AprilandDecember.com
June 2012
AprilandDecember.com E-Zine
Christian Life 365 Publisher From the desk © publishing Rchristopher@circleofbelivers.com President Rosanna Christopher Rose.studio6@yahoo.com Editor Rosanna Christopher Contributing Writers Ann Christopher George Christopher Deborah Montgomery Account Executives Rosanna Christopher Ann Christopher
Aprilanddecember.com © e-Zine; June 2012. Published by from the desk
publishing © Rossville, GA 30741 and created on snacktools.com. Direct all circulation and editorial inquires to rose.studio6@yahoo.com. All information herein has been checked for accuracy to the best of the
Cover image: “Girl thinking” shineheart09.blogspot.com; “music symbols” from 123rf.com; “theater masks” symbolsgraphics.com; “movie reel” wallco.com; “flat screen” bgr.com; Topic Introduction page: Photobucket.com Contents page: “Focus” macforensiclab.com; Words “Red Lips” from http://mi9.com/red-lips_29980.html POP Image: http://www.canstockphoto.com/illustration/off-power.html To sing His Praises background image: visiualphotos.com Tools for living: dawnwebdesign.com Sight and Sound: Christian Film Database; Shyangel.com; BillBoard.com; Festivals.com
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publisher’s ability. No responsibility accepted for deletions, omissions, errors and/or inaccuracies. Unless special placement within the e-zine is
specifically purchased, publisher reserves the right to place any ad on first come first serve basis. Neither Studio6Network nor any of its affiliates or partners endorses the products advertised in this flip book. We don’t represent, financially support or receive funds for advertising.
June 2012
In Every Issue Focus on Living
8/15
Words
7
Tools for Living
5
Page of Power
10
Around the Web
13
In This Issue Sights and Sounds
10
To sing His Praises
14
We try to give credit for all pictures, art work and material that we gather across the internet. All credits for this issue are listed to the best of our ability on the Topic Introduction (page 2) next to publisher information. If we have used material that belongs to you without properly giving the credit, please contact the editor at rose.studio6.yahoo.com. Thank you and God bless.
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June 2012
Tools for Living: Filtering your Family Fun -Peggy Owens now before hand. It will tell you exactly what the movie has in it that may not be suitable for a Christ Centered audience. If you are more of wait till it comes out on DVD person, Christianfilmdatabase.com will give you a list of movies coming to the big screen as well as DVD releases slated for the year.
It can be a task to keep up with all the media frenzy. Especially when smart phones do almost everything but wash your car and clean your house for you. The internet can be just, if not more dangerous. How do you keep the entertainment clean without turning into a personal detective? Here are a few tips and links that will help you do just that.
Make friends…with your children: Now this may seem sneaky, but if you simply ask for passwords to each social site you child partakes in, and they don’t fork them over, this is definitely an option. Use an alias to tap into one social network, like Facebook and request your child as a friend. Then ask what other networks they are on like Twitter or Mocospace. Then friend or follow them there. Sign in as your alias a few times a week just to see what “spontaneous” topics you need to address with your children.
Surf safe, not sex: There are multiple ‘activate’ only porn blockers on the market. Some sights offer free ones, but they are not as accurate and secure as the ones you purchase. The priced ones also have more functions and features. One of our favorites is from Quality Solutions. It lets you custimize the controls and comes with free tech support. It’s also a one time purchase program as well. If you feel more comfortable with the free downloadable version, Free Download Center has a good one.
You could also check with your cell phone service provider to see if there is a way you can view text messages on your child’s phone from a computer. You may feel like you are invading your child’s privacy but according to MaHalo.com, your child is your responsibility…and that means that sometimes they don’t need privacy but protection. Child predators, scammers and those that exploit children are posing as friends to harm them. Surely there is no harm in you posing as a friend to help them.
