c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Before leaving for his 11-year-old daughter Alaia’s ballet recital, actor Stephen Baldwin had to fend off 8-year-old daughter Hailey, who began calling for him as he talked on the telephone with a reporter.

“Tell your mother we’re going to leave in nine minutes,” he told Hailey.

Soon, Baldwin was driving his wife, Kennya, and their daughters in the Volvo station wagon through Nyack, N.Y., on the way to the ballet recital. A man in a BMW convertible pulled up beside them at a stoplight and yelled that he loved Baldwin’s recent documentary on Christian skateboarders.

Such is life these days for the hunky movie star turned Christian family man.

Baldwin kept chatting on the cell phone, talking about his career in movies and television, and his conversion to Christianity two years ago.

Baldwin, 38, said his famous acting brothers, Alec, Daniel and William, have been supportive of his new spiritual outlook.

“It’s gotten a lot of people praying for them to get into the kingdom,” Baldwin said. “I don’t pressure them or anybody else for that matter. I’ve come to realize very early in my walk that it’s usually by example that people can be most receptive. If you lead by example, people will be intrigued and curious and maybe it will get them to read the Word.”

Baldwin said he became a Christian after watching his wife immersed in Bible study and prayer.

“I watched her devoutly in prayer every day,” Baldwin said. “It really blew my mind.”

At first he didn’t know how to react, he said. “One of the smartest things you can do in a marriage when you’re scared is keep your mouth shut,” he said. “She was my wife and best friend. Every morning and evening, she spent 30 to 45 minutes in prayer. She still does it. I clearly saw less of a worry in her personality in regard to the things of the world.”

Once he became a born-again Christian, Baldwin said, “I went out and looked for all the cool Christian stuff, and there wasn’t any.”

But he attended a Luis Palau Evangelistic Association festival that featured a skateboarding park, which he saw as an opportunity to “make Christianity cool.”

He suggested the possibility of an extreme sports documentary on Christian skateboarders and motocross bikers.

“I said, `I wonder if there’s something we can do,”’ Baldwin said. “I’ll edit it for you; we’ll put it to cool music.”

So he became the host and director of a PalauFest Productions DVD called “Livin’ It,” which mixes footage of eight top skaters and four top BMX riders in action, along with features on their faith. It’s being used as an evangelistic outreach.

“We’re onto something,” Baldwin said. “Using new exciting methods to reach the youth of this country is the best way to get a response. The response to `Livin’ It’ has been so overwhelmingly positive.”

Baldwin said he sees great potential for Christian faith to be portrayed in popular culture with cutting-edge quality media.

One example of that was Mel Gibson’s controversial movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” which Baldwin said he’s seen three times.

“As a filmmaker I thought it was quite extraordinary,” he said. “As far as Mel Gibson’s artistic interpretation of the Crucifixion, I thought it was amazing as well. With all the hype leading up to it, I thought it was God at work. When God wants something done, he does it.”

Many of Baldwin’s past acting jobs in dozens of movies put him in roles that he might shy away from or be ashamed of now. “Almost all of them,” he said.

Baldwin said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of doing future love scenes as an actor, if appropriate. “I would do a majorly hot love scene if it was done tastefully and if it was a character that was his wife,” he said. “I can’t say one thing and do another.”

Baldwin said those issues arose when he got a call from his agent about the possibility of playing “Alias” actress Jennifer Garner’s boyfriend.

“It was interesting to me to get into some questions about what that would entail,” Baldwin said. “It didn’t work out.”

Baldwin, whose movies include starring in “The Usual Suspects” and playing Barney Rubble in “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas,” says he has several secular projects in the works. He’s got a reality show in development and plans to produce and act with his brother William in an independent film to be shot in Santa Fe, N.M.

But he seems most energized about the prospects of merging media and ministry.

“In the spiritual realm, I’m excited to be who I am in the position I’m in,” Baldwin said. “I have every intention of doing what the Lord wants me to do. `Livin’ It’ is the beginning of something big.”

Becoming a spiritual spokesman and evangelical media figure has been a fun turn of events, he said.

“It’s awesome for me to consider what the Lord has done and how he’s orchestrated this whole thing,” Baldwin said.

DEA/JL END GARRISON