Jim Daly

Some Super Bowl Stimulus

As I recently shared with our team here at Focus on the Family, who could have imagined the amount of interest we’d receive over our Super Bowl ad with Tim and Pam Tebow?

I’ve watched in amazement as a simple expression of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” has turned some in the media world and a few special interest groups on their heads. It’s fascinating!

One thing that has been clear to us all along has been the guiding hand of the Lord—from the spark of the idea to the firestorm of reaction, His presence has been steady and strong.

Continue ReadingTopics: Focus Events Tags: entertainment, family, news, pop culture

Our Super Bowl XLIV commercial with Pam and Tim Tebow has kicked off quite the media firestorm. Okay, that’s an understatement. Last week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described it as “perhaps the most controversial commercial in the big game’s 43-year history.”

From National Public Radio and The New York Times, to Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, there’s been no shortage of national coverage over an ad which has yet to air. Even SNL got into the act by poking fun at the brewing controversy over the weekend.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, news, pop culture

Leaving Planned Parenthood

We recently finished airing a compelling, two-day Focus on the Family broadcast with Abby Johnson, the former director of a Texas Planned Parenthood clinic. While I first blogged about Abby back in November, this is one of those life-changing conversations you won’t want to miss. (Click here for PART 1 and PART 2).

In 2008, Abby was given the dubious honor of “Employee of the Year” for the Southeast Texas region having counseled thousands of women to have an abortion.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, pro-life

Turning the Tables on Me

Dr. Kevin Leman, psychologist and author of Have a New Husband by Friday, has been our guest for several days on the Focus on the Family broadcast this week. I really appreciate Dr. Leman. Although, boy, did he do a number on me during yesterday’s program! After spending two broadcasts giving marital advice to wives, he ambushed me right there in the studio.

Let me set the stage for what happened.

Dr. Leman began by explaining that the average marriage lasts just seven years.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage

Super Bowl Ad Gets Super-sized Response

It’s been said, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” That axiom is certainly true as we move closer to the debut of our Pam and Tim Tebow commercial in the Super Bowl. While the spot has yet to air, the overwhelming reaction to our theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” has been positive.

I’m not surprised. Tim Tebow’s story is inspiring.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: news, pop culture, pro-life

Through A Glass Dimly

I just read a letter from the Focus mailbag that convicted me of sometimes being shortsighted. It was written in response to a recent Focus broadcast by a woman I’ll call Maria.

About thirty years ago, Maria and her husband relocated to California with their one-year-old child. Not long after the boxes were unpacked, Maria decided to get plugged into her new community by volunteering with a number of Christian ministries. She was enjoying her new life and friends when a rather unexpected turn-of-events occurred: Maria discovered she was pregnant .

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, parenting

Ripples of Life

If you toss a pebble into the still, glass-like water of a pond, what do you get? Ripples scurrying across the surface of the water constantly moving in an outward, circular fashion from the point of impact. These gentle ridges of water form an ever expanding ring of motion as each wavelet multiplies the reach of the initial splash.

Since we’re in the middle of the Sanctity of Human Life week, let me apply that pebble-in-the-pond phenomenon to our pro-life work here at Focus on the Family.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pro-life

If Not Me, Who?

When I, as a parent, hear about a disaster on the scale of what’s happening in Haiti, I immediately think about the kids affected by the largest earthquake recorded in Haiti. My heart goes out to the three-year-old who suddenly doesn’t have a mom or a dad. For reasons he cannot comprehend, one minute his parents were caring for him, the next minute they’re just gone. Now what?

Or the ten-year-old who, having lost her parents, finds herself becoming the parent to her younger siblings out-of-necessity.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, news

The Future is Bright!

If you were to sit where I sit and see what I see on the horizon, I’m sure you’d agree that God is very much at work at Focus on the Family. Of course, for practical reasons, sharing my chair isn’t an option. So let me run down a number of the reasons why I’m energized by the journey ahead of us.

The first one is a biggie.

God moved in the hearts of several incredibly generous donors to introduce our mission—namely, Helping Families Thrive—to an audience of tens of millions of families.

Continue ReadingTopics: Focus Events Tags: events, faith, news, staff

Help for Haiti

Assigning adjectives to the devastation brought on by the Haitian earthquake threatens to bankrupt the English language. Currently, reports are circulating that thousands are dead. Morgues are full and bodies are piled high along the debris-strewn streets. Scores more are likely still trapped, and hundreds of thousands of the country’s island residents are without the basic necessities of life.

The needs are breathtaking and nearly endless in scope and size. But along with our prayers, we might offer a very tangible contribution to the relief efforts by making a monetary contribution to one of the many excellent organizations on the ground in Haiti.