At an upfront presentation held this morning at New York City's Sony Club, GSN, the multimedia company that offers original and classic game programming and competitive entertainment, announced the premiere date of the upcoming original series, IT TAKES A CHURCH. GSN also revealed an integration deal with ChristianMingle, the largest online community for Christian singles for the new series. It Takes a Church debuts tonight, June 5 at 9 p.m (ET/PT) following original episodes of The American Bible Challenge at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) GSN's highest rated original series of all time.
Hosted by 2014 Grammy(R) Nominee and multi Dove Award winner Natalie Grant,
It Takes a Church features Christian congregations across the country who play matchmaker in a competition to help an unattached fellow parishioner find their partner. Each one-hour episode features a different congregation from across the country including Brooklyn, NY; Baltimore, MD; Goshen, IN; Milwaukee, WI; Rock Hill, SC; Oxnard, CA; and Tempe, AZ.
Each week, one unsuspecting single who has a desire to find a mate, is surprised to learn that their church is coming together to help them find love, led by their own Pastor, who speaks to the situation and gives advice on the potential suitors. The partnership provides ChristianMingle with in-show integration throughout the season; plus all of the daters who are not ultimately chosen will receive annual memberships to the dating service. In addition,
GSN will produce a custom short form micro-series for ChristianMingle that will air as interstitials throughout the commercial breaks of the show. Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
"We're thrilled to be partnering with ChristianMingle on the upcoming
GSN series, IT TAKE A CHURCH," commented John Zaccario, EVP, Advertising Sales, GSN. "This brand enhancing integration talks directly to the consumer in an endemic environment."
"The new
GSN series is the perfect platform for ChristianMingle," added Ashley Reccord, Community Manager for ChristianMingle. "Working with the show further showcases our extensive efforts to provide the Christian community with opportunities to find God's match for them."
IT TAKES A CHURCH is produced by Authentic Entertainment for GSN, with Tom Rogan and Lauren Lexton ("Flipping Out," "The Best Thing I Ever Ate") serving as Executive Producers along with Richard Hall ("The Amazing Race") of Great
Blue Productions. Sean Kelly ("Minute to Win It") is Consulting Producer.
Grant was nominated for two 2014 Grammy(R) Awards, in the categories Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance and Best Christian Music Song for the single Hurricane. A Christian vocalist and multiple Dove Award winner, Grant is a singer-songwriter currently residing in Nashville, TN. Grant's work has gained international acclaim, including five GMA (Gospel Music Association) Dove Awards for Female Vocalist of the year. A mainstay on the Billboard Christian Songs chart with numerous #1 hits over the past decade, Grant has affirmed her status as one of gospel music's most popular artists, enjoying out of the box success with the recent "Hurricane" #1 debut on the Christian and Gospel Billboard Albums charts (and #17 on the Billboard 200 chart). The infectious, double Grammy-nominated title track and single, Hurricane, quickly hit #1 on iTunes and added to the list of Grant's chart- topping radio hits. Grant will also be seen in a supporting role in the upcoming film, "Persecuted." Produced by multiple Oscar(R)-winner Gray Frederickson ("The Godfather" Trilogy, "Apocalypse Now"), the independent thriller - set for release on May 9th, 2014 - sees Grant co-starring alongside James Remar, Bruce Davison, and Fred Thompson.
About GSN
GSN is a multimedia entertainment company that offers original and classic game programming and competitive entertainment via its 80-million subscriber television network and digital game sites. GSN's cross-platform content gives game lovers the opportunity to win cash and prizes, through GSN's popular TV game shows and
GSN Games' free casual games, mobile and social games, and skill-game tournaments. GSN's television network is distributed throughout the U.S., Caribbean and Canada by all major cable operators, satellite providers and telcos.
GSN is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and DIRECTV. For further information, please visit GSNTV.com.
About CHRISTIANMINGLE
ChristianMingle (www.ChristianMingle.com) is the largest online community for Christian singles. In addition, ChristianMingle is a part of Gospel Media Group(R), a premier network of online Christian resources which is also comprised of Believe.com(R) (www.believe.com), an inspirational faith-based lifestyle destination designed to serve the Christian community and help Christians build and live the life God intended, Faith.com(R) (www.Faith.com), DailyBibleVerse.com(R) (www.DailyBibleVerse.com) and ChristianCards.net(TM) (www.ChristianCards.net).
