Home > Today's Christian > Today's Culture > Television
Today's Christian, May/June 2005
Rebuilding Hope
How ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is changing families and churches across the nation.
By Holly Vicente Robaina
 |
| ABC Television/Adam Larkey |
"Good morning, Cox family!"
"Good morning, Harris family!"
A perky male voice shouted those early morning greetings over a bullhorn. It wasn't the most tranquil start to the day, but for the Cox and Harris families, it was a most-welcome one. Those words from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington were the confirmation they'd hoped to hear. In the span of one week (or an hour for TV viewers) the reality show magically transformed their dilapidated houses into extravagant dream homes.
There's something about this hit ABC television program, which renovates (and in many cases completely rebuilds) the homes of needy families, always with tear-inducing results. On a Gospelcom.net message board, one man announces it's the only TV show he watches. In a FamilyLife.com online discussion board, one person queried, "With all the indecency, sexual innuendo, racy ads, and immodest behavior, should we even watch TV anymore? Is there any redeeming value or shows worth watching these days?" Someone replied, "Yes, there is at least one show that is most definitely worth watching: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
A new 'Touched by an Angel'?
What makes this mainstream reality show so attractive to Christians?
For one thing, the show has featured several Christian families. True, there have been Christian cast members on other reality shows, but it was rare that they could speak about their beliefs—except when they were being set up for a punch line. In a refreshing approach, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE) seems to let believers be believers, without apology. It shows families praying. Church choirs singing "I'm So Glad, Jesus Lifted Me." People speaking about the goodness of God. And ABC broadcasts it all to some 20 million viewers each Sunday evening.
"We're making this show the only way I'd be comfortable making it—by finding great families we want to help, and then turning on the cameras and letting them be them," says Tom Forman, the show's creator and executive producer. "If they choose to pray, then they pray. Whatever their response is, it's what we put on TV."
In one episode, 12-year-old Warrick Harris of inner-city Los Angeles gets down on one knee and, with his head buried in his hands, prayerfully thanks God for his new room. The show even mentions participants' connections with the church. An episode on the Cox family of Southern California unabashedly notes husband and dad John Cox's lifelong work with churches, and on a program featuring the Wofford family of California, Ty Pennington explains how the family was nominated for the makeover by members of their Calvary Chapel church.
The moments are often brief, but they are noticed. As one woman posted on the Christian chat website MannaCabana.com, "I remember watching quite a few episodes where the people were thanking Jesus, so God is blessing Christians also through this show. Praise the Lord."
Even those who don't believe in God sense there's something different about this program. On RuthlessReviews.com, a secular website filled with atheistic views, writer Matt Cale calls EMHE "ABC's Sunday-night sermon," and says, "God could be on [the network's} board of directors, instructing his lackeys to bestow lavish gifts on the poor, suffering souls of the earth …"
Sarcasm aside, the unbelieving world is catching a glimpse of something truly remarkable and uplifting—a weekly celebration of family, faith, and charity in action. And all on the same network that broadcasts Desperate Housewives an hour later. Sure, at times EMHE may seem like an hour-long infomercial for Sears products. Nevertheless, it's possible that Christians haven't been this enthusiastic about a TV show since Touched by an Angel left the air in 2003.
Inspiring good deeds
Tom Forman, who was a news producer before developing EMHE, says he set out to make a different kind of reality show, one that would be true to the lives of the families it features. Without naming names, Forman (who is Jewish) says the show's cast and crew are composed of Christians, Jews, and people who don't believe in God at all. Still, they are all on the same page about the show's purpose.
"We're all proud to be working on something where people aren't voted off islands or performing stunts, but where you're just doing a good thing for good people. That's probably largely why the show resonates with the Christian community and all of our viewers."
And EMHE clearly has had a widespread effect on the Christian community, with believers of every age, ethnicity, and denomination talking about it. Down in Georgia, a teen devotion in Mars Hill Baptist Church's newsletter used the show as an analogy of how God remodels our lives. Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church in Michigan named its four-week November sermon series "Extreme Makeover—Home Edition," with topics such as "Jesus, the Foundation" and "Sheltered in Love and Joy." On the other side of the country, Family Fellowship Church in Beaumont, California, held an eight-week sermon series titled "Extreme Makeover: Family Edition," with weekly topics such as "Contractors, Builders, and Clients: Four Ways to Be Your Kid's/Parent's Best Friend."
Several churches across America have taken the concept one step further by creating their own versions of EMHE. In its "Major Makeover," Providence Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, renovated a vacant house that had been in a state of disrepair. The refurbished home and property, which had been donated by a church member, were then sold to a single mother. The church used funds from the sale to remodel its own sanctuary. Another Holland, Michigan, church, Lakeshore Vineyard Christian Fellowship, raised more than $7,000 to make needed repairs to a local family's home. Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, got double duty from their "Extreme Makeover: Christmas Edition." Church members filmed their renovation of an inner-city home, then "broadcast" the video at church as part of their Christmas program.
