Comments on: Pirates in Sheep’s Clothing

By: Snowbird

Snowbird — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:21:41 +0000

Oh, I forgot to mention that I use to be lead singer for a group called,”Midnight Cry.” We’ve always used our own funds as best we could and donated our music everywhere anytime we were asked. Seems as though God somehow always provided. I am working on a CD and DVD at present but family has tried to talk me into at least accepting donations of a dollar each. Our flea markets are great for spreading the gospel. We have singles and groups in different areas that usually draw crowds. I haven’t tried that yet but its wonderful that its even allowed in this day and time. But best of all its FREE!!

By: Angela Walker

Angela Walker — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:24:25 +0000

Hi Snowbird,

I understand where you’re coming from, and sounds like you have a great heart for ministry and outreach. That’s terrific.

The questions of piracy and rights isn’t about people being greedy. In order to create films and music recordings, a lot of people are doing a lot of work, and the proceeds have to be split among a LOT of people.

Royalties paid are surprisingly low on a per-song or per-piece basis, and not too much to do to respect others’ work.

By: Snowbird

Snowbird — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:21:07 +0000

So if a person who has worked since age 10, sometimes 3 jobs at a time barely making ends meet…gets saved but still does not become rich suddenly discovers after some time and effort that they have a pretty good singing voice so starts finding expensive sound tracts at flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores for 50 cents and a dollar, should consider that they are breaking the law (although clearly, these items were donated) then at times needing funds made backup copies and sold the originals for the same price they paid, can consider themselves a crook? Thanks for that..you just pushed years and years of ministry down the drain in my mind. I figure a person not being there themselves would or could understand the price that a poor person would pay to be a good example and strive to make use of what they could find in this world to help others emotionally and spiritually in any way possible. I never ever considered that I could be committing fraud and that breaks my heart. I guess all these 16 years we’ve spent singing in the Nursinghomes has been a mistake in the minds of those who can only see through the eyes of money. But if you look closer, our world doesn’t survive on just money alone. Look at what has finally happened to our economy because of those filled with greed. One last comment..I would not trade the anointing on these low cost soundtracks for all the money in the world!!!!

By: Tom Swift

Tom Swift — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:52:58 +0000

Storm, you bring up a good point about this. It’s something that would probably be a good topic for another blog — many wonder where does the line get drawn for us. I remember some talk show host arguing that if Mel Gibson was going to make millions on his Passion Movie then he better use that money for a church… even though he used his own money to finance the movie. And since he made a movie about Jesus then there was a question of using Christianity for a get rich scheme.

What choice does a filmmaker who is a believer have, though? We sometimes walk around with this stigma and this guilt that if we mention Jesus or God in our films we are not allowed to make a profit on our films. So then what’s the alternative — justify making something ungodly or something without mentioning God and then it’s okay to keep the money? It takes prayer and wisdom to know what to do sometimes. I believe the answer is having prayerful balance and continue to ask God to check our hearts and motives.

By: storm

storm — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:02:54 +0000

I was just talking tonight with some believes and how concerned they are about the commercialization of the church. Should a church have to pay to use a hymn? Should churches become marketplaces for either music or films? Just questions, I think both can belong in the church-but we have to be careful how we approach this. Remember, the Gospel is free. What obligation do filmmakers who target the church as a delivery system? Ministry vs money again and if we go to the new testament we see Paul’s example…not exactly what is happening with our ministries today…

By: Tom Swift

Tom Swift — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:02:19 +0000

The distribution to churches seems to be a good idea for certain types of films made by Christians especially if the message of the film is targeted to believers in general with a message to impact them or if its evangelistic in nature. This is actually a modern use of 16mm film distribution in churches of years ago (as I believe Rich Christiano’s company used to be involved in). But that is just one form of distribution for films of Christian nature. Some films are designed to impact churches and reach the masses and thus will have the potential to go through other distribution methods. It also depends on the audience the filmmaker is targeting their message with.

By: storm

storm — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:00:56 +0000

Christiancinema.com should have their own cable channel or have all their content available to download on ppv so anyone with cable or sat tv can order the movies PPV..that’s the direction its headed..

By: Leslie I T Assih

Leslie I T Assih — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:36:51 +0000

Great things start on a small scale or at least in a small way. The multiplexes came by way of growth from the large media studios of Hollywood. Hollywood did not start out this way so we can’t expect the films in the Church to just overnight become huge. I think that outreachcinema is a very good idea as it is a start in the right direction. But that said distribution into countries like where I am based, the UK, is very little and if not almost non-existent especially where DVD purchases of Christian movies are concerned because of region formats. But we are working on something that will accelerate the movies that honour God to have nationwide distribution and effective international distribution. It will happen it just a matter of when and technology (coupled together with finance) will be a very effective tool to make that happen. Power and authority belongs to God and the entertainment world is no exception – For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.

By: Angela Walker

Angela Walker — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:52:12 +0000

They are doing this on a very small scale. PureFlix has made a couple of films, and their idea for church outreach is good. But we’ve got to get to the masses. Should the churches become the theaters we bring friends to? Or should we get our films into theaters where parents are dropping off their kids while they go shopping or out to dinner, where the masses are gathering on the weekends?

I see more people standing in line at my local theaters to buy tickets than standing in lines to get into the churches for any events.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:09:54 +0000

There is currently a studio that is doing exactly what you guys are talking about. You should check out these websites:

http://www.pureflix.com
http://www.outreachcinema.com

They are a Christian company dedicated to creating and distributing films to the churches. You can sign up your church as the outreach cinema church in your area or buy christian DVD’s from their website.