Media expert with a theology degree helps Christians share their faith more effectively

February 2008

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

According to former CNN journalist Paula Zahn, filmmaker and media activist Phil Cooke is a rare individual -- he's a working producer in Hollywood with a Ph.D. in Theology. ChristianityTodayMovies.com has called him a "media guru" and his blog at www.philcooke.com  is considered one of the most insightful resources on the web on issues of faith, culture, and media.

International journalist and broadcaster Dan Wooding caught up with Phil at the recent Rethink Media Conference at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.

Cooke explained that the event was a re-thinking conference at which he was invited to speak about how, as Christians, we need to re-think the media, how we use it and its influence in our lives.

DW: "So how do we need to re-think the media?"

PC: "The media has unparalleled influence on our lives today. Researchers tell us we're being bombarded with three-thousand advertising messages a day, and the average American family watches TV between five and seven hours a day. In fact, by the time most teen-agers are eighteen, they've seen over a hundred-thousand beer commercials alone on television. So in that kind of culture who's influencing us? I think Christians need to understand that there's an enormous amount of media influence out there, and then I think we need to turn the tables and learn how to use the media to reach this generation."

DW: "Many people think that we should just withdraw from the media -- that it's all disgusting, it's evil, and they seem to spend so much time saying it's all Hollywood's fault, but on the other side there are people who think we should absorb whatever Hollywood does as if it was normal. Is there a middle way here Phil?"

PC: "Actually, I've met a lot of very vile used car salesmen, but I still drive a car. So I think we don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water. In the movies there's a lot of things going on in Hollywood that we don't like, but what's interesting is when Mel Gibson produced The Passion of the Christ film it got Hollywood's attention. They realized for the first time that there's a significant audience of people out there that take their faith seriously. So today, seven major studios have faith-based divisions. They're actually interested in producing projects for the faith-based market. So I think we're in an interesting time now. This is not the time to turn our back on Hollywood and say we're not going to watch it. We need to get Christians into positions of influence and power in the industry and start creating projects that would celebrate our faith and share our faith with the culture."

DW: Do many Christians have a persecution complex?

PC: Sometimes it looks at Christians as the people who are against everything. We boycott, we complain, we protest. But the truth is that our mission is to tell the greatest story ever told. We should be the people that are known to be 'for' something. So I want to turn the tables and stop boycotting, stop criticizing and (stop) complaining. Certainly there are things that happen out there that we don't like, that we disagree with, and in those cases we can speak out. But if we're going to change the culture we're never going to change a person by calling them names on television or on the radio. So we have to start a conversation with the culture; let's find out who they are. It's interesting that missionaries don't go to a third world country and go to a tribe and protest or complain or criticize them. What do they do? They develop a trust relationship with them they get to know them. So why do we think that protesting Hollywood is going to get them to change? I think i! f we can change that conversation and start something posi tive it can make a real impact."

DW: Tell us about your new book called "Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Impact the Culture and Others Don't." What do you mean by Branding Faith?"

PC: "I've worked with churches and ministries for about thirty years and found out that we don't tell our story very well. The fact is, most people misunderstand branding. Branding is simply the story that surrounds a product or person or organization. Just like a Volvo has a brand, Starbucks has a brand, Nike has a brand -- it's essentially what do people think of when they think of you? The church started that because we've been sharing our story with the culture for two-thousand years. Well recently businesses have figured that out and businesses are starting to use compelling stories to surround their product and make them stand out. It's really about choice. You know what's interesting is that my grandmother went to a grocery store in the twenties and thirties in the South in the US and they had one brand of flower, one brand of sugar and I know your family probably did the same years ago. But today the average grocery store has thirty-thousand items. In a world of c! hoice, what makes one product different from another? It's about telling a compelling story. So my book is about branding faith; it's about going back and looking at some branding techniques that churches and ministries could use to get our story heard in this incredibly media-driven culture out there."

DW: Are you getting much of a response to the book?

PC: "Absolutely. And I'm also getting a little controversy (Phil laughs). A few don't like it, but the fact is we live in a culture where the media messages are bombarding us, so how does a local church get their message heard? How does a local ministry get its message heard? So that's what my book is about. Ultimately it's about how we can get our story out to the culture. What separates you from every other church in town? What separates you from every other ministry that does what you do? How do you get your message heard?"

DW: "You're also involved in making movies and you have a Ph.D. Is that pretty unusual in Hollywood?"

PC: "I'm certainly one of the few working producers in Hollywood with a Ph.D. in theology. Cooke Pictures, (www.cookepictures.com ) our company, consults with a lot of churches and ministries helping them raise the bar in the quality and effectiveness of what they do in the media. So because I work so much with churches, I earned my Ph.D.. I may never work at a university (at least not yet) but I really enjoy it. We're actively involved with some of the largest churches and ministries helping them reach the culture more effectively with the media. So it's kind of fun."

DW: "You're advice to Christians is 'don't withdraw from the world but get involved?'"

PC: "No question Dan. Jump in -- you know the scripture about being in the world but not of the world; sometimes we get that kind of messed up and confused and the fact is, look at the disciples, the apostles, they were a part of the world -- they had real jobs. They were interacting with real people. That's OK. We just have to understand how to share our story with them because our story can change other people's lives, just like it changed ours.

DW: "How do we get the book?"

PC: You can order "Branding Faith" on www.Amazon.com  right now and it becomes available March 1 so we're real excited about that. You can pre-order Branding Faith on www.brandingfaith.com  and the website will tell you a little bit more about it. I encourage your viewers --whether you're a pastor or a ministry leader or just a regular Christian like me -- it'll help you share your faith more effectively."

**ANS would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.

Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.

Phil Cooke's new book "Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Impact Culture and Others Don't" by Regal Books is available now. Find out more at www.brandingfaith.com.