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Trending Topics with Efrem Graham: October 13, 2016

CBN News anchor Efrem Graham discusses trending topics with 700 Club Interactive’s Gordon Robertson. Read Transcript


[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: At Number Five this week.

(SINGING) Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.

NARRATOR: "Oceans"-- it's a Hillsong United hit visitors

to the Australia-based church won't hear.

Speaking in Atlanta, Pastor Brian Houston

said, "When it comes to influence, predictability

is our enemy, because you never get influence

from doing things the way they've always been done."

You'd get tired of singing "Oceans"?

No, because I'm a lyrics person.

NARRATOR: The church also no longer sings this mega-hit.

(SINGING) Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing.

NARRATOR: On to Number Four.

(RAPPING) Super echo, [INAUDIBLE]

NARRATOR: The Energizer Bunny of gospel music, Tye Tribbett,

is now a television host.

His "Joyful Noise" show premiered Sunday morning

on BET, filling the time slot of "Bobby Jones Gospel," which

filled that slot for more than 30 years.

Now, to Number Three.

BOTH: (SINGING) Yeah, this is who you are.

Yeah, this is who you are.

NARRATOR: Grammy-winning duo For King & Country moved from music

to movies with "Priceless," a dramatic thriller

about human trafficking starring Joel Smallbone.

North Beach.

What are you haulin'?

Oh, nothin', really.

Now, why would you have to go through all that if you're just

haulin' nothin'?

It's a pretty gritty role for you too.

Yeah.

It was.

Very, very different to obviously, our life story.

At Number Two.

Can I get your head or anything?

Do you feel light-headed or dizzy?

NARRATOR: This video of Tim Tebow

has sparked a social media frenzy.

It shows the new baseball player rushing

to the side of a fan who had suffered a seizure,

standing by his side and praying for him.

The former NFL quarterback was signing autographs

after his first minor league baseball game.

You remember, people are important,

and what you can do for people and loving people.

Yeah, baseball's awesome, it's something

that I'm so excited I get a chance to pursue.

But what's important is lives matter, people matter,

and this young man, he matters.

NARRATOR: Now, to number one.

(SINGING) I love you, Jesus.

I worship and I know you well.

NARRATOR: This is what it looks like to praise God

through the storm.

Despite devastating damage from Hurricane Matthew, members

of Dominion Fellowship Church in Palm City,

Florida still held services.

"Studio 5" met Pastor Washington doing dishes at a local shelter

just the day before.

One of the things that we're always

able to do and have the opportunity

to do as Christians and as the body of Christ

is to take advantage of the opportunities

that God gives us to connect with people that we

would normally not be able to connect with.

Well, it's Wednesday, and Efrem is back with us.

Good to be with you.

I should say it's Thursday, that's when

this one will be broadcast.

You were just down in Florida.

Tell us about your experiences there.

I'm a producer there, and number one, devastation's

horrible to see.

We travel often with Operation Blessing.

It's nice to see that, because we're not just

coming to cover your story, but we're

coming to watch and document relief being delivered to you.

But to find that pastor washing dishes and serving

despite having suffered loss, saying,

this is an opportunity for me to show

the hands and feet of Christ.

These are people who I probably would not meet,

they probably wouldn't cross the door of my church.

But this is an opportunity for us to take the church to them.

And it's beautiful to see that.

We know it plays out in Haiti because we're there as well.

And it's just wonderful to see that

in times of disaster, that's a time for the church to rise up.

Absolutely.

It's the time to strike back.

You got that right.

Disaster has struck.

It's time to strike back.

Amen.

Let's show people we love them, that God loves them,

and let's praise them in the middle of--

In the middle of--

In everything, in fact.

That's what makes it different.

Well, Tim Tebow, he's back in the news.

And here he is, his first minor league game.

First at-bat, he hits a home run.

The legend grows, and then after, he's signing autographs,

somebody collapses, he prays for them.

And the seizures stop.

Lays hands on him, and I heard several media

reports on this story.

And one of the commentators reports on one.

This is a Tebow fan.

So you have a seizure, and you wake up

to Tim Tebow laying hands on you, kind of figure, wow,

I had a seizure.

But his heart, it's just so amazing.

God's hand is definitely on him.

We see it time and time again from birth to now.

It's amazing, to him to have a shot at a baseball career

after a football career doesn't pan out, he's an amazing man.

