Family Talk Weekends

Roger Marsh: Welcome to Family Talk Weekend. I'm Roger Marsh. Thanks for making time during your weekend to take us along or to have us with you at home. Family Talk is a listener-supported broadcast outreach, and your prayers and financial partnership make these programs possible. We have a great program in store for you today, so let's jump right in.

Dr. James Dobson: Welcome, everyone, to Family Talk. It's a ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute, supported by listeners just like you. I'm Dr. James Dobson, and I'm thrilled that you've joined us.

Roger Marsh: Welcome to Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh. With so much entertainment available today, how do we as Christian families navigate what's worth watching? Our guest today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk has dedicated his life to answering that question.

Dr. Ted Baehr is the founder and publisher of Movieguide, a trusted resource that helps families make wise entertainment choices. He's also chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, working to influence Hollywood from within. Dr. Baehr holds degrees from Dartmouth College, New York University School of Law, and advanced theological studies.

He's the author of numerous books, including *Reel to Real: 45 Movie Devotions for Families*. Dr. Baehr's story isn't just about critiquing movies; it's about redemption. Growing up in Hollywood as the son of actors, he discovered faith later in life and now uses his insider knowledge to transform the entertainment industry and guide families toward content that honors God. Today, Dr. James Dobson welcomes Dr. Ted Baehr for a conversation about faith, film, and reaching Hollywood for Christ on today's edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk.

Dr. James Dobson: We have talked extensively on this program about the moral decline in this country. We continue to see Western nations, not just America but in almost all Western nations, deteriorating. It's alarming to see just how wicked and perverse the culture has become.

A large share of that decline is related to the entertainment industry. The attribution of the moral deterioration can be traced to that source. This wickedness is given center stage today and is regularly celebrated by the culture. Christian parents are on the hook today because they have to identify the threats to the value system that's being taught to their children in public schools frequently, certainly on the internet, and it seems like it's coming from every side.

Their job is to protect their kids from these influences. We're going to talk about that today because we have in the studio with us a man that I respect very, very highly. I've known him for many years. I call him Ted, but his name is Dr. Ted Baehr. He is doing as much to defend righteousness in the culture, and especially in the entertainment industry, as anybody I know.

He's a film critic and an author. He has actually written 35 books. He's the founder and publisher of Movieguide. We're going to talk about that today. It provides families with an in-depth look at movies through the lens of biblical teaching. He's also chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, which seeks to redeem culture by informing the public of the efforts of media and the entertainment industry to change the culture.

Dr. Baehr has a wide educational background. I'm going to take the time to tell you what it is because I think you need to know. He graduated from Dartmouth College Summa Cum Laude with a comparative literature degree. Then he received a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law and attended seminary for a while. He is also the recipient of a Doctor of Humanities from Belhaven College. Like I said, he's authored 35 books. Ted, I'm delighted to have you back with us today.

Dr. Ted Baehr: It's great to be back with you. I consider you one of the great friends and one of the great blessings to the Christian community. So thank you, Jim.

Dr. James Dobson: You're kind. Did I overstate what's happening in the culture today? I know that you feel that there's a lot of good that's going on, too. I don't disagree with that.

Dr. Ted Baehr: There have always been people that are attacking Christians. In Rome, it was abhorrent as they were persecuting, but you had a small group of apostles who overturned the Roman Empire which was, in the fullness of time, a Kairos moment. A lot of them paid for it with their lives. We need to be able to do that today to stand for it. William Wilberforce and people throughout history have stood against those forces.

I think that you would agree with me that we've got the wheat and the chaff. The wheat is always growing up with the chaff. There's some good wheat out there. When the evil triumphs, it breaks my heart. Usually, the Christian films do better. The more Christianity you put in, usually it does better.

Last year, just as an example, movies with positive Christian content, strong Christian content, mentioning Jesus, a strong Christian worldview, and all of that, averaged about $55 million at the box office. Movies that were anti-Christian averaged about $7 million. In the top 10 movies, 80 percent of them had strong Christian content or worldviews in the United States. In the top 25, there was only one with perverse content—what you would consider perverse content.

So they don't usually do well, but sometimes audiences get confused. This is why we do Movieguide. We're concerned about audiences so they can make wise choices. I was on a radio show, and somebody called in and said, "I've got discernment, that's why I can go to these bad movies." We have to reach these kids and the parents.

The host said his daughter was going to a movie, read the Movieguide review, and decided not to go because of what she read in it. I want to see these people make the decision—the kids, the 14-to-24-year-olds—to support the good and reject the bad.

