Earl Paulk admitted his perjury. Good for him. A step in the right direction. Be honest. Earl, you had sex with women outside your marriage. Honesty and confession are good for the soul and good for the souls you have affected with your behavior. Stay on this course. Please.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/01/15/paulk_0115.html

Earl Paulk has surrendered himself to authorities to face charges of perjury. It is good to see him held accountable for his predatory behavior after 8 women, including his own granddaughter, have sworn under oath to have been sexually abused by him. I only wish his church would hold him accountable, but that is not possible. They have no governance structure other than the Paulk family itself. I reiterate: this church should be closed: it is toxic.

Links to today's story and the show we did on it a few months ago are below.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/01/15/paulk_0115.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

http://www.allenhuntshow.com/Listen/269-my-uncledaddy-church-with-mona-brewer-chris-krok-edition

January 2008

After much prayer and meditation over the past six months, I have shared with Bishop Lindsey Davis that I am relinquishing my status as an ordained United Methodist pastor in the North Georgia Conference. This deeply personal decision reflects my sense that God has called me to serve in a new mission role. Moreover, I believe that God has led me to a new spiritual home in the Catholic Church, so I have made provision to be received as a member into that Church. Anita plans to continue her ministry with children in the United Methodist Church, and I naturally will continue to support her and that ministry with my prayers and my regular volunteer service. I pray God's blessings on my brothers and sisters in ministry in the United Methodist Church, particularly the wonderful family of believers at Mount Pisgah.
Allen

OK, I said I was not gonna do any more movie reviews. But I saw one more movie before my daughters went back to school and just have to share.

Juno
An excellent movie. Not great.
The movie tells the story of Juno, a 16 year old girl who has time on her hands, decides to have sex to see what it is like, and ends up pregnant. She then travels the road of telling her parents (a great scene), telling her "boyfriend," deciding whether to seek an abortion, finding adoptive parents in the classified ads, and eventually to birth.

The story is somewhat predictable by Hollywood standards. Women are remarkable, men are ne'er do wells. Men's roles are largely to supply sperm and then get out of the way, so women can soar as professionals and mothers. But the story does veer from the Hollywood template by actually

However, 2 things makes the movie excellent
1) Ellen Page. She plays Juno and is remarkable. She captures the attitude, language and demeanor of teenage girls with precision. Better yet, her humor and timing combine with an odd sense of innocence to give the movie a real warmth and grace. She is a very funny young lady.

2) The writing by and large is tremendous. Lots of good sarcasm (which I of course love) and occasional bits of poignancy to remind us that this is a weird combination - a 16 year old girl trying to figure out the world while she makes decisions of great significance. Not sure that the writers agree - but their script captures some of the sad reality that is American family life in 2008. Some will see that as mere reality; others will see that as commentary on how we have deconstructed the family, gender roles, and personal identity. Interesting stuff.

The movie is not great. BUt it is excellent. And, as my daughter observed, the music works nicely. She likes to be in these reviews.

So here is the final gradesheet for Allen's Christmas Forays into the theaters

Enchanted A
Atonement A-
Juno B+
Noelle C
Walk Hard D

As I discussed on the show last night, for the first time I have made resolutions. I think my middle age has set in and I am trying to be sure that I experience the most meaningful parts of my life rather than rushing through them at breakneck speed.

I have an action plan in place for each of these. When I fulfill all of them, it will have been a blessed year.

1- 20th
My wife and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary this year. I want to be sure we do it well.

2- 50th
My in-laws celebrate their 50th. They are great people, and I want to help them experience and celebrate this milestone with great joy and grace.

3- College
My younger daughter begins her senior year, and I want to help her arrive at a college choice that fits her as well as her sister's has.

4 – 20 lbs
I have gained 20 in the past 8 years. Slowly but surely, this year I want to whittle that away. I have a plan, and I will stick to it.

5 – 100 affiliates
Our goal as a team is to have 100 stations/affiliates airing the Allen Hunt Show on Sunday nights around the country by the end of 2008. All of our work revolves around that goal.