He's got a book coming out too, I know in the near future.

Yeah, did the fan get the autograph?

I don't know if he got the autograph.

[LAUGHTER]

But that prayer was good.

Something to memorialize, that prayer.

You got that right, I'll tell you.

We need to follow up on that fan and see what happens.

Absolutely.

All right, we've got King & Country.

They came out with the movie "Priceless."

And you've seen it?

I have not seen it yet.

This is one unfortunately that I have not seen.

I've seen clips of it, I've interviewed them extensively

about it, and I'm very excited to see it.

What I love about the story is it's all

inspired by real, true events.

And it's actually a story that their brother

Ben, who is a filmmaker, discovered 10 years ago.

He was doing a documentary on this gentleman's life.

And the gentleman essentially decides, he's a crime boss.

What would happen if I take my skills

that I apply to major crimes, and use it for good?

And the human trafficking element

is a big part of the story, and it's really

a man who suffers tragedy and then is on this great adventure

to try and make things right.

You've got me hooked just with that storyline.

This crime boss says, what if I use my skills for good.

Yes, can you imagine?

And you go, that's a great idea.

I'd like to see that movie.

What got them interested in it?

I find it fascinating somebody going from a music career,

they're winning awards, they're doing great,

and suddenly they want to take on human trafficking

in a movie.

What started it all is early in their career,

they started as part of their ministry trying to make men

realize the value and worth of women-- thus

the song, "Priceless" being written.

And in doing that, they said that literally when

they would make the call or do things at concerts,

they were always amazed at the response

but also a bit saddened to say this generation has lost

this element of valuing women and men treating women

with respect and valuing them as the prize

that God has made them, and them being priceless.

So that started it.

And then after the song, they went

to their brother who is the filmmaker and said,

what if we tried to make a movie about this?

And then some days later, Ben comes to them and says,

you know what, there was this documentary

I was working on 10 years ago that I think will be perfect.

So it just continues with their message

that's I think going to go on for a long time.

Both of them married men, value their wives and families,

want to see that spread abroad.

Well, that rape culture has certainly been in the news

recently.

And you look at the actions within our culture,

the sexualization of all women.

And you go, how can we come back from this?

Absolutely.

And we've seen things-- it's sad,

but even as we prepare as journalists to go and cover

big events, sporting events, the Olympics, that we now

have to think, well, what sex trafficking is going

on at these sporting events that is attracting men

from all over the world?

What sex trafficking can we fight?

Because that's what happens very often,

and on an even larger scale.

It's sad that we're at this point.

It is sad.

And I actually worry, can our culture be redeemed?

We've turned into a hookup culture.

It's not a dating, it's certainly not a courting scene.

We've gone from courting to dating

to these meaningless encounters.

And you go, how can we come back?

We do need to pray.

Absolutely.

Got to ask you this.

Hillsong says they don't want to sing their favorites.

And I'm responding to it, it's like, are you kidding?

It's like saying, we're not going

to sing the Psalms anymore.

I felt the exact same way.

Brian Houston, the pastor of the Sydney,

Australia-based megachurch, there

are campuses all over the world now,

was at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta last Friday.

And he was speaking of the church being innovative

and making sure that it stays with the times

so that it can continue to have influence.

And he said the enemy of influence is predictability.

And in saying that, he goes, you'll probably

be surprised to know, we don't sing "Oceans,"

because it's what you expect from us.

It's predictable.

As much as people love it, we don't sing it very often.

And can you believe that-- I think "Shout to the Lord"

was 1993-- they don't sing that at all anymore.

And it's because he wants to push

the songwriters to continue to be innovative

and to write things for today.

The new songs.

Absolutely.

Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, the new ones,

but boy, I like the old ones.

I do too, and I play them over and over again.

I heard a musician at one time say, well, nobody ever

asked Vincent van Gogh to paint "Starry Night" again.

Yeah, that's true.

And in an art form, you want to constantly

be pressing and doing the new.

But at the same time.

I know.

The blessing is that Hillsong has been at doing the new

and doing it well for years.

So we can prayerfully depend on that.

All right, well if you want to mourn Hillsong.

Yes, we do.

You can go to Efrem's Top Five, you'll

catch his show, "Studio 5."

It's available on Roku, Apple TV on our app,

or you can go to CBN.com/Studio5 and you can catch all

the latest.

Efrem, thank you for being here.

Pleasure.

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