Ed Thomas - 1/26/2008 - One News Now

The latest story of "irresistible force meeting immovable object" is taking place on the West Coast, where dreams and the silver screen come together -- as people of faith from the world of entertainment concentrate on what they say is the important intersection of faith and action in California's glitz capital.

The media covering Hollywood spent a considerable amount of time last year addressing the buzz amongst evangelicals and other people who believe in prayer, around debating the question of whether to devote intensified prayer to music, motion picture, and television stars and their highly publicized lives. 

With a notable number of minor (e.g., Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton), major (Tom Sizemore) and sometimes tragic (Anna Nicole Smith) stories at the forefront in 2007, the world-at-large paid more attention than ever to every facet of whatever touches the lives of the aforementioned -- including the activities of what's known as the Hollywood Prayer Network. 

The group, led by founder and director Karen Covell, sees its job as extending the power of prayer to those in positions of influence through their performing arts venue. In what may have been the peak of their notoriety last fall -- a feature piece on CNN's Showbiz Tonight -- Covell said she believes a lot of people in Hollywood are starving ... both spiritually and physically.

"We pray for everybody in Hollywood ... from the person who can't even pay their rent because they're this struggling artist and can't make it, up to the person who's in a place where they're so visible that they can't even live their own private life," she says. "It's a real span between the two."

That means, she insists, the network is not just star-struck and interested in a way for Christians to also idolize and worship entertainment performers -- or interested in publicity at the expense of celebrities, as some have also accused.

A producer herself, Covell says she and others like her in the 5,000-member strong coalition think artists have a really hard life, and they want to make it more encouraging for them. 

"We're not praying just for Britney Spears or any [certain] celebrity," says Covell. "But I believe prayer in general is powerful, and that's why I do it. I think prayer can help anybody, and I hope it can encourage and lift up Britney [too]."

However, at least one other minister to the stars -- Marty Angelo -- believes it takes more than just words or prayer to be an ambassador for Christ to the celebrities, such as adding to the mix actions that model faith. 

"I think it's an excellent idea, as long as you do outreach," he says in reference to the Network's prayer efforts. "I mean there's one thing about praying: the Bible says that faith without works is dead." 

Angelo is a prison minister and author who often reaches out to the more troubled actors and actresses who have wound up incarcerated or otherwise in trouble with the law, relating to them his own experience as a successful but troubled former disco-era music executive and producer who served prison time. He's also part of the Prayer Network, but says he chooses to go beyond the group's normal, sole emphasis on prayer to include personal or electronic contact with the performers. 

"What I use is my book, Once Life Matters: A New Beginning, and I go into all of the different situations that I got myself into when I was living in that type of life," he shares. "I think that's just as important as the prayer." 

Angelo even offered to serve Paris Hilton's jail sentence in return for her enrollment in a faith-based residential treatment program, as well as sending her a copy of his book. Neither Hilton nor her judge accepted the offer, but she did use statements from the book in a June interview with Larry King subsequent to her release, according to Angelo. 

He says he made a similar offer to Lindsay Lohan following her driving-related legal troubles. 

While no monumental lifestyle change has occurred yet with either performer, Angelo says other people will be intrigued to take deeper steps based on the outreach and presentation of the gospel -- as he did when ministered to by his sister in prison. He believes it's why the prayer initiative and follow-up contact are important for people like him and the Prayer Network partners to do. 

"Now sometimes, people just don't want to hear anything when they're going through troubles," he acknowledges, "but there are some that do ... and I think I would've, had there been a group like that years ago that would go the extra mile -- praying, but also [offering] some action." 

As far as the tiff over whether Christians should be more concerned about prayer for celebrities or people who are less affluent, Angelo makes no distinction between those with spiritual needs when it comes to how God works. 

"God uses people," he emphasizes, "and I think that sometimes we have a tendency to forget that here, because the majority of the church is waiting for Jesus to come again -- instead of being about his father's business, which is what we're supposed to be doing."