myCCM Feature Articles

Children's Literary Favorite Adapted in "Horton"

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:03:27 GMT

Children's Literary Favorite Adapted in "Horton"
by Lisa Rice

Release Date: March 14, 2008
Rating: G
Genre: Kids/Family, Animation and Adaptation
Run Time: 85 min.
Directors: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Voices of: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, Jaime Pressly, Charles Osgood

Have you ever been in a theatre where you heard just as many adult chuckles as children’s giggles? Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! is one of those movies that evokes such a spirit of across-the-board amusement.

The adults will enjoy the voices of actor favorites such as Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler and Carol Burnett, while kids will enjoy the sweet story of an unlikely hero’s quest to save the world. Well, one world, at least … one teeny, tiny world.

It turns out that the whole world of Whoville has a mayor (Carell), who is completely oblivious to the fact that they live on one speck of dust on one little drifting wildflower. They might have gone on that way indefinitely if it hadn’t been for Horton (Carrey), who happens to find it and hear some teeny little sounds coming from the teeny world. (After all, elephants have giant ears for a reason, right?) Horton is ecstatic and gathers all the little jungle creatures around to hear the story.

Horton finds a way to converse with the mayor and soon proves to him that he and his whole town actually do exist within one little speck. But not to worry because Horton will take the wildflower up to a cave in the highest spot on the highest mountain in the jungle, where the little world will be safe forever. The mayor isn’t so sure, so he runs to the city council elders and tries to inform them of their precarious predicament, but the elders won’t listen. After all, nothing bad has ever happened in Whoville, and besides, it’s time to make big plans for the town’s anniversary party.

Meanwhile, Horton’s protection of the flower is slipping. Mrs. Kangaroo (Burnett), a scary, controlling, fearful, suspicious mother who “pouch schools” her boy has gotten wind of Horton’s wild tale about a world on a speck, and she’s determined to squelch the nonsense. After all, it’s dangerous to get kids imagining things because “imagination leads to rebellion against authority, and rebellion leads to anarchy!”

Mrs. Kangaroo makes it her quest to destroy the wildflower, and she even riles up the monkeys and a horrible vulture (Will Arnett) to fight on her team. Horton’s mouse friend warns him that he has many enemies on his trail and must hurry to the high mountain. Horton tells the mayor the dire news. The mayor goes home to his wife and 96 children, spends a little time with each, and tries to come up with a plan. The only way that the micro-world will be saved is for the teeny little Who’s to find a way to work together with the largest creature of the “real world’s” jungle. As the clock ticks, Mrs. Kangaroo’s rage rises and her evil plans escalate.

Based on the charming Dr. Seuss book from 1954, Horton Hears a Who! is a fun movie for all ages. The animation feels just like the book, and the screenwriting (with all of those in-between lines and side stories) is clever. At one point, the movie makes fun of anime cartoons as it spins off to Horton’s dream sequence of being a super-hero. That part got big laughs from the kids. There are also clever side stories, like the fact that there are two “Vlad’s”—one being a big, scary, multi-toothed vulture and the other being a sweet, fluffy bunny with a plate of cookies. The jungle creatures keep having to clarify which Vlad they’re talking about. Really cute.

The acting is superb, and adults will smile as they hear some of their favorite voice-overs in the animals. There are a few places where the story drags a bit, but it’s not enough to kill the fun.

The only negative is a subtle worldview issue. The “bad guy” is a homeschooling mother. The assumption is that it’s dangerous to put your kid in the group because it could eventually lead to anarchy. As a homeschooling mother, I find the moviemaker’s ignorance laughable. Thankfully, that’s not a pervasive theme, and the other elements of the movie are quite inspirational. For example, as people of faith, it’s good to think about how we, too, are just a speck in a world protected by a great big God who fights battles we can’t even see in the realm surrounding us. We think we’re so in control of our worlds, but one crushing blow from above could level us! Thank goodness our God is for us!

All in all, Horton Hears a Who! makes for some great family discussion on many levels and some terrific entertainment for kids and kids-at-heart.

CAUTIONS:

Language/Profanity: None.
Drugs/Alcohol: None.
Sex/Nudity: None.
Violence: Cartoon slapstick violence and scary images of a vulture, bad chimps who assemble for battle, and a perilous chase and animal attack.
Worldview: Homeschoolers are narrow-minded, fear-based, fun-and-imagination squelchers.

