Pure Flix founder and CEO wants you to "forget Netflix and chill" — and embrace more Pure Flix and prayer.
In a profile for the New York Times published over the weekend, Pure Flix CEO David A.R. White spoke at length about his faith, the state of the entertainment industry today, and the need for more Christian media.
Pure Flix, which can be described as a "Netflix for Christians," is a video streaming service that provides family-friendly entertainment for all ages. In the interview, White explained in detail some of the challenges he has faced creating more wholesome entertainment, as well as getting major networks to buy into it.
One of the challenges, he said, is creating content that appeals to a wide variety of Christian faiths and denominations.
"In the Christian faith, there are divisions with all the sects. The Baptists won’t talk to the Assemblies of God. You have your charismatic Christians. You have your ultraconservatives, like Southern Baptists. You have Catholicism. They’re all a little different," he told The New York Times, adding, "the foot of the cross is level ground."
But once content has been created and is available for viewing, the company faces yet another challenge — getting major networks to get on board.
"The major networks like the audience of faith," White said, "but when you have to go to the audience and say faith things on television, well, we might be too open. They’re worried we’ll make the audience uncomfortable, like Jesus freaks."
White, a Mennonite raised in Kansas, said he saw his first secular movie before the age of 18. It was "Grease," and Olivia Newton-John's tight clothing made him feel as though "for sure I was going to hell." It was this experience, among others, that eventually led him to start Pure Flix.
When asked about the faith he was raised in and that has influenced so many of his decisions today, he said, “The Mennonites make the Mormons look like a pack of Hell’s Angels."
Read more about White and his experiences leading Pure Flix on the New York Times here.
Pure Flix previously made headlines for its 2014 movie "God's Not Dead," which raked in over $60 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Controversy also erupted last year when rumors circulated that a billboard promoting the new "God's Not Dead 2," the sequel to the first move, had been rejected.
The billboard was scheduled to premier in Cleveland on the weekend of the Republican National Convention, but was denied by the company who owns the billboard.
"The signage company, Orange Barrel, first cited the Republican National Committee rules barring 'scandalous' signage," White told the Deseret News in July 2016. "The company then stated that our requested billboard was 'too incendiary' and 'too political.'"
White refused to change the language to make it more palatable to the billboard company, stating his desire to provide alternatives to what has become an "overt attack against religious liberties and freedoms."
Evangelist Franklin Graham also spoke out in defense of the billboard.
"The message sent by the billboard company is clear — It’s OK to question, challenge and even block Christians from the public square," Graham said in a Facebook post, according to the Deseret News. "This is just another sign (pun intended) of the dangerous place we are at as a nation."
According to research from the Barna Group, 16 percent of respondents believe the media treats Christianity negatively, while 26 percent said it is hit or miss. Of the evangelicals surveyed, the number rises to 58 percent of respondents that believe the media portrays the Christian faith badly.