Hi friend,

When was the last time you held a hymnal to sing? Can you name more than 10 hymns? If so, you’re most likely over 25 years of age, and have experienced the transition to “modern worship” music.

Singing in the church goes back to the New Testament. Paul and Silas sang in their prison cell. Paul instructed the believers to encourage one another with “Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” I wonder if any of the songs sung then are still in use today. If not, why? Aren’t they as valid as the hymns of a few hundred years ago?

Music is a reflection of our culture, of the rhythm and lyrics of our lives. It develops with us and grows as new musical forms are explored. If the music of our faith is to be a living, breathing thing that progresses with our culture, it must change too.

The Psalmist said “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.” I hope we keep writing, singing and listening to new songs because it means we’re still recognizing and praising God.

Following in the footsteps of great hymnwriters like Horatio Spofford (It Is Well with My Soul) and John Newton (Amazing Grace), Casting Crowns writes from their personal journeys of faith. Their new recording, The Altar and The Door, is about the journey between the altar (faith) and the door (faith in action).

We don’t all have the same musical tastes, but I think everyone can find something to like in the list below or in our Music DVDs category. Whether it’s southern gospel, contemporary worship, alternate rock, or black gospel, you’ll find great music poured out from hearts of praise.

From the screening room,

Angela Walker
www.ChristianMovieNews.com

This week's interview is with Dean Batali, executive producer of "That 70's Show" and worship leader at his local church.(Quite the combo eh?)

Casting Crowns: The Altar And The Door - CD & T-Shirt

Casting Crowns' latest CD AND a Free T-shirt: Available only until August 28th!

After two Platinum-selling albums (Casting Crowns & Lifesong), one Platinum and one Gold live project (Live from Atlanta & Lifesong Live), numerous awards, and one of the most successful headlining tours in our industry, one might expect a different Casting Crowns. Those who meet this exceptional group, however, quickly realize they are still the same down-to-earth people with ministry at the heart of what they do both on the road, and in their local churches where each of the members serve on-staff or as laypeople, including lead singer/songwriter Mark Hall who still holds his post as youth pastor at his home church.

Casting Crowns' third album, The Altar and The Door, draws on this first-hand ministry experience with real people, real life struggle and the faith that overcomes. "At the altar, everything makes sense," says Hall. "When we’re in the church and spending time with God, we know what we’re supposed to do and how to live. Everything is black and white. But somewhere between the altar and the door, when we leave and go out into our lives, it all leaks out. Everything gets gray again. It's like we have these two lives, and the Christian life is the journey between the altar and door...trying to get the things you've got in your head, into your hands, into your feet, and into your life. This album is all about that journey of realization, the struggles we encounter and the victory of seeing it as possible."

The band is excited about the next ministry chapter to unfold, and is already planning Fall and Spring legs of The Altar and The Door Tour. With the debut radio single hitting in June and widespread media coverage starting late summer through the fall, this album is set to be another phenomenal release setting records and, more importantly, impacting hearts.

This offer only available until August 28th. Pre-order the CD and get the T-shirt free! (Available in Large size only)

Track Listing:

1. What This World Needs
   
2. Every Man
   
3. Slow Fade
   
4. East To West
   
5. The Word Is Alive
   
6. The Altar And The Door
   
7. Somewhere In The Middle
   
8. I Know Youre There
   
9. Prayer For A Friend
   
10. All Because Of Jesus

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Song X2003-2007: Christian Rock Hits Collection - DVD 5 years of the best of Christian Rock WOW Hits Collection - DVD Get 5 DVD's of the last 5 years of Christian music's biggest songs from its biggest artists WOW Gospel Collection - DVD Get the complete collection of exciting gospel music DVD's Hillsong Kids Collection - DVD Get all 3 DVD's from the exciting Hillsong Kids series Hillsong Music Collection - DVD Get all 6 DVD's from the bestselling worship team at Hillsongs in Australia Women Of Worship Collection - DVD 4 powerful worship DVD's featuring gifted female worship leaders Gaithers Around The World Collection - DVD A collection of performances of the Gaithers and their Homecoming Friends filmed on 4 continents Glory To God Alone: The Life Of J.S. Bach - DVD The most stupendous miracle in all of music. Newsong: Rescue (Live) - DVD By popular demand, NewSong releases their much anticipated and first ever LIVE WORSHIP project!

Industry Interview

Featured Filmmaker: Dean Batali
by Angela Walker

Dean Batali, executive producer for “That 70’s Show,” and writer for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is a Christian. Married for almost 21 years to Beth, his college sweetheart (their anniversary is in July), he has been in Hollywood for 15 years. Dean and Beth have two daughters: Erin, 12, and Katharine, 8. Dean’s cousin is also pretty well-known to television audiences: he’s the Food Network’s Mario Batali.

We met Dean at the Biola Media Conference where he was a panelist and presented a workshop. I talked with him the day before he drove up to San Jose for a screen-writers’ conference hosted by the ActOne training program.

CC.com: You became a Christian at age 18. Can you tell us about that?