Dr. James Dobson: And the Movieguide does a review of the movies and warns parents about what's not good for their kids and so on.

Dr. Ted Baehr: We don't tell people to go or not go because you immediately get a backlash from kids. What we do is we try to help people develop discernment. We say this could be great quality, but it's an abhorrent film, or it could be not-so-good quality, but it's a wonderful Christian film that you should support for its acceptability.

We go into the acceptability. It's got 150 criteria. The criteria help you make a decision that this is what I want to see, this is what my children should see, and give you a reason for it so you can argue the case for what you want to support.

Dr. James Dobson: You've been at this a long, long time. As long as I've known you. But you did not grow up in a Christian home.

Dr. Ted Baehr: No, I grew up in the entertainment industry. My parents were stars, and I love my parents. My father was Tex Allen. He made 12 Texas Ranger movies. He rated next to Tim McCoy, another star that people don't remember, but he was a great star. He did 62 movies. He won the Box Office Award in 1936. My mother won the Wampas Award, the Western Association of Motion Picture Distributors, so they were significant. Fame is fleeting, but I grew up really on the far left and in a world that didn't have faith and values.

Dr. James Dobson: You had all that academic training, but you really never encountered Jesus Christ. Or at least you never understood who He is.

Dr. Ted Baehr: I wouldn't have found Him in any of the schools I went to. I found Him much later. After getting out of law school, some friends of mine—I won't tell you the backstory—but we were doing a lot of nefarious activity. They said, "Can you help us start a film company? Would you do the legal work?"

So I did the legal work, just like the form I signed in your organization. I said, "Now you've got to pay me." They couldn't pay me, so I had to raise the money to pay myself. During that process, which was really a horrendous process—the industry is built on this whole house of cards—during that process, four women were interested in my father. My mother died when I was young. They were all Christians.

They'd all come to Christ through Billy Graham. They all loved Billy Graham. One of them supported Billy Graham with millions of dollars. What a testimony. They witnessed to me, and I would reject it. Finally, they said, "Read the Bible. You've had all this education." So I didn't want to read it. But when I did, when I started reading Matthew, halfway through Matthew it changed my heart. Then I went to one of their friends' houses, and she said, "Would you like to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?" and I said, "Yes." I married my wife a week later, so it took. I stopped the drugs.

Dr. James Dobson: Now, why did you do that, Ted? What drew you? What voice did you hear inside that said, "I want a friendship with you"?

Dr. Ted Baehr: If you had to boil it down to the simplicity of the Gospel, one was that all these things that I had done, which were nefarious—a lot of drugs—were bad enough that if I talked about it here, they'd kick you off the air. I threw a big drug party at Dartmouth, and I showed one of my father's movies, one of his old horror films. One boy whose father was the head of MGM blew his brains out, and another boy lost his brains. It hurt a lot of people.

When I read the good news, one, that John 10:10, that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy, and that's often the case in our lives. He wants to steal our happiness, our joy. He wants to steal our possessions. He wants to steal our marriages. He wants to steal our children. When he can't do that safely, he kills and then he destroys.

And Jesus says in that verse, "But I come to set you free and give you abundant life." All the things I had before are nothing compared to what I have now. Now I don't have a big salary; I'm a missionary. But I have more today. I've got a loving group of children, and my children are all missionaries and conservative. My son in Iraq, who is a Major, preached at his little church service last week. I'm happy about this. I'm enjoying it.

Dr. James Dobson: You actually went to seminary, but not to become a pastor or a member of a church.

Dr. Ted Baehr: I didn't know anything about Christianity, and I figured this would be the best. I love school. I've done a lot of school. Not on my resume is I studied at Northwestern University Graduate School of English with Torciano when I was working for NASA. I studied at Columbia University Film School. I just like school.

So you throw me into a school, and I'm equipped to do well in school. Some of my favorite people who are successful in life are not successful in school. But seminary was terrific. I had some great professors. Very few of them knew the Lord. One had gotten a double PhD from Lund, and I don't know if you know about Lund, but that was the most conservative seminary in Europe for many years. When you preached, they had a cross built in front because one person in the 17th century forgot to talk about the crucifixion. So they put a cross in front of the pulpit.

Dr. James Dobson: I wonder if we don't share something in common with regard to the work that we're now doing. If I had to answer the question, what do people say about you when they come up to you? It's usually about raising their children. Then if I ask them, what do you think I do? What do you think Focus on the Family in the previous life and Family Talk now—what's my primary objective? They will say to save families, to make marriages better, to raise children. All those things are good, but they're secondary. My number one objective is to introduce people to Jesus Christ.

