People laughed when he said God told him he would be starting quarterback, but here he is, the Bronchos starting quarterback and I’d say he’s been pretty successful (Those who don’t agree might want to catch the highlights of Sunday’s game between the Bronchos and the Pittsburgh Steelers …and then get back with me … )

The thing about him is he seems to have big faith … nothing tiny about this Tim.

Big faith and he’s not afraid to show it.

Here’s more from others who have an opinion about Tebow, football and faith …

Washington Post’s On Faith blog: “Why I Believe in Tim Tebow” (by Sally Quinn) 

USA Today: “Tim Tebow’s stats boost Bible verse John 3:16″

Advertising Age: “Tim Tebow: The NFL’s new $10 million man?”

(CUTLINE: Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow greets fans after the Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime of an NFL football wild card playoff game Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, in Denver. AP Photo/The Denver Post, Joe Amon)  #NewsOK

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

The televangelist will be the focus of a one-hour interview by Winfrey .

Winfrey traveled to Houston to meet Osteen (pictured) and observe his service at Lakewood, an OWN news release stated.

Winfrey then joined Osteen and his wife, Victoria, for lunch at their home, marking the first time they have opened their home to outside cameras, the news release said.

“Oprah spoke to them about faith, marriage, power and ego,” the release said.

Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming episode: Oprah interviews Joel Osteen

Check your local listings to see what time the show airs in your area.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor 

#Newsok

Erica Atkins-Campbell and Tina Atkins-Campbell, the sisters who make up the gospel duo Mary Mary will perform in concert at 8 p.m. Dec. 11 in the Douglass High School auditorium, 900 Martin Luther King Ave.

BLAC Inc. is sponsoring the concert.

Tickets are $35 and $45. They may be obtained at the following locations: Capital Square Station, Charlie’s  Jazz Rhythm and Blues Store, Hopkins Hair Care, KM66, Learning Tree Toy Store,  Urban Roots and BLAC Inc.

Mary Mary burst onto the gospel music scene with their hit “Shackles” back in 2000 and they haven’t looked back since .

 I had a chance to interview them in 2003 when they performed at the wedding of a metro area couple who had a really special love story.   

For more information about the Christmas concert, call BLAC Inc. at 524-3800.   

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor  

The Barna Group is a Ventura, Calif.-based research company whose research often focuses on the ways faith and culture intersect.

Kinnaman is best-selling co-author of the book “unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About  Christianity” (2008). During our brief  interview Kinnaman talked about why he wrote the book and some of the lessons Christian churches can glean from it.

Somewhere along the way, I think my “parent” hat and my “reporter” hat meshed together because I began asking him questions from a parent’s viewpoint. At that point, I think our conversation became more indepth than just the typical interview and I came away with some lessons learned about what today’s youths are saying about the Church and the adults who have helped guide their way thus far.

Really interesting information.

If you haven’t already done so, get that book. 

I also got to sit in on a youth ministers’ luncheon hosted by OC’s Dudley Chancey, associate professor of youth ministry. At the luncheon, Kinnaman talked about his latest book “You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving the Church … and Rethinking Faith.”

Kinnaman expounded some on the research findings detailed in “You Lost Me” and I think it is quite interesting material for anyone who is a parent or church leader or simply someone who loves young people and wants to see them grow in the Christian faith.

I’ll have a story this Saturday about Kinnaman, his research compiled in “unChristian” and how the Church can use this important research data.  My story will also include his thoughts on the controversy that arose over the part of the book that dealt with how young people see the Church as anti-gay.

And if you haven’t already heard, Kinnamon will be speaking tonight at 7 p.m. in the Hardeman Auditorium on the OC campus, 2501 E Memorial Road. He’ll be talking about research compiled in “You Lost Me.” 

The presentation is free and open to the public.  

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor 

Controversy arose when the Rev. Robert Jeffress (pictured), pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, said that Mormonism is a cult. He made the statement at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.

This week, Jeffress addressed the controversy surrounding his statement through a Washington Post op-ed piece. The op-ed is entitled “Why a candidate’s faith matters.”

Jeffress wrote: “Hearing Mitt Romney’s surrogate Bill Bennett refer to me as a bigot and Jon Huntsman call me a “moron” last week after my controversial comments on Mormonism, amid calls for civility and tolerance in public discourse, reminds me of the exclamation: “We will not tolerate intolerance!” But beyond the personal insults, I am concerned that these men are attempting to prematurely marginalize religion as a relevant topic in elections.”

—

For those interested in reading the full piece, I’m including a link to the op-ed here: “Why A Candidate’s Faith Matters.”      

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

P.S.

I was very appreciative of the local Southern Baptist leader, the Rev. Anthony Jordan, and Mormon leader Kevin Graves, for sharing their viewpoints with me for my Oct. 15 story. This was a touchy subject for a lot of reasons and both men showed why they are in the leadership positions they are in by agreeing to make statements for the story.  And a special, special thanks to Mark McClellan from Oklahoma Baptist University. I can’t say enough about his help. His contribution to the Oct. 15 story package gave some much-needed context to the original story, which included the views of Jordan and Graves.

