6 Posts in 60 Seconds

1. Music is a Bridge to Another Personality
"Music isn't just about sound; it is about achievement in a larger human sense. If you think an interpretation is by a 74-year-old pianist at the end of her life, it won't sound quite the same to you as if you think it's by a 24-year-old piano-competition winner who is just starting out. Beyond all the pretty notes, we want creative engagement and communication from music, we want music to be a bridge to another personality."
[New York Times]

LAUNCHER: What qualities in another person are you listening for when you experience their music?

2. It's Her Party, She'll Praise if She Wants To
Six nights before the Academy Awards ceremony, best supporting actress favorite Jennifer Hudson wasn't in Los Angeles doing the party circuit; the "Dreamgirls" star was back in her hometown at her home church enjoying and singing songs of praise. "The purpose of this is to praise God because he did it; I didn't."
[Chicago Tribune]

3. The Theme-Parking of America
This, truly, is a 21st-century paradigm: It is growth built on consumption, not production; a society founded not on natural resources, but upon the dissipation of capital accumulated elsewhere; a place of infinite possibilities, somehow held together, to the extent it is held together at all, by a shared recognition of highway signs, brand names, TV shows, and personalities, rather than any shared history. Nowhere else is the juxtaposition of what America actually is and the conventional idea of what America should be more vivid and revealing. Welcome to the theme-park nation.
[National Georgraphic]

LAUNCHER: How much longer can a foundation of shared recognition of TV shows and brand names stand?

4. Minifesto for a New Age
Music, television, games, movies, fashion: We now devour our pop culture the same way we enjoy candy and chips - in conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets made to be munched easily with increased frequency and maximum speed. This is snack culture - and boy, is it tasty (not to mention addictive).
[Wired]

LAUNCHER: Snack culture can be a double-edged sword - what strengths and weaknesses do you find in it?

5. Cultural Imperialism
"The poorer a country, the more likely it will listen to its own music," writes Tyler Cowen in The New York Times, and that’s bad news for the future of American pop-culture exports. American movies and music still do well in “countries like Sweden” and much of Europe because their cultures are relatively less hierarchical.
[Reveries]

LAUNCHER: Do you agree that America's cultural influence around the world is waning?

6. Q
Q is a gathering for leaders in the church to become informed and exposed to future-culture. It is a space where select leaders can create, dialogue, collaborate, innovate, serve and ideate around the important topics shaping the church’s future role in culture. In an intense, fifty-hour experience designed to unveil the cultural context in which the Gospel must go forward, Q will expose participants to over twenty presenters on myriad topics. Church leaders will be inundated with information, perspective and expert thoughts that will drive conversation with their peers about the ramifications for the church.
April 25-27 | Atlanta, GA
[Q]

WWW.BREWINGCULTURE.ORG

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Brewing Culture (BC) is a faith-based 501c3 non-profit dedicated to creating, commissioning, and celebrating transcendent art and media. BC has two main goals: to build creative communities in ten American cities, and to recruit 10,000 patrons to give the price of a movie ticket a month to support redemptive art and media.

This email, Six Posts in Sixty Seconds, gives you the latest on BC, as well as some "creative space" for contemplation and conversation about life's deepest, most defining questions. Please email us articles, news or announcements.

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This email, Six Posts in Sixty Seconds, gives you the latest on BC, as well as some "creative space" for contemplation and conversation about life's deepest, most defining questions. Please email us articles, news or announcements.

WWW.BREWINGCULTURE.ORG

© Brewing Culture, Inc. 2006

There's No Pulpit Like Home

On a Sunday at their modest, gray ranch house in the Denver suburb of Englewood, Tim and Jeanine Pynes gather with four other Christians for an evening of fellowship, food and faith. Jeanine's spicy rigatoni precedes a yogurt-and-wafer confection by Ann Moore, none of the food violating the group's solemn commitment to Weight Watchers. The participants, who have pooled resources for baby sitting, discuss a planned missionary trip and sing along with a CD by the Christian crossover group Sixpence None the Richer. One of the lyrics, presumably written in Jesus' voice, runs, "I'm here, I'm closer than your breath/ I've conquered even death." That leads to earnest discussion of a friend's suicide, which flows into an exercise in which each participant brings something to the table--a personal issue, a faith question--and the group offers talk and prayer. Its members read from the New Testament's Epistle to the Hebrews, observe a mindful silence and share a hymn.

The meeting could be a sidebar gathering of almost any church in the country but for a ceramic vessel of red wine on the dinner table--offered in communion. Because the dinner, it turns out, is no mere Bible study, 12-step meeting or other pendant to Sunday service at a Denver megachurch. It is the service. There is no pastor, choir or sermon--just six believers and Jesus among them, closer than their breath. Or so thinks Jeanine, who two years ago abandoned a large congregation for the burgeoning movement known in evangelical circles as "house churching," "home churching" or "simple church." The week she left, she says, "I cried every day." But the home service flourished, grew to 40 people and then divided into five smaller groups. One participant at the Pyneses' house, a retired pastor named John White, also attends a conventional church, where he gives classes on how to found, or plant, the house variety. "Church," he says, "is not just about a meeting." Jeanine is a passionate convert: "I'd never go back to a traditional church. I love what we're doing."

Since the 1990s, the ascendant mode of conservative American faith has been the megachurch. It gathers thousands, or even tens of thousands, for entertaining if sometimes undemanding services amid family-friendly amenities. It is made possible by hundreds of smaller "cell groups" that meet off-nights and provide a humanly scaled framework for scriptural exploration, spiritual mentoring and emotional support. Now, however, some experts look at groups like Jeanine Pynes'--spreading in parts of Colorado, Southern California, Texas and probably elsewhere--and muse, What if the cell groups decided to lose the mother church?

In the 2005 book Revolution, George Barna, Evangelicalism's best-known and perhaps most enthusiastic pollster, named simple church as one of several "mini-movements" vacuuming up "millions of believers [who] have stopped going to [standard] church." In two decades, he wrote, "only about one-third of the population" will rely on conventional congregations. Not everyone buys Barna's numbers--previous estimates set house churchers at a minuscule 50,000--but some serious players are intrigued.

The Maclellan Foundation, a major Christian funder based in Chattanooga, Tenn., is backing a three-year project to track Colorado house churching. The Southern Baptist Convention, with more standard-church pew sitters than any other Protestant group, has commissioned its own poll and experimented in planting hundreds of its own house churches. Allan Karr, a professor at the Rocky Mountain campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary who is involved in the poll, guesses that three out of 10 churches founded today are simple and that their individual odds for survival are better than those of the other seven. House churches are not known for denominational loyalty. That doesn't bother Karr, however. "I want the denomination to prevail," he says, "but I have an agenda that supersedes that: the Kingdom of God at large."

House churches claim the oldest organizational pedigree in Christianity: the book of Acts records that after Jesus' death, his Apostles gathered not at the temple but in an "upper room." House churching has always prospered where resources were scarce or Christianity officially discouraged. In the U.S. its last previous bloom was rooted in the bohemian ethos of the California-bred Jesus People movement of the 1970s. Many of those groups were eventually reabsorbed by larger congregations, and the remnants tend to take a hard line. Frank Viola, a 20-year veteran Florida house churcher and author of Rethinking the Wineskin and other manuals, talks fondly of pilgrims who doctrinairely abjure pastors, sermons or a physical plant; feel that the "modern institutional church does not reflect the early church"; and "don't believe you are going to see the fullness of Jesus Christ expressed just sitting in a pew listening to one other member of the body of Christ talking for 45 minutes while everyone else is passive."

More recent arrangements can seem more ad hoc. Tim and Susie Grade moved to Denver a year ago. They had attended cell groups subsidiary to Sunday services but were delighted to learn that their new neighbors Tim and Michelle Fox longed for a house church like the ones they had seen overseas. Now they and seven other twenty- and thirtysomethings mix a fairly formal weekly communion with a laid-back laying on of hands, semiconfessional "sharing" and a guitar sing-along. Says Tim: "We have some people who come from regular churches, and were a little disenfranchised. And people who joined because of friendships, and people who are kind of hurting, kind of searching. My age group and younger are seeking spiritual things that they have not found elsewhere."

Critics fret that small, pastorless groups can become doctrinally or even socially unmoored. Thom Rainer, a Southern Baptist who has written extensively on church growth, says, "I have no problem with where a church meets, [but] I do think that there are some house churches that, in their desire to move in different directions, have perhaps moved from biblical accountability." In extreme circumstances home churches dominated by magnetic but unorthodox leaders can shade over the line into cults.

Yet the flexibility of simple churches is a huge plus. They can accommodate the demands of a multi-job worker, convene around the bedside of an ailing member and undertake big initiatives with dispatch, as in the case of a group in the Northwest that reportedly yearned to do social outreach but found that every member had heavy credit-card debt. An austerity campaign yielded a balance with which to help the true poor.