Know your ratings: It would be impossible for us to stay completely clear of worldly implications unless we lived like hermits…and most of us don’t! It does help however to understand what movie ratings mean. The official sight of the Motion Picture Association gives you the actual meanings of the movie ratings. The Fish.com gives you reviews of ‘Christian movies that are out right
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June 2012
Drugs, therapy, entertainment - they're all used to silence a guilty conscience. But for the Christian, the conscience is the key. .-John MacArthur
The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. - A.W. Tozer
Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care. -Blaise Pascal
AprilandDecember.com
June 2012
Focus on Living: Rated ‘C’ -Tamryn Lewis With so many entertainment choices out there, it isn’t always easy to know which are ChristCentered and which are just inspirational posers. We have created a fun way to see if your discernment is divine or dastardly. Then check out page 15 to see where you rate!
3. Your church’s youth pastor decided to let the youth do a mime dance presentation. Which best describes your thoughts? a. Mimes are boring. Why not do one of those ribbon dances instead.
1. When the movie trailer for Courageous came out, your thoughts were:
b. Dancing! In Church!!!!! (faint) c. I’d rather see a play, but this is a new idea. Let’s see what they come up with.
a. Sounds like a great family movie. Can’t wait to see it. b. Christian men don’t need a movie to be fathers. They only need the book of Ecclesiastes
4. A group from church is going to take a road trip to a Christian music festival. They ask you to go. What do you say?
c. I think I’ll save my money for something more entertaining. I know there is a Tyler Perry movie on its way. 2.
a. Sure, when are we leaving? b. Ooh a festival! Tell me who’s playing and I’ll let you know.
You go to your local music store and notice a section for Christian rock. You:
c. Traveling in a car and going to God knows where to hear that noise can only lead to sin and tragedy. I’m staying here.
a. Immediately go the other way. None of this stuff sounds like Gospel anymore.
5. It’s time for your churches community event. What sounds good to you?
b. Flip through and see if there might be something interesting.
a. A seminar
c. Opt to find your favorite artist.
c. A talent showcase
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b. An outdoor festival
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June 2012
-George Christopher
Be imitators of God, as beloved children." -Ephesians 5:1 "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool" -Proverbs 28:26 Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right. -Charles Spurgeon
Follow this link! http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a00014 94.cfm
Our Heavenly Father, please help us to know the difference between what you have for us and what the devil wants us to think you have for us. Help us to know the difference between a “holy moment” and a true testimony. In Jesus name we pray. –Amen
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Click on images to get reviews and visit site!
http://www.christianfil mdatabase.com/revie w/debonair/
DVD Release July 2012 DVD Release July 2012
AprilandDecember.com
June 2012
Studio6 Top 6 Gospel Albums
Studio6 Top 6 Christian Albums
1.
Go Get it Soundtrack –Mary Mary
1.
The Hurt and the Healer –Mercy Me
2.
The Introduction –Zacardi Cortez
2.
Blessings –Laura Story
3.
Shifting the Atmosphere –Jason Nelson
3.
Come to the Well –Casting Crowns
4.
I win –Marvin Sapp
4.
Joyful Noise Sound Track
5.
Joyful Noise Soundtrack
5.
WOW Hits 2012
6.
WOW Gospel 2012
6.
Beneath The Scars -12 Stones
Studio6 Top 6 Christian Songs
Studio6 Top 6 Gospel Songs 1.
My Testimony –Marvin Sapp
1.
Where I belong –Building 429
2.
Let the Church say Amen- Andrae Crouch
2.
God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion) –Newsboys
3.
I feel Good Fred Hammond
3.
The Hurt and the Healer –Mercy Me
4.
Awesome –Pastor Charles Jenkins
4.
When the Stars burn down –Phillips,
5.
One more time –Zacardi Cortez
6.
Go Get it –Mary Mary
Craig &Dean 5.
Overcome –Jeremy Camp
6.
All this Time –Britt Nichole
Festivals.com Search to find a Christian or Gospel music festival near you!
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June 2012
For a listing of Christian shows and festivals around the U.S just select “Search from the side bar and type in “Christian”…or click below because we did it for you!!!
Get reviews and news on everything Christ Culture. The Fish.com
Festivals and Shows.com
Need a Seminar of Conference? Check out
Want to advertise your Christian business and connect with others?
Church Relevance.com
Click here!
AprilandDecember.com
June 2012
not have soul? Then there is the “Christian music is mostly praise and worship. It’s not personal enough,” explanation.
