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What You Can Learn From
A Sentimental Heart
By Robert Hall
Those of you familiar with
the “StrengthsFinder” test know what I mean when I say that I am a “maximizer.”
A big part of that means I value excellence, and when I see it,
whether in myself or others, I want to make the most of it; I want to
promote it. Excellence is not a matter of taste or style, it is an inherent
quality. We may not always recognize it (in the arts) except at the point
where it touches our preferred tastes or styles, but it is there
nevertheless. And it is something worthy of pursuit.
Paul the apostle taught us that
“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
Consider, for instance, the music
of Zooey Deschanel. That’s right, I said music, not films, of the
wonderfully talented actress. For those of you wondering, I’m talking about
“She & Him: Volume One,” a collections of songs written by Zooey and
performed by her and M. Ward on the Merge Records label. I had the
opportunity to hear them perform live at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles
last April. Their concert schedule across the nation is quickly filling up
as reviewers are raving and more and more people are discovering what a
precious gem this simple and charming little album is.
My comments here are not intended
to be an album review, per se. You can Google the album title and find
numerous typical reviews on the music, vocals, arrangements, styles, etc.
What I find interesting though is how God often chooses to reveal something
about himself, ourselves, and our world, to us in oftentimes the most
unsuspecting of places. In the Hollywood Club we always talk about “finding
God in the movies.” Yes, he can be found there if our spiritual antenna are
up and the quality of the film/story permits it. Here, we have a case of
God revealing himself in the sentimental heart of a young artist’s music.
Immediately I hear the objection
of those who would say that God could not possibly be found here because
Zooey doesn’t sing explicitly about Jesus, exhort the church, or quote Bible
verses to us. It’s the same argument I hear about certain movies whose
message isn’t explicitly Christian. These are the arguments of those
typically disengaged from the culture God has placed them in. They’re not
only not of the world, they’re not even in the world
sufficiently to engage their culture and to have an actual salt-and-light
dialogue with the people around them.
But objections aside, let’s just
consider for a moment one of Zooey’s songs entitled, “This Is Not a
Test” (to hear the song, visit She & Him’s
MySpace page). Though it’s
probably not even my favorite song on the album from a musical standpoint, I
find it to be packed full of messages we could take to heart. In this one
song alone, for example, we can find the following life messages:
§ Worldly
success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Success isn’t determined by
whether you’ve made it to the “summit” (as defined by the world, or even
perhaps by your own friends) or whether you’re still in the “valley.”
Living a life of character along the way is what really matters.
§ An
undeniable truth of life: those who have given up on their dreams will try
to get you to give up on yours. They want you to be “forgotten” (i.e.,
remain insignificant) just as they have been.
§ Don’t
dwell on the past. Remember the beautiful things, but don’t let anything
good or bad hold you back from achieving all that God has made you to be and
become.
§ A
performance-driven life can keep grace from operating with its intended
effect. It’s impossible to do better than your best, and perfection is an
unattainable goal. Excellence should be the goal in everything we do
(“as unto the Lord”), not perfection. God loves you for who you are,
not for what you can do for him (or fail to do).
§ Though life contains many
tests along the way which reveal our character, life itself is not a
test – it’s not a practice run that you can do over if you fail the first
time. It’s real life – make the most of it! Don’t settle for being just a
number in the crowd. Life doesn’t happen to you – you happen to life!
It’s interesting that God chooses
the simple things of the world to confound the wise (see 1 Corinthians 1).
Though he is certainly all-wise and omniscient, he doesn’t speak to us in
complicated ways that we need a Ph.D. to figure out what he’s saying to us.
He wants to communicate with us, and he desires a relationship with us. So
he can take the simple, nostalgic songs of a film princess and speak to
believers and nonbelievers alike through them.
So I challenge you, if you aren’t
already doing it, to begin listening to the messages in your music and
movies and books more carefully. Are your spiritual antenna up? Is there a
truth of life that God is speaking to you about, if only you could hear
him? And when you find those precious God-encounter nuggets in your
entertainment choices, hold on fast to them, and let your mind dwell on such
things.
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Get Real
By Robert Hall
 I
often hear people complain about a movie not being “realistic” enough, or
being too “farfetched” or “unbelievable.” As if a movie must, at least on
its surface, portray life as it really is. Heaven forbid we should
stray too far from reality – let’s bring it back down to earth as quickly as
possible and keep it dark and serious.
