Creative Trust

Phil Vischer posted his outline for the What’s in the Bible series today on his blog:

What’s in the Bible episode plan

As many of you know, we help manage Phil’s studio Jellyfish Labs. I’m really blown away by what he’s done with the series and can’t wait until we are able to have all 13 DVDs available for sell. Phil has done an amazing job with the series to date. I’ve been really impressed with his ability to tell the story of God and what He has done for us. I’ve often felt that we, as a Church, have a tendency to use the Old Testament as a compilation of stories for the purpose of teaching morality and ethics versus effectively communicating how the human race has interacted with God and why He needed to send Jesus. I believe Phil captures God’s narrative and this need quite effectively. There have been numerous times that I’ve been reminded of my tendency toward self-sufficiency and unwillingness to trust God. It’s been pretty cool to watch these with my daughters and have the opportunity to talk about faith, sin, salvation, heaven and God’s goodness. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out yet, let me know and we’ll send a sample your way. You can also check some samples out on the What’s in the Bible web site.

NASHVILLE—April 12, 2010—Erick Goss, Creative Trust Media (CTM) co-managing partner, announced today that Scott Lewis, former executive vice-president and chief operating officer for International Justice Missions (IJM), has joined CTM as co-managing partner.

IJM is a Washington DC-based human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other violent oppression in developing countries.  Lewis came to IJM from a distinguished 21-year career with Young Life, an international Christian youth organization, as an area and regional director.  He also was senior campaign director in a $14.3 million capital campaign for Malibu, a Young Life camp property in British Columbia. Before that, Scott was a senior executive with Partners International, linking with skilled indigenous Christian leaders in the world’s least Christian countries.

“Scott’s lifetime passion is to improve the lives of children and young adults,” Goss said. “From his work with at-risk youth at Young Life to preventing slavery through IJM, he shows tireless commitment—and ingenuity.  He connects key stakeholders in fresh ways to help under-35 populations around the globe. With CT Media he extends that passion again, this time through film and media.”

Mr. Lewis received a B.S. in education from Western Washington University and did post-graduate coursework through Fuller Theological Seminary and Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy.

Creative Trust Media (www.creativetrustmedia.com) was founded in 2008 by Dan Raines and Erick Goss.  Raines, former head of Word Publishing, is founder and president of Creative Trust, Inc., an entertainment and management company representing bestselling clients such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Ted Dekker, Brandon Heath, and Philip Yancey. CT Media partners with world-class creators to produce culturally and commercially profitable film and media properties that generate life-changing conversations.  CT Media’s current projects/partnerships include VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer’s “What’s in the Bible?” and JellyTelly.com; “Blue Like Jazz The Movie” based on Donald Miller’s best-selling memoir and their own independently produced series “Convergence: Where Faith and Life Meet.” 

Melanie here. I’m the member of the CT Media team who has the amazing job of working with Jellyfish Labs and Phil Vischer’s projects.  I wanted to share some thoughts around our social media campaign for What’s in the Bible, Phil’s latest DVD series for children. This blog originally appeared on our What’s in the Bible? blog.

When planning the launch of a new brand like What’s in the Bible?, there are a thousand discussions about marketing spend and messaging and how to reach your audience. We knew when we started this adventure that our message was different than any other kids’ product we’d ever seen (It’s for families! It’s about Bible literacy! It’s not Bible stories, but it’s the WHOLE Bible!) and so our message had to be bigger, better, and broader that any other kids’ product launch that we had seen.

We’re trying this thing called Social Media, and so far it’s working. Every day, through Facebook and Twitter, this blog, Phil’s blog, and one hundred blogs from the Tyndale blog tour, we get to interact directly with parents, grandparents, children’s ministry leaders, pastors and fans about What’s in the Bible. It makes our job fun, and it helps us accomplish our end goal: to teach kids and families about the Bible. We get to answer questions, start debates, address concerns, and share the encouragement you all give us about what we are doing.

