Soon you will be seeing a number of news articles and commentaries about the film The Golden Compass. The "usual suspects" will come out of the woodwork, dust off their protest signs (with appropriate words changed as in "BLANK is Godless drivel") and march for the TV cameras so newscasters can announce (always breathlessly) "Churches protest new film; film at 11." Here, fortunately (fortunate, because it saved me the trouble of writing it) , is the thinking Christian's response.

["Relate heart-warming story here" - from "The Joel Osteen Playbook"]

I was involved in AIDs ministry at one point in my ministry journey, helping a terrific ministry raise funds to purchase a ministry facility. We partnered with a visionary couple to host a seminar with Christian speakers framing Christian responses to the AIDs epidemic. (You can read more about their story here at Google books' excerpt of "The Call to Social Work". Start on Johna Reeves' story on page 79) Because one of our keynote speakers was a prominent spokesman for the ex-gay community, we had incensed members of the city's gay community threatening to picket and disrupt our meetings. While we were (please remember I'm a former Marine and my best friends on staff were former military) discussing the feasibility of positioning spotters on roof tops and recruiting specially trained "Ministry Teams" to keep the protesters from blocking the driveway, some of our volunteers were praying. Their bright idea? Bake chocolate chip cookies and make lemonade to minister to the protesters. Thankfully their strategy won out and the seminar came off without any interruptions. Maybe there is something to what Paul said in Romans 12:20.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughtful comments.