Faith in the Land of Make Believe: What God Can Do...Even In Hollywood - eBook

Lee Stanley is a multi-award-winning filmmaker known for his documentary series The Desperate Passage. In 2006, he produced the #1 box office hit Gridiron Gang starring Dwayne Johnson. He is the president of his own production company, Stanhaven Productions, and the founder of Wings Foundation, a non-profit organization that served Los Angeles County’s probated youth. He and his wife, Linda, have four grown children and live aboard their expedition yacht, STANHAVEN III, and are currently cruising the Pacific west coast.

Faith in the Land of Make-Believe by Lee Stanley is a touching account of how Stanley took adolescent criminals released from juvenile halls out on sea voyages and taught them how to bond with one another in battles against nature. Working with confessed killers, opposing gang members, and hopeless teens, Stanley perseveres through innumerable obstacles in his mission for the teens as well as his personal life. Through all the hazards and difficulties, Stanley shows he feels called by God to take these injured teens out to sea and be that fatherly influence many of the kids never had. Also, he eventually shot a documentary of these high seas experiences despite many of the laws that prohibited releasing the kids' identities.

Through Stanley's life, one major theme emerges: trust. When the chips are down, and it isn’t easy to trust God, Stanley always lands back in God's lap in complete surrender. The story’s pace is steady. It shifts from pivotal moments in Stanley's life to present day when he is ministering to the teens. Lee Stanley is an award-winning filmmaker and producer of the popular movie Gridiron Gang.

Since Stanley invested all his money in his mission to help juvenile criminals, his family moved into a house they nicknamed "the chicken coop" – and it resembled one. "My faith in God comes from reading his Word, believing his Word, and claiming his Word. 'All or nothing’ was my deal with him from the very beginning. I also had to learn how to ‘trust and obey.'" Lee Stanley isn't about money, fanfare, or a big house – he is about changing lives, and that's exactly what he does.

Faith in the Land of Make-Believe is an inspirational message, and is an enjoyable story. There are a handful of uses of "damn" and "hell" as curse words. Occasionally the tone of the writing sounds a little prideful, but overall it is a good book. I would recommend this book for a more mature audience due to heavy thematic elements and some language. – Ben Schmitt, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

In modern culture the possibility of human redemption can too often be dismissed as naïve or even contrived. Stanley, award-winning filmmaker and producer, offers not only an example of authentic redemption from his own life but also from the lives of juveniles he has counseled in prison for years. The author's checkered past allows him to relate to the young people with whom he works, both as a confidant and a film director. The Gridiron Gang, his documentary about juvenile offenders playing competitive football, showcases the potential of a group of young convicts that many would like to ignore and forget. Hopefulness reigns in this memoir, as Stanley weaves the gritty account of his life and his conversion story with the lives of the young prisoners he encounters, illustrating the power of faith in God and in humanity. Anyone searching for an uplifting example of the transformative power of hope in humanity will find consolation in this story. (Mar.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.