- Cindy Bond [00:00:03]:And I’m a media missionary, and I’ve always looked at movies. To the greatest thing that can come out of a movie is to turn it into a movement. Something that has, you know, longevity Yes. From a kingdom perspective.
Introduction
- Kim Moeller [00:00:19]:Welcome to the Generous Girl podcast. I am so thrilled to have Cindy Bond here with me. She is a global leader and pioneer of faith content in Hollywood. And as founder and CEO of the international film sales production company Mission Pictures International, she has produced over 25 films and sold 100. And her most recent productions include Redeeming Love, based on the iconic number one New York Times best selling book series by Francine Rivers. She is also the creative producer of one of the highest grossing music biopics of all time. I Can Only Imagine. So welcome, Cindy.
- Cindy Bond [00:00:55]:Thank you. Hi, Kim.
- Kim Moeller [00:00:58]:It’s so great to have you here. And I love your story, and I love that we have this opportunity on the Generous Girl podcast to share how God used you to create, I Can Only Imagine, Redeeming Love and all kinds of movies. So I guess my first question when I think of someone in your role and your calling, it’s so unique. It’s unique for a female. It’s unique for faith friendly forward films. How did that start in you? What was the seed that was planted when you were little that made you interested in pursuing this direction?
Getting Started in Film
- Cindy Bond [00:01:36]:Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. It’s such a blessing. Yeah. And, I look at myself as a media missionary. I never did this for the money. So it’s been a calling in my life today since I’ve been a kid. Really, like, young.
- Cindy Bond [00:01:52]: I was raised by my grandparents, and I think it was really seeded by my grandparents were really strong believers. And my grandmother was a total movie buff, and we would sit countless hours watching The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur, The Robe, and all these epic Bible movies. And of course she had Christian television on all the time. And I just really, I think, you know, coming out of a broken home, I really immersed myself in movies. But I just love movies that just inspired me to, you know, where boundless hope and faith because I’ve been a Christian since I was a little kid, came forward at a Billy Graham crusade when I was 7. So it’s just always been in me, my faith in God.
- I grew up in Northern California and Sacramento, actually, and then moved down to San Diego to go to college. I thought I was going to be a golf professional. Wow. And I Think that God took me through golf for about a good 10 years to teach me patience.
- Because golf is a marathon, not a sprint. And as far as becoming really good, I did become a Scratch golfer at one point and thought that was my trajectory, but it was really through that that, I ended up meeting, and playing golf with the current and future studio heads back in the day and celebrities and all kinds of stuff. So but it was really seated in me as a young girl. And then, it was really a matter of, as I was living, I moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in like, I think 1980, somewhere around the area, about 1979. And I just was looking as I was watching media. I thought, where did all these movies go that I grew up on that had good values? They were not just inspirational, but aspirational to aspire to be, you know, someone that was walking the talk of our Lord and Savior. And, certainly show business is also about entertainment.
- Cindy Bond [00:04:05]:But as we know, we serve the greatest story in the history of time because our Lord and Savior Jesus, He taught through parables and all the time and stories. So It just was that observation of me looking at the industry, and I was a part of it at that time. And modeling tried the acting thing. Like, I didn’t like being in front of the camera at all. But it was through that time that I literally just said, wait a minute. Where are the movies? There were TV shows happening. I mean, a friend of mine, Roma Downey, she’s incredible.
- Cindy Bond [00:04:42]:She’s Touched by an Angel. Fantastic. But on the feature, on the film side, we weren’t seeing those movies. We’re seeing a lot of edgy type of movies. And the kind of movies I grew upon, just in terms of the values, were gone. I didn’t really see them. So that was really identifying what I felt was a hugely underserved part of the marketplace, which I was, I felt, a core viewer, the core audience of, you know, and wanting to embrace values in my entertainment choices and just Hollywood wasn’t doing it. So I thought, well.
A Media Missionary
- Kim Moeller [00:05:17]:So eventually you created your own company.
- Cindy Bond [00:05:19]:Yes. Well, pretty cool, very cool story on that.
- Kim Moeller [00:05:24]:Okay. Please share.
- Cindy Bond [00:05:26]: God bless a gentleman by the name of Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries. And God bless Campus Crusade for Christ mightily, CRU, as we know now, because back in the early nineties, I was meeting with the executives at the leadership at Campus Crusade. They recognized early on as had their founder. I mean, Bill and Vonette Bright. Billy Graham and William Booth and Catherine Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. These people recognize all of them, and we’re going back almost a 100 years here. They recognize the importance of media, of movies, of storytelling to impact hearts and minds for the kingdom, to have incredible impact all around the world. They were the pioneers.
