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How do you make a statement? One way is to make a good exit. And no matter what you think of him – or that performance - that’s exactly what Kendrick Lamar did on Sunday night at Glastonbury Festival. And, in doing so, he put Jesus at the centre of many of yesterday’s headlines…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in June 2022. To read the full piece please click here.
A few weeks ago, something strange happened. Elon Musk’s name was being associated with something other than cars, AI or even space. Instead, to widespread curiosity, it was Jesus. To date, the clip of him talking with Babylon Bee about his admiration for Jesus has been watched more than 2.2 million times…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity website in February 2022. To read the full piece please click here.
For many people, playing and watching sport provides escapism and relief. At the onset of the pandemic, as sporting events fell like dominoes and clubs were cancelled, many people felt bereft at the loss of activities and occasions that provided a welcome distraction from jobs, responsibilities and worries.
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in January 2022. To read the full piece please click here.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grab a coffee and chat all things worship with two of the world’s most respected Christian songwriters? Well, imagine no more, because Matt Redman (‘10,000 Reasons’, ‘Blessed be your name’) and Jeremy Riddle (‘This is amazing grace’, ‘One thing remains’) have taken the conversations they were having in a coffee shop to a recording studio for a wider audience to savour – and it works a treat.
This review appears in the January 2022 edition of Premier Christianity Magazine. An online version of it is available to read here.
Source: Reuters
There are times when, even if a particular sport is not our thing, it’s impossible to escape the fanfare of a certain event. Whether its newspaper headlines, Twitter, workplace banter, or even sermons, it’s just everywhere.
We’ve seen this a few times this year. In July, England almost self-combusted as the men’s football team made history by reaching a major tournament final. In September, we collectively crowned a new tennis hero in Emma Raducanu after her incredible US Open victory. And last weekend, the country rallied behind Lewis Hamilton in his attempt to win a record-breaking eighth Formula One championship.
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in December 2021. To read the full piece please click here.
Source: Alamy
We’re barely into Advent, but it’s highly likely you’ve already heard the dulcet tones of Michael Bublé on more than one occasion. Love or loathe his music, the charming Canadian is an indelible part of our soundtrack to the festive season. This year sees the re-release of his 2011 album Christmas, so expect to hear a lot more of his voice over coming weeks. Loathers, you have been warned.
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in December 2021. To read the full piece please click here.
For some people, retirement is not in their vocabulary — and for many years, that seemed to include Pat Robertson.
He’s the 91-year-old founder of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), the first US Christian television station, and America’s longest-running TV host. But last week, Robertson told viewers of The 700 Club that, after 55 years hosting the programme, he was to step down, to be replaced by his son, Gordon.
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in October 2021. To read the full piece please click here.
Three years ago, three words became the tagline for the English summer. “It’s coming home!” people declared. But disappointment inevitably followed as the men’s football team exited the 2018 World Cup in Russia in the semi-finals.
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in July 2021. To read the full piece please click here.
Image by Janosch Diggelmann
I was in another room when I heard unusual sounds emanating from the television in my bedroom showing the football match between West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool. I’ve watched enough football matches to know how commentators tend to react to goals, but this time their reaction was different. It was one of utter astonishment. What had happened?
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in May 2021. To read the full piece please click here.
At the beginning of 2020, Liverpool’s Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino shared an unusual post with his 13 million Instagram followers. It was a video of his baptism. In the pool with him was teammate Allison Becker, and both were wearing T-shirts, commonly associated with Hillsong, which display the symbols ‘=’ (the cross equals love). Firmino’s Instagram caption read: “I gave you my failures and the victories I will give you too. My biggest title is your love, Jesus!”
It isn’t just Firmino and Becker who are open about their faith. The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, is also a Christian. He comes from a Lutheran background and has spoken of the security and liberation that Jesus gives him, once quipping: “If anyone asks me about my faith, I give information. Not because I have claim to be any sort of missionary. But when 40 I look at me and my life – and I take time for that every day – then I feel I am in sensationally good hands.”
Two hundred miles south of Liverpool, and a little further down the football pyramid, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Alex Samuel recently took to their knees in prayer after Wycombe Wanderers gained a promotion. In an Instagram post, Samuel explained that two years ago, injured and without a team, God gave him a vision that he would play for Wycombe…
This article appears in the November 2020 edition of Premier Christianity Magazine. If you’d like to read the full piece, you can order a free copy of the magazine can here (if you’re reading this after November 2020, please contact subscriptions@premier.org.uk to request a copy of the correct edition).
I was tired, sweaty and lonely. My three-day stay in Prague was drawing to a close and I was on the city’s photogenic metro system heading back to my Airbnb to pack before heading to Vienna the next morning. I had enjoyed the visit but there were times when loneliness made an unwelcome and heavy intrusion…
This article appeared on Globe Soup in November 2020. To read the full piece please click here.
