A Mission Field
Karen Covell, a television producer and the wife of a film composer, has been involved for many years in bringing together and strengthening the Christian community in Hollywood. She is the founding Director of the new ministry.
BN: Karen, why do we need apostles of prayer for Hollywood?
KC: We have started many different ministries to buildup and equip Christians in Hollywood, but up to now, no one has coordinated believers to just bathe this powerful industry in prayer, to multiply the efforts of good people here, and to move the hearts of the creative people in the industry towards God. The Church needs to “adopt” the entertainment industry the way it has adopted any mission area around the world – principally by sending prayer and then missionaries.
BN: A lot of Christians will have a problem with the notion of Hollywood as a mission field. You’ have to admit, watching the red carpet procession on Oscar night doesn’t exactly make this town look needy.
KC: On the surface we don’t look needy which is the main reason why the Church doesn’t reach out to this place. From the outside, the people of Hollywood have everything the world has to give: money, power, beauty, talent. But from an eternal perspective, most people here don’t have any faith or lasting hope. They carry the constant burden of having no moral compass outside of themselves. All of this makes them pretty cynical. There is a spiritual poverty here that takes a much more serious toll on human beings than material poverty takes in other places. And of course, the spiritual wounds of people here spill out through movie and television screens into every corner of the world.
Change Their Hearts
BN: Would you say that one of the mistakes the Church has made as regards the media is to focus on projects as opposed to focusing on the people who are media makers?
KC: Absolutely. Most of what we Christians do in media is isolated, under-funded projects marked by flaws that indicate they are coming from outsiders to the business. They are do not make a cultural impact and rarely even impact the Christian sub-culture. We don’t have to operate this way. God wants us to reach out in love to the masters of the media here in Hollywood to win them over to do the work for us.
The content coming out of the entertainment industry will not change until the hearts of the people creating the content changes. The only way the hearts will change is through the power of God. The entertainment industry has been called “the new church of the masses” because of the tremendous influence it exerts on our culture. Every day millions of children absorb the worldview that comes to them through television, music and the movies. And the fact is, all of it comes from a small group of people, most of who are separated from any kind of faith community that might give them an ethical or spiritual framework for what they do.
BN: What’s the main change that you think needs to happen as regards to the Christian Church's work in the media?
KC: Our goal in Hollywood must be much broader than to get the industry to start making “family films.” We want the people in the industry to become followers of Christ so they will have the joy and hope of a relationship with Jesus. Family films are fine but they aren’t going to change Hollywood. The industry executives will make them if they are convinced they can make money out of them, and then it’s just one more kind of commodity to fuel the climate here of terror, arrogance and greed. But if their hearts change than the whole climate will change in the business. And by the way, they will end up making sincerely better films.
The Hollywood Prayer Network
BN: What is the Hollywood Prayer Network and what are your hopes for it?
KC: The Network is a non-profit, interdenominational prayer group that based here in Hollywood but which is composed of Christians from all across the country. Every month, we send particular prayer intentions for the industry via mail or email to those people who have committed to be prayer partners. We have a sticker campaign that involves putting a prayer reminder sticker on the television remote. We are calling it “Remote Prayer.” Eventually, we would like to get prayer groups to adopt each of the Hollywood studios and networks, to subscribe to the industry trades and send promises of prayer to the executives on television and film projects as they go ahead.
BN: How can people get involved?
KC: There is more information on our web site at: Hollywood Prayer Network People can email Hollywood Prayer Net and send their commitment to pray. If they don’t have email they can call 888-526-9287 X304. We need names and contact information for the prayer partners.
This is going to be a paradigm shift for the Church to move from condemning Hollywood to embracing it in prayer. But to paraphrase the Gospel, “God did not send the Church into Hollywood to condemn it, but rather that through the Church Hollywood might be saved.”
Barbara Nicolosi teaches screenwriting to aspiring Catholic writers at the acclaimed Act One: Writing for Hollywood. You may email her at [email protected].
(Originally published in LIGUORIAN Magazine, One Liguori Drive, Liguori, MO, 63057.)
