WCFC-TV38 was in some ways, a typical television station. Cameras, studio, set’s, lights, video tape machines, a master control, offices. But in other ways it was different. The call letters, W-C-F-C stood for “Winning Chicagoland for Christ.” At the time, TV-38 was the largest, independent Christian television station in America and part of an emerging trend that saw the rise and public fall of famous televangelists like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert, the emergence of the religious right on the conservative political landscape, and a mainstreaming of the American Pentecostal movement.

TV-38 also nurtured a grass-roots ecumenical movement that crossed ecclesiastical, racial and economic barriers that had divided Christians in Chicago for decades.

The post Live in Three States, The Story of WCFC TV-38 Chicago appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.

It’s been a busy and very interesting winter and and spring and I would like to share some of my experiences with you and extend an invitation to watch two of my projects on broadcast television here in Chicago.

This winter I’ve been working with the Chicago Sunday Evening Club to produce a one hour broadcast television documentary titled: After Prison, Responding with Faith. My friends Jim Quattrocki, Darren Harrison and I teamed up to tell three stories of faith communities that are reaching out to ex-offenders. The program will air on Thursday, April 3, 9:00 p.m. on WTTW PBS, Chicago. After Prison, Responding with Faith will be rebroadcast on WTTW Prime on Friday, April 4th at 3pm, and Sunday, April 6th at 6pm.

I’ve also been busy telling stories about Chicago’s Christians from the East with Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries. Western Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, often overlook and even disregard their Eastern brothers and sisters, even when those Christians suffer persecution and war, become refugees, and then live among us.

In this documentary, we introduce Eastern Christians from Iraq, Turkey and Egypt who fled persecution and war in their homelands and made their way to Chicago.

We go inside their homes and places of worship, and hear stories about a rich, ancient Christianity that continues to thrive in a new world. Sanctuary, Chicago’s Christians from the East airs Sunday, March 30th, 11:00 am on ABC7 Chicago.

In early March, Intersections International invited me to return to Pakistan to film stories about the US-Pakistan Interreligious Consortium. UPIC seeks to cooperatively set an action agenda toward policy change and build bridges of faith-based understanding and respect between our two countries.

Ironically, on my way to Islamabad, I flew directly over the head of my son who is currently on deployment in Afghanistan while serving in the United States Army! What are the odds?

Later this year I’ll be working with Peter Mayer, lead guitar player with Jimmy Buffett on a new music project for Lutheran Men in Mission. The Chicago Sunday Evening Club has also asked me to produce a new WTTW documentary on families divided by the Immigration Reform Debate and hopefully many other exciting projects that tell stories of faith and positive change.

Thank you to all those clients who place their trust in me. I look forward to great things to come. And, as always, check out my website, Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in feeds for on-line versions of my projects.

The post What’s Tim Up To? Spring 2014 appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.

This is an online version of a TV commercial I helped create with Steve Rusk and Bela Kerkay from Meyers Partners a few months ago. My daughter Emily and son Jack also helped with the production. The spot began airing in Chicagoland in mid- November. PAWS Chicago is the city’s largest No Kill humane organization, focused on solutions to end the killing of homeless pets.

The post Paws Chicago TV Spots appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.