Indeed, house churching in itself can be an economically beneficial proposition. Golden Gate Seminary's Karr reckons that building and staff consume 75% of a standard church's budget, with little left for good works. House churches can often dedicate up to 90% of their offerings. Karr notes that traditional church is fine "if you like buildings. But I think the reason house churches are becoming more popular is that their resources are going into something more meaningful."

Evangelical boosters find revival everywhere. Barna says he sees house churching and practices like home schooling and workplace ministries as part of a "seminal transition that may be akin to a third spiritual awakening in the U.S." Jeffrey Mahan, academic vice president of Denver's liberal and institutionally oriented Iliff School of Theology, doesn't go that far, but he does think the trend is significant. American participation in formal church has risen and fallen throughout history, he notes, and after a prolonged post--World War II upswell, big-building Christianity may be exhaling again in favor of informal arrangements.

If so, he suggests, "I don't think the denominations need be anxious. They don't have a franchise on religion. The challenge is for people to talk about what constitutes a full and adequate religious life, to be the church together, not in a denominational sense, but in the broadest sense." Or as Jesus put it, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I."

Evangelicals miss the big picture
By William Romanowski
In the late 1980s, an evangelical leader offered to buy the prints of The Last Temptation of Christ so he could destroy them. Less than two decades later, evangelical and other church leaders bought blocks of tickets for The Passion of the Christ, helping to make it one of the top-grossing films in 2004.

Evangelicals can influence Hollywood, but their efforts would be more effective and better received if they focused on cultural discourse, not religious conversion, says Romanowski.
By Sam Ward, USA TODAY

The Passion's numbers were an eye-opener for Hollywood. Now, movies with clear religious themes such as Constantine, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and even those without any sort of explicit Christian connection, such as Cinderella Man or The Greatest Game Ever Played, are being pitched by studios to reach the "Christian" market. More specifically, the target is those evangelicals who embraced The Passion with such enthusiasm. And evangelical organizations are helping out. SermonCentral, an online resource company for pastors, sponsored a promotional sermon contest for Narnia. The winning pastor won a trip to London and $1,000.

Consumers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on religious books and Christian-themed music. The film industry wants to cultivate this market. The problem Hollywood faces as it seeks to maximize this potential audience is that "evangelical" Christians are not easy to define. But one thing is certain: The major portion of that market no longer thinks that only films rated G or those based on Bible stories are appropriate for evangelical consumption. There is a market for more wholesome fare, with or without a religious theme, and it needn't be just for children.

A mainstream appeal

A recent MarketCast study co-sponsored by Variety magazine found religious and non-religious people "nearly indistinguishable in their attitudes" about moviegoing, according to a Variety article reporting the results. In fact, these religious folks seem to have a penchant for the sentimental, the melodramatic and the violent (of course that puts them pretty much in the mainstream of American taste in entertainment).

People of goodwill ought to be concerned with the cumulative impact of a steady diet of American movies that often exalt self-interest as the supreme human value, glorify violent resolutions to problems, make finding the perfect mate one's primary vocation and highest destiny, and offer material prosperity as the most reliable source of meaning and satisfaction in this life. Such a value system arguably runs against the grain of most religious traditions.

Of course, filmmakers claim they're only giving people what they want. Critics complain that in deference to its bottom line, Hollywood makes too many movies that are mediocre at best, lacking creativity and depth in story, theme and characterization.

Family-friendly films in particular — the kind many evangelicals advocate — tend to depict a world where all issues are plain and simple. Evil-doers are destroyed, the virtuous rewarded. The "good" characters have within themselves everything they need to secure their destiny and only have to come to that self-realization.

That's the theme of countless films from Rocky to Cinderella Man, The Wizard of Oz to The Incredibles. Sometimes, characters get a little magical assistance from a divine source, as in The Legend of Bagger Vance or The Family Man.

Were more evangelicals to think about movies in terms of their faith beliefs, they would actually have an opportunity to not only buy tickets, but also to begin to shape the entertainment industry.

For instance, the Judeo-Christian tradition maintains that all people have dignity and worth because they are created in the image of God, but that they also have a tendency to do evil. Redemption comes from experiences that make people aware of their own brokenness and insufficiency. Films such as Magnolia or The Apostle resonate with this kind of perspective. The characters have a moral ambiguity that fits with real life and makes for good drama — and interesting movies. Both are intended for adults.

The best motion pictures transform the real world into an imaginary one with ideals, values, attitudes and assumptions woven into characterizations and storylines.

Culture, not conversion

Evangelicals can influence Hollywood when they think of the cinema as an arena for cultural discourse but not a place for converting members of that culture to a specific Christian orientation. In other words, evangelicals' goal for the movie industry should be to encourage discourse, not merely evangelizing.

Last year's Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby sparked debate about euthanasia. This year, Crash deals with racism; Good Night, and Good Luck probes the role of the news media in keeping politicians accountable to the people; Syriana touches on geopolitics and oil; A History of Violence explores the potential presence of violence in all of us; Munich the perpetuation of bloodshed. Religious audiences can engage these films by reflecting on the perspective they represent, yet applying their own religious context.

But old habits die hard.

Representatives of evangelical groups said they resisted boycotting Brokeback Mountain only because they did not want to draw attention to the critically acclaimed film about gay love. And evangelicals are divided over End of the Spear, an evangelical production based on a real-life missionary story. Some leaders are encouraging people to see this film about forgiveness, while others are campaigning against it because it stars an openly gay actor.

So what do evangelicals want from Hollywood anyway? Help converting the masses? If so, movies don't seem as if they're the most effective forum. Despite all the evangelistic hype for The Passion, a survey by The Barna Group showed that less than one-tenth of 1% of those who saw the movie accepted Jesus Christ as their savior as a result of seeing the film. Likewise, don't expect a jump in the size of the gay population because of Brokeback Mountain, however much it might foster the national conversation.

Only when evangelicals agree to look at Hollywood not just as an evangelistic tool, or a harmless entertainment provider, but also as an important participant in cultural discourse will they understand that as a major share of the movie market, they are in a position to shape that vital discussion.

William Romanowski teaches film studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Book of Daniel Update

"The Book of Daniel" has run it's very short course on network television, and boy has it stirred up the Christian community along the way.

The series was about a Pastor, who is addicted to pain pills, who is married to a lovely woman, who happens to be an alcoholic. They have three children, one 16 year old girl who sleeps with her boyfriend, one teen-age son who is gay, and one adopted Chinese boy who is a rebel. They have lesbian relatives, crooked priest friends and Daniel talks to a wimpy Jesus
- in his car, in the yard, at the mall......

Some of the Christian community has been horrified at the portrayal of pastors, priests and especially Jesus in this series. Boycotts have been rampant, nasty letters have been circulating, and anger is high. Donald Wildman (The American Family Association) and Reverend Lou Sheldon have been the leaders in the boycotts and letters. They truly believed that their boycotts would get the show off the air - for if the advertisers don't buy ads the show will die.

And AFA has just recently announced that they have "won the battle!" "The Book of Daniel" has been pulled off the air by the network and the AFA believes it's because of them.

The Hollywood Prayer Network wants to let you know that the entertainment industry is NOT run by money and it is not hindered by boycotts. It is run by WORLD VIEW and decision to air shows or pull shows is determined by world view. There are TV shows that have been on the air for years and not getting good money from advertisers, or even good ratings, but the executives and the creators want it on. There have been shows that have been top shows with high ad dollars being paid and huge numbers of viewers, and the network execs have found reasons to pull them. The reason is because "they want to." Just like we do want we want, and we fight for what we want and we'll spend money on things that we like. That's human nature and Hollywood is no different. We don't blame human beings for acting human, but we have to understand that Jew or Gentile - we're all alike.

Therefore, HPN wants our members and readers to know what inside sources have confirmed; "The Book of Daniel" was taken off the air, not because of the AFA or any Christian efforts to kill the show succeeded, but just because people didn't watch it. It wasn't because of advertisers, it was because it wasn't strong enough as a drama. It wasn't a show that appealed to middle America. It wasn't a great show. We didn't have to get all upset and fight a battle that only the Lord can fight. We just need to pray about shows that upset us, and not watch them!

Yes, it's great to take the time to write an intelligent, personal letter to a network Exec. or a creator of a show, telling them why you can't watch their show (or why you love their show, in those cases!). But it is NOT helpful to the Christians working and ministering in Hollywood, for Christians to write nasty, demanding letters or boycott shows with mass postcards, pre-printed messages and angry notes. That only hurts our cause and makes the non-believers hate us and Jesus. If seekers are to know that we are Christians "by our love" then we must all act loving toward them.

There is a verse that I think is important when wondering how to respond to projects that portray our Lord in a bad light, that misrepresent Him or even defame His name. And it is Paul in Philippians saying: "But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that people are telling about Christ, whether they are sincere or not. That is what makes me glad." Phil. 1:18.

