Our friends at Grace Hill Media have some news about who will be competing for charity on the wildly popular "American Bible Challenge" game show.  The show, which had a limited run last season, debuted and remained the Game Show Networks highest rated show.  You can help vote through your favorite team to help them win money for a good cause by participating online, and you can vote once a day.  Here's the details:

"It's time to play favorites on THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE! GSN announced today the launch of THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE FAN FAVORITE.  From Thursday, April 18^th through Sunday, May 19^th, fans of THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE can go to gsntv.com to vote for their favorite team who can potentially win $10,000 for the team's charity.  THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE airs Thursdays at 9:00pm ET/PT on GSN.

The team with the most votes at the end of the voting period will receive $10,000 for their charity and earn the title of THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE FAN FAVORITE.  The Fan Favorite winner will be announced on GSN during the finale of THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE on Thursday May 23^rd at 9:00pm ET/PT.  Voting starts on April 18^th and ends at midnight (PST) on May 19^th.  Limit one vote per person, per day.

THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE is the highest-rated original series in GSN history.  The one-hour game show, hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, brings together contestant teams who compete based on their knowledge of the Bible as they strive to win prize money for the charity of their choice. In THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE FAN FAVORITE COMPETITION, fans can cast their votes for the following teams: 

TEAM ANOINTED INK

Hometown:  Porter, Batson, and Katy, TX

Charity:  Inner Cry Ministries, which helps rehabilitate former gang members by covering gang tattoos with uplifting substitutes

Team Members: Scott Hill (tattoo artist); Leigh Ballinger (evangelist); Chris Peacock (clothing line owner).  Each team member ministers outside the "church box"-Scott via his Anointed Ink tattoo parlor, Chris via his "Redemption" clothing line and MMA involvement, and Leigh via his evangelization throughout the US, Canada and Australia.

TEAM CHRISTIAN WRESTLING FEDERATION

Hometown:  Royse City, Rockwall, and Lubbock, TX

Charity:  Christian Wrestling Federation, which promotes a wholesome version of professional wrestling

Team Members:  Phillip Barron, Rob Vaughn, and Mike Watt (all pro wrestlers).  Phil is the leader of this group of Christian wrestlers, all of whom have loved pro wrestling-but not its increasingly sexualized image-their whole lives. They believe strongly in the ministry of CWF, which is facing dire financial straits. They're playing to save the Christian Wrestling Federation.

TEAM CITY TAKERS

Hometown:  Atlanta, GA

Charity:  City Takers, exists to transform the urban and hip-hop culture with The Gospel of Jesus Christ through outreach and discipleship

Team Members:  Ronnie Rolon (freight handler); Scott Free (director of outreach); and Tim Igidi (security). These Christian rappers spread the word of God to the hip-hop community through City Takers, the organization founded by Scott Free, formerly a mainstream hip-hop artist. Ronnie and Tim (who leads the TABC team) grew up in rough circumstances but found salvation through the Bible.

TEAM COWBOY CRUSADERS

Hometown:  Springtown, Weatherford, and Grandbury, TX

Charity:  Western Harvest Ministries, teaching life skills to disadvantaged youth through rodeo sports

Team Members:  (John) Kelly Clark (rodeo instructor); Scott Mendes (former World Champion bull rider); Jeff Copenhaver (roping instructor). After leaving the sport of cattle-roping, Jeff founded the first "cowboy church," bringing the gospel to cowboys and rodeo athletes. He, Scott, and Jeff are playing for Scott's Western Harvest Ministries, which uses rodeo sports instruction to reach disadvantaged and at-risk youth.

TEAM DETROIT BELIEVERS

Hometown:  Detroit, MI

Charity:  Dominican Literacy Center, which works to reduce Detroit's 47% adult illiteracy rate

Team Members:  David Stephen (law student); Crystal Willis (law school graduate); and Eleisha Teasley (prospective medical student). These smart, achieving graduate students-who became friends while attending college in Atlanta-want to advance a positive image of Detroit, and provide living proof that their home city produces successful, capable people.

TEAM FIRST & FAITH

Hometown:  Strongsville, OH

Charity:  One More, founded by Benjamin and Kirsten Watson to spread the love and hope of Christ to One More soul by meeting real needs, promoting education and providing enrichment opportunities through charitable initiatives and partnerships

Team Members:  Benjamin Watson (tight end); Reggie Hodges (punter); Robert Brookes (team chaplain at time of taping)-all with the Cleveland Browns. These men of the NFL love football and love the Lord! Watson, a pastor's son, founded his charity to help the community and share his faith.

