Atlanta Journal-Constitution FAITH / VALUES SATURDAY • March 23, 2002

Los Angeles. Scene: Saturday night at a studio in Culver City.

Cast: Actress Dyan Cannon of "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" and "Ally McBeal"; a 12-piece rock group; 150 extras, including giggling teenagers and dignified older adults --- with some working in the entertainment industry.

Set: A platform flanked by pillars of balloons in front of rows of stackable chairs.

The music is loud and familiar --- "That's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it." Cannon, in sequined indigo jeans, bounces on an invisible pogo stick, her blond curls flapping. The silver swirls on the jeans seem to take the shape of letters --- GPW on one leg, DC&U on the other. It's God's Party With Dyan Cannon and You.

When she flips through Scripture, reading from Genesis 1 and from the Gospels, her message is basic --- God created man and woman in his image; God is love; therefore people are made in the image of love.

Cannon's fraternity bash of a Bible study is one of the funkiest, flashiest and fringiest of a multitude of ministries by and for people in the entertainment industry.

In a community where millions of dollars are made and spent on skin-deep beauty, truth is frequently sacrificed for plot, and the object of worship is a golden idol named Oscar, old-time religion seems to be gaining popularity.

Hollywood's latest discovery is God.

Some Christian leaders attribute the shift to years of intentional prayer for the culture. Some say it's a result of a change in reformers' tactics from enmity to infiltration.

"There's just no way to even describe the radical difference and openness," says the Rev. Larry Poland, who founded the Mastermedia International ministry for studio executives in 1980. "There's more visibility for people who have a deep commitment to God than I've seen in 22 years."

"I feel like there's a huge revival happening in Hollywood," says Gwyne Allen, 23, a Christian in comedy development at 20th Century Fox television.

Young Christians like Allen are moving to L.A. to try to break into show business. Christian ministries are entering the entertainment marketplace, promising products slick enough for mass appeal. And industry insiders are finding more receptivity for their religious expressions.

"When I first came to my faith 15 years ago, it wasn't a very welcome statement in Hollywood," said veteran actress Jennifer O'Neill, who tells the story of her own faith journey in a new book, "From Fallen to Forgiven." "I think there are a lot of closet Christians in the business, and I think they're starting to come out of the closet."

The result is a kind of cosmic convergence:

A handful of scattered groups have evolved into a strong network of about 20 ministries, each aimed at a particular stratum within the entertainment community. More intimate Bible studies take place on movie and television sets or in the homes of Hollywood professionals.

Christian colleges are offering courses, or even majors, in motion pictures and broadcasting. More than 500 students from 77 Christian campuses have studied through the Los Angeles Film Studies Center, a program of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. Students regularly secure internships at major studios, and 35 percent of the center's alumni are working in the entertainment industry, said its director, Doug Briggs.

Some of the top authors in Christian publishing are taking their name recognition into the motion picture and television arenas. Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, authors of the mega best seller "Left Behind" series, founded separate production companies. In January, Jenkins and his son, Dallas, released their first film, "Hometown Legend." LaHaye launched Tim LaHaye Productions last year to collaborate with other companies in producing worthwhile films. Movies about St. Valentine and Lady Godiva are under way. Bruce Wilkinson, author of the top nonfiction Christian book "The Prayer of Jabez," announced this year that he will move to California "to pursue a broader mission through the medium of television and film."

A- and B-list celebrities are revealing their Christianity. Actor Judge Reinhold speaks at churches. Jim Caviezel, who has the title role in "The Count of Monte Cristo," refuses to do scenes that conflict with his Catholic beliefs. Randall Wallace, who has written, produced or directed "Pearl Harbor," "Braveheart" and "We Were Soldiers," is open about his Christian background. The Rev. Tim Storey, known in some circles as the "preacher to the stars," holds Bible studies that have drawn Natalie Cole, Charlie Sheen, Hunter Tylo, Christian Slater and Gary Busey. Three years ago, Storey baptized 30 believers, including model and Playboy playmate Monique St. Pierre, in the swimming pool at the home of Michael Landon's second wife, Lynn.

Cannon, 65, who grew up with a Jewish mother and a Christian father, began studying Christianity about 30 years ago. "After two marriages and two divorces, I was not only desperate to find love," she tells her Bible study, which meets twice a month, "I wasn't going to quit until I found the real deal."

In a national atmosphere in which Christians often divide along ideological lines, the Hollywood faithful seem to be holding together in a community that embraces Pentecostals, mainline Protestants, evangelicals and Catholics.

"We need each other," said Michele Suh, 34, a violinist who works with Associates in Media, an organization affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Scene: Sunday morning services at Hollywood Presbyterian Church.

Cast: Clergy, musicians and a congregation that includes a good sampling of entertainment professionals.

Set: A brick church in sight of the famous Hollywood hillside sign. Its traditional sanctuary has dark beams, deep purple carpeting and a choir loft with a massive pipe organ.

An associate pastor, the Rev. Scott Erdman, leads the congregation in prayer "for the entertainment industry . . . for the missionaries in that mission field."

