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Actor; Has appeared in over 60 films, including Usual Suspects, Biodome, Posse
Featured on TV shows like Fear Factor, Celebrity Mole
Host, Livin It, 30-minute evangelistic extreme sports film (Palau Fest Productions, 2004)
Married to Kennya; 2 daughters
Youngest of 4 acting brothers (Alec, Daniel, and Billy)
Stephen has been acting in films since the 1980s. He comes from a family of four actor brothers (his older brother is Alec Baldwin). While he was working on the TV show Young Riders (1989-1992), Stephen and his wife, Kennya, needed help around the house with their two daughters. They hired an older housekeeper from Brazil who was a Christian. Stephen says that her love for Jesus shined through her and impacted him greatly.
After the TV series ended, Stephen and his family moved to New York where Kennya started attending a Brazilian church. She became deeply involved in a Bible study and gave her life to the Lord. Kennya began intensely praying for her husband.
Stephen says he gave his life to the Lord at that time, but his interest in Christianity didn't become strong until after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. In March 2002, Stephen was baptized at church.
He realized that there was not a lot of Christian content in the secular marketplace and looked at starting a company that offered quality Christian media to young people. After attending a festival in Syracuse, New York, put on by the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, Stephen, 37 at the time, was inspired. "I've been to MTV and all of that worldly stuff," he says. "It's death. It's meaningless. All of this is Christian - modern - edgy."
Extreme For Jesus
The term "extreme sports" was coined in 1995 during the Extreme Games (now the X Games) on ESPN. Since that time, many extreme athletes have adopted an alternative style, known as punk and later as grunge. In general, extreme sports contain an element of danger, epitomized by daredevil acrobatic stunts performed while traveling at high speed. Many of these sports are new versions of older sports. For example, BMX racing and mountain biking are both based on cycling; in-line skating is a form of roller skating. Extreme sports have become absorbed into the mainstream mainly because of the competitions.
Kevin Palau, son of evangelist Luis Palau, realized that extreme sports greatly influence the youth culture. For four decades, Luis Palau has reached thousands of young people for Christ using traditional evangelistic methods, but their methods are changing in order to reach more young people. The Luis Palau Evangelistic Association holds six music-evangelism festivals each year. They incorporate BMX riding and skateboarding demonstrations into the festivals and have catapulted the ministry into a fresh, edgy outreach to today's youth. At each festival, 10,000 square foot skate parks are built so that professional skaters and BMX riders can demonstrate their skills while sharing their testimonies.
Kevin and Stephen thought capturing this type of outreach on film was inevitable. They co-produced Livin It, a 40-minute documentary that includes extraordinary sports action and compelling face-to-face, street-style evangelism. Bonus material also includes testimonies from 11 top Christian BMX and skateboard athletes, a gospel message, outtakes, and footage from a festival from a recent spring break.
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