You would
certainly have to come to that conclusion if you were to base your judgments
on what the motion picture Academy thinks makes for a good movie. Just
looking back at the list of nominees for Best Picture over the last 20 years
(100 nominees), you would be hard-pressed to find even five nominees in the
comedy genre, and a whopping three musicals: Beauty and the Beast
(1991), Moulin Rouge (2001), and Chicago (2002). There is no question that
there is a definite bias toward the dramatic and serious, if not actually
dark and depressing – I need only cite the last four Best Picture winners as
examples: No Country for Old Men (2007), The Departed (2006), Crash (2005),
and Million Dollar Baby (2004) – no “feel good” movies to worry about here!
I contend
that it doesn’t necessarily take a dark or depressing movie to deliver a
serious message. In fact, I would contend that to deliver such a message
while still entertaining the viewer may in fact require greater skill
as a writer or filmmaker, not less.
Such is the
case with Enchanted. It has quickly become one of my favorite all-time
movies, joining my list which includes among others, Mary Poppins (1964),
which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won five. That was back in
the day when such achievement was recognized and before Hollywood took an
obvious turn to the dark side.
Enchanted as
a whole pays tribute to several of the great Disney classics, including Snow
White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. The
casual viewer may even miss the numerous visual and dialogue references to
these movies which are more obvious to veteran Disney afficionados.
With an
absolutely brilliant performance by Amy Adams, Princess Giselle is forced to
leave her fairy tale world and enter the real world. She quickly discovers
that the real world has long since forgotten her idealistic views of love
and marriage. After encountering a couple in the midst of a divorce
negotiation, where one day they’re together and the next day they’re
separated forever, she exclaims: “What sort of an awful place is this?”
The awful place happens to be our modern-day, sin-cursed world of selfish
human beings. It is the world described by the apostle Paul in the last
days as full of people who are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving…” (2 Timothy 3). His list goes on, but you get
the idea. It is into this world that Giselle in her innocence finds
herself.
If the story
were to end there, we could add it to the list of depressing movies I
mentioned above (and perhaps Enchanted would have garnered a Best Picture
nomination after all). Fortunately for us, though, there is still a glimmer
of hope to be found in an otherwise dark world. Giselle at one point
angrily and rightfully chastises Robert for his negative outlook on both her
future and his own. She eventually gets him to realize that it doesn’t have
to be that way for everyone – that true love can exist and does endure for
those who simply decide to make it so.
So cynics
beware! That tug on your heartstrings that you feel when you watch
Enchanted is a reminder that there does exist a real, perfect world that our
hearts long for and to which those of us whose hope is secure in Christ
shall return at the end of our days. You see, there is a real prince
who has slain the dragon, and will one day come riding on his white horse to
take us back to his castle. There is a real love story with a
real happy ending, and we are living in it right now! Yes, today we
face challenges, cynicism, and brokenness in the world we live in, but
that’s where faith comes in. Our faith is in the God who has promised us a
real happily ever after.
We agree
with Paul that “our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the
glory that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). We anxiously look
forward to the day when “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live
with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and
will be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be
no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things
has passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4). That is the fairy tale ending that
awaits us; except in this case, it’s no fairy tale – it’s real.
But until
that day, Enchanted reminds us we can still experience true love when we
commit unequivocally and sacrificially to one another, despite the
challenges that life may bring. And in so doing we can show the world that
there really is a better way than what our fallen, cynical world says we
have to settle for.
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LGDP - It's What We're All
About!
LEARNING
about the Hollywood mission field - its significance, its unique challenges,
its worldviews;
GROWING
in the grace and knowledge of our own Christian faith and learning how to
effectively communicate it to others;
DEVELOPING
a lifestyle of regular, committed prayer for Hollywood in all its aspects;
and
PREPARING
future missionaries to Hollywood by providing them practical instruction and
information related to colleges and careers in the entertainment industry.
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Are you a
student who loves movies? Are you one of those “drama/theatre” types who
loves to act? Or have you ever considered that Hollywood could possibly be
the most influential mission field in our world today? Join with us in
Reel to Real as we watch DVDs of both modern and classic films,
including behind the scenes footage, learn how to review films and unpackage
the messages that filmmakers include in their films. We’ll pray for Hollywood
and for each other. Throw in some food, fun, and
plenty of fellowship time and you’ve got Reel to Real! Check
out the Upcoming Events page to see
what we'll be doing in the next Reel to Real!
