By Ronald E. Keener
Sherwood Baptist commits to making no-nonsense films to change lives and impact the world.
While hanging out at Disney World with some church staff during a 2001 retreat, Michael Catt couldn’t help but admire the distinctive quality of work and attention to detail that went into every single thing in the park – from landscaping and design to architecture and engineering. The senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA, and his team thought: “If a secular company can be this committed to excellence, why can’t the church of Jesus Christ?”
From this challenge was born Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church. It has since produced four full-length movies: Flywheel (2003), Facing the Giants (2006), Fireproof (2008) and Courageous (2011).
The movies have been in at least 75 countries, translated into more than a dozen languages, used by major airlines around the world and shown in prime time from America to the Middle East. Courageous opened in theaters in several countries overseas – a first for Sherwood Pictures. When Courageous released on DVD, it was No. 1 in the retail sales market, which was incredible for a low-budget Christian film.
Jim McBride, executive pastor of Sherwood Baptist, shares with Church Executive some thoughts about moviemaking and how churches can use films to communicate the Gospel without compromise.
After several movie projects, how do you sum up Sherwood’s impact on our culture?
Ultimately, that’s for the Lord to decide. We don’t always see the fruit of our labor. While we’ve heard from tens of thousands of people who have been impacted by the movies, we will never hear from most. Our goal has always been to use entertainment to change lives. We want to present life from a Christian worldview. In my own heart, I was tired of cursing the darkness of this world and felt it was time for us to turn on some lights.
Has Sherwood Pictures accomplished the business goals it may have set from the beginning?
We didn’t have a business plan. It was a step of faith. We don’t approach movies as a way to make money, but as a way to change lives and impact the culture. If you get into movies to make money, you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. It’s about people, not paychecks.
What will you say to other churches who are considering venturing into films?
We are encouraged to see others involved in this aspect of ministry. For too long, the church has given the arts to the world by default. If we want to impact the culture, we have to be involved in the arts. But don’t do it just because someone else is doing it.
I’ve gotten more than a hundred e-mails from people saying they want to make movies. The question is: Has God called them to do that? Another caution: If you don’t have a great compelling story, don’t make a movie.
Cheesy and poorly told stories only hurt the effort to impact the arts. And you’d better have an incredible editor. The reason most movies fail is not poor acting, but poor storytelling and editing. Courageous was edited down to two hours from 136 hours of footage. You have to know how to cut out the parts that don’t really contribute to the story.
If God has called you, do it. But don’t do it to be cool or because you think you might make a buck. If God’s not opening doors, don’t try to push them open. I remember one conversation that went like this. “Pastor, how soon could I tell my investors they’ll get their money back?” I said, “You can’t make that promise. You don’t have any control over that. If you are asking investors to partner with you so they can make a buck, get out of the business now. That’s an unworthy motive.”
Are there ways in which congregations can be involved with Sherwood to engage the culture through the ministry of filmmaking?
We write all our scripts and do not accept scripts or story ideas from outside the team. We have several story ideas in the pipeline that will take us into the next decade if we continue making movies. We do have a DVD/PDF disc that anyone can order from our church bookstore. It has a summary of how we go about making a movie and will give you a rough idea of the process we use.
My best response [to this question] would be this: Where God guides, He provides. You don’t have to chase key men when you know the one who holds the keys. We didn’t set out to get a major studio to embrace our movies. We were in three theaters with Flywheel and hoping for 12 with Facing the Giants. God opened the door for us. I believe it’s because we were a church that was prayed up and in unity. God has been our best marketer, financier and promoter. Others have helped, but God’s been our source.
Unfortunately, some want a system, plan or magic button to push and see all this fall into place. There is no magic formula except trust and obey.
How were you able to tell a redemptive story without compromise while also making it a box office success?
I am opposed to movies that use profanity or play around the edges to try to impress the world. I’m burdened by people who want to make movies to impact the culture with a redemptive story and try to see how much like the world they can be. I remember sitting with someone who wanted to make a “Christian” movie. They told me it would be about a gang and they would need to use profanity, nudity and graphic violence to the get the message across.
I disagreed with them then. I disagree now. My point is, Courageous had a gang and violence and we didn’t play around the edges with any of that and we made it work. The question is: Are you trying to impress filmmakers or are you trying to please God?
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Redeeming the values of mass media
In February this year the “Christian Oscars” were held in Hollywood. The 20th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry celebrated the faith, family and inspirational films of 2011.
The event brought together movie stars and film producers and gave awards to popular films for what were judged morally uplifting content. It is sponsored each year by Movieguide, founded by media critic and publisher Dr. Ted Baehr. It’s purpose, says Baehr, is to “redeem the values of the entertainment media according to biblical principles by influencing media executives to adopt high standards and by informing and equipping the public, especially churchgoing families.”
“When we started Movieguide in 1985,” Baehr told Fox News, “there were only one or two movies being made with a strong, explicit Christian content or values, but now there are well over 50 each year. Every studio now has a Christian film division, and several studios are doing major movies with strong Christian content.
And now all of the major studios, not just Disney, are making movies for young children and families.”
Movieguide rates films using more than two dozen criteria. This year’s report concludes that seven of the top 10 films of 2011 scored high on its index and therefore qualify as films with “strong or very strong Christian, biblical, moral and redemptive content.” www.movieguide.org
