Phil Cooke

Great point! A friend and I were recently talking about this topic. In many places such as the UK, “Christian” artists create their music and are promoted, marketed and played on the radio as artists, right along with “secular” artists. The dichotomy of secular vs christian markets is not an issue.

But in the USA there is a completely separate industry called “Christian Music” with Christian artists, labels, etc. My friend remarked: “We have successfully kept the world from hearing our message.” You are right that we need to engage the world. We can be there as salt and light. As my dad has always said, “YOU are the message.”

It’s never always comfortable and there are sure to be pitfalls when we venture out to infiltrate where it’s needed but that’s what leaving the trenches is all about. And it puts us in a situation where we have to really get out of our comfort zone and amazingly. you are in a position to see God at work. I have worked and lived in so many countries where I have seen God reach out to others in ways I never would have expected. A key however is to have a strong emphasis on personal and united prayer and a solid base of fellowship and help to fall back on. Praying specifically for ways to do this is a key and praying that you will not be put in uncompromising positions. That said, any Christian in any sort of work will be placed in positions where we may be faced with compromise. The point is- is God calling any one of us as individuals to venture out? I once interviewed Mother Theresa and asked how someone would know they were being called. “The one who is called” she replied, “He knows.” 

Right. We’re not called to be comfortable. “Greater works than these shall ye do.. .” So we are confronted with some tough issues and situations but thats one way our faith gets both tested and becomes a witness. 

You’re all wrong.

I just wanted to say that, but seriously…we have a couple of problems:

The main problem is that Christian’s have elevated their intentions over each medium’s purpose. For example, TV was made for entertainment, not evangelism. A recent Barna poll revealed that only 3% of the 18-34 demo use TV as a source of spiritual influence. Proof! Yet Christian’s continue to create evangelism-based TV.

Furthermore, Christian’s lower their expectations and standards because they think that mission will outweight performance.

Finally, Phil is right. Discover your calling and be the best in your field. It’s scriptural.

Finally, finally…how about we stop worry about how God works through things and we just let God be God. I think we’d all be surprised at how good He is at calling all men unto Himself. Afterall, it’s the way he created it to be.

Do what you do best and you will never need to self-promote; somehow people know the real thing when they see it and they blab it all over the place.

Be in the world, not of it, but have the courage to BE IN IT! is what Phil is advocating. I’ve refused to do projects I thought were objectionable, and it cost me. So what? Go ahead, get fired over your beliefs and your principals. What a great statement that would make! And maybe you wouldn’t be fired: what then? Stranger things have happened. 

Phil is right: instead of preaching to the choir, we’ve got to get some more people in the pews! And they’re not watching “TBN”, “CBN”, “EWTN” or any other “Christian” branded television, and we all know it. 

Anyone else old enough to remember ”Insight”? It was great… still is. Check it out:

http://www.paulistproductions.org/prod_insight.html

God bless you all. And thanks again, Phil, for this forum.

Phil,

You nailed it. I use podcasting as my media choice. If you want a podcast to reach your church members, that’s fine but don’t expect the world to come knocking to get your message. Pastors that use sermons as podcasts expecting to reach the unchurched just don’t get it. They should put out a podcast that’s non-church like and on a secular server or host like Mevio or Blubrry. Talk English, not church language, communicate but never try to preach. Find ways to grab the listeners attention like using sports or any topic that is of interest. Let the audience know that the podcast is not a Christian podcast but a podcast hosted by a Christian. You audience will respect that and that builds trust.

Seems to me that we have to sort out the “problem of Christian media” (ie, that it’s fairly ineffective) using a three pronged approach:

1) Gaining the means of production – you gotta get your hands on the hardware. But how often does the thinking and effort stop here?!?!

2) The message itself – content is sooooo important. We’ve got to do better than videoing sermons! Or being so vague and inoffensive that we become digital wallpaper.

3) The platform – sadly we often seek to shortcircuit the problem of access to mainstream media channels by just getting our own!! – our own radio/TV stations, our own websites, etc, which only/largely Christians seek out and are aware of. Thus we end up largely – yes Phil – “preaching to the choir”. 

What I wonder is: do cultural spaces exist for overt Christian messages? And by “cultural spaces” I mean places and times that are regularly inhabited by the unchurched in which the expression of religious ideas is considered socially appropriate (or at least tolerable). 

And the more I think about it, the more I’m sure that the answer is “yes”. In the individualist West, there is a lot of latitude for people to express themselves via in-your-face T-shirts, bumper stickers and YouTube videos. In the capitalist West, all it takes is money to enter the marketplace of ideas – billboards, TV advertising. And we do have the money – just look at the millions going into all the satellite TV we pump out all over the world – it’s a matter of priorities and focus.

So far you’re saying “eeuurghh!” right?! Yeah, me too. But if these things are done well, with a clear evangelistic intent in mind, I can see it making some kind of impact.

