Prominent Media Professionals to Participate in 2006 National Media Prayer Breakfast

Building on the success of the last two years, Mastermedia International, in alliance with the Hollywood Prayer Network is sponsoring the 2006 National Media Prayer Breakfast. More than 1,000 people from Hollywood and 25 or more states are expected to join celebrities, top producers, directors and decision-makers in directing prayer to media’s 700 most powerful people.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 1, 2006 -- On November 3, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills, 1,000 people from Hollywood and 25 or more states will convene at the 2006 National Media Prayer Breakfast to pray for the top 700 most powerful and influential media people in the world.

Established in 2004, the National Media Prayer Breakfast is an annual Christian event open to people of all faiths. The event is designed to mobilize prayer and spiritual support for leaders of global media, recognize people of faith in media, and reinforce the value of faith in media decision-making. The November 3rd event will mark the third year of the breakfast, which in its prior 2 years has brought more than 1,300 people together to pray for the movers and shakers in Hollywood and around the world.

National Media Prayer Breakfast organizers have announced this week that Cherise McVicar, Senior Vice President of National Promotions at Buena Vista Pictures Marketing, will be participating in the morning’s program as well as Tom Halleen, Vice President of Scheduling and Acquisitions at AMC, and Sonya McNair, Spokesperson and Director of Public Relations at The New Yorker. Joni Eareckson Tada founder of Joni and Friends International Disability Center will deliver the opening prayer for the event. Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom, Associate Director of Project Next Step of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Gavin MacLeod, veteran television and film actor best known for his roles on Mary Tyler Moore and The Love Boat will also offer prayers.

The 2006 National Media Prayer Breakfast has been endorsed by prominent media professionals Ralph Winter, Producer of the X-Men movies, The Fantastic Four, Mighty Joe Young, Inspector Gadget and The Visitation, Lori McCreary, CEO and Producer at Revelations Entertainment and Chairman of ClickStar, Inc., Judith Tukich, Vice President of Synergy and Special Projects at ABC Television Network, Howard Kazanjian, Co-Chair of Tricor Entertainment, Terry Botwick, CEO of Thunderpoint Studios, Tony Thomopoulos of Promise Media Productions and past President of ABC Television, Geriann McIntosh, Senior Vice President of Administration at Warner Bros. Television, Lowell “Bud” Paxson, Chairman Emeritus of the Paxson Communications Corporation, Sam Haskell, III, Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization, Dave Alan Johnson writer, producer, and director at Me and My House Productions, Inc., Eric Close, actor on the CBS television series Without a Trace, Peter Parros, actor on As the World Turns, Jodi Benson, voice of “Ariel” in Disney’s Little Mermaid, concert soloist and Tony-nominated Broadway actress, Pat Boone, veteran pop music and film entertainer, Rhonda Fleming Carlson, actress and philanthropist, Rick Dees, President of Rick Dees Entertainment and international radio host of Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, Dean Jones, lovable star of a number of Disney film classics and President of Christian Rescue Committee, and actress and author Nancy Stafford.

The list of endorsers also includes some of America’s most respected leaders from various other fields of endeavor: Ken Blanchard of the Ken Blanchard Companies and author of the “One Minute Manager;” Norm Miller, Chairman of Interstate Batteries, and Zig Ziglar, of Zig Ziglar, Inc. Rabbi Sheldon Pennes, of Temple B’nai Emet, Montebello, CA and the Jewish Hospice Project, LA, Father Michael Manning, SVD, President of Wordnet Productions, and Dr. Lloyd J. Ogilvie, President of Leadership Unlimited and former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, all of whom participated in last year’s event, are endorsers for 2006 as well.

Cecile B. DeMille said, “I have found the greatest power in the world is the power of prayer.” If so, this “greatest power in the world” could be utilized to encourage and to support some of the most powerful people in the world.

“The message to Hollywood’s elite is that there are millions of Christians who care enough about them to pray for them, not just boycott, protest or bash them,” says breakfast founder Dr. Larry Poland. “We want to send media leaders a positive message of love and forgiveness.” His organization has been doing this for seventeen years through its Media Leader Prayer Calendar, a guide to praying for the 365 most powerful people in media that is the most widely-recognized and respected publication of its kind -- a publication which has branded Mastermedia International among media's leaders as "The people who pray for us."

The National Media Prayer Breakfast is sponsored by Mastermedia International (www.mastermediaintl.org), in alliance with The Hollywood Prayer Network (www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org), a structure founded by Karen Covell that links national prayer movements in a focus on Hollywood media. For information and online registration visit www.mediaprayer.org.

Those desiring to pray for the media but unable to attend the November 3rd event in Los Angeles may organize a prayer event in their local churches or parishes on Sunday, November 5, which has been designated National Media Prayer Day. This effort is designed to involve churches nationwide in prayer for leaders of global media in concert with the prayer breakfast.

For more information on the National Media Prayer Day, visit www.mastermediaintl.org/nmprayerday.

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