Already $700,000 in funds for a new Christian club and Christian music video production site has been raised by an ecumenical group of Catholic and Protestant churches in Cincinnati, Ohio. The new partnership between the two groups has given birth to a new dream of building a culture from good values.

The club called “The Underground” and the production site for non-profit Victory Videos Ministry’s “The Zone”, a weekly Christian music video program, will be using a 12,600-sq.-ft. building that was formerly used “The Discovery Zone”, a fun center for kids.

According to officials, the groups hope the partnership will bring out culture where the targeted audience of 16-25-year-olds will not be exposed to the sex, drugs and language common in much of today's music. Before the formal agreement between the two to merge last summer, the former St. George Catholic Church was the studio for Victory Videos and the basement of the Tri-County Assembly of God Church in Fairfield served for five years as the location for the Underground.

"We both wanted to expand and we both wanted to get off church grounds to expand our outreach to Christian and non-Christian young people to a neutral location," said Chris Human, director of the Underground.

"I believe God brought us together," said Tony Maas, president of JTM Food Group in Harrison and president of Victory Videos' board of directors. "I believe a lot of society's problems are being driven by a lack of morality from the media and entertainment industry.”

“We're trying to go into that culture and flip it to a positive.”

For now, the club, which is scheduled to debut on Memorial Day of this year, will offer live concerts, a snack bar, Internet access, pool tables and games and only open on Friday and Saturday nights. Organizers will eventually open the club nightly.

Maas bought the building last fall for $900,000. His decision to not charge rent initially has allowed revenues from the fund-raising campaign, coordinated by insurance executive Ron Beshear, to be used to jumpstart the services such as building renovations and initial operating costs. The third fund-raising luncheon will be held on April 30 at Hyde Park Country Club.

Even though the project for The Zone will include a live music venue capable of holding concerts for up 1,000 people, Victory Videos has a vision that the people coming to the studio will receive more than entertainment. The facility hopes to give young people experience in video editing, script writing and other media production skills, according to Forrest Wallace, executive director of Victory Videos.

"We hope to empower them as media missionaries, so they can enter the media with strong values," he said.

"The media isn't bad or good," Maas said. "It's how you use it."

For more information on the ministry, call Victory Videos at (513) 221-4888.