{"id":23970,"date":"2013-06-15T19:28:39","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T23:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=23970"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:03:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:03:35","slug":"man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/","title":{"rendered":"“Man of Steel” Flying to a Pulpit Near You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing \u201cMan of Steel\u201d to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, creating Father\u2019s Day discussion guides and producing special film trailers that focus on the faith-friendly angles of the movie.<\/p>\n

The movie studio even asked a theologian to provide sermon notes for pastors who want to preach about Superman on Sunday. Titled \u201cJesus: The Original Superhero,\u201d the notes run nine pages.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow might the story of Superman awaken our passion for the greatest hero who ever lived and died and rose again?\u201d the sermon notes ask.<\/p>\n

Similar campaigns to corral the country\u2019s large number of Christians into the movie theater have been used for\u00a0\u201cLes Miserables,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>\u201cSoul Surfer\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cThe Blind Side,\u201d<\/a>all of which had at least some faith angle.<\/p>\n

Baltimore pastor Quentin Scott is among dozens of ministers who received an e-mail invitation from Grace Hill Media, a Hollywood-based Christian marketing firm, to an early screening of \u201cMan of Steel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an actual push to say `We\u2019re putting out something that speaks to your group,\u2019 \u201d said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

At first, Scott said, he didn\u2019t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story,\u201d said the pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something I was very excited about that with the consultation of our senior pastor, we could use in our congregation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Continue.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits. Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing \u201cMan of Steel\u201d to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1466,11184,1363],"class_list":["post-23970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-man-of-steel","tag-movies","tag-superman"],"yoast_head":"\n"Man of Steel" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Man of Steel" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-15T23:28:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/06\/Man-of-Steel_01-575x359.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Man of Steel\\\" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-15T23:28:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Man of Steel” Flying to a Pulpit Near You?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Man of Steel\" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?","description":"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Man of Steel\" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?","og_description":"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-06-15T23:28:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/06\/Man-of-Steel_01-575x359.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/","name":"\"Man of Steel\" Flying to a Pulpit Near You?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-15T23:28:39+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"That's what the producers are hoping, anyway, thanks to a savvy marketing campaign:\u00a0 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/man-of-steel-flying-to-a-pulpit-near-you\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Man of Steel” Flying to a Pulpit Near You?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}