I got to see an advanced screening of Evan Almighty last night, and I was expecting to deliver a review here on my blog today. However, before the movie began an official looking woman said that anyone associated with media outlets is not allowed to publish reviews before the movie's release date on June 22. Does this blog count as a media outlet? Am I really not allowed to say anything about the movie? If only I had been out in the lobby getting some popcorn when that announcement was made!

Evidently the studios are courting the church pretty strong for this movie because I got two "ministry professional" offers for four free tickets. The subject matter makes it fitting, of course. Evan Almighty is a sequel to the film Bruce Almighty which starred Jim Carey. This time around, Steve Carrell stars as the principal character, Evan, whom God (again played by Morgan Freeman) tells to build a boat. [Hey! That's not a review. That's no more information than what you'd get from the trailer]. Tom Shadyac, a professing Christian, is also back as the director.

There's so much I want to tell you, BUT I CAN'T! If I said I liked the movie, and the audience of other "ministry professionals" (and friends) seemed to like the movie, and if I said there was applause from the audience at the end...would that be a review? It might be, so I guess I can't mention any of that. Too bad. I'll have to write the review now, while the movie is fresh on my mind, and post it at midnight on June 22.

I can tell you, however, about ArkALMIGHTY, which had a pretty good presence at our screening with flyers, hats, t-shirts and such. ArkALMIGHTY is billing itself as a kind of craigslist of local ministry needs. The website describes the concept like this:

ArkALMIGHTY is a good deeds program that matches up the needs in your congregation with the talents and skills of the members of your church. Gathering the needs of your attendees, these requests are compiled on a Craigslist-type website administered by your church. Then, the members of your church can easily search through the needs and find ways they can help.

Maybe there’s a single mom in your midst who doesn’t know how to teach her son to throw a baseball, or an elderly person who needs a ride to the doctor, or a young couple who would love advice on saving for a home. Maybe there’s a college student who could use help moving into her first apartment, or a widow that could use a helping hand washing her windows, or a recently laid-off worker who could use help polishing up his resume. There are countless needs out there that, up until now, have had no way to be met. But now they do, thanks to ArkALMIGHTY.

The ArkALMIGHTY.com website is designed to enable youth groups and churches to easily get involved in practical and tangible volunteer outreach. Can you balance a checkbook? Can you hang a picture frame? Can you throw a spiral? You might not think of these everyday activities as volunteering, but for the people around you who can’t do them, your ability and your willingness to help is exactly what they need. You’d be amazed how a simple act of kindness can change lives.

Entire churches can sign up to take part in ArkALMIGHTY--which in fact, is the model that's encouraged. And that might be a good thing because I'm not sure the average church is often overly plugged into the minutiae of real needs in its own community.

By the way, both the movie [I hope this reference doesn't count as a review] and the ArkALMIGHTY website use A-R-K as an acronym for "acts of random kindness." But wouldn't a program like ArkALMIGHTY count more as deliberate, purposeful acts of kindness rather than random ones? And isn't a goal of performing deliberate acts of kindness better than performing random ones? Okay, maybe now I'm being nitpicky.

Come back on June 22 for my review of Evan Almighty...