Middle-schoolers line up for autographs from Shevin McCullough at St. Francis de Sales School in Spooner. (Submitted photo)

Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald Staff

Shevin McCullough did not grow up going to church, but he clearly remembers the day when, at 8 years old, he heard his mother recite John 3:16 while they were sitting in the car.

She turned to him and said, “Shevin, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that those who should believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He believes it must have been the Holy Spirit because, “It just clicked. I was like, this makes so much sense.” McCullough would live the next two decades knowing that Jesus was God but thinking that the belief need not affect how he lived his daily life.

Fast forward to October, and it was McCullough himself who left an impression on dozens of students in Catholic schools around the Diocese of Superior and on teachers and catechists at the annual Fall Conference. Known by most simply as “Shevin” – the name chosen by parents who liked Kevin, but with three children whose names already started with “Sh,” Shevin it became – he represented Studio 3:16, an entertaining supplemental religion program being used in Catholic schools across Northwest Wisconsin.

The show’s format includes four elements: pray, watch, reflect and apply. Starting with Lectio Divina, students are presented with the Gospel, then watch a Studio 3:16 program translating the message that views like a sitcom for kids. Incorporating humor and Shevin’s music, they are invited to reflect and make Jesus’ message their own and then learn how to apply it in their own lives.

McCullough, a Catholic convert, attended Franciscan University. He says the fact that it was Catholic was not a factor; rather, it was the closest school to his hometown of Steubenville and to his paralyzed grandmother, for whom he was a primary caregiver. He admits he didn’t care for her with a lot of graciousness, and he thought a lot of his fellow Steubenville college-mates were a little crazy, but he can see how present God’s providence was, especially in relationships he established.

“The teacher shows up when the student is ready,” McCullough commented, adding that he was not ready. Not ready for conversion, though his easy friendship with Rob Reynolds, through a shared love of music and affinity for humor, would set the stage for McCullough’s becoming Catholic in his late 20s.

Reynolds also became McCullough’s boss at a successful real estate company the former had started, and he even moved to the company’s homebase in Florida. He was drawn to Reynolds’ “unwavering” belief and sense of “mission vs. money as his purpose for work.”

Through deep spiritual encounters both men had separately, they left their successful real estate careers to follow what they felt were clear calls from God. For Reynolds, it was to start becoming a fisher of men; for McCollough, to serve children. For both, it would make itself concrete in their partnership to produce Studio 3:16.

Together, they started Cross Boss Media in 2018 focused on educating kids in the faith in an entertaining way. Working out of a room in Shevin’s house for two years, they began – with a cell phone as their only audio-visual equipment – to figure out how “to provide children a genuinely entertaining, secure place to encounter Christ in a way that inspires action.”

“Two-thirds of God is ‘Go’,” McCullough said. The partners realized they needed to make the step to more professional production as Covid-19 lockdowns were being put in place. While so many in Hollywood were out of work, Cross Boss Media’s base in open-for-business Florida, they hired production personnel who had renowned backgrounds with companies like Nickelodeon and MTV.

In an interview on EWTN’s series “At Home with Jim and Joy” in April 2023, Reynolds shared with hosts Jim and Joy Pinto how they knew they needed to connect with kids through great storytelling based on the Gospel. He said, “I knew there was a market, a demand and a need.” Although he still wonders if he’s the right guy to lead a media company, he has no doubt Shevin is the perfect person to be the company’s public personality.

“Shevin is an event,” Reynolds told the Pintos. He described him as always being the life of the party and a genius musical artist and shared how McCullough’s own conviction shows through every episode of Studio 3:16 as fruit of prayer that is grounded in the Gospel.

After trying a few different formats, the two landed on using the program as a supplement to religion curriculums already being used by Catholic schools. They began production of Studio 3:16 in 2020 and launched with schools in 2022. Their goal isn’t just to sell the program to schools, but to get their content in front of as many students as possible.

“The focus is Jesus and truth,” Reynolds said and noted how having “truth on our side” should be a motivator to produce content on par with the message and Jesus Christ, the messenger.

Schools, Reynold shared, have done a great job “transferring knowledge,” but they’ve seen a “huge opportunity for encounter and drawing kids into the Gospel in an engaging way.” He added that teachers have said they need something to get the teachings off the page. At the same time, the increased availability of media entertainment for kids at younger ages has sky-rocketed by they knew how much of it is harmful to children.

Reynolds said they took “what’s working in secular media and give them Jesus’ truth… What human beings deserve.” Teaching children the faith, he added, isn’t “about figuring it out, it’s about receiving and applying. We can’t live the Gospels if we don’t understand how they relate to our lives and then, go out and live it.”

“All we want to do is help these kids with their faith,” McCullough shared. They have learned that getting their work in front of teachers has led to the best results and now most of their expansion is happening by word of mouth.

Studio 3:16 is currently being used in more than 500 schools throughout more than 100 dioceses, McCullough shared. Visiting the schools in person solidifies their impact. He knows it’s not about him; he admitted being naturally uncomfortable with the attention and his celebrity status among students, but he knows it’s just a small part of facilitating the purpose of bringing youths closer to Jesus and to living the Gospel.

McCullough and Reynolds aren’t sure if they came up with the term “edutainment” or borrowed it, but say it best describes their project. It’s more than entertainment, but also more than education.

“Kids are the hope,” Reynolds told the Pinto’s in that April 2023 interview. “They are starving to be connected with. We just have to find a way to do it … We have to take action, meet them where they’re at and draw them in.”

If a picture speaks a thousand words, photos of Shevin with students in the Diocese of Superior make clear that Studio 3:16’s programming has done more than establish a connection between students and a media personality. McCullough, who “just wants to help these kids with their faith,” knows they have landed on something special because of the feedback he hears from parents. Because of the enthusiasm about the faith their children are bringing home, they want to know “who this Shevin guy is” who has ignited a fire for Jesus and being Catholic.
To learn more, visit studio316.com.