- Kim Moeller [00:06:16]:The Jesus film.
- Cindy Bond [00:06:17]:That’s exactly right. That’s what I was gonna say. William and Catherine Booth, they made, I believe, hundreds of movies, and they used churches as theaters. And then came along Bill and Vonette Bright with the Jesus film, which is the most watched film in history. A lot of people don’t know that. And it’s been seen by well over, my goodness, a 1000000000, probably a couple 1000000000 people now and translated into over 2,000, probably 2500 languages by now. I don’t know. But, and then, of course, that was and so I was meeting with them in the nineties.
- Cindy Bond [00:06:47]:
- So they really understood how important media is in terms of our mission. And, so we were trying to put together a large film fund. And so in that regard, they sent me up to Northern California again, close to where I was born and raised, to a conference. And I I walked into thisit was called History’s Handful that was Oh, yes. Yes. By another dear friend, Dave Hannah, who was also a founder of Athletes in Action. And so I was up there and, through Steve Douglas, Cru’s president.
Norm Miller
- Cindy Bond [00:07:24]:Yes. And I walked in and right away, I met this gentleman from Texas. His name was Norm Miller, and I was introduced to him. And I thought, oh, very nice person. And he was there with his wife. And then right off the bat, he says, hi, I’m Norm Miller. What’s your name and what do you do? And I just had a $1,000,000 deal announced in the trades. And this was in 1996.
- Cindy Bond [00:07:53]:And it was an interesting deal because it was a Christian novel that I had obtained the rights to,film rights to. And I had actually taken it into one of the most powerful talent agencies in the world. At that time, the William Morris Agency and, and the top agent in literary. And at that time, that was a movie that was packaged up with Bruce Willis, and the deal was announced over at Paramount Pictures. So I just had this deal announced. I never, never ended up making the movie, but it was a catalyst. AndI’d made one movie the week before that. And, so I met Norm.
- Cindy Bond [00:08:37]:He said, what do you do? I said, I tell him this. And then he says well, okay. So you have this deal and you made this other movie and what do you want to do with this? and I said well, I want to impact the world for Christ through media, through film, and make movies. And he says well, I want to do the same thing. And he gets out of his driveway. Okay. Well, this is great. And then he said, well, how about I fund you in a company?And I thought, Okay. Wow. But I I was in Hollywood a while, so I kind of was very much like, okay, great. He wants to fund me in a company, but I think I was just going, wow. That’s really nice of you to say that. And then after the conference, I called my husband and he said, well, how’d it go, honey? And I said, I met this guy from Texas.
- Cindy Bond [00:09:24]:He wants to fund me in a company, and he’s an actor. So he was an actor to on General Hospital for years. Uh-huh. And and so he was like, oh, that’s nice, honey. And so both of us were kind of like, well, great.
- Kim Moeller [00:09:38]:Yeah. We’ll believe it when we see it.
- Cindy Bond [00:09:39]:And then 2 weeks later, Norm calls, he says, so I’m flying in on my jet into the millionaire lounge or millionaire or whatever in Van Nuys. Can you pick me up from the airport? I’m like, oh my goodness. I think he’s serious. But that’s what happened. And it’s and we went forward and his wife, Anne, Norm, and myself, and we went forward and we were modern day pioneers on the film side because Wow. We yeah. Norm backed it financially. God bless him.
- Cindy Bond [00:10:08]:And we went out there and he said, well, let’s go out and make a movie. So we made this movie, and it’s called The Joy Rider, starring Martin Landau. And I had Chris Kristofferson, and we emancipated Elizabeth Moss as a minor who’s a huge star in Hollywood now. And it was the early days, 1996. And we made a film we’re very proud of, but it was early days because the movie was a little edgy. So it was Christian, but it was also a little edgy because we wanted to go to the unchurched and the unsaved. Right? So we ended up making what we called a tweener because it was a little too edgy for the faith based market at that time, and it was a little too Christian for the mainstream at that time.
- Kim Moeller [00:10:54]:Right.
