He created me... I think he is done being shocked by my sarcasm, rants and true ideas about the characters in the bible. Like James.
This rant was probably taken a little more personal than it should have been. A few weeks ago when I reported the subject matter to my parents, they could say that was probably an understatement. So, I am going to try to lean on this subject as calmly as possible. I do have a side to defend, but hopefully it is a little more open minded than most conversations go these days.
A popular topic taking place in the church has been the negative influence of the entertainment industry. This envelopes video games, film, social media...I guess just to broadly name a few.
Now, when I heard this, it was more directed towards how terrible the entertainment industry is for the christians living in our world today. Again, very difficult to not be offended, since I know it wasn't directed at me. Yet, since I have been pursuing the film industry since I was 13 (film acting) and made my break into the camera department of feature films and television series at 20, my heart broke. How can who I am in the industry be canceling out who I am in my life. It was like my two biggest identities where being told that they were not allowed to agree with each other.
So, as the rest of the message went on, I started quickly writing down every entering thought about what I knew as a Christian and what I knew as a film maker. I took a moment to look at both perspective, seeing why christians would not like the entertainment industry and why the entertainment industry wouldn't like christians. Sadly, both were very, VERY, obvious.
Christians, or why Pastors have dove in on this subject so much is because of idolatry. In Exodus 32, Moses delays the going to the promise land because he comes down off the mountain to find the people he has been leading, praising and worshiping golden idols from the very gold God gave them. If I remember the story correctly, they spoke in other tongues to the idols as well. They replaced God, the very one to save them from their misery, with golden statues because of their impatience and negligence in faith.
This chapter comes up a lot with the film industry being in the place of the golden calf. Some pastors use football in its place, or money. Yet, the majority place it on celebrities, saying how we are idolizing fake people (ie. because of their social media lives portraying them better than what they are in real life) and place their new fashion above time with God. One of my all time favorite pastors, who I have looked towards for leadership for 8 years, also mentioned celebrities having a negative effect on our lives and we shouldn't want to follow them...basically along those lines. It was a one sentence thing that I don't think most people caught but the mention of Hollywood has always made my ears stand up.
The christian part of me agrees. I can't say much because I have had the same celebrity crush for the past 11 years and I thought that after I met him, it would go away...and yet, here we are, crushing harder than ever because the person part of him is better than the celebrity part of him.
But I do understand it. In the world of christianity, idolatry is ANYTHING placed before God. The Ten Commandments mentions it clearly.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything." --> The wikapedia translation, if you will.
Nothing. Yet, every single day, we place something above God. If it is our own selfish desires, our hobbies, money, even our own drama...we place something before God everyday. I think it is just an easier, distancing example to place celebrities at the forefront of it because, as media, it is more well known and easier to deal with then someone's personal obsession with drinking or medication as their idol.
And as someone who has met many celebrities, most of them have the opinion that acting/modeling/singing is just their job. Just like a banker has to deal with foreclosures, a celebrity has to deal with fame. It was not the golden calf's fault it was built...it was just easy to follow to get away from the problems each person had with their lack of patience, little faith and boredom.
When you are bored and you are impatient, even the person with the most amount of faith can falter. Our flesh fails us. Daily. It fails me way more than that on a daily basis. Whatch my chocolate consumption and you will know. We continuously fall short of what we are being asked, however, blaming another industry you can't reach does not take your problems away from you...it just deviates your attention.
Now, I agree with the popular saying, "Sex sales."
It does. Any screenwriter, director or game player knows that that is true. Every girl has to have a bit of sexiness to her in the movies. Look at Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider...it went from badass chick who could fight the toughest of men to the sentence on the back of the dvd on the sequel "even sexier than the last." I actually put the movie back because of that.
No matter what we do as christians, this is a fact. Sex has always sold and the amount that is appropriate to view on a big screen is becoming more and more graphic. The lines of where to stop have been blurred a bit.
However, as much as I see why this is bad, being on set during these scenes being filmed, I can say that I (at least the sets I have been on) have never seen a more respectful situation occur. It is an art form but the men and women working on set pay complete respect to the situation at hand. It is not at all like the finished product with the music, lutts and before and after scenes to persuade your opinion. Each actor has been one hundred percent respectful of their partner, as well as the crew and the director to his talent.
I know this does not make it ok to have in films, in that stance, but I have been humbled by how amazing most crew members are. Its just a side stance I wanted to add in the blog. Don't go all intense on this if you don't agree...cause I also believe that it is apart of life and helps present story lines in better, more impactful ways, if done right.
Anyways, back to celebrities.
So a lot of the things that I hear from churches is that lights and giant bands are not supposed to be apart of the church. I don't know if it is because some are smaller churches and don't have the funds to have Christ concerts or because some churches enjoy the more simplistic, raw settings of a worship service...but this also confused me.