This article published on Crosswalk.com. For more movie articles, visit http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/

"College Road Trip" Well Worth the Ride

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:35:20 GMT

“College Road Trip” Well Worth the Ride
Lisa Rice

Release Date: March 7, 2008
Rating: G
Genre: Comedy/Adventure
Run Time: 94 min.
Director: Roger Kumble
Actors: Martin Lawrence, Raven Symone, Donnie Osmond, Brenda Song, Kym Whitley, Eugene Jones III, Margo Harshman, Lucas Grabeel, Matthew Schlein

It is a rare and beautiful thing when a movie can truly capture the imagination of audiences ages three to seventy-three, but Disney’s new College Road Trip manages to do just that. The packed screening audience—which included people of all ages and races—howled with laughter as they were thoroughly entertained by the movie’s well-cast, hilariously relatable characters.

Chief James Porter (Martin Lawrence) is a cop … a good cop who prides himself on being up on the latest protective systems and methods. And his protective nature doesn’t stop at the office. As a loving, doting father, he does everything in his power to ensure that his baby, Melanie (Raven Symone) remains in a nice cocoon of his love. Even her college plans fit nicely within his control.

Conveniently, Northwestern University is only a half-hour drive from home, and Daddy has things all arranged. The problem is, Melanie would actually like to attend Georgetown University, a nine-hour drive from home! She lands an appointment with the admissions board, and she and her girlfriends plan to take a road trip to the school. When the chief finds out about it, however, he moves heaven and earth to switch the plans—which now include him!

Much to Melanie’s horror, her father pulls up in his police van, loads up her luggage, and heads out on the road with her. Melanie has a sick smile on her face. When the chief starts singing, encouraging her to join in, Melanie insists she doesn’t remember “their song” (which makes Porter sad). But not to be deterred, he continues to try and engage his daughter in “deep, deep conversation.”

Melanie is doubly ticked off when suddenly Dad pulls off the highway, and into the campus of Northwestern! He insists they have time for a little campus tour since they don’t have to be at Georgetown for two days. On the tour, they meet Doug (Donnie Osmond) and his daughter, who are a hyper-excited, huggy, singing, preppy duo. They also meet a major hunk, Nick (Kristian Kordula), who offers to give Melanie a personal tour of the school. It takes a surprising turn, however, resulting in some hilarious antics between all the parties, but finally the trip to Georgetown resumes.

The next two days are filled with crazy accidents, the finding of a stowaway in the van, some happenstance meetings with various characters, a wedding crash, a sorority house crash, trouble with the law, and a major test of father-daughter trust. It will take some serious willingness on both parts to really listen to each other and choose flexibility and trust, in order to ensure the fulfillment of Melanie’s college plans and future dreams.

College Road Trip is a fun and crazy ride in which families will be glad they’re included. The production value is high, with many special effects, good editing, and clever screenwriting. The acting is spot on, and Donnie Osmond steals the show as the over-the-top, happy-clappy father. Martin Lawrence’s character is so relatable to those who are contemplating sending their precious offspring into the world. The only problem is that the movie makes going away to college look so amazingly fun, that it might be hard to make a connection with those who are taking the stay-at-home or close-to-home higher ed route. (There really are benefits to that, too!)

What's refreshing is that finally there’s a college movie that’s not gross, crass or wild. Think about the college-themed movies of the recent past: Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, Old School, Scent of a Woman, Rules of Attraction, etc. College just lends itself to portrayals of wild, drunken parties and crazy, sexual exploits with very little education happening at all!

In contrast, College Road Trip features Disney darling Raven Symone, who brings her That’s So Raven (The Disney Channel) comedic chops to the big screen in their best form. It’s all the humor and none of the crassness. At one point, her character gets to sing and dance and incite a busload of Japanese visitors to sing back-up on a rap song. Hilarious! And Donnie Osmond and his character’s daughter get to perform some equally entertaining musical numbers (much to the Porter family’s dismay), as the two families find themselves squished together in the same car for a whole day.