TEAM GIRLS OF GRACE

Hometown: San Diego & Chula Vista, CA

Charity: Life Acts, provides groceries & household goods to approx 6,000 people in need each month

Team Members:  Cynthia"Cindy" Shaw (Life Acts director), Elizabeth Samala (Life Christian Center & Life Acts CFO); Ezraley Samala (child support services student clerical aide). The Samala family started a full Gospel ministry to restore broken lives with simple acts of love, food, and resources. With this movement, Life Acts was birthed. Now the Samala sisters work alongside Cindy, their father, and pastors in this outreach ministry of Life Christian Center International Ministries of San Diego.  If they win, they'll buy industrial shelving and refrigerated storage for Life Acts, allowing that ministry to touch even more lives.

TEAM HELLO KIDNEY

Hometown:  Gadsden, AL

Charity: National Living Donor Assistance Center, providing financial support to individuals who volunteer to be living organ donors

Team Members:  Kelley Zeringue (Christian romance author); Rene Zeringue (youth minister); J.R. Zeringue (cheerleading gym owner and coach). This family is ready to share their testimony to raise awareness about living organ donation: Two years ago, Kelley donated a kidney to one of her husband's employees, and today both are healthy and happy. Now she encourages everyone to "share your spare."

TEAM HOLY ROLLERS

Hometown:  Simi Valley and Moorpark, CA

Charity:  Live Ride Christian Church's Annual Angel Tree Toy Drive, which delivers Christmas presents to children whose parents are in prison

Team Members:  Billy Brown (pool man); Brian Matthews (truck driver); Dana Palminteri (cosmetologist). These three bikers, with their Bible-verse leather jackets and inspiring tats, spread the Good Word on their Harleys as part of a very unconventional ministry that reaches those who might not otherwise be exposed to God's saving grace.

TEAM MEN OF MOTOR CITY

Hometown:  Detroit, MI

Charity:  Trinity Deliverance Church and its outreach to drug addicts, criminals, and at-risk youth

Team Members:  Ron Daniels (ordained pastor & quality assurance chemist); Lavell Neal (Marriott banquet supervisor); Jimmie Davis (semi-truck driver, Ford Motor Company). These men are committed to seeing the Motor City overcome hardship and achieve greatness-and believe that transforming Detroit into a prosperous city begins by transforming the lives of the dejected.

TEAM PREACHIN' DIVAS

Hometown:  Oakland, Concord, and Berkeley, CA

Charity:  A.D. Willis Memorial Center - a family life center construction project for their East Oakland community

Team Members:  Michele Brown (writer); LaShawn Taylor (underwriting assistant); Jacquelyn Melton-Jenkins (graphic designer). These self-proclaimed divas love to preach and teach the word of God -and to serve their East Oakland community through their church, Lily of the Valley Christian Center. One of the outreach ministries of the church is Project Lily Love, a service that provides resources and referrals to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Their passion is fueled by LaShawn's story.  Her former husband was discovered to have been living with AIDS for more than 10 years, undiagnosed. Miraculously, LaShawn and her child were both found HIV negative.

TEAM REDEEMED REDNECKS

Hometown: Jackson and Covington, GA 

Charity:  Burning Bush Youth and Family Intervention Center, which offers positive solutions to youth and families struggling with life-controlling issues

Team Members:  Mike Redman (professor); Rachel Stubbs (band director); Jeremiah Redman (engineer). These proud rednecks, bluegrass singers, and disc golf players are also committed to community outreach-providing food, resources, and services to the poor, sick, and shut-in.

TEAM RED ROOTS

Hometown:  Moss Point, MS

Charity:  Home of Grace, an addiction recovery program founded by their pastor-and the first place the Red Roots performed

Team Members:  Natalie, Nika, and Nicole Taylor (sisters and band members). These 21-year-old triplets formed the Christian-pop-country band "Red Roots," named in honor of their red hair and their renewal in the blood of Christ.  These sweet Southern girls are also passionate, tough competitors!

TEAM RIGHTEOUSRUBIES

Hometown: Ontario and Corona, CA

Charity: The Ruby Project, dedicated to helping physically, sexually, and emotionally abused teenage girls

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THE BIBLE is a huge hit. The Bible, not so much.