And, in good old barn-raising style, more than 150 friends, neighbors, and strangers converged on the home of a Fort Worth Christian School teacher for what they dubbed an "extreme home makeover." The kindergarten teacher, Linda Dickey, had mentioned to a parent that she needed to repaint her bathroom. Even simple repairs were challenging for the Dickeys, a family ravaged by serious health problems. Linda has been battling breast cancer for 12 years, and her husband, Don, suffers from a degenerative brain disease. The couple's Texas home was given a complete makeover, with carpet, curtains, bedding, wall décor, a refinished deck, and handicapped-accessible features to better accommodate Don's wheelchair. Just like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, this makeover had a special surprise at the end: A woman offered to pay off the couple's mortgage.
It's amazing how one TV show's simple formula—a kind deed for a family in need—has inspired so many. In his Internet diary, one man shared his dream of just how far this simple idea could go in the hands of Christians: "There are people all around us in need. If secular TV shows can make this stuff happen (and that's awesome), what do you think the church could do if we all got together and sought to bless our neighbors?"
Holly Vicente Robaina is a writer in Southern California.
For an extended interview with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition creator Tom Forman, click here.
|
The House on Hope Street
It was a running joke in the Cox family: Someday, a rich guy would come along and completely remodel their home. John, a minister, had been saying that to his wife, Wendy, a homemaker, for years.
Living on a small, single income, the family was used to shopping in thrift stores and reclaiming furniture that had been left on street corners or in dumpsters. Yet Wendy says she felt incredibly rich, since she was able to be a stay-at-home mom to their three daughters, Shaina, Hannah, and Nicole.
They were renting when a fixer-upper became available to buy. It was located on Hope Street in Simi Valley, California, an area they knew and loved. The price was doable. But it wasn't exactly the house Wendy had hoped for. Its exterior, with bright blue Mexican arches, had earned it the name "Smurf house." And the interior essentially needed to be gutted. Since John was always on the road working with his ministry, Wendy wondered how they'd find time—and money—to make home repairs.
Wendy was reading her Bible one day when she came across a passage about God's provision. "I felt like the Lord had said, 'Trust in Me,'" she says. She decided to let go of her fears, and they signed the papers for the house on Hope Street.
Meanwhile, a church friend had given John a newspaper clipping about a new home makeover show on ABC. The Coxes applied and auditioned. They were just settling in to their new home when the Extreme Makeover crews showed up.
The timing couldn't have been better. The makeover team uncovered some shocking problems hidden within the walls: toxic black mold and rusted, leaking pipes. These problems hadn't been discovered by their home inspector, and could have become potentially deadly headaches.
It's not the first time the family was amazed by God's extreme provision. More than once, when the couple didn't have enough money to cover their bills, a check would arrive in the mail for the exact amount they needed.
"That's happened all the time. It happened so often we began to realize the Lord will provide, and it's not by our own means," Wendy says. "That's how we survive—by our faith."
—H.V.R.
For more information about John Cox's ministry, click here
|
|
A Very 'Sweet' Ending
Alice Harris remembers standing in her South Central Los Angeles living room in November 2003, knee-deep in floodwater. The flooding destroyed most of the Harris family's furniture. Worse, their insurance didn't cover the damage. The family of five was forced to live out of one bedroom.
But "Sweet Alice" (as the Watts community activist is affectionately called) was more concerned about her neighbors' needs than her own. More than 40 houses in her neighborhood were damaged by the sudden storm. Floodwaters also ruined hundreds of Christmas toys collected by Parents of Watts, the nonprofit organization Alice founded in the mid-1960s.
The flooding made it difficult for Parents of Watts to maintain its regular services—which include more than 15 programs offering assistance to the homeless, unwed mothers, and at-risk youth. Its annual Christmas program, which provides toys for some 3,000 low-income children, was now in jeopardy. Alice didn't know how she'd get replacement toys in time for Christmas, but she trusted God would take care of it.
First, Alice prayed. Then she contacted local media, asking them to report on the flood damage in Watts. The story was broadcast on the evening news to Los Angeles viewers—and spotted by producers of a new ABC television show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
"We knew her story, and when ABC picked up the show, we reached out for her," Tom Forman, the show's executive producer, told JET magazine. "Sweet Alice is not the kind of person who would nominate herself, because she puts others' needs before her own."
When construction workers and ABC camera crews showed up at the Harris' front door, it seemed unbelievable. "Do y'all know you're in Watts?" Alice asked the emhe cast, grinning from ear to ear.
The moment was made perfect for Alice when she found out her entire neighborhood was getting a "mini-makeover," courtesy of ABC and Sears. Her neighbors received free appliance repairs, landscaping, paint touch-ups, and new mattresses and bedding. What's more, Mattel even replaced the damaged Christmas toys.
"My prayer is that the show can continue to do what it's doing," Alice says at the end of her emhe episode. "This is what makes the world a better place. Keep doing what you're doing; God will bless you. He has blessed me."
—H.V.R.
|
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine.
Click here for reprint information.
May/June 2005, Vol. 43, No. 3, 32
Browse More Today's Christian
Home | People of Faith | Stories of Hope | Today's Culture
Build Your Faith | Laughing Matters | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try Today's Christian Woman Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.
If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift
Order a gift subscription!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
