More on NRB, I Can Only Imagine 2
Plus, digital boyfriends and intelligent design
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.
National Religious Broadcasters Hits Nashville. As I mentioned last week, I recently attended the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) in Nashville. This week I can say that the final numbers are in, and NRB claims more than 5,700 “Christian media pros” attended last week’s NRB convention in Nashville. According to a statement from NRB, 272 international attendees from 43 countries outside the U.S. were there. The trade show had 240 exhibitors. These numbers are not quite as large as 2025, but close, and they represent a significant rebound from the 3,500 or so that attended in 2022.
I Can Only Imagine a Profit. The sequel to the blockbuster movie “I Can Only Imagine” released last week, and the financial results have so far not lived up to the original. The production budget for “Imagine 2” was $18 million, far more than the first installment. So far, the movie has taken in only about $8.2 million. The original cost $7 million and took in $80 million. The sequel still has a ways to go, of course. TV licensing and DVD sales will play a part in the total revenue picture. Streaming now often accounts for more than theatrical income, and streaming’s role continues to grow. That said, given early results, it is hard to imagine (pun intended) how the sequel makes a profit.
Digital Boyfriends? OpenAI retired its GPT-4o model last week. That may not mean much to you, but if you had saved a profile on the platform, you lost all your chat history. According to The Free Press, that means “thousands of women lost their chatbot partners. It was ‘like having lost my husband,’” said one woman. I use AI every day, but the weird and dark side of chat-bot relationships, as MinistryWatch reported on earlier this week, should be a wake-up call to the church.
MENA Meeting. This week I am at a conference in Europe bringing together hundreds of ministries that work in the Middle East and North Africa — predominantly Muslim countries. I have been asked by conference organizers not to disclose the location or the names of the people here because of the serious risk these faithful servants face. One thing I can say, though, is that the rumors of a revival in predominantly Muslim countries appear to be true. I heard a presentation yesterday from an academic whose research found more than a quarter-of-a-million new believers and tens of thousands of new churches over the past 10 years in the Muslim countries he studied. Hearing about the work of these remarkable Christian leaders, many of whom serve in dangerous conditions, has been an encouragement and a blessing.
Intelligent Design for the Win. Data guru Ryan Burge has compiled some interesting information about how Americans view evolution, creationism, and intelligent design. To read his definitions, I refer you to the article, not just for these definitions, but also for the helpful charts and graphs. Here I will say that intelligent design seems to be the origin story of choice for a plurality of Americans. As Burge puts it, “The plurality response was the middle path—the idea that evolution is a very real thing, but that it was guided by God’s hand. This accounted for just under half of the sample (48%). The next most popular response was a belief in pure evolution. One-third of respondents said that God had no role in the evolutionary process. That means the share of Americans who espouse a purely creationist view is just 17%.”
Readers in Los Angeles. I have some travel coming up in the next couple of months, and I would love to see you. I will be in Los Angeles in April, where I will be doing a reader lunch. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is [email protected].
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