CaliforniaFamilyMinute

 October 5, 2011

Media Being Used for the Common Good

by Ron Prentice,
Chief Executive Officer

Reminder: If you missed last Friday’s notice of a matching gift, click here.  Thank you to the MANY people who have participated in the challenge! 

Good News! After just three episodes, NBC’s The Playboy Club has been canceled. The best news is tied to the power of the voice of people who called and wrote NBC and the show’s advertisers. Morality in Media reported last week that seven major companies had pulled their advertising from the program, after more than 20,000 emails had been sent to them. 

The Playboy Club opened to dismal ratings and its demise was likely; but it was expedited by the public hitting where it hurts: profit. Various Web sites and electronic communications were powerful in asserting pressure that led to change.

Courageous, a new film produced by Sherwood Baptist Church, debuted at number four in its first weekend in theaters.  Christianity Today says this is “Sherwood’s best movie yet, [where] fathers are challenged to step up to the plate and do the right thing.”

Also from CT, “All kinds of sociological factors contribute to the decline in fatherhood, but the makers of Courageous aren't interested in blaming society. They want to address a clarion call to fathers—to husbands, to men—to buck the trend, to make a heroic commitment, in the teeth of an apathetic or hostile society, to do what is right, loving, and honorable by their children and their children's mothers.”

Plugged In Online suggests that Courageous is a pull-no-punches film asking “what does fatherhood take?” and men, “will you do it?”

“180” is another media resource that has been viewed by half a million people in its first week online. A pro-life documentary, 180 is a great way to spend 33 minutes of your time. Produced and directed by Ray Comfort of The Way of the Master ministry, some of the images are graphic as Comfort begins his message with scenes from the Holocaust. You will be surprised by the change in perspective that takes place from on-the-street dialogue between Comfort and eight brave individuals who were willing to stop and consider some simple, yet critically important, questions posed to them.