“What do you want?” the lady shouted. I desperately hoped she wasn’t speaking to me so I surreptitiously ignored her. But when the question was repeated, with increased fury in her voice and eyes, I knew it was my attention — or, more specifically, my sandwich order — in the spotlight. It was downtown Chicago on a busy Thursday lunchtime, and the lady in question was standing on a counter (yep, on a counter), some 30 feet in front of me, loudly asking for people’s food orders. Being shy and British, this way of ordering was an anathema to me…
This article appeared on Globe Soup in July 2020. To read the full piece please click here.
They're like marmite. You either love or hate Coldplay.
Catchy melodies, anthemic songs and emotional lyrics are their staple — the very things that draw in the fans but deter the haters.
But wherever you fall on the divide, Coldplay have had a monumental impact on pop culture. This month marks 20 years since their debut album Parachutes was released…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in July 2020. To read the full piece please click here.
It was a brisk Saturday morning on my local high street some years ago. I was doing outreach with my church. We were gathered together for prayer when a man none of us knew quietly joined us, prayed and offered some timely encouragement. We thanked him and asked his name. “Why do you need to know that?” he replied. He departed and we saw nothing further of him.
I’d forgotten all about this. But recently, having heard increasingly from others who believe they have encountered angels, I’ve returned to it as part of a broader reflection. To what extent can these angelic stories be believed in light of the Bible and good old common sense? Are angels actively involved in ministering to us?
This article was the cover story for the April 2020 edition of Premier Christianity. To read the full piece please contact subscriptions@premier.org.uk to get a copy of the magazine.
To the uninitiated the above photo may look like an album cover for a singing quintet. Five handsome chaps looking rather dapper. All that’s missing are a few vintage mics.
But alas they are not. Instead they are five pastors who have more than Jesus in common. They’re all friends with Justin Bieber.
The above photo was taken at a private celebration last Monday to mark the singer’s marriage to Hailey Baldwin.
Here’s the lowdown on the each of them…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in October 2019. To read the full piece please click here.
BMX bikes, arcade games, walkie-talkies, nods to Stephen King and films such as Jaws and E.T., a playlist featuring the likes of Cyndi Lauper and The Clash. Then there are the likeable kids who bear a close resemblance to The Goonies. It’s little wonder people have been getting all wistful over the 1980s pop-culture phenomenon Stranger Things.
The Netflix original series first aired in 2016; its stunning success surprised even the streaming giant and turned its young cast into global stars. More than 40 million households tuned in to watch the first episode of Stranger Things 3 within days of its release earlier this month, a Netflix record.
There are many facets to the appeal of Stranger Things. Alongside the wonderful nostalgia, the show features an endearing set of relationships, a haunting synth-led score, compelling character development, sacrificial acts of love, geeky bits of science, and an imaginative, if sometimes confusing, plot line. Then there is the stranger side to Stranger Things, the supernatural, which leads to get-behind-your-sofa moments. It is here that the show bears a surprising likeness to the eschatological world view of the Bible.
Christian author Michael S Heiser, whose new book The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things (Lexham Press) is released in October, writes: “Stranger Things taps into spiritual questions and crises and addresses them the way the gospel story does – with mystery and transcendent power, justice, and love.”
This article appears in the Culture column of the August 2019 edition of Premier Christianity. To read the full piece please contact subscriptions@premier.org.uk to get a copy of the magazine.
“I think it's an offence to the Lord, it's an offence to say 'give $1,000'. I think it's an offence to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the Gospel.”
This is the charge many Christians would level at the prosperity gospel — the strand of Christianity that teaches health and wealth are promised to those who give financially. So it may surprise you to learn this quote comes from Benny Hinn, a name synonymous with the movement for the best part of 40 years…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in September 2019. To read the full piece please click here.
My initial reaction was: “No” when, last March, a friend asked if I wanted to do the Bible in a year through The Bible Project. I’ve tried reading through the whole Bible before and failed miserably, barely lasting a week. Eventually I accepted, and last Monday — a year to the day that we started — I read the final two chapters of Revelation. Job done, Bible read…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in January 2019. To read the full piece please click here.
I can remember the feeling of quiet dread. The worship band breaks into a song that requires more participation than simply using my vocal cords. “I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my king…” so Matt Redman’s 'Undignified' goes. This song, which is based on the dancing antics of King David, was a staple of many a Soul Survivor summer during my youth. On the one hand I loved the unbridled enthusiasm of the song (and the conga that sometimes resulted); on the other, the pressure to do some sort of acceptable routine, even a light jump or two, without drawing any kind of attention to myself, was often enough to induce a mild sweat…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in January 2019. To read the full piece please click here.
I haven’t watched ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in years. But when it emerged that football legend Harry Redknapp would be featuring, I couldn’t resist tuning in.
But as I’ve sat through the daily happenings of the celebrity campmates, it’s not just ‘Arry’s cracking anecdotes that have left me returning for more. To my pleasant surprise there has been much that has, dare I say it, warmed my soul — from Nick Knowles choosing a pillow as his luxury item for others to use, to the stirring encouragement offered to each other.
This has got my imagination going…
This article appeared on the Premier Christianity Blog in November 2018. To read the full piece please click here.