6 – Co-write "Cultivate faith in kids" book
My wife and I will write a short helpful book on real life practice ways parents can cultivate faith in children. We have been talking about it for a long time. This year, we will act.

Obama and Huckabee? Is anyone besides me yawning at this Presidential election? I cannot find anyone who is particularly interesting. Richardson and Giuliani come the closest and they are nowhere to be found or heard.

So I went to more movies. Been to more movies over the past month than in the past two years combined. It has been fun to have my older daughter home from college. But now she is gone so my movie run may be over.

So, here are the results (I have already commented on Noelle (grade: C) and Atonement (A-))

1) Enchanted - I guess I am either old-fashioned (yes) or romantic (probably not), but I loved this movie. A new twist on the classic Disney animated stories. Of course, as a father of two daughters, I have all the old ones memorized (Mermaid, Beast, Pocahontas, et al). But this update that blends real actors and animated ones is entertaining and fun. No deep life-changing message. Just good fun, strong acting, and worth the time. Amy Adams gives a splendid performance as the damsel in distress. I give it an A.

2) Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - not so much fun although there is a total of about 20 to 30 minutes in the movie that is quite humorous. The bulk of the movie is vulgar and overdone. Vulgar in the sense that every line and every scene revolves around sex. Are there no other topics that one can discuss in 2+ hours? Not to mention the pornographic nudity shots that would have been rated X just 10 years ago. Full views of a man's penis and senseless scenes of women walking around nude for no apparent reason? Boy, that is some creative cinematography and story-telling. And the plot is overdone - as a parody/satire of Walk the Line and several other music coming of age movies, some of this over the top stuff is expected, but eventually it causes the movie to just run on over the edge into absurdity and banality. Not worth the effort. I give it a D.

Is it ever OK to cheat for your children? To do whatever it takes to give your kids something special or an advantage in life?
No. The answer is simple. No.
This story of Priscilla Ceballos in Dallas shows how mainstream it has become (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5863898)

Club Libby Lu offered a contest for tickets to the Hannah Montana concert. The essay contest winner would get 4 tickets to Albany, NY concert.
So mom Priscilla and her 6 year old daughter, Alexis, wrote an essay that began - “My daddy died this year in Iraq”.
The essay claimed a roadside bomb had killed her father, and Alexis beat out 1000 other entries to win.
One catch – the whole thing was a fake. Her father never even served in the military. In fact, he does not even live with them.
Turns out the mom passed off the handwriting as her daughter's in an effort to win the tickets.
This letter represents the worst moral behavior I can imagine for a parent outside of molestation issues – worse than neglect even.
Teaching kid that you do whatever it takes to get whatever you want - lying, cheating, deception are good because it is all about you - is about as morally vacant as I can imagine.
But, as despicable and deplorable as that behavior is,
what really gets me is this: The writer of the article for ABC news says,
“While some may understand the Ceballos' desperation to attain tickets to the hottest concerts to children and tweens, others believe her actions may have caused more harm to her daughter than if she had not won the tickets...”
Are you kidding me?
You cannot just say that this behavior is horribly wrong? Can a writer nowadays not even make that claim?
Are you telling me that this kind of morally vacant behavior is so mainstream that the best you can do is say "some may understand it." i for one do not understand it at all. Nor do I want to.
Why does the ABC writer feel obligated to pussyfoot around the issue, to be non-judgmental? Wow.
And to claim that the mother acted out of "desperation"? This is not desperation. Having no food is desperation. Having no home for your children is desperation. Having a father who actually did die in Iraq is desperation.
Desiring concert tickets for a 6 year old? That is not desperation.
I cannot decide which is worse - the mother's behavior or the writer's inability to call it what it is. Sad. Very sad.

Movie Review #2

When my older daughter came home from college last week, she and I snuck out to a late movie to see Atonement during its opening week. Remarkably, it is only on at one theater in all of Atlanta. Not sure what that is all about.

In sum, the movie is superb. A well-crafted telling of a very heavy story. The director really does an excellent job of creating a world that draws you in for a full two hours. It is not a light story - but the two hours of viewing are worth every minute and every dollar.

