As the nation of South Korea mourns over the Sewol ferry disaster, thousands filled the church pews for Easter services in Ansan, the suburban town near Seoul whose residents made up the majority of Sewol passengers.

This is the third installment of our reality show series about Jennifer Towler, 38, and her 19-year-old son Bradley, who has autism. Jennifer has a seemingly impossible vision for her son: She prays he’ll be an evangelist sharing the gospel to the disabled.

The atmosphere during Wednesday night worship in South Korean churches was salty with tears and bitter with shock. By then, the whole nation was following the tragic news of the ferry Sewol’s sinking that morning with more than 320 high-school students aboard.

Bible-believing Christians don’t need Hollywood to tell them heaven exists. But as they watch Heaven Is for Real, a drama film based on a nonfiction book, many will be asking, “Is Heaven Is for Real for real?” After all, a toddler’s account of heaven—asking angels to sing “We Will, We Will Rock You” and petting Jesus’ rainbow horse—does sound like a far stretch from the Bible.

CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, LOUISIANA, and MISSOURI—Bright studio lights line the walls of a room in California as four professional cameramen zoom in for close-ups and “confession cam” interviews, a staple of reality TV. But this is not a Hollywood studio: It’s a class at Biola, the Christian university once called the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and the scene is part of Biola’s attempt to improve its online courses by making them more than talking head videos. 

A young church in Southern California has sprouted in an unusual place: the middle of a rescue mission. And this rescue mission is no hovel in a rundown part of town. At Orange County Rescue Mission’s Village of Hope in Tustin, Calif., palm trees, statues, and fountains greet visitors inside a set of beautiful carved gates.