Here is how my mind went about it, because, yes, I agree that a church does not need a Christ Concert five times in one weekend to lead people to the Lord. God is powerful enough to lead someone to him while in a bathroom at publix because of a note card taped on the wall. God is all powerful. Concert or not, if he wants you, he will introduce himself to you and your life will forever be changed in the greatest of ways.
Yet, how I see it is that the concerts for Christ is a statement about the church and the people that go there.
Romans 12:1 says to present your body as a living sacrifice. That giving your body is the spiritual act of worship.
Matthew 22:37 states that you should love the Lord with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your soul.
Colossians 3:23 brings up the topic of working heartily, as if your work was for the Lord, not for man.
Not including any of the verses that have to do with working hard or God changing the work you do into good...or your calling or any of that. Just the verses alone above are just part of the reason why I believe that Hollywood should not just be mentioned in our church, but should be accepted.
...and just ignoring the fact that the entertainment industry, if thus so "negative", should be the first to enter our doorways of our church and be welcomed with opened arms...
It states that our bodies should be a living sacrifice for our father. That that alone is a spiritual act of worship. That we should work as if God is our boss, not man and that we should love the Lord with all our heart, minds and souls. That to me describes a worship service at most churches I have been to...mega church or not.
Have you seen worship teams? Or, actually, have you seen a service at Passion or Elevation? Do you know how many people it takes during the week, let alone the day of, to put on a service like that? One that has almost ten campuses, broadcasts to millions and yet, still, fills the people apart of it with the Lord's word. Do you even know?
Impressive? Sure. Beautiful...that's the word I choose.
Because instead of looking at the massive image of what happens, I zoomed in a little closer to the actual image. From door holders to parking attendants to musicians and graphic designers; everyone is giving their best. They are living sacrifices offering their talents that they have been given, back to God, in the best way they can. That's why the Christ Concerts work.
If you have the best person on lights, the best person mixing the sound, the best graphic designer setting up and running your screens and the most epic producer helping broadcast the images and feelings of the entire service to millions of people around the world...why wouldn't it work? Why is it frowned upon? And most importantly, why are our churches going against each other?
We are not all made equally so not all things work for all people. I much rather go to the mega church and cry every worship experience because of the beat drop on measure 32 when the best female vocals scream out "If the rocks yell your name than so will I."
Some people have amazing acoustic worships that can also wreck a persons soul in ways no amount of lights or graphics will ever be able to.
Our churches should be focused on using what people love to do best and giving them an an opportunity to praise God with it instead of focusing on how each other's services are wrong or right.
Side rant, I've also heard mentioned during a service that we shouldn't be flashy during services, that we should be simple, like in the bible days.
Um...Jesus turned water into wine. A dove flew out of a beam of light from heaven when he was baptized. He made blind men see and dead men rise...I'm not exactly sure God is against getting people's attention. In fact, Jesus almost always had a crowd. He fed thousands with one little boys lunch. One crowd was so big he went into a boat so he could preach further out where the acoustics could travel further back to the people furthest away from him. Even a man being healed had to sometimes come in through a roof just to get anywhere near Jesus' teachings.
I don't think God is against flashy or against crowds. I believe he is against your heart being grounded in them.
See the difference?
Because churches with big crowds means that the word, if being preached honestly and correctly, can reach more people. Crowds can be a good thing. Crowded worship services are probably the most powerful thing I have been apart of. A sold out football stadium all belting our "Worthy is the Lamb" etches goosebumps into your DNA. After a night like that, even the biggest non-believer could not deny God's existence. It is phenomenal.
Yet, Jesus also knew that during these big crowds, that he needed his smaller group too. So, like many of us in the mega churches, we have our main companions that we can belt out the same songs in the cars with on an average Tuesday or talk about God on a Thursday because chocolate waffles are bae.
And then, the most precious form of worship...being alone with the Great I AM. Honestly, my favorite way. I am all about Christ Concerts and talking God up with my friends but DANG...alone time with the Father himself recenters me completely.
Back on subject to flashy and crowds.
Celebrities and Hollywood kind of become the nouns of that definition. And wanting to be fully apart of that world, I had a crisis of if God was actually calling into the dream I have had since I was 13. If I was being preached to that these things were bad, then was God telling me they were bad? That being apart of Hollywood and becoming a celebrity was not going to line up with His word, then who was I going to be? Why did I put in so much effort for almost 12 years to have it all come crashing down at the time when my heart was the fullest being apart of it?
...and then it hit me.
This world needs to be in the churches eyes but not because of the sin within it...
Hollywood and Celebrities need to be within the church because of the potential it has.