Dean: I was raised in a Catholic home and attended a Jesuit high school, but it was kind of social church-going. The idea of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ wasn’t talked about a lot. I was talking with someone who said some that just clicked for me. I suddenly became aware of the reality of Jesus Christ in the world, and the Holy Spirit’s activity in the world. I said, “I want to give my life to Jesus Christ.” I never expected to hear those words coming out of my mouth.

I went to a very counter-cultural college called Evergreen State College. The core educational process was seminars. In one class, we’d read a book each week and discuss it on Fridays. We’d always have to defend our position. I was the only Christian in that class, and my teacher would ask, “Dean, what do Christians think about this?” I’d say, “Well, I don’t know, but here’s what I think.” So it was really quite interesting in an educational environment to be defending my faith as a new Christian, and be the only Christian in the room.

Flash forward 15 years later. I’m in Hollywood, and I’m still the only Christian in the room. It prepared me quite well. I treasure that time. It really helped my faith develop, on an intellectual level, as well as a spiritual and emotional level. It’s amazing how God prepares us.

CC.com: How did you meet your wife?

Dean: We met in an opera workshop. We were both singers. We sang in a jazz quartet for a while, and knew each other about two years before we started dating. She wasn’t a Christian when I first knew her, and I was quite an oddity to her. I was the very vocal Christian in the arts class. She eventually came to know God and we started dating.

After college, we worked together for the same theater company. I was writing shows and writing parts for her. I wanted to make people laugh in church in a way that I didn’t hear at church. I was frustrated by the tepid laughter I heard, and wanted to hear real laughter, like what I was hearing in theaters, from playwrights. So we came in with musical theater kind of songs, songs that made people laugh. I was aiming for laughter in kind of a “fractured fairy tale” style. The jokes were very fast-paced.

I heard big laughter, and that was really encouraging. We did a lot of inside jokes about the Bible. For example, Mary throws Elizabeth a baby shower and she (Elizabeth) receives a camel’s hair baby’s blanket and a baby bottle with locusts and honey. So we’re talking about John the Baptist. If you’re a Biblically literate church, you’re going to get that joke, but if not, it will go over your head.

CC.com: You mentioned musical theater songs. Are you also a musician?

Dean: I’m also a songwriter. I became a Christian when I was 18 years old. In high school I was in theater and played piano. I had considered going into Christian music, maybe worship leading and still write songs that had an appreciation for musical theater. So I was writing for productions and leading worship as well. I’ve been a worship-leader casually and semi-staff-wise at several churches.

I’m one of the few sitcom writers who plays in a worship band. I think I might be the only one. I’m sure there may be one or two others, but there aren’t a lot. I’m very open about my faith at work. When I mention I played in a worship band over the weekend, they have no idea what that means. They ask, “What kind of band do you play in? What kind of music do you play?” It’s so foreign to them.

CC.com: How did you get from musical theater for churches to writing and executive producing a top-rated TV sitcom?

Dean: I didn’t really get along with the director and was eventually fired. My wife was fired at the same time, mostly because she was married to me. It had been our vision to do theater together, she on the business side, and I would do the creative side. When were fired, it was devastating. We thought we’d do this forever.

Hollywood was in the back of our minds. We both saw it as a mission field and thought Christians should be present there. When all this happened, we decided it seemed to be time to go to Hollywood. We thought we would go for maybe 5 years, and if it didn’t work out, we’d come back to Olypmia, Washington.

When we first came here, she worked as assistant to the head of distribution for the Disney company using her administration skills. God provided a job that gave us health insurance and a steady income while I was making my way as a production assistant and getting jobs in Hollywood. It would have been hard to survive without that, and she had a job she enjoyed in entertainment.

After our first daughter was born, she would have been happy to go back to work, but a week before my daughter was born, I got my first staff-writing job. It was one of the confirmations we received from God.

CC.com: Was the job as production assistant your entry into Hollywood?

Dean: I actually started in the mailroom. It was a great place to be and I was meeting all sorts of people in television production. That led to a job on a pilot with these two writers; becoming their assistant, then more of a writer’s assistant to some writers for the third Bob Newhart show, who had run “Cheers” for 7 years. So suddenly I was learning from these great people and just soaking up an education. At the same time, I teamed up with another assistant because we thought we’d be more marketable. And maybe we’d get a job with these “Cheers” writers.

CC.com: How many different shows did you have scripts produced for before you were attached to a specific show?

Dean: It happened right about the same time. We wrote for four shows before we were put on the staff of “Hope and Gloria”: 2 animated shows and 2 television shows. It was on for about a year and a half in the early 90’s. It had its moments, but never really caught on.

The guy who created “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” read one of our scripts and we were hired onto “Buffy” right at the beginning. The first 13 episodes of the show had been written and produced before it went on air. My experience with “Buffy” started out very good, but about the middle of the second season, I wanted off the show. It began as a light allegory about high school set in the horror genre. But the show became darker and more sexual, and I wanted off.

