Ted Baehr’s mission is to redeem the values of the media while educating audiences on how to be media-wise in selecting entertainment, so that together we can build a more civilized culture of faith and values for the benefit of the future generations – our children and grandchildren.

Ted is the Chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc., a non-profit organization committed to educating the entertainment industry and the general public about the media’s impact on audiences. He also serves as the Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE?: A Family Guide to Entertainment, and he writes a syndicated column for 29 publications nationwide. Ted’s MOVIEGUIDE? radio and television programs are syndicated nationally and internationally.

Utilizing years of research on the impact of media on both children and adults, Ted has been featured on shows such as Oprah, Hannity & Colmes, CNN, ABC, Fox News, AMC specials, Entertainment Tonight, and The 700 Club. His opinions are featured in major newspapers and magazines throughout the United States, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter, and U.S. News and World Report.

Ted lectures, teaches and preaches throughout the world. He has lectured at the European Parliament, Parliament of the U.K., the Parliament of Norway, the Parliament of the Philappines, taught at the Bombay Communication Institute, and lectured at Oxford, Dartmouth College, University of Virginia, Yale University, U.C. Berkeley, and U.C.L.A. In 2005, Ted was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Christian Institute for the Study of Media, a new area of graduate academic studies currently being advanced under the auspices of the "Center for the Arts, Religion and Education (CARE), an affiliated Center of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. He has also preached throughout the world.

Ted’s books include Amazing Grace Of Freedom (New Leaf), Culture-Wise Family (Regal), Narnia Beckons (Broadman & Holman), So You Want to Be in Pictures? (Broadman & Holman), Frodo and Harry: The Lord of the Rings versus Harry Potter (Crossway), What Can We Watch Tonight? (Zondervan), Faith in God and Generals (Broadman & Holman), The Media-Wise Family (Chariot Victor), Getting the Word Out (Harper and Row), The Christian Family Guide to Movies and Video (Wolgemuth and Hyatt), Hollywood’s Reel of Fortune: A Winning Strategy to Redeem the Entertainment Industry (Coral Ridge Ministries), and Television and Reality (ERTVF). He is also a contributing author to Religion and Prime Time Television (Praeger), The Family at the Center of Human Development (Office on Women: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines), Advocacy Groups and the Entertainment Industry (Praeger), Proud to Be an American (Contrary Creek), Coleridge in Memoriam: A Poetry Anthology to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (John H. Morgan), and God Stories (Starburst Publishers).

Ted is past president of the Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation, which won an Emmy Award for Best Animated Special. That special, “The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” aired on CBS during his tenure and was watched by more than 37 million viewers. Ted was nominated for another Emmy Award for the PBS Series “Perspectives: War and Peace,” in which he served as the executive producer, creative director, and host.

Ted has received the Eagle Award by Western National Religious Broadcasters for his positive impact on the secular entertainment industry; the Educational Policy Conference Award for his unyielding dedication, perseverance, wisdom, and leadership in his stand for truthfulness in Hollywood and for his work to restore a moral, intelligent, and equipped family; five Angel Awards from Excellence in Media; a Chicago Intercom Silver Plaque; the prestigious Wilbur Award; three awards from the Southern California Motion Picture Council; the President’s Award from ICVA/ICCM; the coveted Religious Heritage of America Faith and Freedom Award; the Covenant Award from the Radio Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; the Hollywood Anti-Pornography Coalition Award; and, finally, the Knights of Columbus Gold Plaque, "in recognition of continued high standards and commitment to attaining wholesome family values." In 1982, Ted received international recognition for his work as Executive Producer of “The Power” exhibit at the World’s Fair, which was a combined effort of 15 denominations working together.

Presently, Ted serves on the board or board of advisors of more than 20 organizations, including the National Religious Broadcasters, the American Theater of Actors, and the Theological Summit Conference. He is an active member of the CNP, National Press Club, and the United Seniors Association.

Ted was ordained a Bishop in the Independent Christian Churches International in 1985. He was also ordained in the International Ministerial Fellowship in 2007.

Ted Baehr was born in 1946, the son of Theodore Baehr (whose stage name was Robert “Tex” Allen) and Evelyn Peirce, both successful stage, screen, and television actors. Growing up in New York, Ted followed in his parents’ footsteps, performing in commercials, movies, television, and stage.

