My Photo

Bio

  • Frank Lockwood is the religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Frank is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Idaho College of Law. In 2004, he received a Knight Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. A native of Oregon, Frank has been a reporter in Idaho, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

Little Rock Marathon

  • No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Recent Posts

» View Archives
Add to Technorati Favorites

Poll

Poll 2

Arkansas' largest denominations

Arkansas megachurches

Largest KY denominations

Largest U.S. churches

  • Largest U.S. denominations
    1.) The Catholic Church, 67,820,833 members; 2.) The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,267,494; 3.) The United Methodist Church, 8,186,254; 4.) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,999,177; 5.) The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875; 6.) National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., 5,000,000; 7.) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,930,429; 8.) National Baptist Convention of America, 3,500,000; 9.) Presbyterian Church (USA), 3,189,573; 10.) Assemblies of God, 2,779,095 Source: 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches

Bible Belt Texas: July

  • Welcome to Lakewood

Daily Proverb

Archives

Endorsements

  • "A great blog, by the way." -- MondayMorningInsight.Com
  • "...deeper than church potlucks, pro-life rallies and drowsy Sunday mornings." -- David Koon of the Arkansas Times
  • "...A consistently interesting religion blog." Sam Hodges of The Dallas Morning News
  • "A delightful blog with some real integrity -- check it out." -- former Interior Secretary James Watt
  • "I for one would like to see this law school educated, Pacific Northwest, not from around here liberal take his socialist musings back to Harvard, or Idaho, or anywhere except where I have to be exposed to it." -- Kevin R.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Add me to your TypePad People list

KY FAITH BLOGS

ArkansasOnline | Bible Belt Blog Home

"Facing the Giants" opens at #12

Posted September 30, 2006

Bible Belt Blogger: "Facing the Giants" opens at #12

Frank Lockwood

"Facing the Giants", a movie about a miracle-working Christian high school football team, opened at #12 on Friday night according to boxofficemojo.com. I predicted it would finish the weekend in the top 10, and I may have to eat my words. But there are still two days to go.

"Facing the Giants," which was made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., for $100,000, brought in four times that amount -- $400,000 -- on opening night. Its box office average ($907 per screen on 441 screens) was better than most of the films in the top 10.

Some critics have given the film mediocre to bad reviews. "The religious proselytizing in this football movie is about as subtle as a blindside hit by a 300-pound defensive end," writes Jeff Strickler of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, who gave it two stars on a four-star scale. Others are even harsher.

As I noted previously, the movie would've been better with a few less miracles and a few more unanswered prayers. But the church has made a film they can be proud of -- a movie many Christian movie fans will enjoy.