Providence Entertainment
- Cindy Bond [00:10:55]:And so we called them a feathered fish or a tweener, but it was what it was the catalyst. It was the tool that God used to bring us into the distribution business. And getting into the distribution business was when Norm and I founded Providence Entertainment, which was the first Christian distribution company that had ever existed. And at that time, I’d met with Phil Cook and Matt Crouch and Matt was going off to make a movie called the Omega Code. And so I was going into distribution and he was going into production and he said, well, why don’t we work together? And I said, well, that’d be great. And so I picked it up at Omega Code at script stage, Norm and I founded the distribution company. And then Omega Code was the one that opened up, cracked up to the market.
- Kim Moeller [00:11:42]:All the doors.
- Cindy Bond [00:11:43]: Because it was, we opened the film and I raised the Princeton advertising money for that. Norm put up money and a guy named Ed Gaylord, the second, put up money. And, we opened the picture on 304 screens, and we were almost about 8,000 per screen average and opened at 2,400,000. And it was the same weekend that Brad Pitt and Fight Club opened. And our per screen average was higher than his. And this made global news all over the place. So really that was the event that told Wall Street and Hollywood, this massive underserved audience exists, and you, Hollywood, yes, are not only ignoring them, but you’re actually being very insulting because when you’d see a character that would be a believer, they were not depicted in a nice way often times.
- Cindy Bond [00:12:33]:So anyway mhmm. That’s kind of a roadmap on how things got started there.
- Kim Moeller [00:12:39]:Yes. And then that eventually led to Mission Pictures International that you founded.
Mission Pictures International
- Cindy Bond [00:12:44]:Yeah. Because, Providence Entertainment was a US theatrical company. So we were actually independent. We didn’t do this through the studios. We did this all on our own. We were modern day pioneers and have just been making mistakes, getting our head in the wall. I mean God just saw us through this whole thing. And, so being that Providence was a US theatrical distribution company, my heart was always to be global.
- Cindy Bond [00:13:15]:And so, jumping to 2,008, my call because I’ve just had this strong calling, like I said, as a media missionary, never for the money. And God blessed me with enough of my own finances to pour my own finances into this.
- Cindy Bond [00:13:31]:Well, I’ve sown a ton of that into my own finances. So, but in 2008, God totally opened the door with this really incredible female executive that had a foreign sales company.
- Her name is Siobhan O’Shaughnessy. And she was doing mainstream secular, she says, Crash Bamboo movies. There’s this action and adventure, which was right at that time, a lot of what you would sell into the international market place. And so I had just made an animated movie, The Ten Commandments, and I met her as she came to a Bible study at my house and I met her and I told her about this and I said, you know, I’d love for you to sell the film internationally. And she looked at me like I had three eyes on my head going, what are you talking about? Nobody’s going to buy that. And I said, no, there are Christians all over the world. They’re going to buy this. And so we did a deal and, and we, she sold the film and everybody, every country in the world bought it, except for one funny enough, Israel was the one that didn’t buy it because they said they already knew the story. So they didn’t buy the film, but it was sold all over the world. And then after that, I said, let’s start a company together.
- Cindy Bond [00:14:43]:And 3 am the day after we talked about that. And she said that sounds amazing. God woke me up at 3 am and gave me the name of the company, which was Mission Pictures, and I’m a good sleeper. So that was, yeah. And I’m, yeah, I’m arguing with God going that name’s not available. And tthen it was like, no. This is the name.
- Cindy Bond [00:15:07]:And then first thing in the morning, I did my corporate search, and Mission Pictures International was available, grabbed it, and that was the start of my international sales company.
- Kim Moeller [00:15:19]:I just love that you just have walked through the doors, and God has brought the people. And one conversation has been a springboard to the next level and the next conversation to the next person. And you just obediently walked through the doors, and God has brought the people. And one conversation has been a springboard to the next level and the next conversation to the next person. And watched what He’s brought your way knowing that everything he’s given you, your talents, your time, your treasure, you’re giving backto him, and he’s just giving you this global stage for influence and impact. It’s so exciting.
Cindy Bond [00:15:47]:It is. It’s incredibly humbling. It really is. And I’m so mindful of that because this is an industry where it’s, you know, this like, the seven deadly sins, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, everything. I mean, and it’s just, I just try to constantly check myself because pride comes before fall haughtiness before destruction. Mhmm. And it’s really easy to get, you know, full of pride in this industry, especially.
- Kim Moeller [00:16:20]: You know, another interview I heard you on, you were just very humble in your entire approach and wanting it never to be about yourself, wanting it to be about God and his kingdom.
- And I just it’s so funny how you and I met in LA because and thinking about, you know, Bill and Vonette Bright, and their influence. And honestly, when you go back and and you look at, history’s handful and the people that gave the 1,000,000
- Cindy Bond [00:16:47]:That’s right.
