Release of NEW Christian children's television show in the UK.

It's getting very near now, our new show is going to air tomorrow! What a journey. To be fair on you guys, you would have had to have had your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed not to know about that by now!

Please share with any friends or family who you think might enjoy some good, wholesome kids' TV.

Anyway, if you want to see what we can do with some socks, some paint, and some imagination then check it out tomorrow morning at 7.30 on sky channel 585, or online on live TV here:http://www.ucbmedia.co.uk/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=582&Itemid=6

If that time doesn't fit your agenda don't worry, normal viewing times are Tuesdays at 7:30am and 4pm
Thursday at 7:30am
Friday at 4pm
Saturday at 7am

Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew Launch, please help.

Dear friends and Church family,

Your support is needed!

As many of you will know, for the past year or so UCB Media and myself have been in production of a children's TV show which I have written and created, and which I also perform in.

It has been a remarkable journey, and has seen us amazed by God's blessing like never before, and something which would have seemed impossible a couple of years ago has become a reality.

You may know that UCB is a charity, and this is a very low budget production.  Hence there is minimal budget for advertising, and I need my friends and church family to help spread the word.

For those of you who don't understand what it is I have tried to do, please allow me this opportunity to explain briefly.

A couple of years ago, I found myself especially moved by the parable of the ten talents.  If you're not familiar with it, it's a story in which Jesus describes three servants who have been entrusted with an amount of money (talents) by their master.  One servant is so afraid of failure, that he does nothing with the money at all, where the other servants invest the money successfully and put it to good use.  The money of course is a metaphor for the skills and gifts the God gives us to work with during our lifetimes.

I realised that I was the 'wicked' servant, who had allowed my talents to go to waste.  And so I needed to invest those special gifts that God had entrusted me with.  Without going into minute detail, I felt that at this point my talents added up to the production of media for children.

I was, as a father, especially moved by the quantity of poor quality media that modern children are fed in terms of the message of love, of goodness, the value of prayer and a relationship with God, sound doctrine and the planting of good spiritual seeds, seeds which might produce worthwhile fruit in later life if nurtured.

I remembered the power that television had in my young life and how it's most positive aspects stick with me to this day; I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about Huckleberry Finn.

Perhaps there was a way, I thought, that I could minister such goodness to children like this?  Perhaps there was a way that I could touch young lives by bringing God into an environment of fun, adventure, comedy and colour, and teaching children that having a friendship with God is just a normal part of everyday life.

As an adult I can look back at my childhood, when I didn't know God in the way I do today, and I can see him at work, and I can remember him touching my life.  This show may be seen by thousands of children, possibly tens of thousands of children, who may just grow up remembering how God loved them even when they were little.

If any children in the world, where this might be seen, in the UK, the Philipines, Australia or New Zealand can look back and smile, and say in their hearts 'Jesus loved me then...'  then it's all been worthwhile.  And that's why I need you to share everyone, this is important.  It's not just about me and my pet project...yes it's my career and I'm sure God loves me and wants me to do well, but this is about serving children and serving the Lord, so let us all do it with Glad hearts, think of Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew as youth outreach because it most certainly is that.

Please share about it with your friends, your family, your facebook, your e-mail address book.  Share this link to the website www.Christian-Movies.co.uk , tell everyone about this exciting, brand new British Christian kids' TV show!  Please share the viewing schedule as below, and watch yourselves!

The first airing will be Thursday 1st November at 7:30am and then Saturday 3rd at 7am

The normal airtime's will be Tuesday at 7:30am and 4pm

  Thursday at 7:30am

  Friday at 4pm

  Saturday at 7am

It's on Sky channel 585, but if you don't have sky don't worry, you can watch live TV online at www.UCBMedia.co.uk 

God bless you all, and don't hide your light under a bushel! 

Doing a Christian radio show interview with Paul Hammond.

OK, bit scary!  I'll be on UCB radio tomorrow morning doing a short promotion for my new show Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew, I'll be on Paul Hammond's show at about 10.15, along with Thom Price, who played a big part in enabling the production of our show.

