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Word: Ephesians 3:16-20 – According to His Power
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints,
To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever…”
Ephesians 3:16-20
Shining in Godlywood: Interview With Filmmaker Stephanie Rodnez, Take 1
The music is blaring, the lights are low and hundreds of young people are on the move, filling their nights – and cups – with crazy, “harmless” fun. It’s a typical night in the life of a college student… right?
Not for everyone. Stephanie Rodnez saw scenes like these when she entered college six years ago and felt a stirring in her heart when witnessing many of her friends falling away from their relationships with God. So many students who had been committed to Him gradually took their hearts back to engage in “college life”- consisting of everything from getting drunk and partying hard to being promiscuous – and anything else movies and TV deem is normal.
Nearing graduation Stephanie felt God telling her to change her career plans and use her talents to glorify Him. Despite initial hesitation she heeded the call, and her independent film company Christ Effect Entertainment was born. The company presents Christian media for young adults that encourages them to stay firm in their faith no matter what the culture and media throws at them. There are two films already in distribution and plans to expand into television, books, and even a nightclub.
Now finishing up her graduate degree in business at Nova South Eastern University in Miami, FL, Stephanie is rallying up other young people with a passion for God to battle the messages and lifestyles bombarding young adults today. With her warm, joyful personality and creative, youthful productions Stephanie draws others in to see the truth of God’s love, and she’s striving to make a mark for “Godlywood” one young audience at a time.
In Take 1 of the interview Stephanie chatted with Dream in Soul about how and why she got started with Christ Effect Entertainment, the growth of the Christian film industry, and about the work she hopes has a powerful effect for Christ in this generation:
Dream in Soul: Hi Stephanie, thanks for speaking with me today. I wanted to first ask you when did you feel the calling to make films?
SR: Ah, well it’s actually really cool. I was 14 or 15 and was in love with journalism, in love, in love, in love… I didn’t want to do anything else. I did this internship at the Sun Sentinel (a local Florida newspaper) for six weeks, and I fell even more in love with it. So I’m like alright Lord, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life, I’m going to write stories for newspapers.
One day I’m sitting in front of my TV screen at home in the summer, and I was just flipping through the channels and I was like wow, there’s not a lot of stuff here for young adult Christians. I heard the Holy Sprit telling me – that’s what I want you to do.
I was like, I am not doing movies. I already have a job lined up at the Sun Sentinel and I don’t even like making movies that much. I was like no way, Lord if you want me to do this, you have to make me love it. So when I got back to school in the fall I started working on my own film and I fell in love with the whole process. And the rest is history (laughs)! He put me on the path, He taught me what I needed to know, and now, praise God it’s everything I’m passionate about, and I love doing it.
Watch Stephanie in action as she’s planning her upcoming movie “Youth of Christ,” in this webisode from her day-in-the-life of an indie filmmaker series:
DS: So how did it go from making the film to starting your own business? Tell me about Christ Effect Entertainment.
TV for YOUth: Check the Sound Featuring Artists like Trip Lee and Krystal Meyers
Positive TV programming for teens might be scarce these days but the show Check the Sound is a great option that stands out and rocks for God. Aimed at reaching today’s generation, Check the Sound is a music and faith-filled half-hour program showcasing some of the hottest bands and performers in Christian music. The concert-style show is taped in front of a studio audience and the three young hosts and siblings, Rachel, Jonathan and Rebecca Lamb, also sit down with the artists to ask them questions about their music and faith journey.
Past artists featured on the show include: Canton Jones, Ayiesha Woods, PureNRG, Group 1 Crew, Niyoki, Lecrae, Brandon Heath, Leeland, Mandisa, Britt Nicole, Barlow Girl and many more.
The show comes on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight, and the featured music artist for Saturday, February 20 is music artist Krystal Meyers.
Where to Watch: Check the Sound is produced and aired on the Daystar Television Network. Daystar is available on a variety of different systems such as cable and satellite (including DirectTV and Dish Network). Contact your local provider to find out if they carry Daystar as part of their available programming, and check to see if it’s available where you live by clicking here.
You can also watch past episodes on the show’s website: http://www.daystar.com/checkthesound.
Below is an interview Check the Sound did with rapper Trip Lee a few months ago, where he talks about how he got started in music ministry:
Message Pick: Stand & Fight Like You’re Part of a Team
Watch Pastor Justin Cox of the youth ministry Passion for Christ Movement in this lively and powerful message about treating Christianity as a team sport. You can view more messages like these on the P4CM website www.p4cm.com.
Word: John 5:9-17 – “No Greater Love…” – Real Love is Worth the Wait
John 5:9-17
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
17 This is my command: Love each other.
How He Loves…Always
He loves me?
I guess it’s almost every girl’s dream, cliché as it seems, to have Prince Charming sweep them off of their feet. Then real life happens and they interact with guys their own age and the daydream of the prince quickly fades. That’s when settling comes in, lowering our standards just so we can experience “love” and be accepted by someone – anyone…
Sometimes experiencing what we call romance in this world leaves us wondering what love truly is. You feel that happy pounding and patter in your chest when he reveals a bouquet of roses, candy and tickets to “that thing you love”. Getting hurt though can peel away the layers of our hearts, like someone plucking the petals from a flower.