Let's rejoice that we have opportunities to turn into good, what the enemy may be trying to use for evil. Let's ask the Lord to use us to preach the truth of the gospel in conversations about TV shows where He is portrayed wrongly. Let's engage in culture and lift up our Lord when others are throwing Him around because they don't know who He is. And let's trust that the Lord can handle the non-believers. We just have to show His love, His forgiveness, His patience, His kindness and His truth - yet with gentleness and reverence.

I personally found incredible opportunities to share my faith with people who saw "The Book of Daniel" and didn't have an opinion on the portrayal of Jesus. In that light, I'm sorry it's over. My friend, who worked on the show, had the unique opportunity to share his faith with the whole producing and writing staff in the writers room every week, because they were talking about Jesus. Now that is over as well.

So, please don't think that by boycotting a show, that we are winning a battle. Instead, please believe that when we PRAY for a show, we are fighting a winning battle. We encourage you to ask the Lord what your place is in seeing revival in Hollywood and then join us in lovingly offering our hope to those in Hollywood who don't have any hope. And then let the Holy Spirit change and convict hearts!

Stay always in His grip,
Karen

Before you Boycott

Dear HPN Prayer Warriors,

I'm sure many of you have heard and had questions about the new show "Book of Daniel". You may have also seen the boycott e-mail from AFA. We would like to offer a different perspective.

My dear friend Dena, is the head writer of “One Life to Live.” She is brilliant, a great writer and loves the Lord. She received the same dreaded email that the AFA was sending out everywhere to get Christians to boycott “The Book of Daniel” and Dena was horrified that after all these years her mother doesn’t get what Dena stands for, why she’s here and how she views her own industry. So, she watched the show last night, as Jim and I did as well, and then wrote this email below. It’s so wonderful I wanted to send it to you, the members of the Hollywood Prayer Network, so that I can encourage you to think differently about our world and encourage you to pray.
I want to give you the freedom to forward this as an alternative to the request to boycott.

Warmly,
Karen Covell
---------------------
Dena’s response to the AFA boycott of “The Book of Daniel.”

My Review re: The Book of Daniel:
I can hear the pitch now... A writer goes to tptb at NBC and says I have a spec script for a one hour, single camera TV drama (the pilot was two hours, I know.) It's "Joan of Arcadia" meets "Desperate Housewives". (I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm just projecting.)

That's all he would need to say to get the script read. Any exec at any network would flip over backwards. The idea of two high concept/successful shows that seem to have nothing in common, colliding in one show?... Are you kidding? It's a slam dunk.

Then the execs read the piece and probably got nervous. Would they offend James Dobson? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing. They obviously went with the "good thing" scenario because they shot and aired the pilot and (I believe) slotted it for a regular time.

I know there's a lot of chatter on the internet about this show and I haven't read ANY of it. But I did watch the show. As an active member of the Hollywood Prayer Network and a guest lecturer at Act One, (I'll explain the nature of those groups in a minute) I felt it necessary viewing-- even though it's not my cup of tea. I knew I'd get asked about it. Your email just reminded me...

Okay, so here's what I thought artistically... The structure of the pilot was basically good. The pace was quick and the exposition (meaning information about the characters that we (the audience) needed to know) wasn't too boring. The dialog was occasionally witty, occasionally clunky.

Although the characters were sort of soap opera cliches, I didn't think they were too one dimensional. For example: The priest's wife was clearly an alcoholic, but sort of a functioning one, in that her drinking didn't keep her from attending to her children or from being an occasionally funny and sweet companion for her husband.

They gay son wanted to be "out" but didn't want to be a poster boy for gayness or march in any parades and was willing to go out on a date with a girl to mollify his grandfather (also an Episcopal priest) in order to keep family harmony.

The daughter saw no moral problem with selling pot but didn't (as far as I know, I missed part of the show) smoke it.

Interesting choices that kept all the characters from being too stereotypical. But here's where the "Desperate Housewives" part comes in... The plot. Oh my gosh... Vintage soap opera. The conservative grandfather/priest is having an affair with the female Bishop? The brother-in-law (by marriage) absconds with the church funds then dies during some sort of unexplained sex orgy in a hotel in Daytona (I think it was Daytona), and his wife is a lesbian? The grandmother suffers from Alzheimer's and says inappropriate blurts at the dinner table? Come on! This is all over-the-top craziness, bordering on camp and (on more than one occasion) crossing the line into total farce. It was even too much for me... a soap writer.

And yet, I loved the fact that this family adopted an Asian kid who is now a teen and was totally blended into the family -- so comfortable in his role as son and brother that he doesn't mind dishing out and receiving jokes about the difference in his ethnic make up. I loved the way his parents loved him. I loved the way he jousted with his brother and sister. I loved the Romeo and Juliet aspect of his romance with the white daughter of the town's "Mr. Potter" (A reference to "It's a Wonderful Life". There were also stolen story points from another classic movie, "The Bishop's Wife".)

And to be perfectly honest, I think the moral stance these people took isn't that unrealistic. I mean, seriously... here's a priest who condones and actually encourages pre-marital sex of any and all kinds (and not all that troubled by adultery.) As far as I know, this is a fairly realistic portrayal of where the liberal contingent of the Episcopal Church stands on such matters. Yet, look at this man reaping what he's sowed. His church and his family are in chaos. Even though the writer didn't intend us to draw such a conclusion... is this really a bad message?

And lesbians shouldn't be too happy with this show. One lesbian was a total idiot. The other (I think we'll find out in later shows) is a murderer and stole 3 million dollars from the church. (The writers were willing to offend everyone.)

Now as to the theological part of the story... I adored the concept of a priest having intimate conversations with Jesus. I really did. But the writer never got past the cool concept and dove into what the actual content of those conversations should be. Jesus offered nothing. He was vacuous and non-impactful. Hardly the kind of guy who stirred things up so much in his day that he went and got himself crucified.

However... I wasn't offended or worried by this. What a nice opening for a conversation with someone. "Did you see The Book of Daniel last night? What did you think of the portrayal of Jesus?" You could go onto say how it didn't really jibe with what you know to be true about Jesus... and the next thing you know, you're "witnessing" without "witnessing". Can't be all bad.

But what I won't do... what I never do... is boycott or letter write. All this does (and this has been proven time and time again) is cause "Hollywood" to dig their heels in, and react negatively to Christians and reinforce the idea that Christians are insecure, judgmental, and (to be bluntly honest) stupid. I know. I work in this world. I've heard it first hand so many times.

Jim Covell got into it with James Dobson once while guest speaking during the "Focus on the Family" radio show. He went toe to toe with Dr. James about boycotting-- Jim (Covell not Dobson) took the position that, while a boycott may have momentary impact on the entertainment industry, in the long term it's devastating to the Church in general. Dr. James took umbrage to this and that part of the show was edited out before it aired. Hmm... A guy who isn't open to debate on such matters? Heck, I'm for debating anything. So was Jesus for that matter.

Boycotting and such worldly tactics were the weapons of Gandhi, not Jesus. Jesus only boycotted one group of people... money changers at the temple. And that was purely an "in house" matter. (By "in house" I mean church business.)

The Hollywood Prayer Network believes that our war is not with flesh and blood and that we are not called to fight in that way. We're in a spiritual battle. We are about our Father's business... and his business is the business of changing hearts. No heart of any network executive anywhere was changed (that I know of) by a boycott. Prayer changes people. The Holy Spirit changes people. We are called to pray. I would love to see emails go out urging Christians to pray for the execs at NBC and the creators of The Book of Daniel. This plan of action works. It really does.

The other strategy for combating the enemy in such matters is to raise up Christian young people to enter the entertainment field. That's what Act One is all about. They bring young adults into Hollywood from all over the country (ones with legit promise) and teach, mentor and empower them to get jobs in the business. The problem is, Christian parents all over the country are actually discouraging their kids from entering such a dark and evil business-- when they should be doing the exact opposite. (Thank goodness you didn't feel that way.)

Jesus was about getting to the heart of the matter. That's what we have to do with NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC and all the movie studios.

If anyone you know would like to become a prayer intercessor for the entertainment industry (which really is a mission field), then have them log onto the Hollywood Prayer Network website.

There… I got wound up. Sorry. Can't help it. I love my Jesus.

Dena

The Gospel According to Anne

By David Gates
Newsweek

Oct. 31, 2005 issue - Sometimes Anne Rice won't leave her bedroom for days on end—and neither would you. Glass doors open onto a terrace that looks over the red-tiled roofs of La Jolla, Calif., to the Pacific Ocean. A live-in staffer brings meals to the table at the foot of her ornately carved wooden bed, which faces an ornately carved stone fireplace. She exercises in a huge bike-in closet. She's got two computers and enough books to last her a year. Splendid isolation? Splendid, sure. But she's often got family visiting in a downstairs guest suite, she reads The New York Times every morning—"Nicholas Kristof is a hero to me"—watches news "till I can't stand it anymore," and spends up to an hour and a half a day e-mailing with her extraordinarily faithful readers.

They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.

