I’m an avid reader of Christian News Northwest which is free and always in a stack in the lobby at my church. Most of the articles make me angry because there’s an obvious Christian bias. It’s not the Christian bias that makes me angry but the narrow mindedness.
Which brings us to the first article I wanted to point out. It’s an opinion piece by Wende Jones titled, “Could the ‘Seven Mountains’ strategy restore our land?” Which is an obvious plug for the Seven Mountain strategy which focuses on the “major spheres of influence that have a significant impact on our culture. They are: Education, Business, Government, Arts and Entertainment, Media, Church/Religion, Family.” My answer to the title’s question is, “No, only Christ can restore our land.” And my beef with the article is that systems don’t influence culture, people do. I watched the video on the 7 Mountains website (here) and I think they’re asking the wrong questions. “Is God moving in reclaiming these Seven Mountains, is this where He is headed?” No. God is moving to reclaim people. They talk a lot about influence, which I think is essentially about power. And Christ wasn’t about power. That’s all I have to say about that.
The second article I want to point out was by Ann Staatz about George Haskins, a guy who does a million things, but one of them is advising people on mortgage loans. He saves people thousands of dollars and he offers his services for free. Some mortgage brokers don’t like him. Someone even smashed his SUV’s window and wrote “Stop stealing my money.” If you get a chance to pick up the newspaper check it out, it’s on page 5.
I think Christian News Northwest needs to have a better website. Even better, they should have a blog. They could get more money on advertising as well. Oh, the possibilities!
I’ve read it a couple times in my church lobby as well. I mostly think of the thing as a joke. I totally agree about the Christian bias. This is a magazine that represents Christians a part from culture.