As I started to put the original AprilandDecember.com site together, I wanted to be sure that I was able to reach as many believers as possible. In order to do that, I needed to make sure that the material I was putting up was relatable and as accurate to real, everyday Christian life as it could be.
-R. Christopher
Do Gospel artist not praise God? And the last time I checked a lot of different people had different struggles and different trials. What are these people listening too to come up with these excuses?
When I set out to do the music portion of this site, I ran across something that I hadn’t noticed before. I was looking thru some sites and I finally decided to check out some sites that sell CD’s and DVDs’. Now I listen to every type of music out there except bluegrass and heavy metal and I consider my music vocabulary to be considerably broad. So when I typed in ‘Christian music’, some of my favorite artists weren’t there. Why? It was because they were in the ‘Gospel music’ category.
I believe Paul said it best in his writings to the church of Corinth when he urged that there be no division among them. I know it may sound small, and to most, it may not even matter. But, with so many divisions among the people of God already, music is the one thing that can transcend across them all. Music is what breaks down the barriers of language and culture and the denominations within the Church.
Now I know that ‘gospel’ music has a rooted history going as far away as Europe and Africa and I know that it has a deep spiritual meaning associated with slavery, but how far do we go with these definitions. The most common definition of and distinctive difference, when asked to the average Joe, when you say Gospel, African American artists and groups come to mind, but when you say Christian, Caucasian artist and groups come to mind. But then where does Christian rap and rock and instrumental come in?
My point is this; as the coordinator of a site that seeks to get God back into everyday life, I want us to not be limited to what we have grown up with. Don’t just go thru the motions with the services and the songs you are used to. Branch out and experience God thru a different sound, a different rhythm and a different beat. ‘Sang’ it out with the radio; send up the praises with the music channel. Stand next to someone who doesn’t “look like” your favorite artist and worship the God you both love. Remove the mental and spiritual separation and sing His praises.
There are also explanations of how they are different. There is the “gospel music has soul, you have to sang it, not sing it.” explanation. We’ll do Christian artists
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June 2012
Rated ‘C’ Scoring and results Give yourself the following points based on the answers you chose:
Survey results for “Reach the masses, lose the few” The Purpose for the Poll: With Christian/Gospel music lovers divided between contemporary and traditional music, we wanted to see if the content or the image of the artist changed how people received the song. As we talked thru the ideas, we thought, “What if we turned off the sound or the video? Would that changed how we choose our music?” We decided to do a little week long poll and here is what we came up with.
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Apperance
a) 3; b) 2; c) 4 a)2; b)3; c)4 a) 4; b) 2; c) 3 a) 4; b) 3; c)2 a); 2; b)3; c) 4
6-12 points: You are rated R: And the R stands for Rigid! You are not having any thing that didn’t come straight out of the Bible…verbatim with no paraphrasing. God wants us to have fun and laugh. Of course, your level of love and devotion for all things Holy is not doubt respectable, but even Jesus went to weddings. Look around and I’m sure you will find good Christian entertainers making Christ centered entertainment.
13-20 points: You are rated C: You are definitely Christ Centered. You have a healthy level of discernment. You can tell the difference between a ‘holy moment’ and a true life changing testimony. You don’t fall for impersonations of Christian theory but you are not afraid on inspired content either. You are willing to explore all aspects of Christian entertainment and you more often than not weed out the posers.
Style of Music Content
According to our 100 person study, many people rely on the physical appearance of the artist or group or on the sound of the music before they even get to the content!!! Hmmm, what would Jesus do? So, how do you receive the message in a song? Do you even get that far? Find out now by clicking here and taking the challenge for yourself! AprilandDecember.com
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
21-23 points: You are Rated F: You are a free spirit. When it comes down to entertainment it is hard to tell whether you seek out good clean fun or if you just accept it if you happen upon it. It can be quite misleading to people looking at you knowing you are a Christian if you blast a homemade CD filled with gangster rap, club bangers and praise and worship. It doesn’t mean that you can only listen o Gospel music, go to Christian festivals or watch only Christian t.v and films. It does mean, however that you have to choose things that are acceptable for a Christ centered life.
June 2012
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