{"id":5613,"date":"2014-11-14T10:51:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T15:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=5613"},"modified":"2014-11-14T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T15:53:07","slug":"bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Bible&#8221; producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. Jakes + An &#8220;Old Fashioned&#8221; challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Help for persecuted Christians.<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/variety.com\/2014\/biz\/news\/mark-burnett-roma-downey-drive-25-million-fundraising-campaign-to-aid-displaced-christians-1201355767\/\">Variety reports<\/a> that producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (<em>The Bible, Son of God<\/em>) have joined with the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Global Engagement to set up\u00a0 the Cradle of Christianity Fund.\u00a0 Their goal is to raise $25 million for relief efforts to assist about 800,000 displaced Christians in Iraq and Syria. The couple, who are currently at work on two upcoming miniseries (NBC\u2019s <em>A.D.<\/em> and CBS\u2019 <em>The Dovekeepers<\/em>), have seeded the effort with a million dollars of their own\u00a0 money. Downey says \u201cWe want to wake people up to the horrors going on over there and speak out on behalf of religious freedom.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/Big-Hollywood\/2014\/11\/13\/Mark-Burnett-Roma-Downey-Launch-25-Million-Fundraising-Campaign-To-Aid-Christians-in-Iraq-Syria\">h\/t Big Hollywood<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>T.D. Jakes X 2.<\/strong> The powerhouse preacher\/entertainment mogul who scored a major box office hit this past year with<em> Heaven is for Real<\/em> is out to prove the appeal of faith-themed movies is for real. Toward that end, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/td-jakes-scoops-up-film-747958\">Hollywood Reporter reports<\/a> he&#8217;s picked up the rights to the book <em>Where a Man Stands: Two Different Worlds, an Impossible Situation, and the Unexpected Friendship That Changed Everything <\/em>by Carter Paysinger and Steve Fenton. The book tells the true story of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Paysinger, who rose from humble beginning to become the first African-American principle of the predominantly-white Beverly Hills High, and Fenton, his Jewish friend who helped him turn the struggling school around. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/heaven-is-real-producers-reteam-747889\">THR also says<\/a>\u00a0Sony has snapped up <em>Miracles From Heaven<\/em>, a faith-based project that reunites Jakes with his <em>Heaven is for Real <\/em>producing collaborator Joe Roth. Former Sony exec DeVon Franklin (also a preacher) will also produce. The latter film is based on the soon-to-be-released book <em>Three Miracles from Heaven<\/em>: <em>A Sick Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and the Lives Forever Changed<\/em> by Christy Beam. It tells the story of Beam&#8217;s daughter who fell three stories, reportedly visited Heaven before being revived and went on to be healed of a rare and apparently incurable digestive disorder from which she suffered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An <em>Old Fashioned<\/em> box office showdown.<\/strong> Rik Swartzwelder &#8212;\u00a0 writer, director, producer and star of the upcoming independent, faith-friendly romantic film<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oldfashionedmovie.com\/\"> Old Fashioned<\/a> &#8212; <\/em>is throwing down the gauntlet at the much higher profile S&amp;M-themed <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\">Fifty Shades of Grey<\/a><\/em> backed by Universal Studio<em>s.<\/em> Both films are slated to premiere over Valentine&#8217;s Day weekend in 2015 in what looks to be a classic David and Goliath face-up. Think of <em>Old Fashioned <\/em>as the <em>Rocky<\/em> of romantic cinema. Here&#8217;s hoping it not only goes the distance but scores a knockout.\u00a0 Swartzwelder, BTW, sorta reminds me of a young Robert Redford.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1415960351925_4596\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1415960351925_4595\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XFO-RmMv6T8&#038;feature=youtu.be\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XFO-RmMv6T8&amp;feature=youtu.be<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><strong>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Help for persecuted Christians. Variety reports that producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible, Son of God) have joined with the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Global Engagement to set up\u00a0 the Cradle of Christianity Fund.\u00a0 Their goal is to raise $25 million for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,10,13,7192,1591,17,19,21,24,4318,31,1],"tags":[6407,35,7579,7572,7578,7573,7574,7570,7569,3354,7575,5011,7577,7568,4128,7567,7566,7546,7109,7580,4130,7576,3783,7571],"class_list":["post-5613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christianity","category-current-events","category-family-matters","category-freedom","category-good-works","category-interfaith-dialogue","category-islam","category-judaism","category-movies","category-racism","category-television","category-uncategorized","tag-son-of-god","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-aith-friendly-romantic-film-old-fashioned","tag-an-impossible-situation","tag-and-the-lives-forever-changed-by-christy-beam","tag-and-the-unexpected-friendship-that-changed-everything-by-carter-paysinger-and-steve-fenton","tag-beverly-hills-high","tag-cbs-the-dovekeepers","tag-cradle-of-christianity-fund","tag-fifty-shades-of-grey","tag-former-sony-exec-devon-franklin","tag-heaven-is-for-real","tag-her-journey-to-heaven","tag-institute-for-global-engagement","tag-joe-roth","tag-mark-burnett-and-roma-downey-the-bible","tag-mid-east-christians","tag-nbcs-a-d","tag-rik-swartzwelder","tag-robert-redford","tag-t-d-jakes","tag-three-miracles-from-heaven-a-sick-little-girl","tag-universal-studios","tag-where-a-man-stands-two-different-worlds"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Bible&quot; producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. Jakes + An &quot;Old Fashioned&quot; challenge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Bible&quot; producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. Jakes + An &quot;Old Fashioned&quot; challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Help for persecuted Christians. Variety reports that producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible, Son of God) have joined with the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Global Engagement to set up\u00a0 the Cradle of Christianity Fund.\u00a0 Their goal is to raise $25 million for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-14T15:51:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-14T15:53:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Bible\" producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. Jakes + An \"Old Fashioned\" challenge","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Bible\" producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. Jakes + An \"Old Fashioned\" challenge","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Help for persecuted Christians. Variety reports that producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible, Son of God) have joined with the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Global Engagement to set up\u00a0 the Cradle of Christianity Fund.\u00a0 Their goal is to raise $25 million for&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2014-11-14T15:51:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-14T15:53:07+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/11\/bible-producers-aid-mid-east-christians-two-more-for-t-d-jakes-an-old-fashioned-challenge.html","name":"\"Bible\" producers aid Mid-East Christians + Two more for T.D. 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Jakes + An &#8220;Old Fashioned&#8221; challenge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5615,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions\/5615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}