Meeting the still youthful-looking Rice, you'd never suspect she'd been ill—except that on a warm October afternoon she's chilly enough to have a fire blazing. And if you were expecting Morticia Addams with a strange new light in her eyes, forget it. "We make good coffee," she says, beckoning you to where a silver pot sits on the white tablecloth. "We're from New Orleans." Rice knows "Out of Egypt" and its projected sequels—three, she thinks—could alienate her following; as she writes in the afterword, "I was ready to do violence to my career." But she sees a continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair." In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ... the ultimate immortal of them all."

To render such a hero and his world believable, she immersed herself not only in Scripture, but in first-century histories and New Testament scholarship—some of which she found disturbingly skeptical. "Even Hitler scholarship usually allows Hitler a certain amount of power and mystery." She also watched every Biblical movie she could find, from "The Robe" to "The Passion of the Christ" ("I loved it"). And she dipped into previous novels, from "Quo Vadis" to Norman Mailer's "The Gospel According to the Son" to Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's apocalyptic Left Behind series. ("I was intrigued. But their vision is not my vision.") She can cite scholarly authority for giving her Christ a birth date of 11 B.C., and for making James, his disciple, the son of Joseph by a previous marriage. But she's also taken liberties where they don't explicitly conflict with Scripture. No one reports that the young Jesus studied with the historian Philo of Alexandria, as the novel has it—or that Jesus' family was in Alexandria at all. And she's used legends of the boy Messiah's miracles from the noncanonical Apocrypha: bringing clay birds to life, striking a bully dead and resurrecting him.

Rice's most daring move, though, is to try to get inside the head of a 7-year-old kid who's intermittently aware that he's also God Almighty. "There were times when I thought I couldn't do it," she admits. The advance notices say she's pulled it off: Kirkus Reviews' starred rave pronounces her Jesus "fully believable." But it's hard to imagine all readers will be convinced when he delivers such lines as "And there came in a flash to me a feeling of understanding everything, everything!" The attempt to render a child's point of view can read like a Sunday-school text crossed with Hemingway: "It was time for the blessing. The first prayer we all said together in Jerusalem ... The words were a little different to me. But it was still very good." Yet in the novel's best scene, a dream in which Jesus meets a bewitchingly handsome Satan—smiling, then weeping, then raging—Rice shows she still has her great gift: to imbue Gothic chills with moral complexity and heartfelt sorrow.

Rice already has much of the next volume written. ("Of course I've been advised not to talk about it.") But what's she going to do with herself once her hero ascends to Heaven? "If I really complete the life of Christ the way I want to do it," she says, "then I might go on and write a new type of fiction. It won't be like the other. It'll be in a world that includes redemption." Still, you can bet the Devil's going to get the best lines.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

THE FAITH FRONT
The (Culture) War of the Word
By Dennis Prager, Dennis Prager's nationally syndicated radio show is heard daily in Los Angeles on KRLA-AM (870). He may be contacted through his website: www.dennisprager.com.

A number of years ago I discovered a root cause of America's culture war. It came to me as I debated professor Alan Dershowitz about issues of Jewish concern before a 1,000 Jews at the 92nd Street "Y" in New York City. With the exception of support for Israel, Dershowitz, a Harvard liberal, and I agreed on nothing, political or religious. Toward the end of the evening I came to understand why.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I announced, "the major difference between Alan Dershowitz and me is this: When professor Dershowitz differs with the Torah, he assumes that he is right and the Torah is wrong. When I differ with the Torah, I assume that I am wrong and the Torah is right." Dershowitz responded that for the first time that evening he agreed with me.

That realization was an epiphany for me. I have come to realize that the great divide in values is not between those who believe in God and those who do not but between those who believe in a divine text and those who do not.

This explains in large measure the great culture war in the United States. Americans, of course, are divided not so much by religion as between right and left. Jews and Christians on the left agree with each other on just about every political and social question, and Jews and Christians on the right do the same.

So what distinguishes leftist Jews from rightist Jews and leftist Christians from rightist Christians? It essentially comes down to their belief in the Bible, not their belief in God.

Jews who believe that the Torah is from God agree on almost every important issue of life with Christians who believe that the Torah — and the rest of the Old Testament — is divine. Jews who believe that men (and perhaps women) wrote the Torah agree on virtually every important issue with Christians who also regard the Torah (and the rest of the Bible) as man-made.

For example, as a religious (though non-Orthodox) Jew, I have many differences with Christians' theology. We differ on the Trinity; the divinity of Jesus; the identity of the messiah; the role of Torah, not to mention rabbinic law, on who is and who is not saved; and on such matters as faith versus works. Yet these theological differences cause almost no difference in our social and moral values, which are almost identical. Why?

Because conservative Jews and Christians share the belief that God revealed a text (a text, moreover, that we share). At the same time, liberal Jews and liberal Christians share the belief that this text is man-made.

Jews and Christians who believe that God revealed the Torah, for example, are far more likely to believe that marriage must remain defined as only between a man and woman, and cannot be redefined to include members of the same sex. They believe that people are not basically good, that human life, not animal life, is sacred (because humans, not animals, are created in God's image), and that murderers should be liable to the death penalty (the only law that is in all five books of the Torah is to put murderers to death).

On the other hand, Jews and Christians who believe that people wrote the Torah are far more likely to support a redefinition of marriage, to view human nature as basically good (and therefore more likely to ascribe human evil to outside influences), to be more receptive to seeing human beings as essentially another animal, and to oppose capital punishment for murderers.

After all, what people, not God, wrote thousands of years ago should hardly serve as a guide to life today — especially when one's heart argues against it. The heart feels compassion for gays, for animals and even for murderers facing execution. And the heart wants to believe that human beings are basically good.

But Jews and Christians who believe in a divinely revealed Bible do not trust the heart as a guide to doing the right thing (indeed, that Bible repeatedly warns us not to). That difference — do I listen to my heart or to what I believe is God's word? — explains most of the differences between right and left. Much more than whether one believes in God.

"THIS IS HOW I WANT YOU TO LIVE YOUR LIFE."
by Jake Gentry

Many years ago while in my early twenties (And, yes, that was many years ago.) and still a young Christian my Air Force buddy, Chris, and I were traveling by train through Great Britain. One particular day we were heading south from Scotland to Wales. Chris sat opposite me reading with his feet resting upon the seat to my left, as I sat gazing out the window with my feet resting on the seat to his left.

It was a November morning. Sheep grazed upon the lush rolling hillsides as the train rumbled past some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet Earth. Off in the distance sunlight and rain shower conspired to create a rainbow. I sat there transfixed to the wonder before me, unable to turn away from what I perceived to be a great blessing. It truly was a beautiful sight!

In a split second, without a warning, the glory before me was suddenly thrust into complete darkness as we entered a tunnel. Gone! Yet it occurred to me that I shouldn’t move my eyes. My gaze remained glued to the same spot as it was the moment before we entered the darkness. Don’t turn away from what I have seen, I said to myself. And from deep within my conscience I "heard" a voice say to me, "This is how I want you to live your life." It remains one of the very few times in my life I believe I actually heard the Lord speak to me.

Moments later, just as suddenly as it was gone, it all reappeared as the train emerged from the tunnel. The hills, the sheep, the rainbow; it all returned. And I frequently recall those words He spoke to me in the dark.

"This is how I want you to live your life."

In every Christian’s life comes a time when we must move forward in the darkness, trusting that the vision we once beheld, or the work we feel called to, will one day become reality. We surely do walk by faith, not by sight. And what is faith other than simply believing God and the promises He has made to us?

Assuming that you are convinced of your calling, that is to say, you know that you know that you know how the Lord wants you to spend your life and where to devote your talents and energies, then continue on as you believe you are being led. Are you tasked to act? Then keep auditioning. To write? Keep writing. Direct? Produce? Design? Then with discernment take advantage of every good opportunity presented to you. But it’s not going so well right now? Be patient. Just because you may be having a tough time does not mean you are going in the wrong direction. Tunnels tend to be dark.

"...what the righteous desire will be granted." Proverbs 10.24

Charles Lindbergh was a quiet, introspective man. (Much like myself, but taller.) How much uncertainty there was leading up to his flight to Paris! Several others had died attempting the same flight, yet he knew it was his destiny and he persevered. His youth and his perceived inexperience did not sway him. He lived his dream, while others merely dreamed. Mr. Lindbergh said, "We actually live today in our dreams of yesterday, and in living those dreams we dream again." He was a man with a passionate vision and determined perseverance. That’s how I want to be.

"...the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." Proverbs 13.4

I am not your conscience. I’m just your coach. Only you know what the Lord has asked of you. Only you know the deepest desires which grow in your heart and whether or not those desires were planted by your Maker. When you know that you know that you know what your life’s calling is, keep at it. Never give up. Forget the economy. Forget what your agent said. Never mind the naysayers in your life. What has God asked of you? What He has asked of you He will fulfill. This He has promised.

See you on the set!

