November 2008 Newsletter
Dear HPN members, SUMMARY:
- Our matching grant has been matched!
- Our local chapters are growing!
- Karen speaking at the National Day of Prayer Summit
- Dena Higley highlighted in October's PEOPLE Magazine
- Pray that the seeds sown at the American Film Market will have an eternal impact
- Pray for divine comfort for Jennifer Hudson
- Continue to pray for the power and influence of films and television
- Pray for the people in Hollywood who dread the holidays
- The Twin Cities HPN local chapter had an HPN booth at a Christian Fair in Minneapolis
- Please pray for the Marcarelli's as they complete a documentary on the persecuted church
- Members of our Christian community are producing documentaries on different sex trafficking stories
- Praying for Hollywood every Thursday evening
- AEM - Men's Prayer Meetings
- Breakfast and prayer at Christian Assembly in Eaglerock, CA
PRAISES:
• HPN has met it's goal of matching $18,000 for our Matching Grant!!! Thank you so much to our faithful members for being so generous to make it possible for us to reach the full $18,000 needed to receive our matching grant. We are praising God for your generosity and His faithfulness!!!! We continue to see that with God NOTHING is impossible!
• Our Local Chapters are going! We praise God that Christians around the world are catching our vision to pray for Entertainment professionals. Check out our growing list of local chapters, to see if there is one in your area to connect with. And if not, why don't you start your own. http://www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org/local-chapters
• Karen had the opportunity to share her vision of praying for Hollywood at the annual National Day of Prayer Summit last month at the Focus on the Family Headquarters in Colorado Springs. It was a tremendous time, the response was so thrilling and she experienced God as He opened so many people's hearts to join us in praying for Hollywood. In fact, a group of women have joined us in praying for Hugh Hefner.
• We're rejoicing with our friend Dena Higley who has been highlighted in October's PEOPLE Magazine for her new breaking storyline on Days of Our Lives about autism. We're thankful that Dena is using the medium of daytime Soaps to promote autism awareness - such a worthy and far reaching cause. Let's pray for continued favor as she brings positive life experiences into her work.
REQUESTS:
• The American Film Market was held from November 5-12 in Santa Monica. There were a group of prayer warriors praying for the Market's international distributors, producers and other attendees as they reached out to them with the love of Christ. And they led people to Jesus last week!! Please pray that the seeds sown will make an eternal difference in the lives of many industry professionals whom may never have been touched before by the truth of the Gospel. Pray also that those who became Christians would find a church and grow in their faith.
• Please pray for singer & Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson, (TV's American Idol, Films; "Dreamgirls" & currently in "The Secret Lives of Bees.") Her mother and brother and 7 year old nephew were found shot to death last month at their South Side, Chicago home. Pray for Divine comfort for Jennifer and the family during this terrible time.
• Continue to pray for the power and influence of films and television to begin to bring positive attitudes and change to its audience. In the midst of our country's economic crisis, "Quantum of Solace" opened last week-end grossing over $180 million internationally in the first five days. The film's production costs were $200 million. This is during the same week that Starbucks' profits dropped 97%. The time and money that people globally are willing to spend on media is staggering.
• Pray for the people in Hollywood who dread the holidays and may be going through Thanksgiving and Christmas alone, or with difficult memories of their families, their divorce, their distant children or their unemployment. May the unconditional love of God touch them with peace, warmth and joy this season.
PRAYER REQUESTS FROM OUR HPN MEMBERS:
• The Twin Cities HPN local chapter had an HPN booth this past week-end at a Christian Fair in Minneapolis. Pray that the people who heard about praying for Hollywood and the entertainment industry will support the arts and pray. Check out their "missionary board" for the fair at http://www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org/local-chapter/twin_cities
• Please pray for the Marcarelli's as they complete a documentary on the persecuted church, entitled "Iraqi Christians - Facing Extinction." They are in post-production now and they have requested prayer for guidance and the proper distribution channels. Their goal is to help our brothers and sisters in peril in Iraq and Jordan.
• Three different members of our Christian community are producing documentaries on different sex trafficking stories across the world. They are all passionate to use their love for filmmaking to educate the world about young girls who are being horribly exploited in cultures of spiritual darkness. Pray for them as they pursue financing, great interviews and may they have Divine favor on their films.
UPDATING EVENTS:
• Please join us in praying for one another and our Christian Hollywood community every Thursday night in Wiley Chapel of the First Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood from 7:00-8:00pm. Call (323) 462-8486 ext. 106 for details.
• AEM - Men's Prayer Meetings - LA, CA
It's hard to find men who want to be real, discuss the tough stuff and pray for one another. The AEM Men's prayer group is the place where that happens. Join Pastor Joel and other like-minded men for a brief devotional and prayer on Wednesday mornings at 9:15am. Call (310) 474-7671 for directions or more information.
• Come join us Saturday, December 13th from 10am-12pm for breakfast and
prayer at Christian Assemly in Eaglerock, CA. Enjoy a free breakfast,
great company, focused prayer and guest speaker John Ware, President of
the 168 Hour Film Festival. All are Welcome!
Thank you so much for praying with us. Download our Kids HPN prayer calendar for your children, get yourself an HPN "I to I" prayer partner, give your pastor one of our free HPN DVDs, "The Hollywood Tribe" and keep praying with us and for us. We truly believe that praying for Hollywood will bring cultural revival. WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!
Karen, Caren and Gloria
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
"The movies you choose to see can be a window into your personality. They can also be a window through which God speaks. Movies reflect the interior landscape of the soul, with all its peaks and valleys, its farmlands and wastelands, its haunting canyons and hopeful horizons. What can be said that is positive of almost all movies is that they reflect, at a very fundamental level, the longings of the soul; the longing that good triumphs over evil, that truth wins out, that the drama of life brings out the hero in us, that a good character in the course of the drama grows better, wiser, more understanding, and that a bad character, if not redeemed, is at least brought to justice, and that in the end there is a happy ending, which is none other than a dim reflection, I think, of our longing for heaven. A window opens, and you glimpse something in yourself that has been hidden from you maybe all of your life. Or you glimpse something in someone else. Or, in a rare moment of transcendence, you glimpse something beyond." Ken Gire, "Windows of the Soul"
VERSE OF THE MONTH:
"But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29
TIP OF THE MONTH:
Nine practical prayer suggestions from author Dutch Sheets:
1) Fast (a meal a day; a day a week; a Daniel fast; 3 days; 10 days; TV; etc.) and spend the time praying.
2) Agree in prayer with someone every day for God's will to be done.
3) Form/participate in prayer groups regularly. Churches should pray every day.
4) Take time in every gathering to pray. (Take 15 minutes in every service to pray for the elections. Turn an entire service to harp and bowl style intercession - worship and prayer combined.)
5) Join 2 or more on a conference call and pray for 15, 20, or 30 minutes.
6) Pray on the way to work (and on the way home).
7) Pray before you go to sleep.
8) Pray before church services.
9) Ask God to give you His strategy - He will!