But then there are the less commercial marketplaces which are nevertheless highly visible – street performance (musical, dramatic) is still legal here in Australia, so long as you get a licence from the city council for a negligible fee. Flea markets, festivals, community parades and “mind, body, spirit fairs” are always looking to represent the diversity of their communities – why aren’t we there in force?!?! Or the online equivalent – the chatroom. NO!! NOT “our” chatroom – existing chatrooms that focus on current events, philosophy, science, religion, spirituality. I’ve had some rewarding experiences in Muslim chatrooms.

And then there is the merit-based stuff – the hardest nut to crack.  Is it really that hard in America to get a documentary on NPR, PBS or HBO? What about popular cable channels like Discovery, History, National Geographic and <grimace> Hallmark? Sometimes there is funding and airtime for particular kinds of programming – youth, disability, health-focused, rural/regional, ethnic minorities, etc. Christians belong to these groups and have a lot to say about these issues. Are there organisations that exist specifically to encourage Christian filmmakers to enter their work into film festivals? Or what about capitalising on the low-cost trend in TV production – reality TV!! Maybe we should have the guts to follow ten people who are on a spiritual search and see where they end up.

Sorry for going on like this – but you touched a nerve Phil!!

If you are asking me to compromise my convictions so that I can reach a bigger, less religious audience, I’ll pass. If we could just get Christians to do what the Bible says, we could easily change this world.

This seems like a cop-out to me. We must reach the bigger, “less religious” audience. That is what the Bible says.

As always, Jesus is our example, and he spent most of his time with the larger. less-religious audience including sinners, adulterers, liars, thiefs, etc…. And He did it without compromise. Daniel would be another good example. He lived his faith without compromise and changed the heart of a King! He was not afraid of the consequences of living out his faith in front of the world…and God made a way for him to have great influence. I believe the same is true for us. It’s fear that intimidates us and keeps us from stepping out and reaching out.

Unfortunately, this same fear can cause us to limit our vision to a certain churched audience, and stay where it’s “safe.” This makes for a lot of big fish in a somewhat small pond…

Jim,

You’ve forgotten who your G-d is. Hashem, Adonai, Elohim, Mighty One, Deliverer, Prince of Peace, Abba.

Joseph certainly did not forget the G-d of his fathers while serving in Egypt, as a slave, before saving the known world. Did he compromise himself?

When we’re being self serving, we’re not serving Adonai. Not leaving our comfort zone for fear of compromise, is simply living out of fear.

Step out.

I’ve spent more than half my career in secular entertainment. I started in Christian ministry/entertainment. I work with plenty of christians, and a whole lot more of everything else.

Step up.

Listen to Phil. He’ll stetch you, if you’re willing. We need greater influence in the business if we’re to see a change. Phil is talking excellence in our craft. The test is, is it excellent in our mom’s eyes, or is it really excellent to our Father’s eyes?

Just Sayin’ . . . .

Phil,

Thank you for this post. It is a good reminder while working away in the industry and often losing sight of why I am going down this path. (It’s tough sometimes!) In my place of work, while I don’t (yet) have a large influence on content, one thing I have noticed is that I have had a unique opportunity to touch individuals’ lives and be challenged and encouraged by them, as well, even though they aren’t believers. If I stayed out of the mainstream, secular industry, I wouldn’t have this opportunity to know them and be a light here, each and every day.

As for you, Jim, I appreciate your thoughts and I know there have been a number of celebrities who, while professing to be Christians, have unfortunately been poor examples of sticking to religious conviction. Still, there are numerous stories of believers who have a major impact on people’s lives by using their talent to glorify God in so-called “secular” work. For example, my co-worker was just playing Switchfoot at her desk yesterday. It made me smile, because I know that while many of their lyrics do not have direct Christian content, they do sing songs of upright content, which is a big change compared to much of what she listens to. It also opens her up to listening to “similar artists” on music websites, and wouldn’t you know…she was playing outright Christian music another day. And then comes my opportunity to talk to her about it…

I’m happy to be a poster child…  :-)

You didn’t quite understand what Jim said…

While it is true that Jesus spent His time with sinners, adulterers, liars, thiefs etc (after all, He came for sinners), I bet He didn’t speak like them, He didn’t dress like them, He didn’t behave like them etc. He was different. He came to heal, to correct, to repair, to save the world, NOT TO ENTERTAIN the world.

The “world” is way better than christians in being “worldly”, thats why the so called “christian media” doesn’t have more impact. The christians imitate the world, but they are always one step behind.

We are not called to evaluate the “impact”. All we have to do is to transmit a message, the right message, the message of Christ (we want to be Christ-ians, remember?). The rest, the impact and the result, is none of our business. I know it sounds wrong worldly-marketing-wise, but this is it.

God bless.

Find me a business model that actually values the Great Commission. That is the great “omission”.

Until such a time, the best we can hope for is inflitrating Hollywood through great stories, well told, that somehow move an audience a little closer to asking the right questions. But at the end of the day, the No. 1 priorty has to be entertainment. You have to respect the value chain. You have to respect the studios right to earn a return on thier capital commensurate with the risk.