The Media Mission Field
TCF Sermon
April 24, 2005

I want to read two passages of scripture this morning, and then ask you some questions.

Mark 16:15 - He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

Ephes. 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Now, this morning’s message will be a little bit different than usual. We’re not going to spend a lot of time looking at the nuances of these passages, examining them word by word. What we are going to do is examine some very practical implications of these two verses, in the context of a very specific mission field.

When we think of the phrase in the Mark passage “all the world,” what do we think of? What does that mean? We think of anyplace, right? Anyplace in the world. Any people group. In this church, we’ve seen missionaries, people who’ve sat in these chairs with us on Sunday mornings, go to almost every continent.

We’ve seen missionaries in traditional, as well as non-traditional mission fields. Doing traditional missions work as well as non-traditional missions work. We’ve seen members of this church family, who’ve gone to very hard places, places where God’s light was very dim, places where there was a real risk in sharing their faith.

We’ve seen our missionaries go to nations, to people groups, where very small percentages of the population were Christian. We’ve seen them go to do all different kinds of work, too. Some directly related to preaching the gospel, but many more indirectly related to sharing their faith, much like our work here, in our jobs, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, places we can, and should, see as our mission work, too.

For example, Chris Place, among the other work that he does, serves casino workers with medical services, in Macau, China, and trusts God that in building relationships with those people, and serving them with the love of Christ he’ll have real, genuine opportunities, to share the love of Christ.

We have a missionary who teaches Afghan children. She builds relationships through this, and trusts God that in building those relationships, she, too, will have real, genuine opportunities, to introduce people to Jesus.

So, all the world means not just all the nations, but all kinds of people, all kinds of cultures, and cultures within cultures, sometimes including those whose behavior we don’t necessarily endorse, like the casino workers Chris Place ministers to.

We’re able to do that partly because of what it says in Ephesians 6. We recognize that these people we’re trying to reach, these people involved in what scripture might clearly condemn as sinful, are not our enemy.

Our enemy is THE enemy – the spiritual forces of darkness, those forces that entice and entrap people into sinful lifestyles. So, we love them, don’t we? We serve them. We reach out to them, knowing that by revealing Christ in our actions, and through our prayers, God can use us to reach them with the gospel.

So, in that way, these two passages of scripture go together. We go into all the world, including those parts of the world that are spiritually dark, perhaps especially those parts of the world that are spiritually dark, realizing that the people living in this darkness, are not our enemy.

Rather, they are loved by God, though they are still in that state of sin, and in need of redemption. If you think about it, it’s the same state we were in...after all, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. There’s not a one of us that does not apply to.

Now, if you think about the phrase all the world, and ponder the hardest, perhaps most important, mission fields these days, several come to mind. But if I had to number them, perhaps by degree of difficulty, I might do it like this:

1. Islam and Arabic nations
2. Asian nations and Asian religions

They’re at least among, if not actually the hardest and most important mission fields for several reasons. The sheer numbers of people involved is a significant reason. Then, too, all you have to do is open a newspaper, or turn on the television news, and it’s easy to understand why Islam is a tremendous missions challenge, why Arab nations, or other largely Muslim nations, are a dangerous place to be.

When we see the repression in a place like North Korea, we recognize it as a very challenging mission field. Many missionaries literally risk their lives in some of these nations. Most Islamic nations are hostile to Christianity, as are many Asian nations.

We have one man among us, hoping to go to North Korea, and he’s waiting on God to make the way for him to go, because he can’t go as a missionary. You cannot get into China as a missionary, either. So there’s some strategic planning involved in missions to these particular fields.

What’s more, let’s consider the worldwide impact of not reaching the Islamic world, for example. It may be the world’s most challenging mission field, but the consequences of not responding to this call are far-reaching.

The consequences, first and foremost, mean that millions of Muslims will die without Jesus. That’s the most tragic consequence of not reaching the Muslim world.

But I think we also have to consider the more temporal consequences of not reaching out to, not targeting these mission fields. Left unchecked, left unchallenged in the spiritual realm, Islam will continue to expand. It’s already making great inroads in western Europe, mostly by immigration. And a whole new generation of terrorists are being developed. No, I don’t mean to say that all Muslims are terrorists --- yet, it’s also clear that a portion of them are.

So, let’s think about the impact of the Islamic worldview on the rest of the world. That, too, should be a reason to try to reach them, because there’s a battle for souls going on in the world, and our role is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, in praying, sending and going into these mission fields, with the goal of winning this battle for souls.

But, this morning’s message is not really about reaching Islam or Arab nations. I cited these examples for comparison purposes this morning – so remember these thoughts about these mission fields. It’s not really about reaching Asia, and those trapped in the darkness of their Eastern religions. These things should be important to the church today.

But, I want to think about another mission field this morning. This mission field, like Islam, is very challenging to reach. The people in this group are very hostile to true Christian faith. This mission field, like Islam, has the potential to literally change the spiritual landscape of the world. If we don’t reach this mission field, if we make no inroads at all, their already significant negative influence on the world will continue unchecked. This mission field, like North Korea, requires you to go into it with another skill, another trade, anything but going in as a missionary.

Just as you can’t sign up to go to China, and tell the Chinese authorities you’re coming in as a missionary, you cannot go into this mission field without a skill they need. What’s more, as in these most needy mission fields, the Christians who are there need our prayers. They need our spiritual support. As in Asian and Muslim countries, the percentage of Christians is very low in this mission field.

Yet, this mission field is very low on the radar screen of most Christians. Actually, this mission field isn’t even viewed as a mission field by most Christians. In fact, what most Christians think of when they hear the place most often associated with this mission field, is how bad these people are. How much damage they do to our world. And how much we dislike, maybe even hate them, and the results of their work in the world.

We’re not talking about radical Muslims. The place I’m looking at in a new way – perhaps at least new for most of you – is Hollywood. The Media Mission field. The people who create the entertainment we see in movies and on TV. The people who create the music and other entertainment that most people in the Western world, and even in much of the 3rd world, consume in mass quantities, often to their own detriment.

For the sake of this sermon this morning, I want to sensitize us to this Media Mission Field. And for ease of communication, I’ll refer to it as Hollywood, or as the media. But again, relating this back to our opening scriptures, I think we have to be honest and say, Hollywood would be included in “all the world,” wouldn’t it?

And, even as we must remember not to hate the people in the Muslim world, despite the huge negative impact which some of the elements of that world have had on our day to day existence, we must remember, even as the scripture tells us, that our battle is not against the people responsible for things like Desperate Housewives, MTV, CBS, HBO, our battle is not against Ozzy Osbourne, R. Kelly, or 50 Cent, Pulp Fiction, Sex and the City, or any of the thousands of other programs, movies, music or networks that daily serve up evil, debauchery, violence, sex, and very troubling messages to our culture.

But our battle is against the spiritual forces, forces which, if you think about it, I don’t believe any of us will have trouble seeing, are no doubt behind much of what is produced by the media.

So, this morning, if I can get us to think of the media, of Hollywood, in just a little different way, I believe we will have accomplished what God desires this morning. And what’s more, our response, if we can begin to view Hollywood as a mission field of sorts, and a critical mission field at that, in it’s own way right up there with Muslims and Asians, our response should be similar to our response to any other mission field God reveals to us.

That is, we should pray, and we should send, and we should go.

I think it’s very interesting, that, if you’ve noticed, Hollywood is trying these days to turn itself into Holywood. There are two primary reasons for that. One is the red state, blue state divide. Hollywood knows that, without at least some catering to the religious sensitivities of those of us living in the red states, their profits will fall – they’ll make less money.

And Hollywood is, above all else, a business.
The other reason is the success of the movie The Passion of the Christ. This success – that is – the amazing amount of money this movie made, really shocked the media business. They have no frame of reference to understand how such a blatantly religious movie could have made so much money.

The one thing you can always count on Hollywood to do, is to be derivative. That is – to attempt to imitate something that’s already proven to work. That’s one reason so many movies, have so many awful sequels. They keep making sequels until the sequels quit making money.

The problem is, when they see a movie like Mel Gibson’s movie about the crucifixion of Jesus, they get together and think, “gee, what is it that made this successful?” More often than not, they take one element of it...in this case, the religious theme, and try to capitalize on it. “Well, Americans want religion,” they think, “so by golly, we’ll give it to them.”

So what do we get? We get TV programs like Revelations on NBC – from what I’ve heard, a very entertaining, but ultimately quite unbibilical, portrayal of events in the last book of the Bible.

We get another NBC program being developed now called The Book of Daniel - let me read a description of this one:

In "Book of Daniel," actor Aidan Quinn plays a pill-popping Episcopal priest who has the ability to talk about his drug addiction with a hip, modern-day Jesus.

From Fox, we’ll see in the next year or so a program they’re calling Briar and Graves.

It is the story of a hard-drinking, gun-toting excommunicated priest who has sworn to battle evil in the name of God. Along the way, he teams up with a neurologist who is in the process of examining her own beliefs.

