Prayer Changing Lives In Hollywood

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) Jim and Karen Covell met at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1978 when Karen was producing the school musical, "Pippin" and she hired Jim to be the musical director for the show.

"He claims that he saved my show and I brag that I gave him his first job!" Karen Covell, who heads up the Hollywood Prayer Network, told ASSIST News Service (ANS). (Pictured: Hollywood actors, writers and producers gather for prayer).

  "We worked together, doing many shows and were just platonic best friends for 6 years until one day we both literally discovered that we were a boy and girl. We talked about it that day and one year later we were married. We have worked together and been best friends, every since. We are now married for 19 1/2 years. Jim counts the days, so he says we've been married 7190 days (as of 10/9/03)!"

The Covells have been working in Hollywood for the last 20 years and have seen much fruit as they have ministered to their Christian and non-Christian colleagues in the Lost Angeles area. Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of the ASSIST News Service, caught up with Karen by e-mail for this insider's look at Hollywood.

Michael Ireland: How did the Hollywood Prayer Network begin?
Karen Covell: "I have known for years that more prayer was needed in Hollywood. Jim and I were two of six founding members of Premise - a prayer group for writers, directors, and producers - which began in 1982. But that is still limited. So, three years ago I approached the director of Inter-Mission ministry, out of Hollywood Presbyterian Church and told him my idea to start a global prayer effort for Hollywood. He said 'great,' but then it took two more years to get the church approval, the funding and for me to complete our last book."

"So in July of 2001, I launched it and we already have 1,200 committed prayer warriors praying from our monthly emails and we have now 40 one-one-one prayer partnerships where a Christian intercessor on the outside of Hollywood commits to pray for one Christian industry professional on the inside of the mission field. They then have more intimate, powerful prayer going on, along with the mass mailings each month. "

"We are growing like mad and have about 50 new subscribers each month. As of this Friday, we are launching our new expanded interactive Website where people can subscribe on their own, read articles about our industry, get a resource page of great books to read about Hollywood as a mission field, have a chat page on what to pray for and link with other industry ministries and other prayer sites. It¹s all found at www.Hollywoodprayernetwork.org." Karen and Jim believe that "Washington is the seat of power, but Hollywood is the seat of influence."

KC: "That quote is not ours, but something that we heard years ago and realized was the truth. Now who the original source is, I don't know...But it means that though Washington D.C. is where people have power to make and change laws, deal with foreign leaders and affect policy, Hollywood is where you can get inside the brains of everyone in the world and tell them what you want them to believe or think about. Washington can't reach individuals as intimately as a film, TV show or song can do because art reaches the heart and politics reaches the mind," said Karen.

"Therefore, Christians have to understand the influence that Hollywood has on the world and realize that this is a mission field that needs attention, prayers, financial support and a place where missionaries need to be sent."

"It also means that there is a powerful spiritual battle here. Because of the influence, Satan doesn't want Christians here and he has done a good job of keeping us out. But we're getting smarter and we believe the Lord is dropping off the blinders on our eyes and we are suddenly seeing that the giants are NOT too big and we must go in and repossess the land."

"We can be most effective as a Christian community by praying for the people here, both Christians and non-Christians, by using the media as an outreach tool, not boycotting or sending hate letters to non-Christians here. We also need to send young, talented Christians here to join our growing Gideon's Army so that we can continue to build a strong community of committed believers who will unify and make an eternal difference by our talent, our presence and our witness to those around us."

MI: Why should Christians be involved in the world of the arts, media and entertainment? What should be their aim or goal in being there? How do they carry this out?

KC: "Christians have to understand that God LOVES creativity, creative people and creation. That was His first act and each day when He was done He said 'That is good!' We must have the same joy with our creativity and celebrate the arts as an incredible gift from the Lord. And when we use our craft we should 'feel His pleasure' (from "Chariots of Fire")

"However, Christians in the arts must first and foremost be followers of Jesus Christ. Then we have to use the gifts He's given us for His glory, for our pleasure and as a tool to reach the non-believers in our industry with the truth of the gospel. We were told to go out into all nations and preach the good news to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Well, Hollywood is Samaria and we have a lot of work to do."

MI: What is the present spiritual state of Hollywood at this time?

KC: "In the last 5 years God has been moving faster and in bigger ways than ever before. We have mailing lists of over 3,200 Christians who are media professionals, we are seeing churches, one at a time, finally getting the vision for this place and supporting their 'artists' as they live and work here. We see more and more young believers coming out from all over North America to be missionaries here as they pursue their craft. We see more unity and more boldness amongst the Christians and even more openness about spiritual issues amongst the non-believers. It¹s thrilling and we truly believe that we are in Ninevah and God is telling us to tell the people about Him so that He can redeem this place. We are actually now praying for a revival here and truly believing that it will happen!"

MI: Can you give me some illustrations of how you have been able to minister to people in Hollywood?

