Corporation for Public Broadcasting

This series of four one-hour programs explores faith, service and leadership through the eyes of eight young people who have decided to join the clergy. The series follows Muslim, Catholic, Evangelical Christian and Jewish seminarians from their first days of training, through years of study and into their early practice as ordained religious professionals. The series aired on Independent Television Service’s Independent Lens in Fall 2010. It received funding from CPB through the Program Challenge Fund.

To extend the program’s impact beyond the broadcast and to reach a wide audience (especially youth) spanning both religious and secular communities, producers are to combine with the program a multiplatform digital and community engagement campaign titled “What’s Your Calling?” incorporating new media resources designed to promote dialogue, inspire action and facilitate long-term use in targeted communities. The center of the campaign is an innovative website that expands upon issues raised in the series, engages users, promotes the broadcast and links to a wide range of resources and service opportunities. Through the digital outreach and community engagement campaign, viewers are given an opportunity to examine the broader notion of a “calling” in their own lives.