so desperately. I hear you cry, “Abba, Father, I need You / I can’t see You, but I know You’re there. Jesus, I’m tired and weary / please help me carry this burden that I bear.” (Lyrics and music by Erin Brown.) Both of the daughters’ songs are also on Erin Elizabeth, an earlier duo project without Dad.
The Browns’ vocals and harmonies are equally engaging and endearing as they sing old hymns, such as “Blessed Assurance,” “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus,” and “Come Thou Fount.”
As great as their sound is, the spirit of the Brown family is still greater. As you listen to them sing, you sense there’s something deeper. And when you learn their story – their unusual “call” to multi-faceted outreach via cowboy ministry, homeless ministry, bull-riding ministry and more – you’ll see there’s a lot more than can be said in a brief review of this stellar debut CD. So watch for a story on Brown Family Ministries in an upcoming issue of AFA Journal.
Learn more and purchase at brownfamilyministries.org or 864-334-5099.
Review by Randall Murphree