THE BIBLE, of course, is the recently aired mini-series that captured record ratings on cable television’s The History Channel. Produced by reality show guru Mark Burnett and his wife and former angel, Roma Downey, the five episodes that collectively covered the sweep of human history as recorded in the Bible were viewed by 100 million people. That’s astounding.

By comparison, the Bible, known by many as the Holy Bible, is the actual book you have in your home. To be completely accurate, if you’re an American, there’s an 88 percent chance you own at least one Bible. There’s only one problem. If you read it at all, you’re likely reading it just four times a year or less. That’s embarrassing.

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Selling books used to be easy. I did it for more than 20 years as a manager of a successful Christian bookstore chain.  It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time in the not-too-distant past when the bookstore—Christian or secular—was about the only place you could buy a book.

In the secular space, there were chains like Walden Books and B. Dalton Bookseller, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. There were also thousands of independent bookstores, including a few that rose to legendary status among serious bibliophiles—such as Powell’s in Portland, Tattered Cover in Denver, Davis-Kidd in Nashville and Oxford’s in Atlanta. In the Christian world, even though the chains were smaller and the independent stores fewer, you could count on almost every community in America having at least one Christian bookstore.

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Sometimes something happens that is so unspeakably weird, but happens so often, that no matter how weird it might be, it becomes normal.  Like people who wear sunglasses at night.  Or people who go on Jerry Springer.

Or when someone publicly sings the Star Spangled Banner.

It’s quite common now to see divas and boy bands and all matter of wannabes all stylizing their way through our National Anthem.  They scoop for the lows, stretch for the highs, interject a few gospel growls, throw an interminably long descant on “freeeee!,” and then add a few unnecessary tags at the end.  (I keep expecting someone to add “Oh baby!” at some point.)  It probably began simply enough; some celebrity vocalist added a simple flourish to the song, is applauded for it, and since then, scores of singers have been trying to outdo it since.

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The recent furor over Lance Armstrong's "confession" to Oprah Winfrey has been analyzed every which way. People are wondering if it's appropriate and even necessary to forgive such a public figure. Media guru Phil Cooke offers his perspective on why, for Lance Armstrong anyway, it's not about forgiveness; it's about trust. As a working film producer and media consultant to some of the largest and most effective nonprofit and faith-based organizations in the world, Phil is an expert in how messaging comes across to a discerning and often critical public. 

Phil's most recent book is Unique: Telling Your Story in the Age of Brands and Social Media. This article originally was published on FoxNews.com. 

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Quentin Tarantino’s (QT) new film, Django, has elicited many responses across the spectrum on race, gender, class, and even God. The film has created a type of blog/ essay sensation and many were talking about it long before it was even released. QT is no rookie to controversy; critics have railed on QT for too much violence, use of the word “nigger,” sexism, and a litany of other issues with his films. Since Reservoir Dogs, QT has become accustomed to controversy around the issues of race, class, and gender. Thus his latest, Django, is no less causing quite the stir—particularly in the cultural/ Black studies academic community.

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In honor of the DVD for "Little Red Wagon" releasing on January 8, ConversantLife is giving away 5 copies of the DVD. The first 5 people to post a comment will get a copy!

Talking with Zach Bonner reminds the cynic in me just how great people really can be.  He’s literally walked across America to raise money and awareness for homeless children, and he’s been up to it for years via a foundation he started called the Little Red Wagon Foundation.  It all started 8 years ago.  “I started back in 2004 with Hurricane Charlie.  That was my first project. It was at that point that I decided that community service really needed to continue to be a part of my life.  It was after that project that I knew I had to keep going.”

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This was a great year of reading for me! Here is a list, along with a brief description of each, of my favorite books I read in 2012.

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In honor of Les Miserable hitting the big screen, we thought it would be fun to get a couple of opinions in on the movie.  The first is Colleen Faris, my wife, and longtime musical fan.  The second is from my Mother, Robin Faris who just helped with a high school version of the musical.  Both were enthusiastic about seeing the film from the trailers alone.  But did they like it?  Did Anne Hathaway deliver?  What about Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe?  Read on!

Colleen’s Take:

I first saw Les Miserables in London when I was 22 years old.  I stood in line for 3 hours luckily grabbing the last spare seat in the house, which left me squinting in the rafters trying to follow the pint size actors.  Regardless, I was enamored.  The music was captivating, and even in spite of some difficulty comprehending the whole story, I was in love.  I have now seen Les Miserables multiple times thanks to performers of all skill levels, not to mention that Les Miserables has been previously adapted in a non-musical film version as well.

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