Speaking of films, you’ve produced two that are coming out in the next couple of months, with The Insanity of God playing in theaters on August 30 and Hillsong: Let Hope Rise releasing on September 16. I’m also a big fan of campy science fiction films from the 50’s and 60’s. But three I couldn’t live without would probably be The Godfather, The Seventh Seal, and Citizen Kane. That’s a tough one, because I don’t think of films in that way. What are your three “desert island” films? I study advertising, I’m a museum hound, a movie buff, and a hardcore reader. As far as influences, I take in everything. As a kid, I was always the guy who wrote the sketches for “skit night” at camp. How about your biggest creative influences?Īs long as I remember I’ve gravitated toward creativity. In my book, he could be the Protestant Pope. But probably the most influential influence has been our long time pastor in Los Angeles, Jack Hayford. Then I worked with Oral Roberts at the peak of his media ministry. My first job out of college was an assistant film editor on Francis Schaffer’s famous film series “How Should We Then Live?” So I became a huge fan of this thinking. He was a great student, had multiple graduate degrees, and taught me the value of reading. Who have been some of your biggest spiritual or theological influences? I’ve never looked back, and today I’m the founder of Cooke Pictures, a media production and consulting company in Los Angeles. When the film ended, it started a discussion, and the thought occurred to me that if I can do something with a camera that makes people talk like this – then that’s what I’m supposed to do with my life. A professor was there who asked if he could show one of my films in his class. I went to college as a music major (remember, I was a preacher’s kid), but a student in my dorm saw my film reels and invited me to the film department to learn to edit. My friends and I took my dad’s Super-8 movie camera and produced war movies, mafia movies, space movies – all kinds of terrible films. However, as a teenager, I loved to make films. I’m a pastor’s kid from Charlotte, NC who never had a call to preach myself. Who are you, where did you come from, what do you do now, and how have you gotten to do it? Why don’t we start with a little bit about you, Phil. I wasted no time contacting Phil to see if he’d be willing to answer a few questions about the film, and he was gracious enough to take the time to do so. I was thrilled when I read that Lifeway Films, in partnership with the International Mission Board, was making a documentary based on the book. Real-life stories like this are much more inspiring and challenging then the fiction accounts of American persecution that we’ve seen in theaters over the past several years, and this is one of the first major films of its kind, a documentary exploring the trials of Christians around the world.Ī bit of research led me to some more thrilling news when I found out that Phil Cooke was attached to the project as an executive producer. I’ve followed Phil for many years, and have long enjoyed his perspective on faith and the arts. The book deals with real persecution, not the “Starbucks red coffee cup” kind of persecution most of us know in the west. Needless to say, the book is a challenging read, and is important to read so that we can better understand what our brothers and sisters are experiencing in other countries. It goes on to explore how watching the tiny Christian population try to survive in the middle of unimaginable difficulties changed him, and after leaving Africa, the calling he had on his life to try and learn more about the struggles of the persecuted church in the world – a calling that led him to many different “closed” countries – where he interviewed dozens of Christians for whom persecution was a part of daily life. The book is part life-story of Nik Ripken (not his real name) and his family, telling how they wound up as missionaries/relief workers in Somalia during the 1990’s, when the civil war was raging. I recently sat down and started to read the bestselling book, The Insanity of God, and found that while it was easy to pick up, it was nearly impossible to put down.
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