The church gives more than lip service to the company in this company town. Its chapel is often the setting for television and movie weddings and funerals. The TV series "Providence" shoots some scenes in its youth building. And its facilities include two theaters.

On this Sunday afternoon, Actors Co-Op, a resident theater company, is presenting the Neil Simon comedy "Fools" in one theater while actors do readings for a future production of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" in the other.

Actors Co-op gives its Christian company members both a showcase for their talents and a support network as they venture into the secular world. "There's no other company in this town where you can have 50 people praying for you when you're up for an audition," said Gary Reed, the company's artistic director.

Hollywood Presbyterian also houses "Act One: Writing for Hollywood," which provides training for Christian screenwriters, and "Inter-Mission," a 4,000-member organization that sponsors periodic workshops and seminars on matters of faith and professional development. Programs have included Christian animators from "The Simpsons"; "Faith in Primetime Drama" featuring Karen Hall, an award-winning writer for "Judging Amy"; and "Staying Clean in Soaps," with actors and writers from "The Young and the Restless" and "Days of Our Lives."

The man behind this unusual church outreach is actor David Schall, 52, executive director of the church's Department of Entertainment Ministries. His acting credits include the television programs "L.A. Law," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Cheers."

Schall became a Christian when he was living in New York, where he had expected "to become a star on Broadway in no time." He was low on money and out of hope when he fell on his knees in his Greenwich Village studio apartment --- he knows the exact time, 8:30 p.m., Jan. 23, 1978 --- and turned his life over to God.

He started Actors Fellowship, a support group for actors, through New York's Marble Collegiate Church and brought the vision to Hollywood Presbyterian when he moved to Los Angeles on New Year's Day, 1986. It has grown and multiplied.

The entertainment ministry brings in people who otherwise might never enter a church, said Erdman. It also brings in church people who otherwise might not make a go of it in the entertainment industry.

That's roughly how Act One began.

Former nun Barbara Nicolosi, 38, spent nine years in the Daughters of St. Paul, a religious order that specializes in media production and prays for the communications industry. When she became director of development for Paulist Productions, a company founded by a Catholic priest, Nicolosi saw the business from a different angle. Part of her duty was reading scripts.

"I read the most awful garbage from self-righteous Christians . . . who had no concern for the art form and who actually bragged that they never go to the movies," she says.

Her complaints about would-be Christian writers who expected to break into the industry through faith alone reached Schall, who suggested they figure out a way to teach Christians to write salable scripts.

In 1999, he persuaded Nicolosi to establish Act One. Now, about 75 working writers and producers teach classes or work one-on-one with young Christian scriptwriters. About 300 students apply for each session's 30 slots. The program also gives occasional four-day crash courses for published writers and operates a critique service to help writers refine individual projects.

Nicolosi hoped to have two or three alumni each year break into the business. Now, with four programs of 30 students each completed, Act One has 60 alumni working in film and television production. Several students have sold screenplays. One was nominated for an Emmy this year.

Nicolosi expects even better results in the future. The events of Sept. 11 have made Hollywood producers more open to positive messages, she says. "Everybody in Hollywood, in my opinion, is going through survivor guilt," she says. "You could hear people saying, 'It's really us that they hate.' "

Scene: Sunday evening gathering on the CBS lot in Studio City.

Cast: Producer Karen Covell and her husband, composer Jim Covell; an audience of about 75.

Set: A plain meeting room with rows of chairs. At the back is a table of soft drinks, coffee and snacks.

The praise music is over. Organizer Phil Boland has done the introductions. The night's lesson at the Hollywood chapter of Media Fellowship International is under way.

"God made us to be creative," says Jim Covell, a personable man who speaks as if in a casual conversation with friends. "To not be creative would be to show contempt for God."

He and his wife --- they met when she hired him as musical director for a production of "Pippin" --- are here tonight to teach from their book, "How to Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out."

"People are dying for relationships," says Karen Covell. "The best relationship most people in our industry have is with their therapist."

Their audience consists largely of Christian young people just breaking into the industry. Corrie Cron, 27, moved here from Nashville on Sept. 12. She's doing temporary office work but hopes eventually to be a producer or director. "I came out here because I have a burden for film and a burden for God that's even greater," she says.

Aspiring actor David Johnston, 24, came from Castle Rock, Colo., three years ago for a similar reason. "I've always thought God had a use for someone to be --- for lack of a better word --- a role model for kids," he says.

Associate producer Korey Pollard, 33, believes God has placed him in some unlikely situations in order to bear witness to his faith.

He worked on "Scary Movie 2" despite doubts about its content and found eight other Christians also working on the film. The small group began each day with a "tribal meeting," praying for the people working on the film and the people who would see it. In every job he's had, he says, God "makes himself real" through encounters with other people.

Christian ministries in Hollywood will make little impact on society if Christians confine themselves to creating a Christian counterculture with its own entertainment, says Karen Covell, who heads a prayer ministry for the entertainment industry.

"We have to be working side by side with other people," she says. "That's when we start having influence."