Cru’s Influence
- Kim Moeller [00:16:47]:…to fund that, I think in heaven, we’re just going to see these throughline threads. I went to UCLA, and one of the real reasons I chose UCLA is it was right in the center of where all the action was. And the movies, the films, and I was even on game shows when I was in college. I wanted to be in the center of where where it happens because even though California has a lot of issues and things we need to work on, it still influences the world. And so just that power and then the power of being a believer. And like you, I became a believer when I wasyoung. And my two of my oldest kids went to UCLA all the years later, but, you know, Cru was founded there by Bill Bright, and then you had Henrietta Mears. You had Bel Air Press.
- Cindy Bond [00:17:39]:That’s right.
- Kim Moeller [00:17:39]:The power of that church. And you had Hollywood Pres, and that remnant is still there and is still so powerful. And all these years later when my kids went to UCLA, I saw the same thing, but I saw the difference in Cru when I was there versus when my kids were there was the global side. I just met all these kids. I’m going to Singapore. I’m going on a mission trip to India. I’m going here. And you just thought, you know, whatever the press is saying, God is still mightily at work here.
- Kim Moeller [00:18:06]:And for the people, you mentioned Roma Downey who’s acting in, you know, all these faith friendly films herself. And people who are willing for the Lord to use them, like, He’s like, I need you in this space in Hollywood. And it’s just so beautiful and so beautiful for you as a female to see how He’s used you to to pioneer the space. Tell the story of when you were driving in Santa Monica and how you received the download regarding I Can Only Imagine? Because I think that’s super fun.
Download from God
- Cindy Bond [00:18:41]:Oh, yeah. No. I’m happy to share that. So, yes, I did have my offices down in, Santa Monica, and I live out in the West San Fernando Valley in an actually nice, beautiful community. And it’s just about 45 min to an hour for a commute. So anyway, beautiful spring day, heading towards the beach, just turning left on the Pacific Coast Highway, gorgeous day. And I literally got a download from God, an epiphany from God. And the idea was centered around, kind of labeled at that time, gospel music theater.
- Cindy Bond [00:19:16]:But it what the concept was, what God downloaded to me was that He wanted me to make some films based upon iconic Christian songs to replicate the anointed worship experience that we have when we’re before the sermon and in church. But instead inside a movie theater. And I was just I Holy Spirit chills, just speechless. And I pulled my car to the side of the road immediately after I made a left and I parked. And I knew this was just a God epiphany and the waves are crashing. It was just like so incredible.
- And then I got another download to call a friend of mine in Nashville. This guy’s name was Danny McGuffey.
- Cindy Bond [00:19:59]:He was working at Integrity Media Music. And, I called him and I told him the idea, and I said, what songs do you have, Danny? And he said, well, I have I Can Only Imagine and Shout to theLord. Which one do you want? And I thought, are you kidding? And I and so I loved both songs,incredible songs. I knew the Darlene Zschech story and I wasn’t led to at that point, but I loved I Can Only Imagine. It was one of my absolute favorite songs. I didn’t know the story under all of it, but I asked Danny and he started to tell me about Bart Millard and the life he’d led. And I thought, and I knew immediately, I said, Danny, I’m going to make that into a movie. I’m going to turn Bart’s life story into a feature film.
- Cindy Bond [00:20:41]:That’s how it started. And then it was just to let everyone know these things don’t happen overnight often times.
- Kim Moeller [00:20:49]:Right.
- Cindy Bond [00:20:50]:I’ve had it happen very quickly where Eric Hannah, Dave Hannah’s son, and I actually went from concept to funding on a movie in a month. And then I Can Only Imagine was nine years. It’s 9 years. But 9 years to when it released. And so the picture released, and I love this release date,3/16/18. John 3:16.
- But it was 3 years that it took to get the deal together with the rights, life story rights, and song and all that. But II had this epic meeting, and I’d by the way, I knew, Scott Brickell, the manager of MercyMe. I’d met him 5 years before through a dear friend of mine, Rick Shermer.
- Kim Moeller [00:21:38]:I know Rick.
- Cindy Bond [00:21:39]:Rick. Oh my goodness. Rick looked for me.
- Kim Moeller [00:21:42]:Shout out to Rick.
- Cindy Bond [00:21:43]:Yeah. Shout out to Rick. Rick was VP of marketing at Providence Entertainment.
- Kim Moeller [00:21:47]:Got it.
