BlogThree23

Below is my short Amazon review of Phil Cooke’s book, The Last TV Evangelist: Why the Next Generation Couldn’t Care Less About Religious Media. If you are involved in faith-based film and television or just interested in seeing “Christian” television & film improve and truly inspire then this book is a must read. I found it to be an honest modern-day assessment of faith-based content creation that shows respect but does not hold back. It may not be what you want to hear … but is what you need to hear.

The only downside (and this is probably just me) is there are a couple of spots in which the narrative feels a bit like a text book, making the read for a postmodern gen’Xer slightly tedious. That approach is perhaps needed though, given the broad overview of faith-based television presented in the work and the author’s desire to reach the next generation of content creators. That being said, the author makes up for it by incorporating interesting stories from his own work in faith-based media creation, insightful applications of scripture to modern media-esk situations, and solid thoughts on media trends occurring in the now. In particular, I enjoyed the last three chapters in which the author wrestles with the future of faith-based media creation. Here he finds a way to uniquely verbalize what many faith-based content creators (self included) struggle with … how to, as he says, “embrace the ambiguity” of life while not compromising the Message.

A solid book full of insightful nuggets any faith-based content creator is sure to take away … and a book that challenges to create better in order to effectively engage the culture for Christ.