Here\u2019s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood Parables.\u00a0<\/strong> EchoLight Studios<\/a> is following through with its multi-million dollar commitment, announced earlier this year, to support the next generation of Christian filmmakers. The fast-growing film production and distribution company plans to spend up to $1 million to produce and distribute a new work from the Best Film winner in this year\u2019s 168 Film Project<\/a>. The announcement comes on the heels of company offering $250K in support of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF)<\/a> and a multi-million dollar production and distribution deal over five years with the Liberty University Cinematic Arts program<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 168 Film Project<\/a> is an annual event (started in Hollywood in 2003) in which filmmakers, writers, actors and crew create a short movie on an assigned biblical theme in just one week. This year, registered contestants will meet on May 13, 2013 to draw stones with Bible verses on them. Participants outside the Southern California area \u201cdraw\u201d online. What follows is 10 days of pre-production work and one week of shooting and editing (168 hours) to submit a finished film on the theme for the year influenced by the contestant\u2019s individual Bible verse. Registration is open now at 168film.com and closes May 11.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great leap for the producers of the short films in our contest,\u201d said 168 Founder and Director John David Ware. \u201cThey move up to making feature-length films, and this is a great encouragement for them to continue to excel.\u201d<\/p>\n EchoLight awarded $250,000 on Feb. 9 to fund, co-produce and distribute a new work by the winner in the 2013 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival Short Film category. Brandon Adams\u2019 film Useless<\/em> took the award. (Useless<\/em> also won multiple awards at last year\u2019s 168 Film Project, including Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Acting). View Useless<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Christ Factor.<\/strong> From The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>: Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News anchor and author, has signed to write Killing Jesus: A History, as a follow-up to his best-selling books Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot and Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever. The book will be published Sept. 24 by Henry Holt and Co. Martin\u00a0Dugard,\u00a0O’Reilly’s co-author on the Kennedy and Lincoln books, also will serve as co-author on this project.<\/em> And the answer is…<\/strong> Congratulations to Jeff Foxworthy. His GSN game show The American Bible Challenge<\/em><\/a> has just won the prestigious Epiphany Prize<\/a> from the Templeton Foundation. It was\u00a0 presented at the Movieguide Awards<\/a> in LA\u00a0 on Friday. The show is executive produced by Odyssey Networks<\/a>. The hit show’s second season premieres on Thursday, March 21. For the complete list of this year’s Movieguide Awards winners click here<\/a>.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BDjS8_pmV48<\/a>\n Channels of faith.<\/strong> Speaking of Odyssey Networks, the company’s Call on Faith mobile video service<\/a> is offering two brand-new channels, one from Salvation Army and one from The Mormons. The download is free for a limited time.<\/p>\n Programming Note:<\/strong> Abel\u2019s Field<\/em>, <\/em>the heartfelt story of a unique friendship that develops between a parentless teen (Samuel Davis) struggling to raise his younger sisters and a wise but enigmatic high school grounds keeper Kevin Sorbo<\/a>), debuts this Sunday (7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 PM ET) on GMC TV<\/a>. Very good film. Recommended.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>You can read my review here<\/a>.\u00a0 Abel<\/em>\u2019s Field <\/em>is directed by Gordie Haakstad, written by Aron Flasher and produced by Tore Knos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. The Hollywood Parables.\u00a0 EchoLight Studios is following through with its multi-million dollar commitment, announced earlier this year, to support the next generation of Christian filmmakers. The fast-growing film production and distribution company plans to spend up to $1 million to produce and distribute a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,13,1591,24,31,1],"tags":[3951,3954,3955,3680,3904,321,3956,1440,1222,3244,3964,9046,3088,3919,3963,3960,2856,3661,3957,3958,3959,3953,3961,1329,3899,3952,3965,1118,3962,3905],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-good-works","category-movies","category-television","category-uncategorized","tag-killing-jesus","tag-168-film-project","tag-168-founder-and-director-john-david-ware","tag-abels-field","tag-aron-flasher","tag-bill-oreilly","tag-brandon-adams-film-useless","tag-call-on-faith","tag-christian-filmmakers","tag-echolight-studios","tag-epiphany-prize","tag-fox-news","tag-gmc-tv","tag-gordie-haakstad","tag-gsn-game-show-the-american-bible-challenge","tag-henry-holt-and-co","tag-jeff-foxworthy","tag-kevin-sorbo","tag-killing-jesus-a-history","tag-killing-kennedy-the-end-of-camelot","tag-killing-lincoln-the-shocking-assassination-that-changed-america-forever","tag-liberty-university-cinematic-arts-program","tag-martin-dugard","tag-odyssey-networks","tag-samuel-davis","tag-san-antonio-independent-christian-film-festival-saicff","tag-templeton-foundation","tag-the-hollywood-reporter","tag-the-new-testament","tag-tore-knos"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nComment:<\/strong> This one could even outsell those very popular Lincoln<\/em> and Kennedy<\/em> books — but chances of it catching The New Testament<\/em> remain highly doubtful.<\/p>\n