It’s commendable that Disney targets the family so compellingly in this kind of movie. Even young kids will enjoy the film as it also features a young boy genius, his naughty pig, and their maddening escapades. The movie is precious, funny, and definitely a film to be supported by families. With our box-office dollars, we need to show that this is the kind of movie we want lots more of in theaters.

CAUTIONS:

Drugs/Alcohol: None.
Language: None.
Sex: None.
Violence: Comedic slapstick.
Worldview/Theme: Even the most loving, protective parents need to give up control, begin to trust, and release their children to become independent.

Winner of "Interview Bethany Dillon"

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:45:54 GMT

And the winner is..........

Rob Vischer!

In April, CCM Magazine held an essay contest. The entrants wrote a 500-800 word essay describing a time when God spiritually woke them up to something new in their life. As the contest winner, Rob interviewed Bethany Dillon. His interview will be featured in the October issue of CCM Magazine.

Rob's winning essay is posted below.

6’6”. That’s how tall I wanted to be since the age of six. Every night as my dad tucked me in and turned out the light, he prayed, “Lord, thank you that my son grows in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men.” I knew what stature meant. It meant height and lots of it. After my dad would leave the room, I would glance at my life size Michael Jordan poster and add, “And help me to be 6’6” like Mike. Goodnight, God.“

My sophomore year in high school, I was well on my way to being 6’6.” At a healthy 6’2,” I was already power dunking with two hands and working on reverse dunks and behind the back passes. After two high school basketball seasons and two Most Improved Player Awards, I knew that I wanted to play basketball for the rest of my life. From the time I was ten to when I was sixteen, I played basketball everyday for four to eight hours, sometimes shooting two thousand shots in an afternoon. Whether I was at the YMCA, basketball camps, or in my neighbor’s cement driveway, I wowed older guys by beating them in free throw competitions and games of one on one.

Basketball became my key to popularity in high school, but it was more than that. It was also my escape from being in a house where my mom yelled curse words at me, my three sisters, and my dad. My dad wasn’t much of a provider while I was in junior high or high school. My mom took out her frustration on the kids. Although there was never any physical abuse, there was enough verbal abuse for me to contemplate suicide at twelve years old. I hated my mom. I hated to hear her pray. I hated when she would quote verses from the Bible. And I hated when she would yell at us and turn around in a split second to answer a phone call with her “sweet voice.” In my sixteen year old mind, my mom was a sham, and Jesus was a sham because He didn’t change how my parents lived. Everything seemed fake until one Sunday during the summer after my sophomore year.

A little before noon that Sunday, I began to exit the church doors never expecting to return. At sixteen, I had it with religion, and I vowed never to come back. Then I saw a cute girl standing near the doorway, and decided that I’d make an appearance that night just to meet her. God does use hormones. I never saw the girl again, but that night when I strolled into church, God grabbed me. I attended one of those crazy charismatic churches where people fall on the floor like dominoes on a waterbed. I walked to the front for prayer that Sunday evening determined that I would not be one of those dominoes. Ten minutes later, I hit the carpet overwhelmed by the power of God.

While I laid there feeling as awkward as a junior higher with head gear, I felt God say to me, “Give up basketball.” The next day God said to me, “You are a songwriter.” I didn’t know how to respond to the command or the statement that followed. I did know my life began to make a one-eighty. Over the next few months God delivered me from fear and from the hate that I harbored towards my mom. Over the next few years, He also delivered me from an addiction to pornography.

After two years of college basketball, I finally hung up my jersey and started strumming a guitar and writing a ton of songs. Shortly after I began to write, I got the opportunity to pen songs for a semester at the Contemporary Music Center, a Christian music business During my semester on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, I remembered a prophecy that I received from my pastor’s wife as a ten year old kid. She stood me up in front of our church and said, “You are going to sing and dance like David sang and danced.” I politely nodded and thanked her, but I hated singing. I thought to myself, “Yeah right. I’m a basketball player.” Now, fifteen years after the prophecy and nine years after God told me that I was a songwriter, I am in a band and on the verge of being a full-time singer/songwriter. When God turns your life around, He slaps you awake with desires that you don’t see coming. As a kid I fell asleep dreaming of being a 6’6” NBA star. I never imagined that God would awaken me to new dreams and turn me into a songwriter… a 6’6” songwriter.