I asked if they would share with me the sorts of questions they'd be asking, and if I should prepare in any way, but was just met with 'Don't worry, you'll be fine!'

Well, a big thank you guys for the ever so encouraging vote of confidence, but I'm still scared! Gulp!  I've been on stage a fair bit I guess, but it's always been with something prepared...now, everybody who knows me, please respond to this post now by writing honestly, with your hands on your hearts

"Joe, you never say anything stupid.  I've known you all these years, and I've never known you to be painfully tactless, blurt out something random at the wrong time, put your foot in your mouth or tell a completely inappropriate joke."

There!  You can't do it!  I think UCB get quite a lot of listeners, certainly in the tens of thousands, and of course I'm talking to parents and grandparents about a sweet and very wholesome new kids' show.  So it's scary!

Seriously though folks, your prayers would be appreciated.  Just pray for God's peace over me please, and his Holy Spirit guidance, as the show needs to be promoted as positively as possible, we've worked long and hard and it would be great if the interview, just the few minutes that it is, really encouraged people to watch the show.

Which starts in 8 days by the way!  Nov 1st, at 7.30, then Saturday at 7 if you missed it.The normal airtime's will be Tuesday at 7:30am and 4pm
  Thursday at 7:30am
  Friday at 4pm
  Saturday at 7am
On Sky Channel 585

If you don't have Sky, it doesn't matter, you can still watch LIVE TV here online or on your mobile device: http://www.ucbmedia.co.uk/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=582&Itemid=6

Making a Christian music video very quickly

Yikes!

As of today it is eight days until our new show, Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew goes to air, and I realised on Monday that one of the 13 music videos hadn't been shot!  Goodness only knows how something like that could slip through the net, we've counted every illustration, every song, every publicity photograph, and yet somehow a full music video has escaped us!

Alright, I hold my hands up, it escaped ME!  So I went out with the camera yesterday, just me and Stripy Monkey.  I took on board everything that the experts at UCB had taught me while we were making the music videos together for the other songs, and tried to put it in to play.  The song I was working on is a funny Christian song called 'Creepin', it's not particularly preachy, it's just me as Mr Bon-Hovis singing to the camera and sneaking about looking downright dodgy to reflect what happened in the related episode, during which Mr Bon-Hovis was, as you might expect, Creepin'!

I filmed myself in several locations singing the song all the way through, and then for interest I filmed several cutaways of things like me sneaking out from behind a tree, tiptoeing past windows and being generally suspicious, as well as some close ups and shots of monkey reading the Bible and the like.

Hopefully, when these are chopped together they will look something like a music video!  I'm sure they will, it's a catchy song; my kids are already singing it! And I just need to make sure that the visual are snappy, funny and interesting which I think they will be.

Make sure you look out for it on the show!

As Christians, how should we deal with Halloween?

Halloween eh? What to do. We're quite fortunate as we live down a little lane where there are few passers by, so we won't be persecuted this year by the little monsters demanding sweeties, but my heart goes out to those of you who are more accessible.

I do have a problem with Halloween, as you might expect. It's not with fantasy though, and it's not with a child being encouraged to use their imagination, or dressing up, or knocking on their neighbours' doors as a fun social activity. I'm not too concerned that a non-Christian tradition was manipulated to involve the Christian faith.

What really bothers me about Halloween brothers and sisters, is that it is nothing less than a trickle-down of a sinister adult culture. It's a gateway, an entry point, an initiation, it's part one, it's horror for beginners, it's 'My First Zombie' with a back-to-front 's'.

I have some experience of kids now, as do most of my friends, and what they are is innocent. They respond to tenderness, sweetness, love, kindness, and they remind us as adults what's really worthwhile in life. The idea that we should very selfishly attempt to infect that innocence is an idea that comes from a very deep seated need to justify ourselves I think.

Sharing the darkest parts of ourselves with our children in some way serves to make us feel that we're OK, that our darkness is innocent. I feel we are in some way using our beautiful children as scapegoats.

That, I think, is what's really happening.

Which parent among us would want to give our children an Iggle Piggle doll, then gouge out his eyes, cover him in blood and play 'Undead Iggle Piggle is coming to get you!'?