After studying abroad at the University of Munich, Germany; Cambridge University, England; and Bordeaux and Toulouse Universities in France, he graduated with high distinction in Comparative Literature and as a Rufus Choate Scholar from Dartmouth College. He then received his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, where he served as the editor of the NYU Law School newspaper.

It wasn’t until 1975 that Baehr’s life turned. While Ted was financing independent movies for Canon Films, a friend suggested that he read the Bible, which changed his perspective both professionally and personally.

Baehr decided to attend seminary at the Institute of Theology at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and received his Doctor of Humanities from Belhaven College. He then accepted a position as the Director of the Television Center at the City University of New York and started the Good News Communications ministry. He also established the Episcopal Communicate Workshops.

During his tenure at the CUNY, Baehr worked closely with academia, researching the impact of the media in education.

He was elected President of the Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation in 1979 and began conceptualizing the Christian Film and Television Commission.

His previous research into the influence of the mass media of entertainment became a primary topic for his talk on Television & Reality at the April 9, 1981 Conference on Culture and Communication convened by Dr. Stewart Hoover at Temple University, where Baehr received national recognition.

In 1983, while serving on the Communications Board of the National Council of Churches and the National Religious Broadcasters, Baehr met George Heimrich. Heimrich was director of the Protestant Film Office in the 1950s and 1960s. Inspired by George Heimrich, Ted began contacting prominent members of the film industry, and in 1986, formed the Christian Film and Television Commission. Ted did research on the PTO’s activities and is working on a book on the subject. Heimrich donated his Protestant Film Office files to the Christian Film and Television Commission, where they now reside.

Since then, the Christian Film and Television Commission has served as a liaison, working with studio executives in understanding the needs and concerns of the general public for wholesome, family entertainment.

In 1985, noting a need to help advise parents and all those concerned about morality in movies – he is a husband and father of four children –Ted began publishing MOVIEGUIDE?, a biweekly magazine which reviews all movies from a Biblical perspective. MOVIEGUIDE?is a reliable guide to moviegoers in helping them choose the good and reject the bad. MOVIEGUIDE?’s accurate content ratings note not only sex, violence and profanity, but also worldview and other important criteria.

From the detailed information that MOVIEGUIDE?is unique in gathering, Ted prepares his Report to the Entertainment Industry each year, an insightful box office analysis of the vast moral American audience. Information on negative and positive content, biblical or anti-biblical themes, sexual content, violent content, and over twenty other indicators are carefully tabulated and compared with box office receipts over several years. Based on this empirical data, Ted has been able to prove to Hollywood executives that America’s public prefers wholesome, moral movies, and that it would benefit these executives to support the production of more worthwhile movies.

Along with the yearly Report to the Entertainment Industry, Ted selects the ten best family friendly and the ten best morally edifying mature audience films each year and awards the producers, directors, writers, and distribution companies associated with these movies. Ted also presents the coveted $100,000 Epiphany Prizes for Most Inspiring Movie and Most Inspiring Television Program and the $50,000 Kairos Prize to the best new writers of redemptive scripts. These cash prizes are for entertainment that helps people to better know God and understand His love.

By updating a guideline once known as the Motion Picture and Television Production Code, the Christian Film & Television Commission has secured support and signatures from more than one million individuals.

Ted has served on many prestigious boards, including ABC Learn, American Theater of Actors, Campus Renewal Ministries, Celebrate Life, Christian Conciliation Service, Church Council Steering Committee, Coalition on Revival, Council for National Policy, Dorsey Theatre, Educating Everyone, Fasting & Prayer, Habitat for Humanity, Mastering Life, Memory Dynamics, Mission America, National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, National Council of Churches Communications Board, National Broadcast Day of Prayer, National Religious Broadcasters, National Think Tank, N.C.N., Nehemiah Institute, Religious Heritage of America, Theological Summit Conference, Trinity Concepts, Trivision Communications School, Truelight Ministries, and United Seniors Association.

Now armed with more than fifty years of statistical information and twenty years of research and support from leaders in the entertainment industry, Ted Baehr is doing more than watching the world change – he is using the media to change the media.