Dr. Ted Baehr: That's exactly what I want to do. We do this big gala in Hollywood. We give out awards. One of the heads of a studio came and said, "You're the only one that'll give us an award for the studios anymore for a big film like Incredibles 2 or Boss Baby."

So we give out awards, we get all their team there, and we preach the Gospel. We just give them the good news. It's like going to church, and we have wonderful people come. We had CeCe Winans come last year.

Dr. James Dobson: How common is it for a producer or director or somebody of substance in Hollywood—if there is such a thing—to call you on the phone and say, "Ted, I want to know more about your faith"?

Dr. Ted Baehr: About faith, it's probably once or twice a month or so. But to ask for help to reach the Christian audience is almost every day. Sometimes it gets to be so many. Today I had a director who's been directing for 25 years and he wants me to look at something, and another one who was a star in television wants me to help him with this. Every day somebody's asking.

Dr. James Dobson: Are they open? Are you winning people to the Lord?

Dr. Ted Baehr: We see people coming to Christ. At my class that I'm teaching in two weeks, I have one of my best friends. He had written and directed over 150 films including some of Oliver Stone's best movies. He did Path to 9/11, which was a great success on ABC. He was Muslim.

His son came to my class and took the class, a little four-day course that I do. He wrote a script that was abhorrent, and he came to Christ and then went to Reformed Seminary. His father has come to Christ, and he went from making very violent movies to making Young Messiah. So we see people coming to Christ all the time.

Dr. James Dobson: Is there anything that gives you a greater thrill than that?

Dr. Ted Baehr: Nothing. The more of these people come to Christ, the better. Every time we see them is an opportunity to witness and an opportunity—it's good news. When I go out on stage, which is what I was going to say, to talk to them, to tell them that good does better at the box office, my message is to bring them good news. I'm there to help them see the truth that'll set them free.

Dr. James Dobson: So people really get a fix on you, the name of the organization, the primary organization that you founded and are running now in Hollywood is?

Dr. Ted Baehr: Well, we have two parts. One is Movieguide and one is the Christian Film and Television Commission. Those two parts correspond to how we fulfill our mission of redeeming the movie industry in specifically. If you want to talk about television, which is a disaster, and other things. Television is a disaster. It is.

We can talk about why it's a disaster, but the two parts, one is to influence the people making movies because they're a small tribe of people who need Jesus. They're just like a tribe in the middle of Laos or Cambodia or anywhere else, they need Jesus. And then to influence people to make wise decisions. It always breaks my heart, even with people that I know well, to have them go to a bad movie.

Life is short. Hollywood used to come out with 2,000 movies a year. You couldn't see them in a lifetime. So you've got to be discerning, and that means making wise choices. So Movieguide reaches the public, and the Christian Film and Television Commission is the restatement of the purpose of the old Protestant film office which we inherited all the files. So we're listed with the Writers Guild, we're listed with different guilds, I'm a member of the Producers Guild, and we go in there and say, "We're here to help you reach a bigger audience."

Every week about 25 million people, 22 to 25 million people go to movies and about 118 million people go to church, and then that increases at Easter and Christmas up to about 141 million. It used to be bigger, we know that, Jim, but it's still seven times bigger than the box office. When Bill Mechanic or anybody's talking about the Producers Guild and saying the most powerful audience is kids and Hispanics and African Americans, etc., how do you reach these people?

If you're reaching my wife's Argentine, that culture, the Spanish-speaking culture, you're reaching about 18 million people, 20 million people. If you're reaching the African American and all of those are increasing. But the church is the biggest people group in this country. We've taught Hollywood that this is the group that they have to reach.

Dr. James Dobson: When we had lunch together a while back, I told you that there is a world-famous photographer in Hollywood who's made his living photographing stars and significant people in Hollywood. He is very well known and very well paid for what he does. I've known him for a long time. He's a solid Christian man.

I don't want to give his name because I haven't gotten permission to do that, but I don't think he would mind because what he said to me that day really made an impact on me. He's left Hollywood. He closed down his photography studios and gave up the lucrative assignment that he had with people and moved to Denver. I said, "Why did you do this?" and he said, "Hollywood has become so evil and so wicked, I couldn't stand it anymore." How do you cope in that world?

Dr. Ted Baehr: Hollywood is a term that covers a lot of people. It's just like talking about the church in the United States. When Hollywood talks about the church, I try to tell them there are many different groups within the church. There are the Catholics which are about 63 million strong, and then there are the Southern Baptists which are close to 20 million strong, and then the Lutherans which are about 12 million strong, and they all have different makeup.

