Jesus Is Risen, but Doctor Strange Is So Mystical

WEEKLY CHURCH SIGN REVIEW: Life Point Church, Oshawa

Doctor Strange is a pretty good movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So when I saw it being advertised on the church sign at Life Point Church in Oshawa it caught my attention. What kind of event is this?
“Reel to Real” is a ministry at Life Point Church which looks at “the culture as expressed in the popular movies of our times.” I’d heard of this before. To be honest, it was one of the sources of inspiration behind the “Frame of Mind Movie Night” which I co-lead. Regarding Reel to Real, Life Point Church goes on to explain that “many of the modern movie makers are the ‘story tellers’ of our day. We don't agree with every statement or concept presented in every movie that we explore, but we do look for the kernels of truth, the overriding ‘God themes’ that can be found in the movies we will consider.” Very interesting. Probably a very good time watching and talking. I would be very interested in exploring the movie Doctor Strange along these lines. Just one problem… Look at the date on the sign!
I took these pictures of the church sign on Friday evening, March 30, but the Reel to Real night featuring Doctor Strange took place way back on January 21st. I might’ve given this sign 3 or 4 stars because I like this invite to go to a church, see a movie and consider it from a Christian point of view. I like this kind of cultural engagement. But advertising an event that happened over two months ago is not good. This sign is an LCD screen and it moves through several announcements, many slides are community-related, but I did see another slide for something in February. It’s a good looking sign on the corner of a very busy intersection. Unfortunately Life Point Durham Church Network has not updated their sign for two months or more so the the information is not too useful to anyone anymore. Thus the downgrade to just 1 star. The only saving grace here is that “Life Point Church Sun 10 am” is always displayed on the sign and there’s definitely a community focus presented on some of the slides. They’re trying, but they really do need to keep that sign updated.
It’s Easter weekend! Good Friday, observing the death of Jesus on the cross, and Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, are big events for Christians. It’s disappointing to see a great sign like this one not being used to invite people to some great Easter events at the church. I couldn’t even figure out if there were Easter events happening when I checked out the church website. Instead of some kind of Easter invitation, this church has chosen to continue promoting a discussion about the movie Doctor Strange which took place a couple months ago.