August 21, 2022 | Woodway Campus
Letter to the American Church | Special Guest Eric Metaxas

Do you have a bad habit that you can't seem to break? Do you ever wonder why you can't stop? Maybe there's a deeper reason that's making it tough to quit. We're talking about it in this message.

ABOUT THIS MESSAGE
Have you ever had a question so hard you wouldn’t even say it out loud? Or a doubt so big you didn’t feel like you could share it—especially at church? Maybe it’s time to ask the tough questions together in our new series, Ever Wonder Why?

If you struggle with an addiction to pornography, you know how much of a toll it can take on your life. It may seem like there’s not a way out from your struggle, but it’s possible to experience freedom. We’re learning how to quit porn addiction in Week 2 of Deep Clean.

ABOUT THIS MESSAGE
Sometimes life can leave us feeling like a mess. The kind of mess that’s just too complicated to figure out. But it’s possible to start fresh. To experience life in a new way. Discover how in our new message series, Deep Clean.

Start Your Deep Clean
As we talk through different topics in our current message series, Deep Clean, we want to equip you with tools specific to your personal needs. Visit http://www.life.church/howtoquit and https://go2.lc/deepcleanquiz to learn more.

Learn more about Deep Clean: www.life.church/deepclean

Start the Deep Clean Bible Plan: http://www.go2.lc/clean

The Scramble for Africa, Explained

With more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe, the ancient Chinese game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence.

On March 9, 2016, the worlds of Go and artificial intelligence collided in South Korea for an extraordinary best-of-five-game competition, coined The DeepMind Challenge Match. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history.

Directed by Greg Kohs and with an original score by Academy Award nominee Hauschka, AlphaGo had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. It has since gone on to win countless awards and near universal praise for a story that chronicles a journey from the halls of Oxford, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of DeepMind in London, and ultimately, to the seven-day tournament in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about humanity?

Best documentary winner: Denver International Film Festival (2017), Warsaw International Film Festival (2017), and Traverse City Film Festival (2017).

Official selection at Tribeca Film Festival (2017), BFI London Film Festival (2017), and Critics' Choice Documentary Awards (2017).

The INSANE Story of Airbnb - By MagnatesMedia...
Airbnb should never have worked. The CEO (Brian Chesky) knew nothing about business. The idea of Airbnb had basically been done before, and Airbnb was actually illegal in many cities. Even Airbnb's founders didn’t think it would work! And yet, despite everything, Airbnb has become a billion dollar company, and one of the greatest business success stories of the digital age. They’re the largest accommodation provider in the world, yet they don’t own any real estate. So… how did they do it? Welcome to the INSANE story of Airbnb!

The story of Airbnb is slightly ridiculous - it started with Airbnb's founders renting out an air mattress in their apartment to make money, and then making cereal (Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain's) to get out of credit card debt. The history of Airbnb is full of controversy, twists, and useful business lessons for entrepreneurs.

And it all began when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were on the verge of getting evicted from their apartment. Rent was due, and they were broke. Their unfortunate circumstances would lead them to creating Airbnb, one of the fastest growing businesses.

But as well as looking at the INSANE Story of Airbnb, we’ll also look at Airbnb’s scandals, Airbnb vs governments, how Airbnb broke the law, how Airbnb dealt with the pandemic, and whether Airbnb is ever actually going to be profitable...

A documentary that traces the evidence for biblical authority and reliability.

Director: M.D. Perkins
Writer: M.D. Perkins (as Michael D. Perkins)
Stars: Alistair Begg, Darrell Bock, D.A. Carson

For many critics, the arch-conservative Catholic community Opus Dei is a diabolical sect. However, Opus Dei (which translates to "Work of God”) sees itself in a very positive light. Even today, it’s very difficult to look into the inner world of the sect.

That's because its 90,000 members worldwide have taken a vow of secrecy - and those who have left report persecution if they break that vow. Meanwhile, Opus Dei is working to become the most influential player in the Catholic Church. To this end, it maintains a secret network - including branches in Germany.

It is no coincidence that the German headquarters are located in Cologne - Germany‘s most powerful Catholic archdiocese. In Germany, Opus Dei is focused on trying to gain a foothold in the field of education, by running daycare centers and schools.

The examination of a daycare center in Munich shows that Opus Dei deliberately conceals its involvement in these institutions. Another component of the network is IESE, the business school of Opus Dei, which also has an offshoot in Germany. It is considered one of the best schools of its kind in the world.

In Spain, where Opus Dei originated, sect members are active in parts of the judicial and educational sectors. The documentary tries to uncover these connections in both Spain and Germany, and lets both victims and experts have their say. It also includes an interview with the head of Opus Dei, Christoph Bockamp.

For the first time, a former member from Germany reports on her ordeal in Opus Dei and the harassment she experienced after she broke away from the sect. Spaniard Carmen Charo developed mental health problems during her time in Opus Dei, due to brainwashing and psychological pressure. Today, she helps others in their journey out of Opus Dei.

Dietmar Scharmitzer is trying to do the same thing with German-speaking people who want to leave, and runs an Internet platform to help inform them. Finally, Marco Politi, an author and Vatican expert from Rome, takes stock of the influence Opus Dei has exerted since the time of Pope John Paul II.

In the summer of 2005 the Israeli government attempted to remove 8,500 Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip. The operation split Israel down the middle, between those who see settling the land as a religious duty, and others who believe the settlements are a barrier to peace. This observational documentary follows the General in charge of the operation, himself the son of one of the founders of the settler movement.