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Finding God in the Movies: Uncommon
Grace
By Jennifer Hall
Grace, by
its very definition, is not a common thing in today’s world. It’s giving
someone what they don’t deserve. It’s seeing beyond the problem to what
that person needs. It’s offering no ultimatums. It’s when we get to that
point where we realize grace is a gift from God because offering grace to
another person goes beyond human nature.
While grace
may be a hard thing to imagine in our society, it is a prominent theme in
some of our most popular movies – from the fantasy story in The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to the
comedy in Bruce Almighty to the dramatic biography in Walk the
Line.
In The
Chronicles of Narnia the show of grace is when Aslan lays down his life
for Edmund. Grace isn’t shown more clearly than that – an almost identical
representation of Christ’s crucifixion. The greatest sacrifice anyone could
make would be laying down his life for someone else. But then to willingly
give up his life when he’s done nothing wrong and the other person clearly
deserves the punishment is an act of grace. Edmund didn’t deserve to be
saved. He had not only betrayed his brother and sisters, but Aslan and the
rest of the army. Yet, even though he did all that and deserved to be given
to the Witch as a sacrifice, Aslan saw the good in him. He saw that Edmund
really was sorry for what he’d done, knew he would never do it again, and
saw the potential in what he could become. Just like Christ, Aslan saw past
the problem – Edmund’s betrayal – but he didn’t ignore it.
The symbol
for grace isn’t always as clear as it is in The Chronicles of Narnia,
but it’s still there. For instance, in Bruce Almighty the embodiment
of grace is in the character of Bruce’s girlfriend Grace (coincidence, I
think not). After Bruce got all the powers of being God, he used them for
completely selfish reasons. Despite all that he did, Grace still loved
him. Even though she didn’t approve of what he did, and she told him that,
she cared very much for him. It really isn’t until the end of the movie
that we see why the writers gave Grace the name they did. After Bruce sees
Grace praying in her room, he stands out in the middle of the street, arms
stretched toward Heaven, pleading to God and – BAM – he gets hit by a huge
semi-truck. The reason this is relevant to the subject of grace is because
Grace gave her blood to save the sinner, to the man who caused her pain.
Just like Christ who gave His blood to save us all from eternal death, Grace
gave her blood to save Bruce from his death. Read more here....
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Get Your
Wristband Today!
And join us in praying for
the
World's Most Influential Zip
Code!
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A Message
From the Hollywood Prayer Network
By Karen Covell
Prayer always works.
(It probably won’t surprise you to discover that the head of a prayer
ministry believes that.)
Of course, a skeptic would reasonably counter my claim – planes crash,
patients die, ill-prepared students still flunk. And while it’s hard to
prove the effects of prayer on others, there’s one person on whom prayer
always works…the person doing the praying.
Prayer gets us in the right frame of mind. It puts things in perspective.
Most importantly, it takes our struggles and doubts and worries out of our
frustrated, feeble hands, and puts them in their proper place – in God’s
tender, resilient and purposeful hands.
Through prayer, we gain wisdom, grace, strength and insight. We can
understand the history of our religious tradition and the mystery of our
faith. We can learn the right things to say to others, and the joy of
hearing what others have to say to us. If you commit to pray, then you are inviting God to
do miracles in your own heart and life.
In the Book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul recommends we devote ourselves
to prayer “with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” I hope you consider
joining us, and discovering for yourself if prayer indeed works.
"For God sent His
Son into the world, not
to condemn
Hollywood, but that Hollywood
would be saved
through Him."
(Adapted from John
3:17)
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Let's Keep Our Eye on the Ball
By Robert Hall
Daniel
Day-Lewis (Best Actor), Tilda Swinton (Best Supporting Actress), Marion
Cotillard (Best Actress), and Javier Bardem (Best Supporting Actor) enjoying
their Oscars backstage at the Kodak Theatre.
While
watching the 80th Annual Academy Awards presentation, I was once
again reminded of the importance of praying for Hollywood.
The Oscars
are the “Super Bowl” of the motion picture industry. To even be nominated,
let alone win, an Academy Award is considered by many to be the ultimate
accomplishment in the industry. Though not necessarily equated to
commercial success (i.e., box office dollars), the critical acclaim a movie
receives upon winning an Oscar can place a director, producer, actor,
writer, or composer into an elite company of individuals who can wield
significant influence both within the film industry and upon our culture.
