About the Gideon Conference.I hope all of you can make it there next year (no definite dates yet, but it will be in June of 2009). Below is a report on the conference, the attendees, the staff, etc to whet your appetite.The Gideon mission statement I am going to shorten up to, "To spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through all types of media." This first one emphasized radio, theatre, church drama, music, television, and film. As such the attendees were largely authors, screenwriters, radio, and film people. There were a number of actors (some who have been in some pretty big time movie and TV shows). There was a heavy emphasis on movie and film (authors got to pitch their screenplays or novels to about 17 producers on one afternoon). Check out the work of The Erwin Brothers (in particular, check out the trailer for the film "Honor") http://www.erwinbrothers.com/home.html and The Saylors Brothers http://www.myspace.com/saylorsbrothers they debuted a film entitled "Hollywood on Fire" about the Christians working in Hollywood.There was quite a bit of emphasis on children's productions in children's books, TV, film, radio, etc. In fact ,one of the keynote speakers was Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales, who not only gave a very moving and inspirational, Spirit-filled keynote address/testimonial but his class the next day saw the debut of Jelly Telly and Jellyfish Labs, Inc. his new online television network and publishing company. We got sneak previews of some of the incredible productions that are finished so far and got in on his plans for launching the network in August of 2008. You can get some sneaks at philvischer.com. By the way, this new network is going to be a great opportunity for artists and authors who are led to produce for children. http://www.philvischer.com/The Monday night keynote was given by Michael Catt. Rev. Catt is the pastor of the Sherwood Baptist church in Albany, Georgia. They are the church that produced the movie "Facing the Giants." Now, I must confess, that I was one of those who thought the acting was, bad, etc. Bur after listing to Mr. Catt, I came away with a newfound respect for what they have done and are continuing to do at Sherwood films. Their first movie was "Flywheel" and cost $20,000 to produce. "Facing the Giants" cost $100,000 and we got to see a sneak preview of "Fire Proof" which has ramped up the budget and production values even more. His inspirational message was, "Work with what you have. Do the best that you can. Let God be in charge of the results." His class the next day was entitled, "Ministry Mavericks," which again inspired us all to take chances for God. http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/Ken Wales, producer of "Amazing Grace" was there along with a bunch of great faculty. We saw some great films, saw sneaks of upcoming productions, learned that there are a lot more Christians in Hollywood than you would ever guess. Some of them are even doing some of the top blockbuster movies around like "Spider Man 3" and "I Am Legend." But, like you and I, most are using their gifts to God's purpose right where He called then to be.There is much more, but I hate typing. If you go to this link, you can read and see more about the conference:http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%25253D165079%252526M%25253D201125%2C00.html?If this piques your interest in any way (and I hope it does), please contact Lori Marrett at llmarett@charter.net and tell her you are interested to see graphic novels/comics media included in next year's Gideon Media Arts Conference.Ken Raney
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