Announcing a new feature….

Some of you who have read my blog posts for a while have probably noticed that I refer to films a lot. A variety of posts that I have done didn't really fit into the "thoughts on writing" or "thoughts on faith" categories that I set up for this blog in 2015. To make things …

3 Unusual Christian Movies Worth Watching

I've talked about movies several times on this blog. I've discussed mainstream Hollywood movies with spiritual themes, movies that find unique ways to talk about God, and even looked at how scary movies may get closer to describing religious ideas than other genres do. This time, I'd like to recommend a few movies written or …

If Demons, Why Not God? (God in Film Pt 3)

As I pointed out in Pt 1 of this series, it's hard to portray God or angels in a movie and make it serious, compelling. For some reason it tends to seem cheesy or absurd. Maybe the reason it's so hard to portray God in a movie is it's so hard to capture what a …

6 Mainstream Movies with Christian Themes

What would it look like to make a regular Hollywood movie that talks about concepts like faith, forgiveness and redemption? These six films did just that: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/6-movies-you-didnt-notice-had-christian-themes (Article first published by the Odyssey on February 14, 2017).

10 Great Movies about Outsiders

A while back I wrote an article where I argued that most monster movies actually show the true monsters are normal people. I expanded that idea in a recent presentation to talk about any stories that create a "monster dynamic" -- stories which describe a community and contrast them against a person they all reject. …

PWR Writing Retreat Spring 2019 Presentation Slides

I've found that it's sometimes hard to read a presentation's transcript and understand it without seeing the visuals it used. With that in mind, here's a link where you can view the slides for the presentation I talked about several days ago: https://1drv.ms/p/s!Ah7QEL13BhN861xPteFqjxZPZuvF If you want, you can also check out the text and slides for …

Taylor University Writing Retreat Spring 2019

I've had the pleasure of speaking at several events at Taylor University, including presentations about C.S Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I've also given some presentations within my major, Professional Writing. Yesterday, the professional writing students held one of its writing retreats. I got to give a presentation and take a few photos of the event: …

Found Footage Sci-Fi movie

When you start making short films, you're almost obligated to eventually make a found footage film. It's a fun way to cover a big, usually expensive concept in a simple way. You can watch the film on YouTube, and find out more about on its IMDb page.

Answering the Puritans Part 5

In this series (click here for Part 1), I’m looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. To read my thoughts on the previous question, click here. Question (4 out of 5): Is spending money on entertainment wasteful? Answer: There are certainly occasions where spending money on entertainment is …

K9-WES: A Cop Show Parody

I really enjoy shows like NCIS that focus on police or federal agents doing these in-depth investigations. So, it was an interesting experience working with Robotic Flyers Productions to make a short film that parodies those kinds of shows. You can watch the short film for free on YouTube and read more about its production on …