CCMmagazine.com's SIZZLING 100 DAYS OF SUMMER!

Wed, 23 May 2007 12:50:23 GMT

Make your mark on the all-new CCMmagazine.com -- and you could win one of 100 prize packs!

Every day between now and August 30, sign in to CCMmagazine.com and post something -- a comment or a review – and you will be eligible to win a twin pack of CDs. Every single day we will randomly pick a winner!

And you can even post your comments about one of our thousands of classic reviews and features ... whether your favorite artist is Daniel Amos, POD, or ZOEgirl!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

THE DEAL:

1) On a computer with an Internet connection (duh), log into CCMmagazine.com. If you do not have a Salem All-Pass, registration is easy and free! (Salem Forums Users: You do not need to register for a new account; your forums account is part of the "Salem All-Pass.")

2) Between now and August 30, 2007, give us your feedback on CCMmagazine.com: post a comment to an article, add your letter grade to an album review, or even post a user review.

3) That’s it! (This is not really another step … we just wanted to emphasize how easy it is to enter.)

Every day for 100 days, the CCMmagazine.com staff will randomly pick one from the list of contributors – and award each winner with a prize pack!

WHAT YOU CAN WIN:

WOW Next 2007 and the hip-hop collection Peanut Butter & Jelly Party -- between the two CDs, you get some great music from the likes of Brandon Heath, Soul P., Jackson Waters, This Beautiful Republic, Red Cloud, Fireflight, Adie, Willie Will, and more! Twenty eight tracks in all!

First Chapter: TRIBULATION HOUSE

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:47:54 GMT

Tribulation House by Chris Well

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! An extra special post is coming out today, May 11th, for an extra special author. The man who started to ball rolling for FIRST, Chris Well, has a new book out and we have decided to give him an extra plug.

So, give all your attention to:

Chris Well

and his book:

TRIBULATION HOUSE

(Harvest House 2007)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chris Well is founder of FIRST. He is an acclaimed novelist and award–winning magazine editor and has previously written the “laugh–out–loud Christian thrillers” Deliver Us from Evelyn and Forgiving Solomon Long(one of Booklist’s Top 10 Christian Novels of 2005). He has also contributed to 7ball, Infuze, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Chris and his wife live in Tennessee, where he is hard at work on his next novel.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

~1~

I might as well just tell you right now, I killed Reverend Daniel Glory. Back there at the church, in his study.

But this is my story. Don't let anyone tell you different. My dad always said we all write our own story. Of course, I guess that's why it worked out so well for him.

Why did I kill Reverend Daniel Glory? Sure, it was an accident. More or less. At least, I think it was.

I don't know, we were arguing about the Rapture and it kind of got out of hand and then I just --

Wait. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me back up.

This all started about three months ago, when Reverend Daniel Glory told us we needed to do our Tribulation House earlier than --

Oh. Wait.

Okay, I guess this actually started last year when Marvin Dobbs left the church. Our church. The Last Church of God's Imminent Will.

A year ago last summer, Marvin left with some of the other families to start a new church, and he took his Armageddon House" multimedia show with him.

You do know about Armageddon House, right? Every Halloween for the past three or four years, Marvin and our team put together a special multimedia presentation explaining the Great Tribulation, which ends with the Battle of Armageddon.

Wait -- you don't know about the Great Tribulation? It's that seven-year period between the Rapture and the Triumphant Return of Jesus Christ, as described in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel and the Apostles Paul and John. After the Lord Jesus takes His Bride home, there are going to be seven years of horrible judgment inflicted on those who are left b --

What? The murder of Reverend Glory? I'm getting to that.

Well, anyway, when Marvin left to form his little offshoot splinter group, we discovered he had actually trademarked the name "Armageddon House." Imagine that.

When the board at church met to discuss the matter, we considered doing Armageddon House anyway without him. Just reconstruct it from memory and copy or use materials from previous years. Use the same name, business as usual. Just ignore the cease-and-desist letter, let God and His angels work that out.

But we decided we didn't want to be associated with Armageddon House anymore. I mean, if Marvin and his new "fellowship" planned to stage their own Armageddon House, the risk of confusion in the marketplace was enough to rebuild ours as a brand-new event.