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy play a young couple whose love is thwarted first by human deception, as Knightley's younger sister in the movie sets forth a series of lies, and then by fate, as the realities of both prison and an emerging world war prevent a reunion. Set in England in the early World War II late 1930's, the story is a masterful weaving of love, betrayal, deception, and redemption. Classic stuff.

I highly recommend it in every way. My daughter and I had a wonderful time.

Last night's show was really fun. A good hour on my dad and Christmas, a fun hour on pastors and confidentiality, and sandwiched in between was an entertaining discussion about swingers and the sex club Jack Trulock runs at his house in Duncanville, Texas. A place where folks come to play Naked Twister every weekend.

I simply do not see how the swinging lifestyle can make a marriage stronger. It weakens the intimacy and trust in a relationship and causes a breakdown of the emotional and sexual bond that God brings about. However, one listener disagreed, and I simply had to share an excerpt from her email. No names - just content:

I LOVE listening to your show and consider myself to be a very spiritual person and a Christian. However, I've noticed that you DO enjoy the topic of swinging and open marriages for many of your shows. I understand why, as a minister, you do not condone it. However, the case in Duncanville, TX really upsets me because the neighbors are trying to shut down the naked twister guy because of the activities in his private home.

If he had cars parking on that street on Friday and Saturday nights because everyone was coming over to his home to study the Bible or the Q'uran, or to watch football games on TV, I'm willing to bet that the neighbors wouldn't say a word about it. They are just bothered because they do not agree with what is happening there and so they are getting the government involved. I think this is a dangerous path to eroding our freedom and rights as private citizens of the United States of America. Whoever goes to those parties is going there willingly and can participate as much or as little as they choose (I know because I go!). They are not having sex on the front lawn (or the back lawn either, I presume!) which would violate public indecency laws. They are in a basement where I'm sure they can not be seen through a window by any curious neighbors. Whose rights are being violated and why should the neighbors care? What right does the local government have to say they can not have a party? If that guy wanted to throw a party every night of the week...who cares? I saw info about this on Fox News and they said that now the cars are being parked at a remote location and they have a shuttle bus to take party goers from the house to their cars. There is no price of admission. People contribute $$ and/or bring their own liquor so it's not a business.

By the way...I am one of those people who is happily married for 10+ years and we have been in the lifestyle since we were dating. We have some extraordinary friends and have met the most amazing people all over the world. The lifestyle is full of very successful, well-educated, entrepreneurial, independent people (as you know). Everyone I have encountered is happy and well-adjusted (okay - there are a few exceptions to that one!). They are beautiful people inside and out! I felt terrible hearing Polly's story on the air. I don't think I've ever heard of or seen anyone in that type of abusive/controlling relationship. I was previously married to an abuser (we were not swingers) and know the fear, anger, guilt and sadness of those relationships can be overwhelming.

I know swinging is not 'mainstream' and it's definitely not for everyone or every couple. We don't try to recruit anyone. But we also don't want to be outlaws for our private activities. I understand that it's fun and titillating radio to talk about us. Have fun! We sure are!

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

News is full today of topics and stories we have been following on the Allen Hunt Show:

1) Steroids. The official report shows widespread usage of steroids in baseball. All players who have sought an unfair advantage by using performance-enhancing drugs should have their records removed from the annals of baseball history. ALL players. The stain on the game is immeasurable. Young kids have grown up idolizing frauds. We can only hope those same kids do not emulate these frauds and thereby endanger their own lives.

2) New Jersey is on the verge of banning the death penalty. That is great news! However, they need to institute a rigid policy of life without parole sentencing for the most heinous crimes. http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/12/14/1163052-death-penalty-foes-rejoice-after-nj-vote

3) Yet more bilgewater spewing forth from Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and their former pastor, still patriarch Earl Paulk. The most recent women to come forth claiming sexual exploitation include his own granddaughter. The tragedy has grown beyond Biblical proportions at this point. I stand by my claim - close the whole church down. There is no accountability there - it is a family-run church. No elders, governing board, or denominational authority exists to ensure that the right thing is done. The Paulk family runs the church and the Paulk name no longer counts for anything.