{"id":6006,"date":"2015-03-19T16:28:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T20:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=6006"},"modified":"2015-03-23T06:55:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T10:55:54","slug":"producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2015\/03\/producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe.html","title":{"rendered":"Producers of &#8220;God&#8217;s Not Dead&#8221; ask &#8220;Do You Believe?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In theaters this weekend: <em>Do You Believe? <\/em><\/strong>Opens Friday 3\/20.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Do You Believe? - Official Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4qY21_X7sss?start=131&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis (<a href=\"http:\/\/doyoubelieve.com\/\">from the film&#8217;s website<\/a>):<\/strong> A dozen different souls\u2014all moving in different directions, all longing for something <em>more<\/em>. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the Cross of Christ \u2026 even if they don&#8217;t believe it. Yet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong> Despite its box office success, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/03\/gods-not-dead-preaches-to-the-choir-but-general-audiences-will-likely-be-turned-off.html\">I was disappointed with <em>God&#8217;s Not Dead<\/em><\/a> &#8212; seeing it as a missed opportunity to reach beyond the choir with a serious message of faith. While <em>Do You Believe?<\/em> (from the producers of <em>GND<\/em>) is also most likely to find its audience among those who would<em>\u00a0<\/em><span class=\"st\">unequivocally <\/span> answer its title question with a resounding &#8220;Yes!,&#8221; it presents its story in a way that is less likely to turn off the skeptical &#8212; and may even draw in some.<\/p>\n<p>With an attractive and well-known cast that includes Mira Sorvino, Sean Astin, Cybill Shepherd, Lee Majors, Ted McGinley, Brian Bosworth, Delroy Lindo and Andrea Logan White, we are presented with several interlocking stories of people facing crossroads of faith in the their lives. They include a homeless mother (Sorvino) and her daughter (Makenzie Moss) who are taken into the home of an elderly couple (Shepherd and Majors) scarred by the loss of their own child years earlier, a seriously ill church worker with a heart of gold, a pastor (McGinley) whose faith is challenged by an incident involving a street corner minister and an brilliant doctor (Astin) who is decidedly skeptical of miracles. The dialogue and characters are believable,\u00a0the stories mesh well and, for the most part, it all works seamlessly. In fact, I wouldn&#8217;t mind seeing a sequel about what happens to Doctor Farrell, the skeptical physician so well-played by Astin. There is, I think, a film there.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Do You Believe?<\/em> is Recommended.<\/strong><\/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. In theaters this weekend: Do You Believe? Opens Friday 3\/20. Synopsis (from the film&#8217;s website): A dozen different souls\u2014all moving in different directions, all longing for something more. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,1591,7533,24,1],"tags":[35,6659,7789,7787,7790,7969,3679,7792,8084,4019,5238,1232],"class_list":["post-6006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-good-works","category-homlessness","category-movies","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-andrea-logan-white","tag-brian-bosworth","tag-cybill-shepherd","tag-delroy-lindo","tag-do-you-believe","tag-gods-not-dead","tag-lee-majors","tag-makenzie-moss","tag-mira-sorvino","tag-sean-astin","tag-ted-mcginley"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Producers of &quot;God&#039;s Not Dead&quot; ask &quot;Do You Believe?&quot;<\/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\/2015\/03\/producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Producers of &quot;God&#039;s Not Dead&quot; ask &quot;Do You Believe?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. In theaters this weekend: Do You Believe? Opens Friday 3\/20. Synopsis (from the film&#8217;s website): A dozen different souls\u2014all moving in different directions, all longing for something more. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2015\/03\/producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-19T20:28:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-23T10:55:54+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":"Producers of \"God's Not Dead\" ask \"Do You Believe?\"","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\/2015\/03\/producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Producers of \"God's Not Dead\" ask \"Do You Believe?\"","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. In theaters this weekend: Do You Believe? Opens Friday 3\/20. Synopsis (from the film&#8217;s website): A dozen different souls\u2014all moving in different directions, all longing for something more. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2015\/03\/producers-of-gods-not-dead-ask-do-you-believe.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2015-03-19T20:28:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-23T10:55:54+00:00","author":"John W. 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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\/6006","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=6006"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6048,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6006\/revisions\/6048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}