If you take one and extrapolate for the whole, the same thing is true in Hollywood. You've got probably the most debauched and cynical group happens to be actors because actors are in the most vulnerable position. We were talking at lunch how actors control the Academy Awards, and they are the window dressing on the set, so they're often forced to do things that are terrible and they become inured to doing things that are terrible.

Is the casting couch still in effect? I love the new rejection of the casting couch. I think it's one of the best things that's happened. I think there's some excesses there, like any movement, but it's a great thing. But on the other side, there are producers. One of them is sitting here, worked for one of my favorite movies, The Perfect Storm.

There are some great producers. Most of the stuntmen I know are very strong Christians. My friend Bob Yerkes, who started one of the founders of the Stuntmen's Association, trained Circus of the Stars and he'd get somebody up there who was famous, like Brad Pitt, and he'd get them up on the trapeze four stories up and he'd drop them and he'd say, "Have you accepted... You know where you're going if you fall." So there are a lot of good people, and we just have to reach the other people. They all need Jesus. They all need Jesus.

Dr. James Dobson: Do they sneer at you for what you believe?

Dr. Ted Baehr: I think sometimes it's more difficult within the Christian community than it is within Hollywood. I'll give you an example. I was doing witnessing in Africa, and I was doing four films. I came through a little village, and a lot of people have had this happen, and this woman comes out and she says, "How do I accept Jesus?"

Then I was in Sri Lanka shooting a film, and the guide said, "How do I accept Jesus?" in Bombay I taught at the Bombay Communications Institute, 99 percent of them came to Christ. The man who ran it said, "You shouldn't have talked about Jesus, this is terrible," and one of them was a banker, he stayed a banker, he led over 60 people to Christ. Another one started churches for 20,000 people, took lepers into his home. They made a difference.

Now, I don't see them as being the enemy. I think sometimes the difficulty is in the community of Christians. There are Christians that are living a double life. They're going to bad movies. They're doing nefarious things, but they've put on the patina of being a Christian. Our goal is to live the cross every day so that we can reach people for Jesus Christ. That's our whole goal.

Dr. James Dobson: Well, I'm always lifted by talking to you, Ted, because in the midst of a very, very pagan world, you see what Jesus said—that the field is white unto harvest. Amen. And that we really still can introduce people to Christ, even in a world like that.

Ted, this time passed very, very rapidly, and there's more that I want to talk to you about. You've written a book called *Reel to Real*, R-E-E-L to R-E-A-L, and the subtitle is *45 Movie Devotions for Families*, including scripture and the values that we've been talking about. Would you come back and let us talk about this book and make people more aware of what it is? Not only this book, but you've written 35 others, and I want to hear more about what's on your heart.

Dr. Ted Baehr: Good.

Dr. James Dobson: Dr. Ted Baehr's passion for reaching Hollywood reminds us that no industry is beyond the reach of the Gospel. You've been listening to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, featuring a fascinating conversation with Dr. Dobson and his guest, Dr. Ted Baehr. They've been discussing faith, film, and finding redemption in unexpected places. If you missed any portion of today's broadcast, or if you'd like to share it with a friend or family member, visit JDFI.net.

Roger Marsh: Every day, families all across America face challenging decisions about entertainment, education, and values. Through these Family Talk broadcasts, we're working to equip parents with biblical wisdom and practical guidance for navigating these cultural pressures. From defending the sanctity of human life to promoting God-honoring sexuality and religious freedom, this ministry stands firm on the principles that build strong families and a religious culture.

But we can't do this work alone. When you support the James Dobson Family Institute, you're helping us to reach millions with the truth of the Gospel and biblical principles for marriage, family, and child development. Your partnership enables us to continue producing programs like the one you heard today and to provide resources that strengthen families when they need it most.

Your gift of any amount makes a real difference in helping families stand strong for their faith. You can make a secure donation when you send your tax-deductible contribution through the mail. Our ministry mailing address is: Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, PO Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Once again, our ministry mailing address is Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, or just use those initials JDFI for short, PO Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949.

You can also make a secure donation when you go to JDFI.net. That's JDFI for James Dobson Family Institute dot net. Or call a member of our constituent care team. That number is 877-732-6825. Well, I'm Roger Marsh, and from all of us here at Family Talk, thanks so much for listening today. Be sure to join us again next time right here for part two of Dr. James Dobson's conversation with Dr. Ted Baehr. Their topic: Reel to Real (R-E-A-L), how families can become discerning moviegoers. It's coming up right here on the next edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, the voice you can still trust for the family you love.