I know that sounds ridiculous, I have a taste for melodrama I know, but the point is that we're trying to bring our children up into something sinister, the adult versions of which are questionable to say the least!

Many adults enjoy horror, most adults really don't. I don't think I know any horror fans actually, most of my friends I think would consider it quite distasteful.

What about porn, very comparable I think, should we start our little ones off on it now? Should we begin to sexualise them early on?

Last year my child's nursery had images of 'alive' skeletons hanging on the walls, along with ghosts and jack-a-lanterns. She was two.

Let's be clear, children DO NOT naturally want to celebrate death, zombies, horrific wounding, vampires, or fear. AT ALL. And anyone who says they do is inflicting grief on children and hurting their spirits unnecessarily for no better reason than to bring them some comfort regarding their own distressing predicament.

I think that 'What to do on Halloween' as Christians might be a little more straightforward than we think, and I'm sure some people are already on the case, but we should simply have a different celebration. Let's have Christian Halloween, and let's just call it 'Christian Halloween', simple as that, and let's make it as real as Christmas. What a glorious distinction that would be, and what fun for the kids.

Let's make it a celebration of everything that's been good and positive about the Christian faith down the ages, in memory of the lives that have been the best examples of love, charity and self-sacrifice. Let's dress up, sing songs, play party games in bright rooms filled with joy, celebration and music, and instead of knocking on doors demanding sweeties from pensioners who just want to be left in peace, lets go round the houses putting candles through people's letterboxes, reminding them that there is a shining light nearby even in the darkest times.

Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew release date!

Don't forget, you can order the

STARS LIKE NEEDLES 

album right here!

BIG NEWS! SHARE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SHARED BEFORE! Many of you will already know that a couple of years ago I felt a strong need to devote my life to using my God-given talents. I felt I wasn't really applying the things that made me unique

 to my life and how I worked.

I didn't exactly know what to do with that revelation, but I knew that I had to move forward, and so prayerfully, asking God to guide my steps, I got up one morning and did something. I remember it very well, it didn't all make perfect sense, I didn't know what it all meant or where it was going to go, but I knew I had to do SOMETHING.

Thank you God, because you revealed to me what I didn't understand; what all those separate parts of me added up to at this point in my life. Namely, making short, fun, morally decent and entertaining films for children which could potentially show them the love of God in their everyday lives. I knew the power of the screen from the memories I still have from my childhood.

Huckleberry Finn will be with me forever! So the power of the medium to deliver to children was not in question. With immense and invaluable support from my dear wife and prayer partner Ellie I produced some short films in the garage and showed them to the wonderful Neil Elliott at UCB media, and he and Thom Price not only saw the potential but invited me in to the studios to produce it more professionally and as a full season of 13 half hour episodes! Astonishing, nothing less. Amazing things happen when you pray and listen for an answer!

So over the past year UCB (a charity) and myself have been involved in a co-production of my Christian children's TV show, Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew. It's been a wild ride, and if I'd listened to the nay-sayers, if I'd examined the bank account too closely, the show would never have been made! But God encouraged us all the way, told us to trust Him in the face of everything, and so we did.

It's been such an interesting year, as God has revealed to me what I'm actually capable of if I listen to and trust Him, but in fact, glory to God, what HE'S capable of is what's really amazing.

And finally dear friends it's finished! And it is scheduled for air, you can actually watch it!

The first airing will be Thursday 1st November at 7:30am
and then Saturday 3rd at 7am
The normal airtimes will be:
Tuesday at 7:30am and 4pm
Thursday at 7:30am
Saturday at 7am

If you have Sky you can watch on channel 585, or if not you can watch live TV online on your phone or mobile device or pc by clicking here at the scheduled air times just like normal telly: http://www.ucbmedia.co.uk/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6

Many big thanks and hugs to everybody who has been on side from the start by encouraging and supporting! And to those who haven't, God loves you anyway!

Please watch, and please share this with anybody who has kids, or grandchildren and who feels let down by the questionable morality of today's children's television.