By Kelly Wise Valdes
Christian Cinema To Power Digital Movie Platform For Largest Online Faith Retailer: Christianbook.com
Family-movie lovers note: the first faith-and-family streaming company will now power transactional video on demand (TVOD) and electronic sell through (EST) on Christianbook.com this summer.
ChristianCinema.com’s digital platform, the largest of its kind and growing, serves thousands of Christian and family movies for instant streaming online. Now Christianbook.com customers may rent or own videos through the standard Christianbook.com shopping cart to build their own digital movie library. And families get the newest and latest releases before they go to subscription platforms.
Content will stream through Christian Cinema’s digital platform via a proprietary, embeddable player on Christianbook.com. Christianbook.com customers may stream movies from their Christianbook.com account and link that account to Christian Cinema apps on mobile devices, TV platforms like Roku, AppleTV, and future apps and platforms like Android, Xbox and PlayStation.
Fixer Upper Couple Puts Christ First
Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines recently spoke about their Christian faith and the impact their HGTV show has on viewers. On the show, the couple reimagines houses and renovates them to suit the needs of homeowners.
The couple told the Billy Graham Evangelistic, “Our family has made a commitment to put Christ first, a lifestyle our parents modeled for us very well. They showed us how to keep our marriage and family centered around God. As for Fixer Upper, we have been surprised at the impact of our faith through the show. We haven’t been overtly evangelical, but the rich feedback we have received on family and love all source from our faith.”
Fixer Upper started after a Gaines’ blog and boutique captured the attention of the network. Gaines went from a half-Korean child who was scared of being different to a woman who has learned to trust in the Lord’s plan.
She said, “I look back and I go, ‘God, your promise that you spoke years ago, I’m now seeing. I trusted you with my dream and you took it far beyond what I ever could have dreamed or imagined.’”
For more information, visit www.hgtv.com/fixer-upper.
Chewbacca Mask Lady Gives Testimony, Encouraging Message
Candace Payne is a Star Wars fan who gained online viral fame as Chewbacca Mom. Her video, showing her wearing a talking Chewbacca mask and joyfully laughing as it spoke when she moved her mouth, was posted in May to Payne’s Facebook page and has since been viewed over 140 million times. This sudden fame has allowed Payne to share her faith and Christian testimony on a national level.
Payne has been a worship leader at her local church in Texas since she was 14 and believes that joy is something that naturally comes when you have a deep faith in God. Speaking at a youth conference, Payne told the participants that if you want to do great things in this world you need to be diligent, have patience and obey God’s will. She also warned the youth not to seek fame and fortune for their own glory. “When He tells you move, move. When He tells you stop, stop. When He tells you to indulge in the delights of my table, indulge. But when He tells you that’s not yours, you can’t have it, step away. Do not try to make a name for yourself, His name will always out-shadow yours,” she said.
For more information, visit www.youtube.com and search for Candace Payne.
