Mark Wahlberg opens up about how his faith and family have influenced his career choices
Mark Wahlberg talked about balancing his faith and family values with his artistic freedom when it comes to making career decisions. He also explained how "Father Stu" was a love letter to his faith.
Alex Jones, CEO and co-founder of the Catholic prayer app Hallow, said that God gave him an important message during a stressful morning at the start of Lent after his popular app crashed.
Jones, who noted that his Hallow team is "continuing to see people really hungry for growing deeper in their spiritual life," said that the crisis – and the revelation that followed – happened on the morning of Ash Wednesday.
At the time,"we [at Hallow] were No. 3 on the Apple App Store rankings," he told Fox News Digital.
That was "the highest any faith-based or meditation or fitness or wellness app had ever gotten – I think No. 15 was the highest any app like that had ever gotten previously."
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Jones noted that Hallow, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is getting roughly one million downloads every month and that it crossed 10 million downloads last month.
"I think we're like maybe a week away from 250 million prayers" that are said through the Hallow app, he also said.
Hallow creator Alex Jones, shown here, told Fox News Digital that his team is close to achieving 250 million prayers said through the app. (Spirit Juice Studios/iStock)
All the interaction from people around the globe was "crazy," he said — just "to see how many folks were getting excited about praying together." Jones added that this made the app crash "all the more heartbreaking."
He continued, "It was Wednesday, Ash Wednesday morning. I woke up and checked the rankings and we were at No. 3 right when we woke up."
He added, "Our biggest spike in prayers is usually from about 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m."
At 6:30 a.m., he said, "the app starts crashing. I was actually in New York because Mark Wahlberg was about to go on [TV] and talk about the app because he was one of the leaders of a [prayer] challenge."
"So we had just hundreds of thousands of people trying to look at Hallow on Ash Wednesday."
He added, "Here Mark was going to go on TV about 7:30 or 7:45 a.m. to promote the app – an app that was crashing."
Jones continued, "You couldn't use the app because it just looked blank. And so we had just hundreds of thousands of people trying to look at Hallow on Ash Wednesday. And they can’t. And that's hard."
The small group that had gathered with Wahlberg and Jones attended "a private Mass that morning before we went over to the TV studio," said Jones. He said the Mass was said by a priest and senior member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in New York City.
"It was beautiful," Jones said of the Mass.
Hallow app creator Alex Jones is shown sitting in a church pew. At the time of his app crash on Ash Wednesday of this year, he said he kept thinking, "Jesus is more important than an app crashing." (Spirit Juice Studios)
"All during the Mass, the app is crashing and our engineers are trying to figure it out," he added.
Remembering his thought process at the time, Jones said, "Jesus is definitely more important than the app crashing, but I’m feeling so sad that hundreds of thousands of people" couldn't use the app.
"And then at the end of the Mass, the Father comes over to me and he says, ‘Alex, you look a little distraught. Is there something going on?’" Jones related.
"God can do whatever he wants with it," he said of the app.
Jones said he answered the priest, "Yes, the app just crashed and it's been down for 30 minutes and Mark's about to go on national TV. What is he supposed to tell everybody?"
The priest said, "OK, do you mind if I say a quick prayer for you?" noted Jones.
Jones told the priest he would appreciate the prayer.
"And literally 15 seconds later, somebody texts me and says, ’The app is up, it's fixed,'" he continued. "And that was all praise to God."
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He felt that he learned a lesson in the moment. "God was saying, ‘Hey, just give up and let me handle it.’ And we were saying, ‘No, we got it, we got it.’"
Jones added, "And God was saying, 'No, just give up and let me handle it.’"
Jones told Fox News Digital he regularly hears stories from people whose faith has been jump-started or deepened by using the Hallow app.
Actor Mark Wahlberg was present at the Mass on Ash Wednesday in New York City when Hallow creator Alex Jones sensed God was saying of the app crash, "Just give up and let me handle it." (Getty Images)
He shared a story he heard about from one Hallow user, a teacher, who was driving to his school and praying with the app.
That school was Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting on May 24, 2022.
The teacher "always parks in one spot, and he was praying as he pulled into the parking lot," said Jones.
"And for some reason he heard Jesus speak to him during the prayer, [telling him] to park in a different spot."
"I'm not going to try to convince myself that I'm some smart or successful entrepreneur who figured out how to build a better app."
He continued, "And so he drove across the parking lot, for whatever reason."
Jones said, "You know, he'd gone to work 1,000 times and parked in his parking spot and that day he parked in different spot."
He continued, "Had he stayed in the spot that he normally parked in, that was the first place that the shooter entered for the killing … He would have been killed."
Jones said that while he is proud of the growth of the app and the way it is helping people in their relationship to God, he feels that, ultimately, while he works as hard as he can for its success, it is all in God’s hands.
Alex Jones, creator of the Hallow app, said he decided that God would always get the credit if his app became successful. (Spirit Juice Studios)
"God can do whatever he wants with it," he said of the app.
"I made this deal real early on with him," he added. "I was sitting in my little cheapo studio apartment. We spent all our money and were to try to build this little thing and get it to start."
He continued, "And I remember going and sitting down and praying to God – I was probably the most stressed I'd ever been because we were trying to figure out funding and all this stuff."
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He said, "I prayed, and I said, ‘God, I promise. No matter what happens, you are going to get the credit for this thing. I'm not going to try to convince myself that I'm some smart or successful entrepreneur who figured something out and figured out how to build a better app.'"
Jones said he also prayed, "I know that you're the one doing it. You've made it abundantly obvious, and you'll continue to, I'm sure. And I promise I will always give you credit."
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Jones also shared a quote from Mark Wahlberg about Hallow: "My faith has always been an incredibly important part of my life," said the actor, "and when the opportunity to collaborate with Hallow came up, I knew it was what I wanted to jump into."
Added Wahlberg, "My family and I love praying with the app and we've gotten such great stories from people whose lives have been changed through the app. Prayer can do powerful things."
