Church Behind "Facing the Giants" Sees Christmas Gift in Number Who Have Come To Jesus As Result of Film
Far From Hollywood, Young Actor Speaks With SCCN and Says Glory Must Go to God
It was quite a team that hit the silver screen for the hit independent Christian movie "Facing the Giants." Not the "Eagles" football team they portray on the screen, but the team of fellow church members who came together to create a film with the purest of intentions: to glorify the Lord our God.
They did that on a donated budget of around $100,000. The movie was released in September, 2006 in hundreds of theatres nationwide, where it enjoyed runaway success.
One young cast member, number 75 on the football team in the movie, is an example of humility and grace. Matt Davis is 19-year-old college freshman from Albany, Georgia. He is the sports manager at Sherwood Christian Academy, and is very active at Sherwood Baptist Church (volunteers from this church made up the cast).
"We give complete glory to God in this," says Davis, whose committment to the Lord is evident in most everything he says. He declares he is focused on becoming a better witness for God. No doubt he accomplished just that by faithfully volunteering to be in a movie that so glorifies Him!
But Davis says the cast members are the ones who were blessed: " It brought us all together to pray for each other; to help each other in the bad times and the good times," Davis says. "We grew in Christ every single day while on set."
Serving
San Diego County
This is the day the Lord hath made; he calls the hours his own.
Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad, and praise surround the throne.
News Service BY Christians FOR Christians * Promoting Good News Events and Building Communication in the Body of Christ"
I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope. Romans 15:13
Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established.
Proverbs 16:3
Meanwhile, other members of the cast are also blown away by the success. Christians headed to the theatre time and time again, and now the movie has grossed almost $10 million. Agape Press reported this month on the evangelical success of the movie:
Facing the Giants was made by the media ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Tracy Goode, the church's associate director for media, appeared in the film, portraying an assistant coach for a fictitious Christian high school football team whose players struggle, as does their head coach, with issues of fear, failure and apathy, until they discover the spiritual secret of success both in life and on the football field.
Many in the Christian community and beyond have been caught off guard by the real-life success story that is Facing the Giants' box-office performance as well as its spreading popularity and influence as word of mouth has sustained it for a long theatrical run. Goode himself admits he was surprised by the success of the film; however, he says true success is measured in eternal treasures.
"Facing the Giants"
a story of restoration by the hand of God for a team and a family who were willing to faithfully follow Him.
It's not far from the story of the cast team who made the film to glorify our Lord.
Sherwood Baptist's media associate director notes that many new believers have come to Christ as a result of the message in the church's film. "We've seen over 800 salvations; and that to me is just a staggering number," he observes. "And those 800 salvations are the people that we know about."
While critical acclaim and box office receipts are nice, those souls won for Christ "are the only things that you can lay at the feet of Jesus," Goode asserts. "We want God to be glorified first and foremost with Facing the Giants," he says.
The Georgia Christian believes churches can utilize advances in media and technology to reach the world for Jesus Christ. He encourages congregations with that aim to seek God before embarking on a media ministry and to "pray, every step of the way," making discernment of God's will a top priority.
"Get on your face before God, seek godly counsel, and look at everything through the grid of scripture," Goode advises. "And make sure," he adds, "that your idea is a God idea and not [just] a 'good idea,' because good ideas are not necessarily God ideas. The plans of men will not succeed unless God is behind them."
Prior to making its first theatrically-released film, Sherwood Baptist Church completed another feature for DVD distribution -- a family film called Flywheel. Goode says the church is now exploring the possibility of making another movie next year.
Davis will be looking forward to that, and no doubt will volunteer for the next big-screen offering from Sherwood Baptist, if it in fact is God's will for him. "I’m all about trying to become more like God and following his will. This is what makes up who I am.