The producers of this program have described it as The X Files goes to church.

Obviously, something’s missing, huh? It’s not as if these folks looked at the Passion of the Christ and got saved, and began producing things of redemptive value. That movie has had a real impact on what Hollywood produced, at least for a while, even if for purely monetary motives, but it didn’t change their hearts.

Seen in comparison with our analogy of other mission fields, think of it this way: we don’t just want Muslims to quit flying their planes into our buildings, do we?

Yes, of course, we do want that, but that’s not all we want. We want to see hearts changed, lives redeemed, right? The only real, lasting change is heart change.

Karen Covell is a TV producer and the director of the Hollywood Prayer Network. She writes in an article called “Does Hollywood Have a Prayer?”

"Where would Hollywood be today if American Christians actually started praying for the people creating films, music and TV shows?

Washington, D.C., is the global seat of power. Since the beginning of our nation, Christians have faithfully prayed for our political leaders, and today there are hundreds of prayer movements whose focus is to specifically pray for those leaders. The Presidential Prayer Team alone has an e-mail list of over 2.6 million American prayer warriors.

While Washington is the global seat of power, Hollywood is the global seat of influence. And Americans have long been concerned about Hollywood's offerings. But instead of rallying to pray, as many have done for Washington, Christians often have rallied to rail -against Hollywood. Instead of encouraging entertainment leaders to produce better fare, Christians have organized angry letter-writing campaigns to express their distaste-and even hatred. But 'grousing is not a gift of the Spirit,' says Steve Douglass, president of Campus Crusade for Christ International. 'We need to stop complaining about Hollywood and start praying for it.'"

Right now, there are only two organizations trying to mobilize this kind of prayer. One is the Hollywood Prayer Network I just mentioned. Another is called Mastermedia International. They have about 50,000 people on their list of those praying. Hollywood Prayer Network has about 10,000. Assuming there’s no overlap, and I would guess there probably is, that means there are 60,000 people praying for what is perhaps the most influential, culture-shaping people group in America – maybe even the world. Does that sound like enough for such a significant mission field?

Quoting Karen Covell again:

"Why aren't we praying for Hollywood? We've poured our prayers into missionary friends in Nigeria, but we haven't thought to pray for the producers of CSI or Law and Order.

We have to step back from our stereotyped beliefs about Hollywood and ask the Creator of the Universe-and of the arts-how we should look at people in the entertainment industry. We have to listen to Christians in Hollywood about what they need from the church in order to make an eternal difference.

We can't be afraid of Hollywood or its people. True, many aren't Christians, or even churchgoers. And yes, they often create entertainment that's immoral, violent and inappropriate. So do we hate them for it, or do we pray for them? Do we avoid them like the plague, or do we go as tent-makers to work side by side with them, build relationships, pray for them and love them to Jesus?

Do we try to make them act like Christians? Or do we pray for them to become Christians?"

All good questions, huh? Just as our prayers for missionaries like ours in Afghanistan are twofold: that is, we pray for the people of Afghanistan, that they would be reached with the gospel, but we also pray for the woman herself, that God would protect her, provide for her, and use her effectively in His Kingdom work there, our prayers for Hollywood should be similar. We pray for the unbelievers in positions of power, as well as for those in every area of work in the media, that they’d come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. And we pray for those Christians already there, already being salt and light, that God would protect them, use them, effectively as tools in His Kingdom work there.

Let me tell you a few stories to illustrate the difference prayers for this mission field make.

The first is from a newsletter I get called The Median, produced by Mastermedia. I debated whether or not to use this, because it’s a rather long story, but I think it will be helpful to illustrate what’s going on in this mission field.

The Amazing Power of Being Prayed For
by Dr. Larry Poland

"THERE IS A POWERFUL EFFECT on the lives of those who know people are praying for them . . . quite apart from God’s response to the prayers. Let me tell you the story of Sol Lieberman (not his real name), a Jewish man.

Sol Lieberman’s Story
Sol was head of the television division of a legendary Hollywood studio. He was on our 'radar screen' because of his powerful position. Sol was tough to reach. Based in New York, his secretaries protected him from unwanted contact with the outside world.

When my associate, Dr. Buster Holmes, contacted Sol’s office for an appointment, the 'palace guards' wouldn’t let us in.

Buster thought, 'If I call after quitting time, sometimes execs will pick up the phone themselves.' This idea was of the Holy Spirit—that’s exactly what happened! Buster asked for a ten-minute appointment to present demographic data on 'an immense and usually invisible market of seventy million media consumers calling themselves evangelical Christians.'

Sol was brusk, not easily persuaded, and made it clear that he didn’t see any benefit in granting the request. Buster—gracious but persistent—made one more approach. 'We really want to meet with top leaders in media, and you are one of them.' Sol consented.

We had to earn Sol’s trust. Sol greeted us with the skepticism we get from those who are suspicious of people from the faith community. They are accustomed to being bashed by Christians, and are reluctant to open themselves up for more of the same. In a few moments, light hearts and a little humor had opened up Sol, and we enjoyed a good laugh.

Two minutes into our presentation about the 'Christian community market,' I defined an evangelical: 'Evangelical is a word we don’t use much, from two Greek words meaning ‘messenger of good news.’ For us, the best news is that you don’t have to pay for all the things you’ve done wrong. If you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you can have forgiveness now and life after death. Such a deal!'

Sol smiled and said, 'Well, hell, that’ll work for anybody!' We all laughed, and from then on, it was old home week!

It was clear that God was giving us wonderful favor.
Over the years, we saw Sol at major trade conventions. At one convention we told Sol, who became chairman of a rising young cable channel, that he was on the Media Leader Prayer Calendar as one of the 365 most powerful people in media. He clearly seemed pleased at 'making the cut' and equally pleased that thousands of people were praying for him. Sol commented: 'You know I’m Jewish, but I’m an equal opportunity prayee!'

Sol was clearly more grateful for the prayer—and more seriously so—than he had been before. In our New York meetings he was opening up, telling us inside information. We asked if we could pray for him, and, with his consent, we did so. We’d always pray blessing and health and wisdom for him and for God to draw him into a deep and personal relationship with Himself. His heart softened.
The love and care Buster and I were showing Sol was clearly drawing him in!
As our love deepened, his connection to us grew proportionately. His appreciation for the spiritual side of us also deepened. Proof was an interaction we had at a big convention.

'I want you guys to know how sorry I am that we made the decision we did on that programming,' Sol confessed. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but Buster said trade papers had a splash about some 'over the edge' program content his channel had aired.

'We really made a bad decision on that one, and I want you to know it won’t happen again. We learned our lesson.'

Buster and I walked away in astonishment. This man owed us nothing. We had never—never—talked to him about the nature of his programming. We had never positioned ourselves as any kind of 'judges' or critics of his channel’s program content. He attributed that moral accountability to us on his own. There was no explanation except that God had given us a place of credibility, favor and, perhaps, spiritual authority in his life!

Sol’s company went through some deep waters.
When we called for an appointment with Sol the next time, his secretary was genuinely apologetic. 'Mr. Lieberman is so sorry, but he will not be able to meet with you. He has wall-to-wall meetings with some of the company’s top bosses. They’re facing some real challenges.' She offered meetings with two of Sol’s vice presidents, both Jewish women, and we accepted.

After the meeting with the channel’s VP’s, I walked down the hall past the glass wall of the boardroom. Sol saw me coming down the hall and bolted from his seat toward the door. When he extended his hand, I grabbed it and said with a big smile, 'Did you want me to come in and lead in prayer?'

'Boy do we need it.' Sol wasn’t smiling. 'We’re facing some biggies.'
'You’ve got it, Sol. God can solve your problems, and we’ll pray that He will.'

Then, last week it happened.
Sol’s office called saying he was thrilled to be on the prayer calendar again and asked if he could have twenty extra copies! When I called, he thanked me profusely for putting him on the prayer calendar again.
'Your timing is spectacular, Larry. Do you know what day you’re praying? It’s the day I have to present our company’s budget to [his parent company, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world]. So, at the start of my presentation, I’m going to pass the prayer calendars around the room and have a time of . . . well . . . prayer. Your timing
is . . . divine.'

Of course, God’s timing is divine . . . and we are hearing similar stories from other nonChristian media leaders who have 'big events' on their 'day' for prayer on the Media Leader Prayer Calendar (but that’s another story!).

We met with Sol in New York the week after his meeting and asked what happened. When he passed out the prayer calendars to the directors of this multi-billion-dollar company, he said, 'Thousands of people are praying for me and us today. You can approve our budget or not, but keep in mind that, whatever you do, you will be answering to a Higher Power!' Unbelievable!

Sol didn’t know that we had already given copies of the prayer calendar to many of those same board members via contacts in other venues, and that they, too, had expressed how much they appreciated the prayers. Sol is beginning to know that there is something amazing and powerful about prayer . . . and being prayed for.