We can pray
for these cultural influencers in a number of different ways: that they
would hear and recognize the still yet powerful voice of God amidst the
cacophony of voices that will surround their worldly success, that God would
place Christians around them who would be positive examples and effective
representatives of God’s kingdom, that their current success and future
creative endeavors will be used to bring God glory, and that they would
ultimately acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
And while
we’re at it, let’s not forget to pray for and support the Christians who are
already there on the front lines of the Hollywood mission field. As they
face the daily struggles, temptations, and challenges of working in what can
be a hostile environment for believers, let’s be lifting them up to the
throne of God’s grace for strength, endurance, courage, and peace as well.
Remember,
we’re not in this just for the entertainment value that Hollywood delivers.
Let’s keep our eye on the ball and remember that behind every great movie
are real people who need Christ, too. The only difference is that the work
produced by these people ultimately has an influence on millions of others
worldwide. That makes Hollywood a strategic spiritual battleground for the
hearts and souls of mankind. Do you want to be a part of changing the world
for Christ? Then pray for Hollywood!
Remember to
pray regularly for your favorite celebrities such as Amy Adams, star of
Disney's Enchanted, shown here on the red carpet prior to the 80th Annual
Academy Awards in Hollywood.
There are a number of excellent books
available on various topics of interest to the Hollywood Club. A
listing of these is on the Ministries
page of our website - please check these out!
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Weekend of
August
15th-16th
Movie Outing
AMC Mesa Grand 24
Star Wars: The
Clone Wars
(click
here for more information)
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2008 BOX
OFFICE REPORT
Through 6/30/08
($ Millions)
-
Iron Man
($309)
-
Indiana Jones 4
($301)
-
Kung Fu Panda
($181)
-
Horton Hears a
Who! ($154)
-
Sex and the City
($141)
-
Prince Caspian ($138)
-
The Incredible
Hulk ($117)
-
10,000 B.C.
($95)
-
You Don't Mess
with the Zohan
($92)
-
Get Smart ($80)
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Gray, Zach, Kellen
and Sammie munching on some goodies at the Christmas Party.
Brittany and
Bethany having fun at the Christmas Party.
Sammie and Kellen
hanging out at the Fall Party.
Nanci-Jean and Katy
having a great time at the Fall Party.
Jacque and Jason
with Megan Hilty (Glinda) and Eden Espinosa (Elphaba) after the performance
of Wicked at the Pantages Theatre in L.A.
Kelly, Peter,
Brandon and Phillip in line for the opening day midnight showing of Pirates
3.
Sammie, Zach and
Kellen
waiting for Pirates 3 to begin.
Kelly and Jonnie at the AMC Mesa Grand shortly before the midnight showing of
Pirates 3.
Peter and Phillip
with Off the Cuff Director Shalynn Reynolds after their comedy improv
performance at the Mesa Arts Center.
Singing artist Dennis Lamar (www.dennislamar.com) with Jennifer Hall, theatre
and film major at
Azusa Pacific University, and Kristen Cox, President and CEO of
16x9 Productions at the
National Media Prayer Breakfast in Los
Angeles. More info on the NMPB
here.
Robert,
Dennis, Kristen, and Jacque at the National Media Prayer Breakfast in Los
Angeles.
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We
Christians tend to look like everyone else. Except for Sunday mornings, we
live our lives pretty much the same way nonbelievers do. We say we believe
in God, but we often live as if we don’t. We are “practical atheists.”
Consequently,
we aren’t taken as seriously by nonbelievers as we should be. Yet our
churches are growing. Christian college enrollment is up. Christian books
and media continue to bring good teaching into our homes. In other words,
our Christian subculture is healthy. Unfortunately, it’s our world
that needs our attention.
Bob Briner,
in his acclaimed book Roaring Lambs (© 1993 – Zondervan), puts it
bluntly: “I believe it has been the pessimistic vision of the church that
has prevented generations of young people from venturing out into the
culture-shaping professions of our world. I’ve always wondered why we could
be so quick to sacrifice our children to become missionaries but stand in
the way of their becoming broadcast journalists, film and television actors,
photographers, and painters. It’s almost as if we believe God is strong
enough to take care of his own only as long as they stay within the safety
of the Christian ghetto.”
Perhaps it’s
time for Christians to strategically and intentionally re-engage the
culture-shaping arenas of art, entertainment, and media. It’s time for the
lambs to roar.
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