Got a (Half) Minute?

If you had 30 seconds to communicate a message to the world, how would you use it? What would be the essence of that message? A church in Southern California answered that question by producing a 30-second commercial and then approached the local movie theater about buying space on its screens to run it prior to the films. It features a number of phrases that people have used throughout the years to try and debunk the story of the resurrection, then invites people to the church to find out the truth. Here's the video, produced by Compass Bible Church:

The theater would not allow this 30-second video to be shown prior to its films, which I would dare say would probably, in most instances, contain more offensive content than this ad.  The Christian Examiner had this piece on the controversy.

Here we have another instance where a media company has chosen to ban the message of the gospel, saying that it was offensive. Sound familiar? I think back on the proposal that Birmingham's Fixed Point Foundation made to Fox television about running a message during the Super Bowl. It merely encouraged people to "look up" the verse whose reference had been seen in the stands at football games, and even in a player's eye-black. This video introduced Fixed Point's "Look Up 3:16" campaign:

Fox told Fixed Point that the commercial could not air during the Super Bowl because of the nature of its content. I like what Fixed Point head Larry Taunton had to say about the 30-second opportunity on this video:

So...you have 30 seconds, roughly 75 words if you were to read straight copy, a handful of images on a screen - Would you want to communicate a message of hope? What would you say? Or, how would you depict it visually? 30 seconds - could you, would you, help change the world?

Ephesians 5:16..."Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.