Tommy Mann

Two stories from over the weekend broke my heart as a father. On Sunday night Miley Cyrus “performed” at the MTV VMA’s (imho that’s too many letters, lol). Facebook was all abuzz during the show, making me wonder why so many of my Christian friends were watching the Music Video Awards to start with, but I’ll move on. When Miley Cyrus danced on stage she was about as close to naked as a person can be, and the performance was extremely sexual. I couldn’t help but wonder how her father feels about his young daughter’s transformation. Miley is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, who jumped into the country music spotlight with his 1992 hit Achy Breaky Heart. His time at the top was relatively short, but he reemerged alongside his daughter on their Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana. The show launched Miley’s career, and it re-launched Billy Ray’s. I’ve never spoken to either Cyrus, but it seems to me that the elder pushing the younger towards success is a les...

I was disappointed with Ted Kluck’s biography of Robert Griffin III. It is a Thomas Nelson book, sold in Christian bookstores, and is sub-titled “Athlete. Leader. Believer.” But there was very little Christian content in the book, and the author seemingly praises RG3 for keeping his faith to himself (calling him “a refreshing change from the nonstop evangelism of the Tebow brand”), and the book even contained a curse word.* I chose this book as a football fan who knows little about RG3 as a person, and after reading it I still know little about the person. It became evident that the author has never spoken to the quarterback, which leaves a biography like this lacking. When talking about Griffin’s decision to play football at Baylor, he says, “We may never know why he chose Baylor.” I’d bet that we could know if someone asked him. I’d also bet that this information is available if the author did some looking. It’s hard to believe that he would never be asked about how he chose...

Founded by Anita Carman, the non-profit’s inception was, in part, birthed out of Anita’s challenging upbringing. She came to the United States as a 17-year old, following a childhood filled with emotional trauma and incredible challenges, but ready for a fresh start. As an adult Anita began her journey in the corporate world, where she developed as a leader by pursuing both a Master of Business Administration from the State University of New York and a graduate degree in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. She worked for top companies such as Booz, Allen, Hamilton and Exxon. Since its independent establishment in 2003, Inspire Women has invested over $1 million in the ministry dreams of Houston women. An estimated 24,000 women have attended an Inspire Women event, and the organization continually reaches more than 150,000 a year. Interview: How has your personal story fueled what you do? Ever since I lost my mother to suicide when I was 17, I was always s...

Some believers in Jesus shy away from the media, saying that it is secular and Christ’s followers need not dabble in it. While I certainly agree that Christians should be very careful as to what they watch, read, and listen to, I have never been opposed to the use and participation in media. There has never been a culture so immersed in media as ours is. Bill Hull points out that “next to sleeping and working, Americans devote more time to the media than to any other daily activity. In a typical day the average American spends eight hours on the job, seven hours sleeping, and nearly five hours absorbing media messages [1] .” That figure was published in 1988, and I would guess that the “nearly five hours” has only increased. What those numbers mean is the media is raising our children. They tell us what to think, what is normal, what is intolerant, etc. We spend less time in church in a week than we do with the media in a day. It is no wonder that p...