- Cindy Bond [00:21:48]:My first company. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, yeah, it was crazy. And I knew Brickell goes by Brickell and Tracy Atkins played him in the movie. So we’ve met each other 5 years before. So then when it came to, I Can Only Imagine, guess who I’m dealing with? I’m dealing with Brickell.
I Can Only Imagine
- Cindy Bond [00:22:02]:So Brickell then had me go to Franklin, Tennessee, and he said, I’m going to sit you down with the band. And I want you to pitch how you see this movie, because you need to convince them that this is a good idea to go forward with you. So I laid out my ideas and on specifically on a marketing side, which was guys you’re out on a tour. You know, at that time they were touring a ton and they had another part of their tour. I think the rock and worship roadshow. So I said, look, Bart is this and, you know, obviously you’re an incredible band with an incredible singer and music and songs and all this. And Bart gets out there and he shares his heart.
- Cindy Bond [00:22:44]:You know, he’s also a minister. He ministers. There’s music. For sure. So he can get out on stage. He has 2 jumbotrons on on each side of the stage. We’ll create what we call a sizzle reel, a little teaser for the movie.
- Cindy Bond [00:22:57]:We’ll play that Bart can stand up there, share his story about how the movie came to be, that his life story and all this, and do this on, you know, at every tour stop and then have the booth out in the lobby and start rallying the volunteers or people just getting the grassroots movement going and, praise God, they all said, okay, let’s, let’s do this.
- Kim Moeller [00:23:22]:We’re in.
- Cindy Bond [00:23:23]:So it took some time. So I went into development and, Rich Palusa was great at Sony. And I was developing this with Rich. It didn’t come together with Rich because he was gonna fund half, and I had a group that was going to fund the other half. And, unfortunately, the group that is funding the other half fell out, which happens. And so it was like hero to 0 where I had the movie funded and then Rich, god bless Rich. He was like, oh, I want to do this movie so badly. I want to keep this slot open for you, but I can’t because I don’t know when this is going to happen.
- Cindy Bond [00:23:57]:So then I was left with no money, no studio, no anything. And I got a call from Kevin Downs on behalf of him and John and Andy Irwin. They were partners. They had done October Baby. I think they were just doing mom’s night out or they were just doing Woodlawn. No. They were just doing Woodlawn, I think. And so and then I got a call from another group.
- Cindy Bond [00:24:20]:I won’t say the name, but the other group had all the money. Kevin, John, and Kevin said to me, John and Andy and I don’t have any money for this. So I had one day I had, this one group said,we have all the money, we want to do a deal right now. And on the other hand, John, Andy, Kevin, we don’t have any money, but we love this and we want to do this. So I thought, let me go pray.I went and I prayed about it and God was abundantly clear that you need to go with Kevin, John, and Andy.
- Kim Moeller [00:24:52]:Who had no money.
- Cindy Bond [00:24:53]:Who had no money.
- Kim Moeller [00:24:53]:Of course, God’s economy.
- Cindy Bond [00:24:55]:Right, God’s economy. And plus Rich Peluso had brought up the idea of John and Andy directing, at the Sony days. And I always thought that was a great idea. So I went with them and God bless them. They raised all the money and we partnered together in 2015. It wasn’t until 2015. So here I was 9, God, you know, blessed me with this and to be that mustard seed, this total mustard seed going all the way. And in 2015, partnered with them and they raised all the money.
- Cindy Bond [00:25:27]:And then we went and made the movie. And funny thing about Hollywood was, and Kevin and I did this panel not, not too, too long ago. And it was just hilarious because this shows you the disconnect with Hollywood and what we do, because the daily variety and the trade magazines, when we went to open on 3/16/17 and we opened against Tomb Raider and theygive projections about how much money that this movie is going to make at the box office. And Kevin and I always think it was 3,000,000 that they projected. And Kevin said, No, Cindy, it was 1,000,000 and a half. And I went, yeah, I think you’re right. So they’re like we think I Can Only Imagine is going to open up a 1,000,000 and a half dollars opening weekend. We opened to $17,100,000.
- Kim Moeller [00:26:14]:Praise God. That is incredible. Yeah. I love that. Wow.
- Cindy Bond [00:26:18]:God’s hand. Wow. On Bart to write the songs. On Bart to have that incredibly difficult childhood that he experienced. All that until almost age 28. God is so good in Bart’s life to write the song.