I still have mixed feelings about having been on the show. I’m not sure I would accept the job today. When I speak, I admit I think the shows I’ve worked on have been damaging to our culture. I think “That 70’s Show” is more damaging because it takes place in reality. Vampires and werewolves aren’t real. 13-year-olds smoking pot and 15-year-olds having sex, both of which we portrayed on “That 70’s Show,” are real. So I can defend “Buffy” from a spiritual viewpoint in that good and evil are clearly defined, and good always won.

As we got into more spiritual things, it troubled me that the demons weren’t defeated by spiritual means. When I had to write an episode about a literal possession, that was a turning point for me. I thought, “I’m not sure I can do this any more,” and that’s when I started wanting to get off the show. We left at the end of the second season.

CC.com: Did you have the option to refuse writing the script, or were you contractually bound?

Dean: That’s a little complicated. I suppose I could have said “no,” but we don’t get to choose scripts. They’re assigned to us. If I had said no, I probably would have been fired. Or certainly kicked out and fired earlier rather than later. There are stories in Hollywood of Christians who refuse to do work and I respect them for that. And there are stories of Christians who do the work anyway. Is it compromise? I don’t know.

That’s a question I still struggle with. I don’t think compromise is a bad word. I think that we can’t bow before false gods. Daniel was a perfect example of that. Daniel’s skills as an administrator were used to help the Babylonians do the things God had said not to – more efficiently! It’s really troubling to understand that and I struggle with it.

Certainly sometimes God puts as a spy in an enemy camp, which is what Daniel was. I do very much envision myself as a spy in an enemy camp. I ask myself “What can I do to make this different? What can I do to be a little salt here? To show some truth here?” After we left “Buffy,” my partner and I got an offer to work on a new show: “Charmed.” I didn’t want to work on occult stories any more and it seemed to be a knock-off of “Buffy,” so I said no. That is one job I turned down not just for spiritual reasons, but also because it was a place I just didn’t want to be.

CC.com: How did you get to “That 70’s Show?”

Dean: My partner and I wrote a sample script that was sent onto the creators of “That 70’s Show,” and we got on second season. We stayed on that show for 7 years, although for the last 4 years, we wrote separately. Eventually as we moved up and the other writers left, we became the executive producers (showrunners) with a third person. That gave us more input on the stories. It was a good place to stay because of the reputation gain.

I don’t want to say that the end justified the means, but I do philosophically believe Christians need to be everywhere. Bob Briner’s “Roaring Lambs” is the manifesto of this. Christians need to be places where they typically have not been. In Hollywood, they don’t care what you believe; they want to see if you can do the job. So when your reputation for doing the job increases, then they come to you and say, “What kind of show do you want to do?” You have to put in your time in the trenches before you can write a show that shows more of what you believe. Somebody from outside can’t just write a pilot and get it on the air.

The question is: Is it okay to use our God-given talent to do things that take people away from him? That’s a great question, and again, I don’t have the answer. It is a new theology and philosophy to say that we are called by God to go where the darkness is being done and participate with them on a certain level. We’re trying to make the darkness less dark.

CC.com: Who are people you go to when you are struggling with these questions?

Dean: I surround myself with people who challenge me. Chris and Kathy Riley, directors of the Act One Writing Program, are screenwriters. Karen Covell, director of the Hollywood Prayer Network, is also a close friend. When I really need prayer, I call her. I feel she’s one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, but she’ll never be mentioned in “Entertainment Weekly.”

Angela: With your success, are you able to go to studios and pitch ideas they’re willing to produce?

Dean: I’m invited to meetings and into rooms not a lot of Christians are invited into. Meetings with high-level executives and networks and studios that “want to be in business with Dean Batali.” I have a real desire to see Christian characters in television. I haven’t written a pilot that’s good enough, or I haven’t phrased it quite right so the network said “Yes, we want this show.”

I’m pitching shows not only, but primarily, about Christian characters, and the response has been tepid. Networks are behind the curve on this. Passion of the Christ changed film, but not yet network television. Executives don’t see the need for these shows; they think they’re not hip. They don’t see how they could market these shows as moneymakers because they don’t look at Christians as consumers.

Angela: What will it take to affect Hollywood in the way “Passion” affected the film industry?

Dean: Just one show: the right one. We haven’t had a test case yet of a show run by Christians with Christian characters. As more Christians get into Hollywood and move up the ladder, they’ll be able to say there is an audience for this kind of show; it’s an underserved market.

Right now, most of the executives I’m going to see don’t have any connection with the Christian audience. To be blunt, they’re very suspicious of this audience and don’t want to be associated with them because they view us as judgmental. More complicated than that, they view us all as conservative Republicans, and they’re more afraid of that than our faith. They think we want to make laws that will prevent them from doing things.

Angela: At the end of the Biola Media Conference, what did you leave with?

Dean: It was really well-done. I loved that we had to choose from 3 – 7 workshops each time. I left more impressed with the Christians who are working in Hollywood and coming to Hollywood. The people who I meet, the spectrum of speakers to choose from – it’s vastly different from what it was 10 years ago. It’s quite exciting to be part of that, and I’m honored to be able to share my perspective.

To read the complete interview with Dean, please click here.