Hollywood is known all over the world. Literally. Everyone who has been apart of the world knows about the glamour, the life, the cars, the chics and the joys it (supposedly) brings. It touches more people than the flu does a year. Almost every TV, tabloid, article and advertisement has someone who is in the spotlight on them...well, the spotlight more than your average teenager at a soccer match.
Hollywood has the platform Christ had when walking the earth.
They have the flashy water into wine, the close knit friends, the stories and talk about what each person is doing...so why not use them?
I mean, can you even imagine the life change that could happen across the world if Hollywood took the platform and gave it back to Christ? Where celebrities openly talked about their faith without being scared of the ramifications? If their social media showed a true life of how they love others, their actual friends and how they give their best, daily?
We don't need bible thumpers but we need real examples of inspiration. My favorite celebrities live life fully...and years later, I find out they are followers of Christ. We are all drawn and connected to each other. We don't have to constantly write bible verses on our Instagram but we can show a life and live in a way that inspires others to live their lives to the fullest. Inspirational people are inspired by others. They lead because they have been lead. They understand how to hold, love, honor and protect those around them.
Imagine a world where the people we look up at to follow...are actually looking up and following someone as well. God.
Our entire world would change. It would be a platform shift no-one could ever predict.
Hollywood is not the enemy, it is the platform for change.
Christianity and Hollywood are not separate. At least, I believe they shouldn't be.
We don't have to live in one life and not live in the other.
I don't usually bible thump people, unless they come at me...then usually I smile and walk away. Believe what you want to believe. Whenever God encounters you, you will know why I get excited and why I love my relationship with God. If you never believe, still come and be my friend. I see no problem in walking with you through life, laughing with you and caring about you. Unless you are genuinely a person I shouldn't be around...I'll be real honest, God can fix people but I sure as hell can't so if you are crazy, I love you, but from as far away as possible...like an ex or a stalker. Wish you the best but you best not stay by me.
I may not be alive long enough to see a drastic change in our industry but I believe it is there. And there have been numerous celebrities who have thanked God for where they have gotten in the industry.
"I'm a child of God first. Before I became a celebrity, I was baptized a Christian." Mr. T.
For me to sit down and ask for material things is ridiculous. It's a much bigger picture than that. I want to serve God and to be a good human being and to make up for the mistakes I made and the pain I put people through. That's what I'm praying for." - Mark Wahlberg.
"The more I go to church and the more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus and listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, I feel as though the pressure is off me now." -Sylverster Stallone
"All good is from God, and so I want to honor Him. It's honestly about learning more and instilling that in my kids and friends, and those around me." -Kevin Jones
As a member of the entertainment industry, all I try to do is my best. I realize I will fail. I realize I will work on movies that won't be based on christian morals. I realize that I will curse, do something I will regret, show a grumpy cat face when we work a 17 hour all nighter on the 6th shooting day of the week...but everyday the prayer is the same...in camera or when acting; You through me, Lord.
I don't want someone to come up and talk to me because they think I am pretty. I want them to talk to me because they see my life being lived differently. That they are intrigued by how my life has been set up, the friends I have, the hobbies I do, my work ethic or the dreams I am pursuing. I want them to see the effects of Him before the effects of me.
The prayer continues to help me build the platform needed to inspire people to live the life God always intended them to have. Basically, during my "meanwhile" prepare my character for my calling.
Lysa Terkeurst had a phenomenal message at The Grove (women's night at Passion City Church) about meanwhiles and preparing your character for your calling. Another celebrity to look up to.
If church took the pressures off of other churches and realized that celebrities are just as much human as they are...I could see a lot more growth happening in both Christianity and Hollywood. There is a divide because there is judgement from both sides. Both fairly pointed out and stated but both lacking in empathy of the situations present in both livelihoods.
There is opportunity for change. Christ concerts are just as impactful as acoustic hymnals. We are here to do our best and work as if we worked for God, not man. So lets do so and let God take care of the rest. He's got this. Focus on your calling and loving others. He will change the hearts he needs to by the means that calls to those people. It may not be your way but...
Hopefully that wasn't as harsh as the rant I yelled at my mom and dad a few weeks ago. If you were offended, my bad. Don't tell me because, honestly, I don't care. I believe the two worlds have great potential in becoming incredible allies. I disagree on either being the enemy and have believed these two worlds could go simultaneously through life since I was a very little girl. I would love to help bring them closer together...not in a hell fire and brimstone way...just live a life full of love and let God reach the people he can through it...or laugh my way into a 6 pack. I'm good either way.
Shout out to Hollywood Headshots for the amazing headshots above! Also, very thankful for Talent Direct Agency for believing in me and signing me. Can't wait to see what the future holds and what auditions are on the horizon. A great partnership I am very excited to grow.
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