- Cindy Bond [00:26:35]:And then I was just, like, on my face going, how did I get in this? But here I am. And then together, because it takes a village, a big village to make a movie and a big team.And together, we came together as a team and God blessed us with this phenomenal movie. And John and Andy did a really fantastic job, and Kevin did a fantastic job producing. Erwin’s directing, Kevin and I produced. So there you go.
- Kim Moeller [00:27:06]:Well and when I heard you on a different interview, I loved how you defined even the role of producer and all that encompasses because, really, it’s getting the right people in the right spots as you said, but then it’s getting the funding. It is all things. Yes. It’s like you are just the giant conductor of this huge orchestra to make it happen and, you know, the ups and the downs, like you said, the 9 years.
- Cindy Bond [00:27:30]:Yeah.
- Kim Moeller [00:27:31]:How did you navigate everything when it looked hopeless and you thought it’s not going to happen, and you just kept going…to encourage the listener about this.
- Cindy Bond [00:27:44]:Well, I had a huge health trial in my life not that long ago. God’s fully seen me through that. And, business wise, it was a huge challenge back in the Providence Entertainment days where the enemy hit me so hard, with I won’t say the producers or the movie or whatever, but there was a movie that happened and it was just what we were doing in those days was so, it was so Kingdom focused that the enemy just came right in the middle, which is really where the enemy, you know, comes in. He’s the Satan’s the father of lies and through deception and confusion. And we just got attacked so bad and it was this one movie that happened and it was just, it was just the enemy, just got his grips, his teeth into this one film and all the filmmakers was just, it was absolutely like an attack. It was absolutely an attack from the pit. And it was so bad and I was getting shut out of the whole thing. And I literally had things said to me where, I mean, I was, all my partners were men and they would literally shut a door in my face.
- Cindy Bond [00:29:01]:It would happen where it’d be like, oh, us boys are handling things. You just sit over there and, you know, kind of, you know, maybe look pretty and just kind of do your thing. I mean, it was really bad. And I thought, you know what, Lord, you’ve blessed me with enough money where I don’t need to do this. I never did it for the money. Why am I here? Mhmm. And I was ready to just pack it in.
- Kim Moeller [00:29:25]:And, turn in the towel.
The Resistance
- Cindy Bond [00:29:26]:Yeah. And I’m juggling being a mom and a wife and Mhmm. With 2 kids. And I thought Mhmm.Lord, I don’t need this. I don’t need to do this. If you’re calling me to do this, this is like being tortured. This is torture.
- Cindy Bond [00:29:40]:I can’t do this. And God was just adamant with me. It’s like, no. You’re going to sit there. You’re going to stay in there. You’re going to stay in there. You’re going to stay in the fire. No.Cindy Bond [00:29:51]:He told me to sit on my hands. Don’t fight. Don’t fight. I’m going to fight for you. I’m going to vindicate you. I’m going to I’m going to fight. This is fighting the good fight.You’re going to sit there, sit on your hands, and you can say you’re going to let me do it.Cindy Bond [00:30:06]:This was what was coming.
- Kim Moeller [00:30:08]:And He’ll get the glory.
- Cindy Bond [00:30:09]:And He’ll get the glory. And you know what? He totally did. He totally did. He vindicated. He righted all the wrongs and it truly was an incredible time. So look, when you come, just think about this. Satan’s a prince of the powers of the air. How does media travel? Through the air.
- Kim Moeller [00:30:30]:Through the air. Yep.
- Cindy Bond [00:30:31]:We’re sight and sound people, what we’ve watched and what we hear. So when you get into the space, you know, here’s the big one, you’d better, when God talks about the full armor of God, you know, notice in that Scripture, He doesn’t ask you, He doesn’t say, will you please put this on? No, He says, put it on, put it on. It’’s a commandment. Mhmm. Put on the full armor of God because those attacks are going to come. How are you going to withstand the attacks of the enemy? So he led me through that, and I was like, boy, I’m keeping that armor on, and I’m just going to go forward
- Kim Moeller [00:31:08]:Everyday.
- Cindy Bond [00:31:09]:Yeah. Right. So
- Kim Moeller [00:31:11]:We don’t realize I think we wake up, and it’s, you know, Southern California is a beautiful day, but that armor had better be on every day. Because if you want to be making that impact, you’re going to have the attacks.
- Kim Moeller [00:31:26]:And so to know that, no, it’s not crazy that all these things are happening. I mean, you and I even getting on this podcast today with the resistance… I’ve never had that much resistance.
- Cindy Bond [00:31:38]:I never had it either. It was it was literally nuts. I mean, it was incredible.