KC: "Jim and I have personally ministered to people here by loving them, spending time with them, serving them, giving them Bibles, being open and uncompromising about our faith, inviting them to outreach parties, church and our home. We have turned down a lot of work and taken the time to tell people why, so that they know more about us and our beliefs. We are training Christians to come out of the closet and 'Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out.' We also work with all the current ministries and are active in unifying them, helping them and networking to get others to join in their work as well. We take a lot of time to talk to new, young people coming in to town in order to get them plugged in to the Christian community here. We made a great list of local churches of all demoninations that are 'industry friendly' that we give to anyone who is searching for a church."

"We give out books, Bibles with people's names on it (MasterMedia International has gotten 10,000 free Bibles from the American Bible Society that have been printed specifically for Entertainment Industry Professionals and they make them available to anyone to give for free to non-Christians in our business). We love giving those away and we have lent them our Bible stamping machine so that each Bible has the person's name printed on the front. They are beautiful and a fabulous gift!)"

³We encourage prayer and we pray as much as we can ourselves. We also pray right on the spot to anyone who is going through a hard time, a personal or professional struggle ‹ both believers and non-believers. Prayer is a great encouragement to EVERYONE. All of these things minister to both the Christians and the non-Christians.²

MI: Is there a danger of seeing the people working in Hollywood as souls rather than people, and is your aim to see people saved or to see Hollywood produce more family-friendly movies and TV series? or both?

KC: "Our sole aim is to see people in the Media become Christians who don't yet know Him. Because if their hearts don't change then the product they make won't change. So, why try to make non-Christians act like Christians or make films like Christians if they aren't Christians. We want to see these people freed up of their many and varied bondages so that they can live abundant lives. And one of the wonderful natural results of that is that these new creatures will then want to make more family-friendly films, pop songs and TV shows. But to do it the other way around is ludicrous!"

MI: Please tell the story of how Hollywood got its name.

KC: "Hollywood began initially as a 'gated' housing community on the side of the Hollywood Hills called Hollywoodland. It was a built by a group of Christians who wanted a safe place to live. Then the film industry started moving in and the people in Hollywoodland weren't very pleased. They put a sign up on their entrance gate to their housing area that read: 'No dogs or actors allowed.' This began the hatred between the Christian community and the entertainment industry community. And it's just gotten worse from there."

MI: How do you keep from getting jaded in "Tinseltown"? How do you maintain your focus? What is your secret?

KC: "First of all, we don't use the term Tinseltown, because that's a put down to a place that we love and respect. But there is a struggle to get jaded in Hollywood and the only way to stay as 'pure' as possible is to remember that this place is not our home. We are aliens in a foreign land (anywhere besides heaven, not just Hollywood) and we are to seek God as long as we're here. We also can't play by the world's rules or we would be discouraged, competitive and paranoid, like most of the people here. We do the best we can do and then ask the Lord to give us His perspective. This place stretches our faith more than anything else I can imagine. But I love it because I NEVER want to be a mediocre Christian and living here makes that impossible!" MI: What do Christians across America need to learn and understand about Hollywood? How can they better understand what goes on there?

KC: "The best way for Christians across America to understand the Media is to PRAY, asking God to reveal to them who these people really are and what they can do to reach out to them in love and compassion. They can also educate themselves by reading some or all of these books: "Hollywood Worldviews" Watching Films with Wisdom & Discernment, by Brian Godawa, InterVarsity Press; "Reel Spirituality" Theology and Film in Dialogue, by Robert K. Johnston, Baker Academic (publisher); "Reflections on the Movies" Hearing God in the Unlikeliest of Places, by Ken Gire Cook Communications;"Roaring Lambs" A Gentle Plan to Radically Change Your World, by Bob Briner, Zondervan Publishing House - great books to help Christians understand our industry and the product we produce."

MI: What special or particular projects are you and Jim involved with personally at this time (TV programs, movies, books, etc)?

KC: "Jim is currently working on a children's video series called 'The Kids 10 Commandments.' He's also producing a series of commercials and also scoring a TV series that airs on Chinese TV. He also has a series currently running on the Learning Channel called 'U.S. Marshals.'

"I am producing a Documentary, for which I got a grant, on 'How to Pray for Hollywood as a Mission Field.' I'm also raising our two 'Wonder boys,' Cameron, age 7 and Christopher, age 12. "We are also working on our third book with our writing partner Victoria Michaels Rogers called 'To Have And To Hold On.' It's marriage stories about couples whose marriages would not have survived if Jesus had not intervened in some miraculous way."

MI: How can people pray for Hollywood? How have you seen answers to prayer through HPN? Why is it important for Christians across America to pray for writers, actors, producers and directors?

KC: "They can pray specifically for the people and for the Lord to touch their hearts, transform their lives and bring Christians into their lives who will be great witnesses to them. We have seen many answers, from non-believers becoming Christians to Christians changing their entire outlook on why they are here and how the Lord can actually use them to make an eternal difference in the lives of all the people around them. All of the people here need prayer because they need to humble themselves as artists and let the Lord work through them. They need to know two things: There is a God and none of us are Him!"