We were flattered by this blog from Calum Henderson about What’s in the Bible’s use of Social Media. He calls it amazing; we call it fun! He also gives some great pointers about using some of our ideas for your own Social Media campaigns.

We love Social Media! And it feels like Social Media loves us … or at least, people like you who use Social Media love us!  And, as people who use Social Media, we’re going to ask you to help us with a few things!

1) Do you follow us on Facebook and Twitter? You should!

2) We’ve got more than 4200 Facebook fans, and we’ve promised all of them that if they help us reach 5000 fans, we’ll give them all a 20% discount on the music from DVDs 1 & 2. You know you want to be a part of it … Tell all your friends to become a fan!

3) We need 100 people to do some hardcore Social Media-ing for us. In return, we’ll give you a copy of DVD 1 and a CD or a buy-one-get-one free coupon for our store. Interested? Find out more here.

Do you like what we’re doing? Hate what we’re doing? Wish we did more? Less? Let us know!

Hello! My name is Ann and I am part of the Creative Trust Media team. I work a primarily with our Convergence brand. Convergence is a new DVD series hosted by Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz). Doing this series has been a treat for me. It has exposed me to some brilliant minds and great communicators.

We have three DVDs coming out on 3.30.10 so I thought I would share with you a couple of photos and a behind the scenes look from our latest shoot. In December the Convergence staff and crew packed up from Nashville and went to Los Angeles, CA to tape our next DVDs. We filmed in the art district at this great loft that our production company found.

On the first day we had the pleasure of filming Randy Alcorn. Randy has one of the bestselling books on Heaven.  As much as we talk about Heaven, I personally think it is such big of an idea that we are afraid to dig too deep. Randy and Don talked about the misconceptions of heaven and the truth and hope that God has in store for us. You can watch the first 5 minutes of their conversation here.

You may have heard of the books of our second guest, you may even know his name, but to experience Dr. Henry Cloud was remarkable. Dr. Henry Cloud has sold over 5 million books including being the co-author of bestselling Boundaries. When I got home from the shoot I ordered a couple more of his books. I know the editing process was hard since the content was so fruitful.

Don and Dr. Cloud discussed personal and spiritual growth. I don’t care how young or old you are, you can learn something from this DVD. The inspiration for the title of the DVD came from something that Dr. Cloud said that stuck with all of us: immaturity is when we ask life to meet our demands and maturity is when we meet the demands of life. Check out a preview here.

Also in this release we have Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Tremper Longman on “Marriage: Life After I Do”. Isn’t that a great title? I think that I have many friends that have said “Okay, we’re married…now what”? When you put these childhood friends together you get the biblical truth from Longman and the years of counseling experience from Allender. Both teachers in their own right, they are great communicators. As a single woman, I was worried that I was not going to be able to relate to this DVD. After watching the final version there is something to take away from it whether you are single and married. This is also my favorite cover that we have done.

So the DVDs that are releasing on 3.30.10 are the following:

Heaven: Understanding Gods Plan and Our Hope
Donald Miller and Randy Alcorn

Personal Growth: Learning to Meet the Demands of Life
Donald Miller and Dr. Henry Cloud

Marriage: Life After I Do
Donald Miller with Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Tremper Longman

You can find out more about Convergence at  allthingsconverge.com.

Welcome to the re-launch of the Creative Trust Media blog and web site. It’s been a busy 6 months, but we are excited to bring new and fresh content to you on a weekly basis.

We are pleased to announce that we have a new Partner for Business Development, Scott Lewis. He will join our team remotely from Seattle, WA, where here he just returned to after three and a half years serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for International Justice Mission in Washington DC.

March is a busy month for CT Media. Along with the exciting addition of Mr. Lewis to our team, the first week of March brought the release of What’s in the Bible DVDs 1&2 from Phil Vischer (VeggieTales). The next three Convergence DVDs, featuring Donald Miller, Dan Allender, Tremper Longman, Henry Cloud, and Randy Alcorn, will release on March 30.

Stay tuned for weekly updates about the world of CT Media, e-commerce, online marketing, and working in the Christian media space.