Before the interview, I got a copy of “Unbroken,” the book chronicling Zamperini’s amazing life but I wasn’t able to finish it before his visit.

I’m finishing it up now and I have been amazed at how many people have read the book or are in the middle of reading it. Everywhere I go, people are talking about the book. When I have it with me, which I frequently do, someone stops me to say that they have read it and it is a great book.

It is a best-seller by Laura Hillenbrand who earned accolades from Zamperini about how well she captured his story, which includes the account of how he came to give his life to the Lord.

Anyway, it just blows my mind about the many ways the book has served as a connecting point for me and so many people.

I guess that’s what good books are supposed to do.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor    

Incidentally, I don’t believe in happenstance. I believe that many of our encounters are divinely orchestrated. Another way to look at it is seeing each encounter through a spiritual lense.  It is in that context that I say that I was so touched by Mr. Zamperini and what he had to say about his faith journey. There were lots of spiritual lessons gleaned from that interview.

John P. Kee and New Life will present “a night of praise and worship” at 7 p.m. at the church. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert is free.

I liked Kee (pictured) back in the days when he was with Commissioned and his music continues to draw people.

More Christian concerts are on the horizon.

Check this out:

Sept. 16 — Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, 7:30 p.m. at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8601 S Pennsylvania. Tickets are $20, available at the church on day of the concert, by phone at (800) 965-9324 or online at www.iTickets.com.  

Sept. 18 — Andrew Peterson, 6:30 p.m. at Covenant Community Church, 2250 N Mustang Road (now Yukon Parkway) in Yukon. 354-9338.

Sept. 19 — Sanctus Real, 7:30 p.m. at the Chesapeake Energy Center at the State Fair. Admission is free with paid admission to the fair. Information: www.okstatefair.com.

Sept. 24 — FFH, 6 p.m. at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8601 S Pennsylvania. Information: 682-1636.

Sept. 24 — Ivan Parker, 6:30 p.m. at Del City High School auditorium, 1900 S Sunnylane Road. Tickets are $20 for reserved seating, $15 for general admission and $10 for balcony. Tickets available at the door. 677-2330. 

Oct. 8 — Third Day, Peter Furler of the Newsboys and Trevor Morgan,  7 p.m. at the Mabee Center on the Oral Roberts University campus, 7777 S Lewis in Tulsa. www.iTickets.com; www.mabeecenter.com.

Oct. 27 — Brandon Heath and Dave Barnes,  Tulsa Convention Center. www.iTickets.com.

Nov. 5 — Gaither Homecoming Tour featuring the Gaither Vocal Band,  the Isaacs, Gene McDonald, Charlotte Ritchie, Gordon Mote and others, 6 p.m. at the Mabee Center in Tulsa. www.mabeecenter.com.

Nov. 12 — Two Friends Tour featuring Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, 7 p.m. at the Mabee Center in Tulsa. www.mabeecenter.com.

Nov. 17 — Rock and Worship Roadshow featuring MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Hawk Nelson, Group 1 Crew, Matt Maher and Disciple, 7 p.m. at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. www.iTickets.com. 

There are more, I’m sure, but these are the concerts I know of right now. If you know of one that’s not on my list, give me a shout-out. Eventually as they come up, we’ll print these in the paper and I don’t want to miss anyone.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

I thought it was interesting that Justin Bieber, when he accepted his VMA,  thanked God and Jesus, with an emphasis on Jesus. He made a pretty bold statement; even my daughter remarked about it.

Of course, like every year, there were stories resulting from the VMAs. Well, Justin’s acceptance speech was among them.

Here’s what folks are saying:

Fox News: God and Jesus become hot trending topic thanks to the VMAs.   

ChristianPost: Justin Bieber delights Twitter fans by making God and Jesus trending

VillageVoice.com: God and Jesus did really well as the VMAs.

By the way, quite a few recording artists thanked the Lord during their acceptance speeches at the VMAs.

I’ve always found that so ironic, given the nature of some of their music lyrics and videos, at least for some of them. But, I don’t  judge them. They are free to thank whomever they want. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Two more days until the weekend. 

Here are several religion stories making the rounds this week. They each caught my interest for one reason or another and I thought I’d share them.

Birmingham News: “Alabama church leaders file lawsuit to stop state’s new immigration law”

Christian Post: “Pastors seek ‘new normal’ in church budgets”

And finally, for all you baseball lovers out there, there is a story in today’s edition of the New York Times about the faith of Jack McKeon, manager of the Florida Marlins :  “A Career Sustained By Unwavering Faith”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

A Germany-based website now allows parishioners to rate their priest.

Rate as in share opinions about how he performs at church services, protects youths and the elderly and how up to date he is, among other things.

Apparently the site was launched in April.

Read the full  story here: Yahoo.com: “Rate Your Priest on New Website”

What would happen if priests and clergymen could rate their parishners? I wonder. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor