Here are today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

1. Steven Spielberg shalt direct Moses? From Deadline.com: (The director) is near to etching in stone with Warner Bros on that biopic portraying the Jewish leader as the warrior to beat all warriors. With a working title of Gods And Kings...(This) marks the second high-profile film Warner Bros is developing on a seminal Jewish hero. Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas are collaborating on their pitch to tell the story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, who teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the 2nd century B.C. Gibson has the first option to direct, and he will produce the film through his Icon Productions banner.
Note: As reported in this space earlier, the Gibson-Eszterhas collaboration isn’t the only Maccabbee telling in the works. Odyssey Networks is working on a four-hour TV miniseries of the epic story. You can read about that here.

2. Kirk Cameron’s cure for America. The former Growing Pains star who scored big at the box office with the faith-based drama Fireproof is coming to theaters again, this time with a documentary on what’s ailing our country. Will he become the evangelical Michael Moore?

More on the film, in Cameron’s own words at BigHollywood.com.

3. 2012 Trend to Watch: Faith-based fitness. For instance, earlier this month Zondervan released Lysa TerKeust’s Made to Crave Devotional, based on her her successful New York Times bestseller Made to Crave. The devotional provides 60 new inspirational entries to encourage women in their weight-loss journey by offering nuggets of wisdom from Made to Crave, as well as new material not included in the original. The original Made to Crave, by the way, has sold nearly a ¼ million books in less than a year. “There’s a spiritual battle going on,” says TerKeurst. “It’s real. And it’s amazing how perfectly the Bible gives us specific ways to find victory with our food struggles. Even for girls who don’t crave carrots.”  The devotional is aimed at helping women find the link between the desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment to make that happen.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate has scored big with its DVD release of the Prayfit 33-Day Total Body Challenge which hit #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases (Faith & Spirituality section) . The 33-day workout system for a healthy body and strong spirit was developed by best-selling author, exercise physiologist and founder of Prayfit.com, Jimmy Peña. Currently available on both DVD and Digital Download, Prayfit 33-Day Total Body Challenge was created to inspire those with weight loss goals and is a complete workout and motivational system designed to burn calories, build lean muscle and bolster your faith.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11