Of course, the other aspect to these prayers, and the work of this organization, Mastermedia, is that there’s tremendous support for those Christians working in the media."

Again quoting from The Median

"I can’t tell you how many times we’ve (Mastermedia) heard observations like 'you understand us. The people in my church don’t understand my business – and some think I’ve sold out to the devil to work in Hollywood. The people in Hollywood don’t understand my faith – they think I’m nuts or weird. You understand both, and when I come to a Mastermedia meeting, I relax inside. You’re like an oasis in the desert.'"

Mastermedia has a database of nearly 4000 believers, many in high positions of influence and power in the media.

I know that some of us are faithful pray-ers for the Persecuted Church. Others pray faithfully for our missionaries, and for the nations our missionaries are trying to reach. This is all good, all appropriate, and I don’t in any way want to encourage anyone to abandon those efforts.

I also know God will not convict all of us to pray for this Media Mission Field, but I hope after this morning, you’ll think of Hollywood in a new way...not just as the purveyors of wrong values, but as people, worthy of God’s love, worthy of our prayers, people in need of redemption.

Does Hollywood Have a Prayer?
Christians often get riled up about the movie industry's questionable entertainment offerings. So why not turn that passion into something productive?
By Karen Covell | posted 08/10/04

In a year in which The Passion of the Christ and Shrek 2 have been smash hits, one would hope that Hollywood is getting the message that faith-based and family-friendly films can indeed work.

But while those box-office dollars certainly speak volumes, they don't necessarily change the hearts of Hollywood's decision makers. That's where we need to pray. Where would Hollywood be today if American Christians actually started praying for the people creating films, music and TV shows?

Washington, D.C., is the global seat of power. Since the beginning of our nation, Christians have faithfully prayed for our political leaders, and today there are hundreds of prayer movements whose focus is to specifically pray for those leaders. The Presidential Prayer Team alone has an e-mail list of over 2.6 million American prayer warriors.

While Washington is the global seat of power, Hollywood is the global seat of influence. And Americans have long been concerned about Hollywood's offerings. But instead of rallying to pray, as many have done for Washington, Christians often have rallied to rail—against Hollywood. Instead of encouraging entertainment leaders to produce better fare, Christians have organized angry letter-writing campaigns to express their distaste—and even hatred.

But "grousing is not a gift of the Spirit," says Steve Douglass, president of Campus Crusade for Christ International. "We need to stop complaining about Hollywood and start praying for it."

Where Are the Warriors?
There are only two known organizations whose goal is to mobilize national prayer for people in the entertainment industry, and both are located in Hollywood. Mastermedia International and The Hollywood Prayer Network (HPN) are non-profit ministries who understand the need for asking God to change the hearts and lives of the people in that community.

For 15 years, Mastermedia has printed the Media Leaders Prayer Calendar, distributed quarterly to almost 50,000 people. That's wonderful—but a far cry from the 2.6 million on the Presidential Prayer Team. HPN, meanwhile, sends monthly e-mails to an estimated 10,000 prayer warriors. Again, that's good—but far short of what it could be. And as far as we know, there are no Christian ministries outside of Hollywood whose sole purpose is to organize national prayer for this influential yet unevangelized hidden "people group."

There are prayer ministries, prayer e-mails, prayer newsletters and prayer teams reaching millions of people who intercede for our schools, our government, our military, our police, firemen, drunk drivers, professional athletes, families, marriages, religious leaders, missionaries, hidden people groups, college students and even animals.

But why aren't we praying for Hollywood?

We've poured our prayers into missionary friends in Nigeria, but we haven't thought to pray for the producers of CSI or Law and Order. We've given money to a godly man in our church who is helping to translate the Bible into Swahili, but when a friend's talented daughter can't get a job as a singer in Nashville, we tell her to come home and get a real job.

We send Christians to mission fields around the world, but we try our hardest to keep Christians away from the world's most influential mission field: Hollywood. What's up with that?

Drop the Stereotypes
We have to step back from our stereotyped beliefs about Hollywood and ask the Creator of the Universe—and of the arts—how we should look at people in the entertainment industry. We have to listen to Christians in Hollywood about what they need from the church in order to make an eternal difference.

We can't be afraid of Hollywood or its people. True, many aren't Christians, or even churchgoers. And yes, they often create entertainment that's immoral, violent and inappropriate. So do we hate them for it, or do we pray for them? Do we avoid them like the plague, or do we go as tent-makers to work side by side with them, build relationships, pray for them and love them to Jesus?

Do we try to make them act like Christians? Or do we pray for them to become Christians?

Many in the entertainment industry have become Christians, experiencing not just radical personal change, but an increase in the quality of their work. And it all began with prayer. For example:

A film producer stopped making exploitation films after turning her life over to God. In fact, after much prayer, her most recent film has a theme of abstinence.

A network executive became a Christian and threw out an immoral script he had been writing, saying that he couldn't write that anymore.

A godly writer of a controversial sitcom got assigned an uncomfortable story line, asked for prayer from his friends—and suddenly the story line disappeared.
Hollywood Staying Put
The only answer to "the Hollywood problem" is prayer—loving prayer and much more of it.

Hollywood won't go away. Its influence is ever growing, even defining our culture. And we have to face it head on—but not alone. It's not a battle of flesh and blood. We've tried that, and it doesn't work. It's a battle of spiritual powers, and the only way to win is for Christians to pray together for God to redeem his people in the media.

We need prayer teams to join e-mail lists so that 2.6 million people are praying for Hollywood's leaders. We need churches to commission their young people to join the entertainment industry as missionaries, and then to support them through money and prayer. We need the Mastermedia Media Leader Prayer Calendars to be on every church table that offers Our Daily Bread. We need every TV remote in Christian homes to have a Hollywood Prayer Network Remote Prayer Sticker on it, reminding everyone in that home to stop and pray for the people involved in the shows that they're watching or surfing through.

Who will join the movement to pray? Start by asking God what your part is. Start praying for—rather than against, as many Christians are apt to do—entertainment decision and celebrities.

God's greatest commandment is to love him and then love others as ourselves. We must love people in Hollywood—Christians and the lost—and ask God to touch and move them, to humble themselves before him. Then and only then will we see lives change.

And just think: Praying for Hollywood could bring cultural revival. Not just here, but around the world.

Karen Covell is a TV producer and the Director of the Hollywood Prayer Network, where you can get a free 15-minute DVD, " The Hollywood Crisis," some Remote Prayer Stickers, sign up to be an "I to I" prayer partner and receive their monthly e-mail on how to pray for Hollywood.

Hollywood, Forgive God's People

To all the people who are an integral part of Hollywood and all that occurs there...

Dear Entertainment/Media Community: The Bible begins with these words, "In the beginning, God created...," (Hebrew: Bereshit bara Elohim...,") God is a Creative God. In creation, He established His order and ordained man to "...have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, an over every living thing that moves on earth.

"(Genesis 1:28 b) He clearly gave each man/woman creative abilities, and the authority to use the gifts that would bring forth the evidence of His imprint in our lives. Along with the creative gifts, He gave man the power to have authority over all creation, as he/she partners with the Word of God and the order that is set forth in it!

You are creative! You are gifted! You have been given authority to use your gifts for God's purposes; to shine as jewels that reflect the beauty and creativity of the Lord!

I am a minister of the gospel of the Lord, Jesus, the Christ (Messiah) and I am asking you, Hollywood, and all those who are involved with entertainment and media, to forgive the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God, for refusing your creative gifts, for misunderstanding the God-intended influence that you are meant to have in Hollywood (and all related venues) and for not loving you with God's extravagant love!

You are an exceptional group of people that have outstanding gifts and you use them! Instead of encouraging you and teaching you to be a divine influence for God and His kingdom, the Church has, most often, maligned you, rejected you, tried to stripe you of your giftings and discouraged you from being in the "mission field" (Hollywood) that has been forgotten for so many years!

Perhaps, many of you have even left the Church because you felt unwanted, unloved and misunderstood!

Would you forgive us, the people who proclaim to be His children, for our lack of wisdom, sensitiviity, for rejecting you or causing you to feel rejected and most of all, for not showing you the love that God has for you, which is infinite and eternal!

You are God's precious children and He wants to make Himself known to you in great measure so that you can affect nations, people groups and individuals, throughout the world, impacting all for good and for the gospel that says, "Jesus saves and God is Love!" The temporal love that the world portrays is fleeting, but God's love for you, is infinite and
available!

Father, thank You for Your heart toward Hollywood and all that are intricately involved with this community! Lord, forgive us, Your people who have been blinded and have acted out of judgmentalism and criticism, instead of loving these beloved ones with Your generous heart of love! Show each individual who works in the media/entertainment and related venues, Your great love for them and meet each one of these precious and gifted people, as they give their lives to you, for Your purposes to be fulfilled in and through them! Manifest blessings untold to all these precious ones, as they learn of You and come to know the goodness of Your saving grace, in Jesus' Name, Amen!

