Erik Estrada to visit Lubbock church, screen movie about rescue of 14-year-old

Erik Estrada, known to millions as Officer Frank Poncherello on the TV show "CHiPS" in the 1970s and 1980s, will be in Lubbock to screen "Finding Faith" at Alliance Church on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

The doors at Alliance Church will open at 6:30 p.m., and the movie will run from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Brenda Rincones, wife of Alliance Church Pastor Jesse Rincones, said church officials have been told Estrada will stay as late as necessary to sign autographs after the movie.

"We are expecting about 400 people," she said.

"Finding Faith" is a movie about the rescue of a 14-year-old girl who was abducted by an online predator.

Dean Haskins, executive director of JC Films and executive producer of "Finding Faith," said the movie is a fictional drama, but uses the stories of three different girls who were victims of online predators in real life. These cases came under the investigation of the Internet Crimes Against Children offices in Virginia, Haskins said.

Estrada plays the role of the sheriff investigating the disappearance of the 14-year-old girl. The role is based on Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, who in 2009 made Estrada a full-time deputy sheriff in Bedford, Va. Estrada is the national celebrity spokesman for the Safe Surfin' Foundation, which seeks to educate the public about Internet crimes involving children.

"We are excited to host Erik and his movie, 'Finding Faith.' We hope that it will highlight the importance of online safety for our kids," Jesse Rincones said. "Many of us grew up watching Erik on TV in the role of a motorcycle officer protecting the California highways. It is encouraging to see him as an advocate for the protection of the most vulnerable in the digital age."

Haskins said the movie has been shown through a "church tour" of the nation.

"We've taken the movie now to over 120 churches since January," Haskins said, adding Estrada and the filmmakers will visit 15 churches in Texas this month and 10 in Florida next month before the tour closes.

"The desire was to produce this movie to educate teens and parents regarding the dark underbelly that exists on the Internet," Haskins said.

People in churches feel insulated against a lot of bad things, he said, but "bad guys" are just one click away from their homes through the Internet.

JC Films was created to make "Finding Faith," Haskins said, but is now making other films to be shown via the church-tour format.

Beginning in January, the company will begin showing "Uncommon," which deals with First Amendment rights of students to express their religious views in school. The same month, filming will begin on "Virtuous," a movie about seven women dealing with different issues and the virtuous woman of the Bible's Proverbs 31.

"The 'Finding Faith' tour is coming to an end in December, but we want folks to know we're working on a lot of other things," Haskins said.

karen.michael@lubbockonline.com

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