What?

Mission

“America is the third largest mission field in the world.”    George Barna

"Even though a majority of Americans identify as Christian and say religious faith is very important in their life, these huge proportions belie the much smaller number of Americans who regularly practice their faith."
   George Barna

(See more on Barna's research on the Church in America at Barna.com.)

Our mission is to Strengthen the Church, Heal the Body, and Empower the Saints through the creative arts and the media.

Vision

We are a missions fellowship of creatives, artists, and educators "linking art and Biblical truth together" to magnify the Power and Life of the Holy Spirit!

How?

• By providing much needed entertainment alternatives – storytelling and experiential education.
  
  
• By producing movies and DVDs, TV programs and specials, advertising, educational media, etc., with the potential of redirecting our culture.
  
  
• By partnering with existing holistic ministries at home here in America, building spiritual community! [John15:12-15, Acts 2]

“Most troubling, however, is the impact popular culture has on our own spiritual lives.  We must learn how to identify the world views expressed in various art forms in order to critique them and craft an alternative that is soundly Biblical.”   Charles Colson & Nancy Pearcy

“Movies and television perception of life is mythical.  Movies and Television programming and advertising are sales media that powerfully present entertainment as a tantalizing misperception of life that is more fantasy than reality.  ...Our society, as well as the institutional church, has bought into this misperception of life without understanding the consequences of the message and the effects on all of our lives."

"Thus, artists and educators working together in community developing alternatives becomes
essential.”   Stephen Jahn

Where?

Of all the arenas where spiritual battles are being fought, none is more consequential than that of Advertising.

Even back in February of 1997, the Vatican Pontifical Council said, "We disagree with the assertion that advertising simply mirrors the attitudes and values of the surrounding culture. No doubt advertising, like the media of social communications in general, does act as a mirror. But, also like media in general, it is a mirror that helps shape the reality it reflects, and sometimes it presents a distorted image of reality."

"Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. This selectivity gives the lie to the notion that advertising does no more than reflect the surrounding culture."
(Source: Vatican Website)

Why?

What's Really Going On Out There

Probably the most significant study of the attitudes of members of the Mass Media Dominance was the Media Elite, by S. Robert Lichter, Stanley Rothman, and Linda Lichter.  Their research on the news media found, among other things, that:

• 45% of the media described themselves as either atheist or agnostic, compared to only 9% of the general public.
  
  
• 89% of the media reported that they seldom or never attend church, compared to only 25% of the general public.
  
  
• 88% of the media thought that “Television is not critical of traditional and religious values.”

This study was criticized for using too small a sample (240), but a much larger study conducted in 1985 by the Los Angeles Times found very similar results. The Los Angeles Times surveyed 3,000 journalists working at 621 newspapers and confirmed the Lichter/Rothman results finding that “Members of the press are predominantly liberal, considerably more liberal than the general public.”

Former Secretary of Education William Bennett has conducted a broad survey of available social science research which showed that between 1960 and 1997, American society saw:

• An 865% increase in the number of couples living together out-of-wedlock
  
  
• A 511% increase in the percentage of out-of-wedlock births
  
  
• A 106% increase in the number of children on welfare
  
  
• A 280% increase in the rate of violent crime
  
  
• A 155% increase in the teenage suicide rate
  

For more than twenty years, Michael Eisner was the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN.  Shortly before leaving Paramount Pictures to join Disney, Eisner wrote, “We have no obligation to make history.  We have no obligation to make art.  We have no obligation to make a statement.  To make money is our only objective.”  Roy Disney (nephew of the late Walt Disney) accused Eisner of turning Disney into a “rapacious, soulless” company.

Additional statistics available upon request.

When?

We believe that the time for action is now. Obviously, the battle for the hearts and souls of men has been raging since the Garden of Eden. But never before has the Enemy had at his disposal tools of communication and influence that can reach literally billions of people in the bat of an eyelash. We mean neither to be alarmist nor pessimistic. We strive only to be Biblical and realistic. It is high time that the church at large began to realize that she truly is the Representative of the Kingdom of Christ in this dark world, that He intends to move the world through her efforts, through the love and good deeds of her members, that Christ walks, talks, and acts in this world with her feet, mouth, and hands!

We have at our disposal the very power of the Holy Spirit of God! Isn't it about time that we stopped quailing and kowtowing to the god of this world and started trusting in and obeying the God of the Universe? Mission Light Partners is dedicated to reaching America and the whole world with this high and holy calling!