In our modern consumer society, Type 2 diabetes has become a widespread disease. Companies are developing drugs that are increasingly expensive, but not necessarily more effective. Health authorities are powerless.

Diabetes is spreading rapidly, all over the world. The disease destroys lives and puts a strain on public budgets. The UN is calling on governments to take action.

Diabetes is proof that modern societies are incapable of adequately treating chronic disease. It affects around 430 million people worldwide, with two main metabolic disorders falling under the name diabetes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease that must be treated with lifelong doses of insulin, while type 2 can develop when a person’s diet is too high in fat and sugar and they do not engage in enough physical activity.

With turnover of $46 billion, diabetes is a massive and extremely lucrative market.
Constantly promised miracle cures have not led to satisfactory treatment, with patients either taking too many drugs or no longer being able to afford them. It’s a desperate situation, and the only ones benefiting seem to be pharmaceutical companies.

A medical focus on blood glucose levels has led to an overreliance on medication, sometimes without due concern for dangerous side effects. Patients become trapped in a cycle of treatment, which in many cases still does not halt the disease’s progression. This can lead to amputations, blindness and heart attacks.

And yet there are alternatives that could flatten the curve of the type 2 diabetes epidemic, while reducing health care spending. Improved diet can be a preventative measure, and a strict adherence to diet can also bring about remission in the case of Type 2 diabetes.

But these solutions require effort, as well as a complete rethinking of chronic disease management. Filmed on three continents, this documentary features industry whistleblowers, patients, researchers and medical professionals. It also confronts pharmaceutical companies about their responsibility for the situation.

This dark Discord Iceberg video cuts all the fluff and goes straight in 10 insane topics, with each topic getting even darker. We talk about Discord's problematic business model, its controversies, stories about people in unfortunate situations, and even worse. Discord is a place filled with preds with bad motives. Join us in this Discord Iceberg video as we explore the Dark World of Discord.

Discord is a wonderful platform. It helps people create and build relationship. However, what you see about Discord is only the surface. There is a dark side to Discord. In this documentary I outline the dark sides of Discord, from it's problematic business model, it's controversies, stories about users being doxed, and even to highly illegal things that it's users do every day. As we go deeper into the documentary things just get crazier and crazier exploring the dark side of Discord.

No company stores more data than Amazon, the former online bookseller. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the world. Every second Euro in online trading is spent at Amazon. Is the IT giant, with its unabated growth, about to turn our economic system upside down?

Amazon is a machine that can simultaneously observe, compare and analyze more than 300 million people worldwide. The company is not just a marketplace, market supervisor and provider of more and more services and consumer items - it also controls all the data streams in this market and uses them to its own benefit. Who suspects that a single click on an Amazon page will forward information to the company that fills a printed DIN-A-4 page? A conversation with Alexa, watching a streaming offer on Amazon-Prime, ordering vegetables via Amazon-Fresh - all this put together creates a whole library of information about every customer. The group collects everything - it just won’t reveal what conclusions it draws from it. What would be possible if data from other, new business areas were added? In the USA, Amazon is also active in the health and insurance sectors, and police officers are using its facial recognition software to search for wanted persons.

The UK's recent disastrous "mini" Budget can trace its origins back to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. The economic costs of Brexit were masked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. But six years after the UK voted to leave, the effect has become clear. In this film, senior FT writers and British businesspeople examine how Brexit hit the UK economy, the political conspiracy of silence, and why there has not yet been a convincing case for a 'Brexit dividend'.

Produced, directed and edited by Daniel Garrahan

Cashless payments are on the rise. They are fast, easy and convenient. Worldwide, cashless transactions have become the norm.

But Germany’s central bank and government are still clinging on to cash. Can they stop the move towards a cashless society? Our documentary shows who is behind the worldwide anti-cash lobby. Banks want to get rid of coins and bills for cost reasons, and politicians think less cash will cut the rug out from under criminals and terrorists. Central bankers want to abolish cash because it would make it easier for them to enforce negative interest rates. And digital payment companies like Paypal or Visa simply want to profit from money transactions and collect as much financial data about consumers as they can. Their aim is to gain complete control over our buying behavior. For example, the "Better than Cash Alliance" in New York is supported by financial corporations such as Visa or Mastercard. They say the more people that are integrated into the international financial system, the more growth and jobs it will promote. But as our financial behavior becomes more and more transparent, states are also using payment data to find out more about us. The ordinary citizen’s view of cash as a store of value, independent of third party interests, is being increasingly ignored. But for them, cash is and will remain a symbol of freedom.

SPOTIFY: The Pirates Who Saved / Killed Music (The Illegal Rise of Spotify) --- Welcome to the INSANE story of Spotify. We look at how Spotify nearly failed before it even launched, how Spotify got locked in an ongoing battle with both record labels and artists, and finally how Spotify regained leverage by changing their business model. Now, Spotify is actually quite a powerful force in the music industry with a lot more control, which means there are several controversial issues for us to look at in the Spotify Story - including Spotify's history with fake streams, and its plans to become a central hub for podcasts.

Here on MagnatesMedia I bring you business stories. Today, we're looking at how Daniel Ek started Spotify, and what a huge impact Spotify has had. However if you enjoy this look into Spotify's history, check out some of the other business origin stories on MagnatesMedia!