The Dream Center
- Kim Moeller [00:31:44]:So then you’re like, okay. There’s a great story that God wants to share through Cindy, and this is going to happen. So okay. One one other shout out I want to do for you, because again, I really love your humility in all this, but I also love your spirit of generosity. So one of the places where you and I saw each other was at the Dream Center luncheon in Beverly Hills where they do an annual fundraising luncheon. And, you know, this is an incredible property next to the 101 freeway where it twas given to them at a very low cost, 12 floors, and homeless people recovered, and all kinds of people here have life changing stories there. And it’s an incredible, incredible mission. And you were there, and they were raising funds.
- Kim Moeller [00:32:33]:And, you know, we all got the card with the number, like an auction to raise our hand when, you know, if you want to give it this level or give it that level. And when you gave a certain level, you were given a purse that somebody else had donated, and they had a line of purses, you know, in the front of the stage. And so I just loved you how you raised your paddle. They said, thank you so much, Cindy. That’s so generous of you to gift to the Dream Center, and now you can pick out a purse, but you did not want to pick out a purse for yourself. You know, there was a gal there from the Dream Center whose life had radically been impacted, had been on the streets of LA, and you had her pick out a purse. And I just thought that was so beautiful.
- And I know one of the other movies that you’ve also produced is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. And you were talking about the foundation and or the nonprofit that came out of that movie, helping girls and anti trafficking. So why don’t you speak a little bit about that? And if women are interested in being a part of this and making a difference, that’s a perfect way for the listener to get involved. So I’d love for you to share that because I really feel on this podcast as we talk about the 2 pillars on this one, obviously, are faith and then all the finances involved in getting these movies off the ground. And then just the spirit of generosity because as we know, everything we use, own is not ours. It’s the Lord’s, and we’re just stewards. And it flows through us. And the more our hands are open for it to flow, the more, the bigger the impact that is there. So I think what you’ve done with RedeemingLove as well is just an incredible story.
- Kim Moeller [00:34:14]:I love that book, also. But share about the the nonprofit and how you’ve been so generous through that.
- Cindy Bond [00:34:22] Yeah. I’ve always looked at movies. Again, I’m a media missionary, and I’ve always looked at movies, as the greatest thing that can come out of a movie is to turn it into a movement. Something that has, you know, longevity, from a Kingdom perspective. And so the Redeeming Love. Francine, that book was 30 years old before it became a movie. And it was a movie I wanted to make for probably 20 years.
- Cindy Bond [00:34:50]:Francine, who’s just absolutely incredible, humble, human being. She’s absolutely wonderful. Redeeming Love was her statement of faith. It was the first book she wrote when she became a believer. And so we went forward and we made the movie and Francine co-wrote the script and it was a movie I fought for, for years and others had tried to make. It was just a difficult movie to make because it was edgy and Francine again, it’s a movie where Francine said, look, this is for the unchurched and the unsaved who she made this film for. And so I’m so proud of the movie.
- Cindy Bond [00:35:30]:I mean, Francine was an executive who produced the movie, wrote the screenplay, produced everything. And so because it is edgy, and I would say unless you’re 16 and older, don’t see it.. But, out of the movie came this incredible foundation called Redeeming Love Sanctuary.org. And the idea for this organization was the wife of director DJ Caruso. Her name is Holly Caruso, dear, dear friend. And, Holly really just said, we need to, really take this beyond, you know, what this film is. I mean, as far as a film, we need, we need to, you know, expand, take this to the world in terms of use this film as a platform to help those who’ve been trafficked. Because that’s what the movie’s about.
Redeeming Love Sanctuary.org
- Cindy Bond [00:36:19]:A young girl who’s been trafficked, who’s been abused and how God rescued her, how God delivered her out of this. And I call the movie in a lot of ways, a shame cleanser, because women, I think as women, we’ve carried a lot of shame through things maybe we’ve done, we were embarrassed to say we’ve done, or been a victim to what others have done to us. And, it’s difficult. It’s very challenging to be a woman in the world, the mantle we carry. And so this organization, this is a not for profit organization, we do not take one penny. All of us donate our time. Holly is just, she has just poured herself into this. Francine’s poured herself into this.
- Cindy Bond [00:37:04]:Paul Lauer, who marketed movies like Passion of the Christ and others, Lana King, who came out of Hallmark Entertainment, major executive, incredibly brilliant woman, Nita Bells, who is Francine’s best friend. And it’s just been absolutely phenomenal what’s happened here. So I would really encourage everyone to go and no matter what you’re able to do, we, like I said, do not take one penny. All of the proceeds go to organizations. We don’t give to individuals, we give to organizations. And so it all goes there.
