If you think Christian television is staid, polished and boring, you clearly haven’t seen The Steve & Kathy Show.
"We did not want to have a talking heads show where Kathy and I come on and talk about religion," says Steve Gray, host of the show and senior pastor of World Revival Church in Kansas City. "It has been an adventure to try something different — a show by Christians that could actually entertain a wide audience no matter their faith background."
When Gray decided to broaden his audience with a homegrown television talk show, he and his wife Kathy followed their own sensibilities and created a talk show with a late-night vibe, including lots of comedy, music, interesting guests and frank talk about spirituality.
Within three years the show had earned three regional Emmy awards and more than 67 Telly awards, given to the best local and regional programs.
More important, the show drew a favorable audience with its humor and insurgent approach to organized religion.
"We’re saying what a lot of people are thinking on both sides of the fence. That’s worth doing," Gray says. "I don’t want to be fake to get longevity. If I have to have a special religious voice or clothes to get this message across, that's lose-lose for everybody."
Brad Wilson, a film producer, was a two-time guest on the show.
"It was just a terrific experience," he says. "It was very professional and well done. I was impressed with it. When I was with Robert Duvall [as producer with Duvall's film company] we did all the big shows like Letterman and Leno. One thing that struck me about The Steve & Kathy Show was it was every bit as professional as those shows but with a more upbeat, positive feeling."
One of the most remarkable aspects of the show is that it is shot and produced entirely on location in the back of the church's own sanctuary. Volunteers built a professional TV studio complete with lighting rigs and a homemade camera boom.
"When the Grays said, 'Let’s do a TV show,' we’d never done one, but we said surely we can figure that out," says John Eschenbaum, director of the show and the church's media director. "So we built it from the ground up."
They brought in a media consultant to help them learn the basics, like how to run a camera. They learned that one of the light technicians who had done Wal-Mart ads lived in Kansas City. He came and drew a lighting grid that the church used to hang its lights.
"Hollywood people love how our set looks," Gray says.
Show tapings fit into the regular church schedule. After Sunday morning services, the crew orders in pizza and 100 people set up the TV studio. Monday night is rehearsal and on Tuesdays they shoot the programs — with volunteers at each camera and every other position.
The result has been one of the most successful Christian shows ever created at a church and syndicated in the mainstream media.
"There is a pioneering spirit about it," Gray says. "Most gratifying is that the show continues to reach people who are uninterested in church. It has been part of our effort to take this message of hope and freedom from religion to people who need to hear it. The success of the show I think demonstrates that people are responding to that message."
To learn more, and for media access, please contact Elizabeth McKinley Tuttle at elizabeth@wrckc.com or 816-410-1368.