Which is how we ended up with Tribulation House. It was an opportunity for a new beginning. We went through a whole list of potential names -- I came up with Kingdom Come, but was voted down -- before we settled on Tribulation House.

We sat down and worked through the whole grid. Instead of imagining how to simply explain or show a picture of each bowl of wrath and each trumpet of judgment, we created an entire theatrical event.

Yeah, we could have set up the charts and graphs and the overhead projector. But today's audience, this last generation, they're kind of jaded about flannel graph presentations, know what I mean?

These kids today, with their Spongebob Squarepants and their American Bandstand and their Buffy The Vampire Slayer, they need the bells and whistles and the like.

The kids don't need a lot of explanation. They need a demonstration.

You see, that was the challenge, wasn't it? It's one thing to say "the moon was blackened" or "the waters turned to blood" or "men were stung by enormous flying scorpions" -- but how do you make it happen right here, right before their eyes?

In the end, we created Tribulation House: A full-sensory immersive interactive dramatic theatrical evangelistic event that simulates what it will actually be like to live through the events of the Great Tribulation. An entire full-service prophetic experience.

You'd be surprised how much of it we accomplished with sound and light. We developed the various rooms throughout the church basement. Some college kids created soundscapes for each event. We wrote up a full script for the actors; they played everything from people caught up in the events, to the world armies fighting the Most Holy, to the father of lies himself, bound and thrown into the pit for a millennium.

The murder of Reverend Daniel Glory? I'm getting to that.

So we were working out the blueprints for creating Tribulation House as a major theatrical evangelistic full-sensory ministry outreach. We had debated the merits of various slogans for the event -- the leading contenders were WE'LL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU; GET RIGHT OR GET LEFT; and THE TIME IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. While the first slogan was a favorite of several board members, for its bracing, truthful stance, in the end we worried that the neighbors would misunderstand. So we went with the second slogan, for its simple, instructional message.

And I remember that our chief carpenter, Bill Broadstreet, was giving us his estimate for the physical construction to be done on the project. Suddenly, Reverend Daniel Glory burst in with some news.

"Friends!" There was a glow on the Reverend's face unlike we had seen before. The man stood there in the doorway to the church basement, leaning against the doorframe, wheezing to catch his breath. "Jesus is coming back!"

The room was silent. We all stared. At first, we wondered why he was saying this right then. After all, he preached on this topic every week. But then he dropped this bomb: "And I know when!"

Okay, that was a new one. Collectively, everyone in the room gasped. One of us, I don't even remember who it was, asked, "When, Reverend?"

"October 17."

Five months.

"5:51 a.m." Reverend Daniel Glory waved the papers clutched in his hand. Later, I would wonder what he was waving at us. His Bible study? His calculations? All I know is he grinned ear to ear and said, "The Rapture is going to happen at 5:51 a.m. on October 17."

Everyone around the meeting table reacted differently. Some were stunned into silence, others screamed with joy. One noisy woman loudly sobbed and clapped.

Reverend Daniel Glory came into room, face aglow with thrill and exhaustion, and dragged a chair from the wall over to our table. He sat, waiting until everyone was silent again. "I now have incontrovertible proof that the Rapture takes place this coming October."

I'm sure I grinned bigger than anyone in the room. "What reason do you have to say that?"

Reverend Daniel Glory looked at me and winked. "Why stop with one reason, boy? I got one hundred and seven of 'em!"

Of course, you know what this meant. We were going to have to step up the production of Tribulation House.

(I still can't believe it's not Kingdom Come.)

Chris Well’s laugh–out–loud Christian thrillers appeal to the millions of readers who gobble up the rollicking crime fiction of Janet Evanovich and Elmore Leonard. TRIBULATION HOUSE does not disappoint!

Feisty Crime Novel Skewers the 'Left Behind' Generation

Sat, 05 May 2007 19:11:54 GMT

End-times mania has generated a booming industry ever since Hal Lindsey tagged 1988 as the year Jesus would return in his 1971 bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth. The legacy continued in Edgar Whisenant's 4.5 million-copy bestseller, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988, and reached its zenith with the 60 million-copy best selling Left Behind series (which had the good sense to admit to being fiction).

