Academy attendees had the privilege of hearing from Stephen Kendrick, producer and co-writer of the powerful Christian film, in theaters now, Facing the Giants, an example of church dedicated to “changing the world from Albany, Georgia.”

It all started when the pastors of Sherwood Baptist Church read a George Barna study that concluded that movies where having a greater influence on culture than churches. At that point they realized that they couldn’t just curse the darkness, they needed to start letting their light shine.

They first film, Flywheel, was completed the morning of its premiere. In fact, no one of the production team had seen the film from beginning to end until that evening at a local theatre. However, people were so impressed and impacted by the film that support began pouring in. People wanted to help them make another movie.

After writing the script for Facing the Giants they immediately began to pray for God to supply the money for the film. Without any fundraising they received $26,000 in only a few days. Soon afterwards a professional production team asked to help them with their next film and a professional make-up artist volunteered to do makeup for the entire production, free of charge.

With most of Facing the Giants completed they approached Provident Music Group, a Nashville-based music label, for permission to use music for the film. But what started as a routine request led to the president of Provident Films opening discussions to distribute the film nationally. This from a man whose first response was: “Churches don’t make movies, and if they do, I don’t want to see them.”

Since its release on September 29th, Facing the Giants has made over $4 million in little over 400 theaters, $1.3 million on opening weekend alone. Over 600,000 people have seen the film, and, according to a rough tally from emails they’ve received, over 600 people have given their lives to Christ after seeing the film.

In a very helpful and challenging portion of his talk, Mr. Kendrick shared six biblical principles for Christian filmmakers:

1.) Die to yourself. It’s not about you. It’s about God. (Luke 9:23)
2.) Dedicate your projects to the Lord. Intentionally and verbally. (Proverbs 16:3)
3.) Become poor in spirit. You must have a complete reliance and dependence on God. Constantly in prayer. (Matthew 5:3)
4.) Walk in integrity. Is there anything in your life (immorality, gambling, pornography, rebellion against parents, etc…) that would prevent you from representing Christ if people who see your name or face on the screen come and look at your life (or your Myspace)? (2 Timothy 2:5)
5.) Stay unified. Guard unity among your family and team. (Psalm 133)
6.) Tune in to the heart and voice of God. Elaborated on below.

Mr. Kendrick also listed eight ways to tune in to the heart of God from Colossians 3 and 4 as an elaboration on the sixth principle of Christian filmmaking above.

Eight Ways To Tune In To the Heart of God from Colossians

1.) Sense what brings the peace of Christ. (Colossians 3:15)
2.) Soak your situation in God’s Word. (Colossians 3:16)
3.) Receive Christ-like counsel. (Colossians 3:16, Proverbs 15:22)
4.) Honor the reputation of Christ. (Colossians 3:17)
5.) Submit to authority. (Colossians 3:18)
6.) Seek God in diligent prayer. (Colossians 4:2)
7.) Search for open doors. (Colossians 4:2)
8.) Use wisdom. (Colossians 4:5)