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| Stephen
Baldwin has appeared in some of the most brutal
and challenging cinema of the last 20 years.
Since a Damascus Road experience two years
ago, he’s turned his attention to directorial
matters with a new evangelistic film featuring
the world’s top professional skaters.
ALOVE speaks to a latter day St. Paul. |
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Actor Stephen
Baldwin has appeared in over 60 films
in his Hollywood career including the
art house classic that frequently tops
critics top choice lists: ’The
Usual Suspects’. But an encounter
with a prophesying cleaner thirteen
years ago started a process that would
lead him into Christianity in 2003.
In the past two years he has been working
tirelessly with world-class Christian
Skateboarders and BMX bikers across
the US to direct and make a DVD and
subsequent tour that speaks to young
people on their terms about faith. Following
the astounding success of the first
DVD, ‘Livin’ it’,
which has sold over 100, 000 copies
in America alone, Stephen has been making
the follow up. |
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Your
first introduction to Christianity was via
a house cleaner. What effect did she have
on you and your wife and why did she impact
you both so much?
My first introduction to the Christian faith
was when we hired a Portuguese housekeeper
in 1992. She immediately got on very well
with my wife, who speaks the same language.
She explained to us both that before she had
come to work with us someone in her church
in Brazil had given her a prophetic word saying
that if she were to accept the job to come
and work with us she would be instrumental
in seeing us come to know Jesus. That was
13 years ago. Over time, my wife learnt more
about faith through ongoing conversations
in Portuguese and this had quite the domino
effect on me.
Has
your faith affected the type of mainstream
acting work you take on? Are there things
you’d no longer do?
Yes absolutely. There was recently a leak
to the press about the possibility of a sequel
to The Usual Suspects. I’ve been thinking
long and hard over what I would do if approached
for the sequel and I think I would probably
have to choose to pass on the project. I’ve
made over 60 films in my career a lot of which
have sex and violence as a main theme. This
no longer intrigues me because of who I now
am. It’s now more important to create
content that directly relates and speaks to
young people.
Big names such as Tom Cruise speak openly
about their religions and the world listens.
Is there any group or initiative for Christians
involved in Hollywood to get together and
encourage/ pray for one another?
Not one that I’m directly involved in,
but I perceive a tremendous need for investment
into the body of Christ into America. The
more we can equip young people in their understanding
of God, the more we’ll see improvement
in our society through young people. That’s
really where my heart is. |
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What
is ‘Livin’ it’ about?
It began as a skater video
peppered with the Gospel message.
From there it’s ballooned and
now we’re doing a whole tour
about it. The video features professional
skaters and bikers, who do the show
and communicate the Gospel message.
I’m not the headliner –
but more the promoter.
How do
you think extreme sports can impact
young people for Jesus?
We believe the time is now for extreme
sports evangelism. Young people want
to have content that represents who
they are and what they believe but,
just as |
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importantly, for
the content to be culturally relevant. Basically
the skaters preach the Gospel both on tour
and on the DVD in their own language, accompanied
by images of them doing their trade. The response
has been massive. We’re currently on
a 25 date tour of the US - something we never
planned at the start – and many people
have become Christians.
Are
you going to be bringing Livin’ it to
the UK on tour?
The model of the tour is similar to Luis Pilau’s
bigger festivals: We don’t go anywhere
that we’re not invited. That said we
currently have Brian Sunmer, a Brit and one
of the top professional skaters in the world
right now on this tour. We’d all love
to bring this to the UK. |
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Livin It is available
on DVD to buy from Fierce Distribution for
the special price of £6.95.
:
Click here to order
It features International top skaters such
as Luke Braddock, Tim Byrne, Anthony Carney,
Jared Lee and Phil Trotter. BMX riders include,
Bruce Crisman & and Vic Murphy. |
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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