Unfortunately, date-setters throughout history have always ended up with egg on their faces, because Jesus has steadfastly refused to follow their timetables.

Author Chris Well gleefully reminds his readers of the trouble that follows when we forget that "of that day and hour no one knows."

Chris Well, the undisputed master of the feisty crime novel, takes aim at the ultimate mystery in his latest novel, Tribulation House. Set for release in May 2007, Well skewers the Left Behind generation with a wink and smile in this laugh-out-loud funny mystery complete with high rollers, mobsters, loan sharks, and Apocalypse-predicting preachers.

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER ONLINE

DOWNLOAD IT AS A PDF

What Others are Saying about Tribulation House:

"With an engaging cast of characters and a plot that clips right along from start to finish, this book is a satisfying crossover novel that pokes fun at some of the farther-flung fringes of Christianity while remaining, like the best classic mysteries and comic books, a morality tale in which crime doesn't pay and justice -- as well as grace -- prevails." -- Dru Pagliassotti, The Harrow

"A powerful cautionary tale." -- Harriett Klausner

"A must read for fans of quality fiction full of powerful spiritual themes." -- Jake Chism, Armchair Interviews

"Filled with humor, the plot provides a great deal of food for thought while keeping the reader captivated." -- Melissa Parcel, RT Book Reviews

"Like Chris’s other books, this one is a fun read." -- Brandilyn Collins, Coral Moon

"Hilarious ... I highly recommend it!" -- Colleen Coble, Midnight Sea

"Should be on everyone's must-read list." -- Alton Gansky, Crime Scene Jerusalem

"Way too juicy to ignore ... a plot that's pure comedic genius." -- Infuze Magazine

"Edgy and entertaining." -- Armchair Interviews

"A book you don't want to put down." -- Wanda Dyson, Shefford Files series

"Plenty of spunk and satire." -- Susan Meissner, Widows and Orphans

"I love Chris Well's sense of humor, gritty storytelling, and the deeper meaning." -- Creston Mapes, Full Tilt

"Will make you think even while you’re enjoying the offbeat people and laughing at the quirky humor." -- Lorena McCourtney, Ivy Malone Mysteries

"The antidote to end–times hysteria." -- Eric Wilson, Aramis Black Mysteries

"Discover a new and offbeat voice in this field." -- Mindy Starns Clark, Smart Chick Mysteries

"Don't get left behind on this one." -- Jason Boyett, Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse

"No doubt about it, Chris Well is the new heavyweight champ of laugh-out-loud crime thrillers. TRIBULATION HOUSE was the most fun I’ve had reading a book in ages." -- David Meigs, Curmudgeon's Rant

"It's risky taking such serious spiritual matter and turning it into almost a farce. But Well came out the victor." -- Karri Compton, Fiction Fanatics Only!

"Pokes some good natured fun, while giving us a nudge in the right direction." -- Jason Joyner, Spoiled For the Ordinary

"Will move many of us to do some serious reflectio --after we stop laughing, that is." -- Vicki Talley McCollum, Savvy ReViews

"Chris Well just keeps getting better and better at his craft."
-- Deena Peterson, A Peek At My Bookshelf

"Fast paced, entertaining, often funny, and always illuminating." -- David White, Christian Review of Books

"Though provoking ... humorous … Tribulation House is everything the blurbs promised." -- Andrea Graham, Ask Andrea

"A very interesting story!" -- Michelle Kralicek, Michelle's Great Blogs

"Has more depth than many novels without humor." -- David Brollier, The 3rd Covenant

Bethany Dillon "Write From The Heart" Essay Contest

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:14:37 GMT

Deadline Extended! In honor of her April release Waking Up (Sparrow), singer-songwriter Bethany Dillon and myCCM are partnering for a very special essay contest which gives you the chance to write for CCM Magazine and interview Bethany herself!

Here's the deal: Between April 2 and May 15, write a 500-800 word essay describing a time when God spiritually woke you up to something new in your life. The winner, chosen by CCM editor Jay Swartzendruber, will see his or her essay posted on myCCM -- and will get to personally interview Bethany Dillon for a future issue of CCM Magazine!

Prizes also include CDs, gift cards, CCM subscriptions ... it's a whole thing.