In His Love & Service,
Rev. Lorraine D. Coconato
Leaves of Healing Ministries
http://www.lohealing.com/repentance.php

“IS HOLLYWOOD NINEVEH?”
A view from an insider and a Vegetable
By Karen Covell

People of faith often compare Hollywood to Sodom and Gomorrah, a cesspool of sin and skin beyond redemption, already condemned. From the early days of film, Christians have adopted the role of moral watchdog, monitoring movie content and launching boycotts. From Cecil B. DeMille’s 1932 The Sign of the Cross to Martin Scorsese’s 1988 The Last Temptation of Christ, the religious community has played the role of cinematic policemen, defending God from big screen sin. Yet, our best efforts to condemn Hollywood have mostly resulted in free publicity for films we’ve opposed. Perhaps it’s time to view Hollywood more like Nineveh and less like Sodom.

The new video release of the Big Idea feature film, Jonah: A Veggie Tale, features an entertaining array of colorful graphics and singing vegetables. Yet amidst all the bright banter lies a surprising, often overlooked message to people of faith. As in the Book of Jonah, God sends a prophet to deliver a message of warning and judgment to Ninevah. Yet, Jonah resists the mission, heading in the opposite direction. When he does deliver the message of judgment, Jonah’s frustrated by the Ninevites’ receptiveness. Holly McClure’s review at Crosswalk.com noted, “”I have to be truthful and admit something. I related to Archibald Asparagus’ anger towards the Ninevites. Not only his feeling of them not “deserving” God’s forgiveness, but his anger at God not destroying the repentant Ninevites. But when Khalil scolds him and asks, “Has it ever occurred to you that God loves everybody – not just you?” Ouch! That hit home.”

While Jonah approached Ninevah with a message of judgment, God’s ultimate judgment fell upon Jonah. In our mission to Hollywood, we may find ourselves like Jonah, humbled by massive changes of hearts and minds. Will we rejoice at the responsiveness of the entertainment community or be angered that the rich and powerful have the potential to be forgiven? Can you imagine marching around the Massai tribe and screaming at them for their practice of public teen-age circumcision and threatening to never buy their bracelets again if they don’t stop?! The truth is that these tactics don’t work. As an insider, working as an independent producer here for the past 20 years and married to a composer, I can confidently state that I have never met a person in Hollywood who has become a Christian because of a boycott!

So what is the best way to “reach” or “change” Hollywood? For On Mission warriors, it’s prayer. Oswald Chambers said that “prayer is not preparation for the greater work, prayer is the greater work. We will see mountains move, hearts change and America roll into a full-scale revival – if we pray for Hollywood. Replace any anger, fear or frustration toward the media with prayer, There are even a few established prayer efforts that you can join: MasterMedia International has a Media Leader Prayer Calendar that lists two Media influencers to pray for every day of the year. The Hollywood Prayer Network unifies Christians around the world to pray for Hollywood and the people in it by sending out monthly emails with information, people and shows to pray for. It currently reaches over 1,000 faithful prayer warriors who believe that Hollywood just needs God’s mercy and He hears the prayers of the righteous in order to pour His mercy upon this place. For through prayer for Hollywood comes cultural revival. On Mission readers are encouraged to join this global effort of prayer at www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org.

The only way projects coming out of Hollywood will change is if the hearts of the people producing them change. And it’s more imperative to change hearts than to just have “cleaner” programming. The Production Code instituted in 1934 tried for “cleaner” programming, but it faded away, replaced by our current ratings system. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s efforts to purge Hollywood of communist influence in the 1950s faded away. Every new protest or ban has a season of apparent progress, but over time it fades away. And the cycle will continue until we stop making Hollywood act like Christians and start focusing on them becoming Christians. And that will happen only through prayer.

When a TV network executive recently became a Christian through his relationship with a “missionary” here. He embraced Jesus in the midst of developing an “edgy” sitcom for his network. Once his heart changed he suddenly looked at his script and started editing, cutting and adding until the script became impossible to produce. His response: “Once I became a Christian I just can’t write this stuff any more.” That’s only one miracle among many inside stories of God transforming people who then impact the product. He couldn’t act like a Christian until he became one.

Secondly, the Christian community can acknowledge Hollywood as a mission field by sending more missionaries. Talented people who are grounded in their faith should be encouraged to come to Hollywood. Solid churches in L.A. hold annual commissioning services, recognizing and praying for all their talented, artistic members working in a very difficult mission field. Parents of dramatic or artistic children should not to be afraid to send them to Hollywood. The church lifts up and celebrates young people who feel called to go to Africa, China and the far reaches of India. Are these places safer, or more blessed by God than Hollywood? The Los Angeles Film Studies Centers offers a semester in Hollywood program for students through the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Young people have the opportunity to intern with companies like Miramax, Universal, and Sony while living in a supportive Christian educational community.

NAMB has already come on board to recognize Hollywood as a mission field. They’ve joined the Hollywood Prayer Network’s grass roots movement to change the entertainment industry from the inside out. NAMB just accepted their first full-time missionary to the entertainment industry. Victorya Michaels Rogers, a former agent with a high-powered Beverly Hills firm, now serves as a consultant and Southern Baptist Hollywood missionary. Victorya bridges the gap between Christians outside the industry and professionals on the inside. She states, “People are always telling me they can’t believe there are actually Christians in Hollywood. The fact that there are so few is a shame and partially the fault of the churches of America. Yes, that’s right. The church has “preached” Christians away from the entertainment industry for decades and it’s my mission to help get Christians back! We need Christians here – in the secular television and feature film industry – to be active in producing television series and feature films that will project positive moral values while they simultaneously build relationships here with the non-believers. These are two things that are desperately missing.”

Victorya is as bold in her faith as she was as an agent. She has given away scores of Bibles and copies of “The Day I Met God” (a book that we co-wrote with my husband Jim which tells 32 true stories of people whose lives were transformed when they became Christians. It includes some Hollywood celebrities such as Randy Travis and Gloria Gaynor, to name a few) to her industry associates. Victorya has shared her faith with almost every work associate and she maintained 60 hour weeks while enrolled in Seminary. For years she also taught a 10-week class that we created for Christian industry professionals called “How To Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out.” The book, by the same name, is available in Christian book stores and it includes many Hollywood stories while training readers to share their faith in a culturally relevant way. “The Day I Met God” is the perfect gift for a seeking friend or associate of any On Mission missionary for, like Hollywood, it depends on the power of story to preach it’s message.

Years ago, Jim and I became friends with a Soap Opera writer whom we met in a Christian group. Shelly signed up for the class we were teaching on “How To Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out” and all was going well until she needed to write out her personal testimony and tell it to the class. Shelly was the most prolific writer in the room and yet she was the only one who could not write her three minute story. As much as we tried to encourage her no words came. Finally one night, after listening to five people give their testimonies in class, Shelly realized that all of these people changed at some point in their lives. She could not think of a time when she had changed. So, she walked in her house, shut the door and asked God to change her – right there in her dark foyer. And He did. From that moment on Shelly was a new creature. And now, years later, not only are we committed prayer partners but she has her own stories of how being the only Christian on staff of her major Soap Opera has opened up miraculous doors.

Thirdly, embrace the media as a powerful outreach tool for your non-Christian neighbors, friends, family members and associates. Recent movies like A Walk to Remember, Extreme Days, and Signs make fabulous discussion starters. Brian Godawa, in his book Hollywood Worldviews, gives great advice on how to use films and television shows as wonderful tools to discuss God in a relaxed social setting. Godawa says, “Invite friends to begin a movie discussion group. Try to pick movies that will be the least offensive for a wider appeal. Watch different kinds of movies each time… Be a facilitator for the discussion.” Godawa lists potential questions, such as: “What did you like and not like about the production of the film? What about the writing, directing, cinematography and acting? How does the character grow and change and is there redemption of the hero? What themes are explored in the movie? What worldviews are explored in the film? What do you think the filmmakers are saying about the human condition?” Peter Fraser & Vernon Neal remind us in their book ReViewing The Movies, “A film is made by people, individuals working together, and it needs to be evaluated as the collective speech of a group of people, sinful people hopeless apart from grace. Is it truth or does it lie? Here is a crucial artistic question.”

On Mission readers can be creative in using films as outreach tools. Because Americans love to talk about movies, we can use that medium to encourage discussions over a casual dinner and a video. I suggest you choose a film that has impacted you and invite some friends over to watch it. Afterwards, talk about how it moved you. You can start with three powerful yet provocative films that have deep spiritual messages. Signs is a film that deals with real life and death questions. Do your friends agree with the theme that everything happens for a reason and there are no coincidences? Braveheart is a rough film, yet with the most Christ-like character in William Wallace that has been found in films today. An entire evening could be spent just discussing the theme “every man dies, but few men really live.” Amadeus is a classic film which will spark a lively response to Mozart’s submission to God which led him to artistic freedom while Salieri’s greed for fame destroyed him. And you can invite the entire neighborhood over to celebrate It’s a Wonderful Life.