Here are today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

1. Yes YOU can win a day with Lino Rulli! Time with the Sinner author and SiruisXM/Catholic Channel host is the prize in Servant Books’ Saints, Sinners and Salami contest. The winner gets a trip to New York City and the opportunity to spend a day with Lino, visiting  his favorite Italian food joints as well as the city’s most compelling Catholic landmarks.  The contest begins Monday (1/23). Details, I’m told, will be made available here soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPmVU107PiQ&feature=player_embedded

2. Tim Tebow declines CBS offer. From CBS Denver: It turns out the season really is over for Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow after he declined an invitation to appear on CBS’s NFL Today this Sunday. CBS had asked Tebow to sit down for NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe and the rest of the gang before the AFC Championship game…It’s easy to see why the network, which owns CBS4, wanted to keep Tebow on. The last two Broncos games have had huge ratings around the nation.
Comment: There’s really no question that the Bible-believing and charitable QB brought in lots of viewers who aren’t usually into football — a demonstration, I think, of America’s fascination with and desire for idealistic heroes.  Just imagine the ratings if the Broncos had gone all the way to the Super Bowl.

3. From Big Hollywood: (Actor) Mark Wahlberg is a Roman Catholic who goes to church every day to pray to be a better servant of God, a better man. Refreshing, to say the least.

P.S. On Monday I wrote that I’d be posting a review of the life-affirming film drama October Baby set for release in March. I’ve decided that it would be more appropriate to hold off on that until closer to the actual release date.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11