- Cindy Bond [00:37:39]:And Francine’s donated all of her proceeds from Redeeming Love to the 501(c)3.
- Kim Moeller [00:37:45]:The 501c3. So generous. And, you know, in my role with the National Christian Foundation, That’s what I get to do. We represent 90,000 different ministries, nonprofits, church where people give these funds. And I’ve never done a shout out for this group on the podcast, but the Impact Foundation is a group we partner very closely with where people use money in their donor advised funds to invest in Faith Family films. And it’s incredible the impact. That partnership actually came out of people who work for NCF has happened and continues to happen around the world. So it’s just so fun when people are generous with whatever God’s given them and they use it for the kingdom. It’s just how God designed it.
- Kim Moeller [00:38:32]:So so powerful, Cindy, and I just love your heart. I love your story, and I hope the female listener who feels called to the same space takes that next step and does what God wants her to do because we can use so many people in this space. And God bless you. God bless you on all you’ve done and all the current projects you’re working on right now, the new funding that’s out there to make it possible, the visions, dreams you’ve had on your heart. I know they’re going to happen and be fulfilled. And I would love to talk to you for another, you know, several hours, and, of course, we can’t. So I’m going to have to wrap up now, and I would just love for you to share your favorite verse, current book you’re reading, and a bargain, and we’ll close out the show.
Book, Bible Verse, and Bargain
- Cindy Bond [00:39:18]:Yes. Absolutely. Okay. So my favorite Bible verse is Matthew 6:33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And, of course, John 3:16, also my favorite. But the reason I love this one is because if you seek God first in all that you do, your life is going to have order. It’s going to be in God’s timing and God’s will so that you’re constantly getting everything from Him.
- Cindy Bond [00:39:46]:You’re not leaning onto your own understanding. You’re not allowing the flesh, which is enmity against the spirit. Allowing the flesh, which is enmity against the spirit to dictate. And it’s a constant battle with the flesh. So it’s just constantly seeking him. And so that’s why I Love that one. Mhmm. Bookwise, I just finished a book called Maria’s Scarf written by a world famous drummer by the name of Zorro.
- Cindy Bond [00:40:10]:
- And it’s this beautiful story about how heand his family came from Mexico and he had 6 siblings and a single mom who raised them and through unbelievable adversity, raised her children. I mean, just unbelievable how she survived and raised those children. So it’s just this beautiful story of this mother and son that just really hit my heart. And then in terms of bargain, I’m gonna say this, it’s a bargain if you buy it on Amazon. It’s gonna I’m trying I try to buy just one. I ended up buying 6 of these, but I was a big sugaraholic, like major. I, I should have gone to sugaraholics anonymous, if that thing existed. And so I, over the years shifted because eating a lot of sugar is not healthy and health and wellness is very important to me, obviously.
- Cindy Bond [00:41:03]:And so I found what they call monk fruit drops. That’s from a company called Lekanto, and they are monk fruit sweetener drops. And it’s a little, about that big. They’re a little sweetener drops, and I don’t need sugar anymore.
- Cindy Bond [00:41:20]:I got home with my cup of green tea or my coffee, or a latte, and I’ll drop those in. And so I buy it in bulk. So it is a bargain when you buy it in bulk because they last forever and it’ll cure yoursugar cravings.
- Kim Moeller [00:41:32]:I I’ve never heard that as, you know, to cure the sugar cravings. So, you know, sugar causes so much inflammation, so many things.
- Cindy Bond [00:41:40]:Yes.
- Kim Moeller [00:41:40]:I will add that to my list, and I feel like Maria’s Scarf might be your next movie you might be producing too.
- Cindy Bond [00:41:48]:I’m talking to Zorro about it. We’re looking at different ideas surrounding it. So we’ll see. I mean, I have the other ones that are going to be, another one that’s going to be announcing soon, which you’ll be very excited to hear about because I am.
- Kim Moeller [00:42:02]:So exciting. Yeah. Well, again, thank you for just the generosity of your time and sharing yourstory. And I know the listeners are going to hear your story and be blessed, and then ask the Lord, okay. What do you want me to do, and how can I play a part? What do you want with my resources, my time, my treasure? So thank you, Cindy, and I really look forward to seeing the next release and what God has you doing. You’re a rock star.
