Renewing love for children and for Christ

Tampa Bay Chapter President Rob Reynolds was enjoying a successful real estate career in Florida when, while on a silent retreat, he believed God was asking him to do something different with his life. Like Christ’s invitation to Peter in Luke 5, Rob was convinced he was being asked to “drop a net and catch souls for Christ.”

“That retreat really knocked me between the eyes,” he recalled. When he went home, he resolved to dedicate his life to “serving God and attracting people to Christ.”

The Franciscan University of Steubenville graduate didn’t know what approach he was going to take to participate in the New Evangelization, but his seven years of teaching public school in New York schools gave him an idea. He observed that electronic media “for better or worse” has been having a huge impact on youth, so he reasoned the direction to go was in creating quality content for youth which would both uplift them and teach them the message of the Gospel. So in 2018, he left the real estate industry and founded a production company, Cross Boss Media, which in September 2021 released Studio 3:16 (www.studio316.com), a weekly entertainment and educational Christian-themed program for children ages 7-12.

The program stars fellow Franciscan University grad Shevin McCullough as a Christian songwriter with Studio 3:16 who explores the message of the Gospel with the assistance of  many talented friends who visit the studio, where he shares Christ’s message through music. Programs are launched each Wednesday, themed to the following Sunday’s Mass readings. Rob and his creative team plan a minimum release of 72 episodes, to further grow their audience, and spur a much-needed turnaround in the culture.

Grew up in New York

Reynolds grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York, one of five children in a Catholic family. He was a pre-med student in college, and upon graduation taught biology, chemistry, and psychology in the public schools in the Bronx. With his brother he launched a Tampa-based real estate investment firm, Avesta, and relocated to Tampa in 2011. After weathering a tough recession and experiencing real-life lessons on real estate success, the firm went
on to thrive. By 2018, the firm owned and managed 16,000 apartment homes in Florida and Texas and employed 450. 

But after his silent retreat experience and “providential” conversations with his wife, Marya, and friend Shevin, he resolved to do “what Mister Rogers did with his program, entertain with the purpose of elevating viewers.”

A key motivation was to offer an alternative to the “harmful media” that was readily available to children, that was often saturated with sex, violence, and “subversive messaging.” He and Marya have a personal stake in seeing improved children’s programming, as they are parents of seven children ages newborn to 14. Rob recalled, “I could see my wife’s frustration by the lack of options available.”

He continued, “That really struck a chord with me. I thought instead of complaining, I should do something.”

Upon leaving the real estate industry in 2018, he “got to work” learning all he could about cinema, filmmaking, and directing, through reading books and listening to presentations by experts in the field. Next came the process of developing the show, and recruiting the right talent to make it happen, beginning with Shevin, the program’s star.

Shevin is a Catholic convert and a seven-year Avesta employee who was planning to retire with the company. Marya suggested Shevin could be a “new Mister Rogers” and that he join Rob in his media venture, although Shevin was reluctant to leave his career. On a plane ride on a business trip to Dallas, Shevin said he “had an encounter with God,” a mystical experience in which he believed the Lord was calling him “to leave everything for which he’d worked hard.” After a conversation with his wife, a Holy Hour, and a three- hour talk with Avesta’s CEO (Rob’s brother Pete), he decided to take a leap of faith as well. 

He said, “God was saying to me ‘Go, Shevin. I know you have your doubts, but I got you.’”

Shevin was the ideal person to star in the new show, Rob said, as even back when the pair attended college together “he was very gregarious and the life the party. And, he was a recording artist.” Rob marvels at Shevin’s connection with children, referring to him as a “kid-whisperer.” He explained, “Whenever Shevin is around children, they soon circle around him, laughing and asking him questions.” 

Tampa and Hollywood-based talent

Cross Boss Media has a core staff of 10 to run its operations, and contracts Tampa and Hollywood-based creative talent, including writers, cinematographers, and actors, for individual shows. Other contributors include a panel of school children who are paid to offer their opinions on story lines, in addition to theologians and Scripture scholars who ensure that programming is true to Catholic teaching. Among those offering input is Dr. John Bergsma, a professor of theology at Franciscan University, who participates in initial script calls to advise writers on the historical and canonical context of Scripture passages, and to offer insight as to how those passages might relate to people today. Rob himself can offer a final review, as he has a theology degree from Franciscan himself. 

Shevin noted that the creative process begins with him doing a Holy Hour, reflecting on the particular Sunday reading and how to best present it to viewers. During the initial script call with Dr. Bergsma, the creative team asks the question: what do we want viewers to take away from this Scripture? Once the message is decided upon, plot development begins. Shevin plays a well- meaning songwriter, but one with misconceptions, which his experiences in the episode help him clear up. The team writes three shows over a three-week period, and then films the shows in six days.

While Shevin credits the whole creative team with the show’s success, he especially lauds the work of Hollywood writer/director Jason Satterlund and director of photography Richard Galli.

Pay it forward

Viewers can watch programs at the Studio 3:16 website; there is no charge to register, and the site has a “pay it forward” tab so that a viewer may contribute whatever he wishes to fund future programming. Studio 3:16 is the only programming offered by Cross Boss Media, but Rob foresees a time when new programs can be launched once Studio 3:16 is firmly established.

Rob has days when he has “doubts God chose the right person to do this,” but believes in the quality of the show and is pleased with the positive response it has already received in its first few months of release. A key to Studio 3:16’s success, he believes, “is not that it is a great Christian show, but a great show that is Christian.”

He encouraged families to watch at least two complete shows and decide for themselves. He concluded, “I think they’ll find it is something the whole family can enjoy.”

“We want this show to go where God wants it to go,” added Shevin. “I would love to see us go worldwide, in multiple languages – all for God’s glory.”

JIM GRAVES is a Legatus magazine contributing writer.