Stephen Baldwin Talks Jesus, Hollywood and His Mission to Transform Christian Media Into Something Incredible
Stephen Baldwin is a well-known actor, producer, and author. He is also the brother of Hollywood star Alec Baldwin and the father of superstar model and the soon-to-be wife of Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin. He’s also a born-again Christian who has been heavily involved in producing faith-based movies and TV shows since his conversion a number of years ago.
Baldwin has an infectious personality and has committed himself to sharing the Gospel by any means possible. In a two-part conversation on the Lucas Miles Show, Baldwin discussed his current and future media projects, as well as his experience of being a Christian in Hollywood.
Since becoming a Christian, Baldwin has had to sacrifice a huge amount of work in the secular entertainment industry, which has resulted in him being labeled a “Jesus Freak” by many producers and filmmakers.
“The fourth hit if you Google ‘Stephen Baldwin’ is the ‘Jesus Freak of Hollywood,'” Stephen laughed as he got the conversation underway.
Sure, it’s a ham-fisted description, but he’s okay with it. Plus, Baldwin has had enough bad experiences with the pretentious Hollywood types to know that he wants to live differently — he is absolutely determined to treat each and every person he meets with respect and kindness.
“First time I had ever been on an airplane — my brother Alec flies me out to L.A. I get off the plane and there’s one of the famous guys from Star Trek,” he recalled. “I go over, and the guy was inconceivably disrespectful and rude to me. I was 17, and I said a prayer, bro. I said ‘God, if you’re up there’ — I didn’t know Jesus, but — ‘God if you’re up there, if I ever become famous, I will never do what that guy just did.'”
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Stephen said that he often explains to his PR person that if God is speaking and leading him to speak with someone about Jesus, he’s gonna do it — even if it means he is going to be late to a Hollywood party!
So what about faith-based films? Are they getting any better?
“What’s happening in Christian cinema is progressively getting better,” Baldwin told host Lucas Miles. “But part of my calling is challenging Christians to be sure of their calling when they say ‘the Holy Spirit is calling me to Hollywood.'”
“I say, you better be sure about that because Satan’s running Hollywood, brother,” Baldwin said.
And what about your life outside of acting and producing?
“It’s quite boring,” Stephen laughed. “I live north of New York City on a farm. I go to Calvary Chapel. Those guys stick to the Word pretty close. When I’m working from the house, I just wanna be there to serve my wife and daughters.”
A committed father, the actor explained how he is often checking up on his kids, albeit lightheartedly.
“My daughter Hailey, I’ll just text her: “ten fingers, ten toes?'” he said, “and she’ll just be like ‘I’m good, Dad!'”
What are you working on at the moment?
“I’ve made about 110 films in 30 years, so the Lord is always giving me ideas,” Baldwin continued. “Film is so natural to me, I have to stay in touch with the Holy Spirit. I get ideas every day for, let’s say, a Christian version of CSI or Law and Order.”
But Christian media must be produced “with excellence,” Baldwin stressed.
“We need to give it more crossover potential, make it more attractive so we can get the Gospel message across!” he said.
Stephen noted that he had some pretty “wild” ideas in the pipeline.
“I have a project called ‘Veritas,’ which is kinda ‘road warrior meets the Matrix,'” he said. “It’s based on Revelation.”
Baldwin said that Christian material should be just as good as anything you’d find on Netflix and that the production quality must be up there with the very best in the business. The actor also noted the recent release of his new docu-series, titled, “The Great American Pilgrimage,” and talked a bit more about the vision behind the intriguing production.
“It’s me in my RV, with my three dogs, driving across America, interviewing about ‘what is America to you?’ That’s in the can and is airing on Russia Today (RT),” he explained.
“In the wake of this election and all the protests that are going on, I said to myself ‘I wonder what would happen if I start a conversation with people.’ It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you’re political opinion is, your religious persuasion… I wonder what would happen if I was to start a conversation where I am willing to do a lot more listening than having to say to somebody ‘I’m wrong, you’re right,'” he said.
The great motivation was to “do unto others, what I would have them to do unto me, which is not judge me before they get to know me,” Baldwin explained.
Despite the whole project being done very light-heartedly, the “Usual Suspects” star revealed that many profound conversations were sparked out of the relatively simple meetings with everyday Americans.
“Brother, I did all that in the realm of comedy. But then these moments happened in the show where I had these true conversations with people that were so amazing,” he told Miles. “My heart was to sit down, do a lot more listening, and not judge each other before we get to know each other — that’s the reason for the divide.”
Baldwin noted that, on one occasion, he was having a heated debate with someone over immigration. But instead of going back-and-forth for hours, he decided to take the discussion in another direction, realizing the pair had way more in common than they thought — including young adult daughters.
As it turned out, just sharing something as a simple as the desire to be great parents was enough to bridge the gap in other areas.
“It’s dealing with real life, but trying to humble ourselves a little bit,” he said of the show.
Baldwin also noted that Christians must be leading the way when it comes to ridding the country of the unhealthy division.
“There is gonna be a powerful movement, but there will be some bad apples,” he said of this next season to face the United States. “There will be some Christians who will push back and try to be unrighteous toward the opposition,” he explained. “But that’s not the way to do it.”
Baldwin encouraged believers to “crush hate” by “loving on people.”
“The love of Jesus Christ is the only way,” he concluded.
Do you share your faith with people in Hollywood?
Stephen explained how he has a massive tattoo on his arm that simply reads: “Worship Jesus.”
“The tattoos are really stories of my life that I use as opportunities to communicate,” Baldwin said, adding that when “somebody least expects a conversation to come up about eternity, I always have fun with it — every chance I get.”
“There’s a sense of urgency,” Baldwin noted of his compulsion to share the Gospel with the people around him. “Jesus is coming back.”
You can find plenty more episodes of the Lucas Miles Show and can subscribe to the regular podcast here.
