The mission of the Media Alliance is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through movies and television, as well as music and other mass media.

More than 40 top media leaders in movies, television and music gathered in Los Angeles for a two-day conference Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 19-20, to discuss the impact Christians are making on the media and to strategize for the future.

Dr. Ted Baehr, Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission™ ministry (CFTVC), and Dr. Cornell (Corkie) Haan, National Facilitator of Ministry Networks for Mission America, will lead a strategic planning group from the Media Alliance to build membership in the Alliance and increase the influence of Christians in the entertainment industry.

The committee will also help Alliance members keep in contact with one another and to reach out to the members of Mission America, including the friends and supporters of Dr. Baehr and CFTVC.

"As Dr. Baehr pointed out with his detailed economic analysis of the entertainment industry, in the last five years, significant impact has been made to influence the media," Haan said. "There’s a long way to go, however. The Church still needs to be the anchor, and prayer needs to be a significant part of everything we do."

At the conference, Dr. Baehr noted that people in the United States donate more than $80 billion to churches each year and more than $200 billion to charities overall, but Hollywood only earns $8 billion at the box office and $21 billion at the video store. Yet, the average child, by the time they are 17, will spend more than 40,000 hours with the mass media, but only 800 hours at church if they attend regularly and only 2,000 hours with their parents.

"Although there have been many meetings of people of faith and values who are players in the entertainment industry," Dr. Baehr said after the conference, "it has been rare for a group to come together which is so enthusiastic about the cause concept of supporting the Great Commission and about working together.

"The conference went extraordinarily well," he added.

"There was a great deal of cooperation and enthusiasm. From a Mission America perspective, it will help thousands of Christian leaders to understand the mass media of entertainment and understand how to work with the mass media of entertainment. From a Christian Film & Television Commission™ perspective, it helped us fulfill our goals of redeeming the values of the media by encouraging and equipping key players and by connecting them to the vast resources of Mission America."

The conference attendees discussed some of the projects they are planning or producing and discussed ways to promote, market and distribute them. Making first-rate, entertaining products focusing on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church, the Bible, and positive Christian values was their prime concern.

"Unlike the humanistic, legalistic and so-called family friendly solutions, we are not just trying to throw a burka over the entertainment industry," Dr. Baehr said. "Instead, we want to help people of faith and values lift up the Truth that will set men and women free in the midst of the real world where real people with real problems live. That Truth is rooted in Jesus Christ, who redeems all those who call on him. Regrettably, many people don’t know anything about Jesus anymore. Europe and many other people have turned to men to solve their problems rather than to God."

"This is one of the greatest times in history for Christians to impact the secular world," said Penelope Foster, a producer from Eagle Rock Entertainment. "Let’s be very bold and move forward."

Another producer commented, "Another splendid and meaningful conference! I was especially delighted and awed that [our group] agreed to take action ASAP on forming a ‘Children's Media Alliance,’ something we have talked about for literally years."

"You are representing the Kingdom of God," the Rev. Glenn Plummer, chairman of the National Religious Broadcasters, told the conference attendees during one of the major prayer sessions. "Jesus has one Kingdom. He’s called us to go out and change the world, change families, and change people’s lives."

Haan and Baehr encouraged all Christians everywhere to pray for the unity and success of the new Media Alliance, Mission America and the Christian Film & Television CommissionÔ ministry and to urge their families and leaders to get behind it.

For more information on the Media Alliance, call Dr. Ted Baehr, Chairman of the Steering Committee at (805) 383-2000.

© baehr, 2002

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