____________________________

By MADDY HOUK
Lifestyle Reporter
(Jan. 28, 1999)

Last year at this time the Rev. David Bruce of the Church on the Move had not even sent an e-mail on his computer. Today, he is celebrating that his website has had more than 1 million hits since its inception 10 ½ months ago.

Bruce inspired to do something positive on the Web when he attended a Billy Graham Crusade in San Jose a year and a half ago.

"Billy Graham’s challenge for Christians was to use the World Wide Web for good,’ Bruce says. I thought, ‘What could I do?’

He gave it a lot of thought even bringing his idea to Graham staff member who encouraged him. He headed for the bookstore for books on how to set up a Website, and worked for 4 ½ months on it before bringing it on the line with Concentric.

"It took me more than four months to get the pages to go on the web and I did several reviews of older films. I dug back on 10 years of knowledge. There were Christians sites on the Web which were more of a parental guide, letting one know what they might encounter in a movie. I wanted to do a site from the spiritual side rather than the moral. There was no Christian site I could find that talked about the spiritual aspects of our culture, films stories, myths, so I though ‘Why not?’"

So last March it was born. Hits increased steadily each day until the end of September when the site was profiled in Internet Newsletter for Christians and named as the number one suggested site. With 400,000 subscribers, the site logged 15,000 hits each day Sept. 28, 29 and 30, before leveling off to 7000 hits a day. Other Christian magazines and newsletters profiled the site not only in the United States but in Europe as well. The ministry became far-reaching, and last Sunday, German television came to the Bruce home to profile David Bruce.

"Hollywood Jesus is one of the top Christian sites world-wide, with more that 1 million hits world wide in its first 10 ½ months," says Bruce. "Hollywood Jesus has reached Planet Earth."

"When I stated the Website, Christian sites that talked about films did so in a very negative way and for very good reason. People take the family to a film rated PG, then along in the film rated PG then along in the film is some ‘whatever,’ and you say to yourself, ‘What is this for? I wasn’t warned.' I think that contributes to the decline of going to the movies."

In Hollywood Jesus, Bruce uses his background from working at NBC as well as his love of films to create a site with a positive message. He puts a movie into his editor VCR then digitizes the image into the computer. On his Monday "day off" he writes the reviews and constantly updates the site. His daughter, Kathleen, 15, reviews the e-mail received each day and posts the letters. For letters requiring a personal answer, Bruce writes to each individual.

"Film is the language of our culture and I use the language of the culture to talk about spirituality. The spirituality in film is amazing."

"I see the Website as an extension of my ministry. I get people to think about other things when they see movies."

"If I can get people to think spiritually about life, I have done my job. What they do with it is their decision."

"The big thing in the little town is that it is possible to reach the world-1 million hits is highly significant. I base the site on Phillipians 4:8: Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure and pleasing. Think about these things."