He loves me not…
When we’re young, and throughout our lives, we want to feel loved but sometimes we rush out too blindly looking for a person to fill us, and feel the eventual impact and pang of disappointment. I’ve been there and so have so many others – what we thought was sweet sometimes turns sour in the end. With our heart still tender we search for healing – looking for someone, something to mend the torn pieces back together. God is always there, before, now and always waiting for us to give Him our all. Before looking for that type of love from man He wants us to let Him satisfy our every need and want, to fall deeply in love with the One who knows us best.
He loves… ME?
The Bible tells us “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. While we were broken, battered, sinful, shameful – Christ died for us. It’s amazing and humbling to have a love like that.
When someone is that in love with you, you want to delight in him, get to know him totally, be faithful to him. We delight in God by finding our joy and contentment in Him. We get to know God by spending time with Him, reading His word and basking in His presence. We are faithful to Him by putting our trust in Him and not in things that are momentary. We might find temporary pleasure in the world, but the God who created the world offers us limitless treasure. Even if man’s lack of affection hurts, God’s love completes and restores.
He LOVES You.
With God it’s never a question but a statement – He loves me. He loves me. He loves you. He loves us. Oh, how He loves us.
John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” If we are worth it in the eyes of the God of the universe, who sent His only Son to die for us, then our hearts are worth the wait for true love that resembles His, and a love story written by Him.
God’s love is full of patience and grace, “it is not self-seeking… It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres,” (1 Corinthians 13). Whether in friendships or romantic relationships let’s pour out that type of love in our own lives today and everyday, and wait for what God has in store… He’s worth it.
“The LORD your God is with you, ?he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
He IS love: Agape, unconditional, always – FOREVER. Nothing can compare.
Now that’s my kind of Valentine.
Youth Voices: Repping With Purpose – Interview with God’s Prodigy
Growing up in a turbulent neighborhood, 14-year-old Samuel Glass found himself caught up in a whirlwind of temptations and bad choices. A few years ago he decided to begin using his passion for rapping to be a role model to other kids, and to glorify God. He goes by the stage name God’s Prodigy, and in this interview he tells us how he addresses the hardships young people are facing today, especially in the inner-city:
SOAR: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you’re from.
Samuel (God’s Prodigy): I would describe myself as a humble down to earth type of guy. I am outgoing and like to have fun. This year I am entering into the ninth grade. Where I grew up wasn’t the best city to grow up in, which was Montgomery, Alabama it had quite a bit of crime and I would have to say some of the friends I had there weren’t the best and did not have the greatest influences on my life.
SOAR: When did you begin getting passionate about God, and how has that journey been?
GP: I would have to say around the end of my seventh grade year when I was transferred to Christian Fellowship Academy. Since then my journey has been quite hard. For instance people who I thought were good friends have now turned their back on me. They expected me to be the same person I was before and to do the same things. I have to resist the temptations of turning to the ways of the world again and participate in the things my peers are often doing.
Fashion 4 Christ: Bold P4CM Apparel
We love the Passion 4 Christ Movement, a ministry based in Los Angeles, CA. Not only do they go hard for the Lord, creatively representing lessons from the Word, they also have some of the hottest shirts that can spark conversations about your faith when you wear them. Check out some of these fashions for Christ, and support P4CM with a purchase at their store, http://p4cmtshirts.bigcartel.com:
Above: “I Go Hard” T-shirts in male and female cuts.
Below: “I Used to Love Her” T-shirt from the 1J215 Collection (based on 1 John 2:15 –
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.)
Below: Christian Rapper Canton Jones introduced the Go Hard and “I Used to Love Her” shirts at the Rock the River Tour in Baton Rouge, LA this year:
Below: “Love Sucks” Shirts also from the 1J215 Collection
“Loving the World and the things of the world sucks…” – P4CM
Below: Check out this video of Minister Facey, the assistant pastor of P4CM, sharing his testimony and describing the “Love Sucks” shirt:
Below: “P4CM EX Shirts” Available in a variety of declarations of freedom from past sins and bondages. Eg. Ex-Atheist, Ex-Conformist, and Christian rapper Da’ T.R.U.T.H. in an Ex-Sinner shirt, also featured in his latest music video for the song “LOST”.
Purchase these or other shirts at the P4CM store, http://p4cmtshirts.bigcartel.com. Visit P4CM.com for videos, inspiration and more on living life for God.
Picks & Clicks: Street Brand Magazine
Our positive media pick for young people is STREETBRAND, a magazine for Christian teens. Aimed at 14 to 22 year olds, the print STREETBRAND Magazine (published three times a year) and website www.streetbrand.com is “the mouthpiece for a generation of media savvy, forward thinking, spiritually minded young people who love God and do not embrace dead religion.” The STREETBRAND website is full of articles for teens on everything from dating to prayer, features news on a variety of music artists, has a social networking community for members, and a load of great content.
Check out STREETBRAND at www.streetbrand.com.
Dream in Soul is a new media site for the young-at-heart and purpose-full, inspiring you to live and use your talents passionately for God. To learn more, 
Click Here for our Interview with Music Artist & Producer TJ Pompeo on Dreams, Faith & Trust
