Tebow to appear in Super Bowl ad with Christian message

ORLANDO - Tim Tebow will appear in a 30-second Super Bowl ad on Feb. 7 on behalf of the Christian group Focus on the Family, the organization announced on its Web site. His mother, Pam, also will appear in the ad.

Focus on the Family, a non-profit Christian organization, is not elaborating on the commercial’s message, but the story is expected to detail the Tebows’ pro-life message in line with Christian faith.

Pam Tebow contracted amoebic dysentery while on a Philippines mission, and the bacterial infection sent her into a coma. Upon recovery, doctors urged Pam to have an abortion because of the damage to her body. Tebow was born healthy on Aug. 14, 1987.

Tebow has been outspoken about his faith and inscribed Bible verses on his eye black on game days.

Jim Daly, Focus on the Family president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the Tebows’ message about family comes at the right moment in the culture because “families need to be inspired.”

“Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive,” Daly said. “Focus on the Family is about … strengthening families by empowering them with the tools they need to live lives rooted in morals and values.”

Super Bowl ads are expected to run around $2.8 million dollars for the 100 million viewers. But the Tebows produce financial draw.

“Every cent for this ad was paid for by generous donors who specifically gave for this project because they are excited about this opportunity for Focus to show who we are and what we do,” spokesman Gary Schneeberger told the Denver Post.

Focus on the Family’s message is to “strengthen, defend and celebrate the institution of the traditional family and to highlight the unique and irreplaceable role that it plays in God’s larger story of redemption,” according to its web site.

(Source: Orlando Sentinel, Focus on the Family)

Dobson starting new nonprofit and radio show with son, Ryan

James Dobson will start a new family-centric venture with his son, Ryan, in March after he retires from Focus on the Family at the end of February.

James Dobson may be leaving Focus on the Family in late February, but his plans confirm an old adage that “Christians never retire.”  Dobson, who founded Focus in 1977, announced on his Facebook page that in March he will launch a nonprofit Christian group and host a new radio show with his son, Ryan.

Retiring is attractive, Dobson writes, but “the institution of the family continues to be in deplorable condition, and children are growing up in a culture that often twists and warps their young minds.”

His new organization will be called James Dobson on the Family and be based in Colorado Springs. Its goal is similar to that of Focus — standing up for family values.

Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said Wednesday that Dobson told Focus that his future plans included radio.  In November, Dobson sent a statement to The Colorado Springs Gazette that hinted at his plans.  “While I am leaving Focus on the Family in February,” he wrote, “I have no intention of retiring. I expect to be back on the radio in the near future.”

For years Dobson has been transitioning out of Focus to give way to new leadership. In 2003, Dobson stepped down as president; in February, he resigned as chairman of the board; and on Feb. 28 he will host his final Focus radio show.

“This is a natural progression that Dr. Dobson initiated,” Schneeberger said.

The venture will mark the first time that Dobson and his 39-year-old son are working closely together in the same ministry.

Ryan Dobson was never on staff at Focus, Schneeberger said, though he did have a short stint in the 1990s at the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, which is affiliated with Focus. Since 2003, Ryan Dobson has written several edgy faith books, such as “Be Intolerant” and “2 Die 4,” and he has spoken regularly at Christian youth events.  But in interviews, he has never expressed interest in following in his father’s footsteps. In a 2005 biography of James Dobson, Dale Buss writes that Ryan “doesn’t feel called to succeed his father as head of Focus on the Family and doubts he ever will.”

Ryan Dobson leads KOR World Ministries, designed “to build passion and identity in Christ’s followers,” according to its Web site. On the site, he hosts a daily podcast similar to his father’s radio show in that both discuss current events and religion.

“The motivation may be he )James Dobson) wants to set up his son in a parallel organization (to Focus),” said Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Barnard College in New York. “He wants to pass the mantle on to his son.”

John Green, who tracks American evangelical religious trends, said there is a long history of religious leaders, such as Oral Roberts and Billy Graham, wanting to pass their ministry on to their sons. “Ryan and Dobson working together may be a way to establish Ryan in his own right,” Green said.

Green also notes James Dobson’s decision to form another Christian group after retiring from Focus is rare.  “If founders of ministries want to continue their work, they usually don’t retire from that ministry to form another,” he said. “It is quite unusual to create what might be seen as a competing organization.”

But Schneeberger said the ministries will not be competing. “We have never been the only family group on the block,” he said.

Jim Daly, whom James Dobson handpicked as his Focus successor seven years ago, said Focus wishes Dobson well in his venture.   “He has a chance to share his life’s work and passion with his only son,” said Daly, Focus president and CEO.  “What man wouldn’t choose to do that?”

(Source: Colorado Springs Gazette)

Children of inmates receive Christmas hope

NEW ORLEANS — Franklin Avenue Baptist Church is making Christmas brighter for some 225 children whose parents are imprisoned.

“We recognize it as fulfilling a need and planting a seed,” said Elvira Brown, prison ministry director at the New Orleans church.

“The need is great on so many levels. Many of these children will not get any other gift for Christmas.”

In Louisiana, Franklin Avenue is among more than 100 churches committed to serve nearly 4,000 children whose incarcerated parents signed up for Angel Tree, a benevolent and evangelistic outreach coordinated by Prison Fellowship.

Nationally, Angel Tree networks with thousands of churches to give gifts to children, presented as given by the parents, along with Gospel tracts and the parents’ personal messages.

Brown said Angel Tree presents a positive image of Christianity to needy children and the families with whom they live, many of whom are not members of missions-minded congregations.

“They need to know that love is what we’re all about,” Brown said.

Louisiana houses about 3,000 federal inmates as well as about 38,000 state inmates, plus an uncounted number of local jail inmates. Children of imprisoned parents likely are impoverished, have emotional and behavioral problems and suffer sexual or physical abuse, according to the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Churches develop relationships with the children and the families, ministering to them throughout the year, as Angel Tree encourages. Franklin Avenue distributed the gifts during a Christmas program Dec. 12, introducing the children to Christ through storytelling, a play and liturgical dance.

“We do have some families that do continue to come to church,” said Brown, who is working to develop a mentoring program through Franklin Avenue’s prison ministry. In addition to its Angel Tree outreach, the church plans to provide for an additional 20 children identified separately through the congregation.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, which has participated in Angel Tree nearly 20 years, distributed gifts to 90 children at a Dec. 5 Christmas musical and encouraged the families to continue to fellowship with the church.

“There are some who have come back and we have some families that have joined,” said Pam Ford, Trinity’s Angel Tree coordinator. “[These families] have become a part of the family and they are experiencing the ministry that is available at Trinity.”

Angel Tree provides an opportunity to foster evangelism and giving among Trinity members while showing love for the incarcerated, Ford said. “It’s a special opportunity for parents to teach their children and for the congregation as a family to express what the real reason of Christmas is,” she said.

“We wrap our arms around everyone who comes through those doors. They get filled with the love of Jesus,” Ford said of the outreach. “There’s a connection that takes place where it doesn’t matter about any differences that may appear outwardly. Our hearts are united as one.”

First Baptist Church in West Monroe, meanwhile, is delivering Angel Tree gifts along with Bibles to the homes of the 80 children, said Joy Regan, who coordinates the outreach along with her husband Ed.

“It’s a good ministry to serve or represent the person that’s incarcerated, to be able to do something for the children that [their parents] can’t do,” Regan said. “We also want them to experience God’s love in their lives.”

And the children certainly are responsive, Regan said. “We can tell in these kids’ eyes. They say, ‘This is from my daddy?’”

(Source: Baptist Press)