We went and saw the most incredible movie last night, FACING THE GIANTS. If there is ANY possible way for you to take your family to see this movie, I can’t recommend it enough. We were absolutely stunned it was playing in the big movie theater because it has a strong Christian message, and the Gospel is presented clearly throughout the movie. We can’t wait to own it on DVD so we can show it to all of our kids’ friends who haven’t seen it yet.

We hardly ever take our kids to see movies at the theater — it’s just so expensive. The last thing we saw together was Curious George, back in February! But when I was working out at Curves a few days ago, one of the staff ladies kept going on and on about it. She said, “You HAVE to take your kids to see this movie. It’s only playing one more weekend here. It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.” So that’s why we went.

It’s a huge ordeal for us to go to a movie. We arranged childcare for our two younger kids, (thankfully the grandparents don’t charge us!), then we spent nearly $70 on five movie tickets, popcorn, and drinks. (See why we can’t get out to the movies much?) But now I feel good about spending the money because I read that all the profits from this movie will go to build a 40-acre youth recreational facility in Albany, Georgia — my home state.

The movie is about a Christian high school football team that keeps losing. Everything seems to be going wrong in the life of the coach. His team has had six terrible seasons, and it looks like he’s going to lose his job. His car keeps breaking down, and he and his wife have been trying to have a baby for four years. Both of them go to visit the doctor, and hear the sad news that they won’t be able to have a family. The scene when they talk about this just makes me weep.

So what does the coach do? He prays. His wife prays. He walks out into a wooded area beside his house with his Bible, and he praises God, reciting verses from the Psalms out loud. He says, “I need you, Lord. I won’t lose faith in you. I know you can do something with my life.” I have never seen or heard something like this in a movie. And our theater was packed — full of several rows of teenagers.

I won’t spoil the plot, but the whole experience will build your faith in a strong, mighty God. This would be a wonderful movie to show to a youth group — and it may even inspire a future generation of film-makers.

I read a little bit about the Kendrick brothers who made this movie. They’re both on staff with a church in Albany, Georgia, and they’ve always had a hobby of making home movies. But this one was a BIG idea, and they got financial backing from their church to make it. The budget was only $100,000 (donated by church members), and the actors were all volunteers.

Many of the extras were church members — and we stayed to watch the credits and read that food was provided by various Sunday school classes. You can read the background story here (although the site is tiny white font on black background and hard on the eyes to read).

Here’s why it has a PG rating; according to the Motion Picture Association of America, the movie needs parental guidance because it’s too “evangelistic.”

From Scripps Howard News Service:

“But the scene that caught the MPAA’s attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor, played by Alex Kendrick, and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.

The boy replies: ‘You really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? … Well, I ain’t trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that.’

The coach replies: ‘Matt, nobody’s forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you’re going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it’ll change your life. You’ll never be the same.’

That kind of talk may be too blunt for some moviegoers, said Kendrick, but that’s the way real people actually talk in Christian high schools in Georgia. Sherwood Baptist isn’t going to apologize for making the kinds of movies that it wants to make.

‘Look, I have those kinds of conversations about faith all the time and I’ve seen young people make decisions that change their lives,’ he said. ‘The reason we’re making movies in the first place is that we hope they inspire people to think twice about their relationship with God.

‘So we’re going to tell the stories that we believe God wants us to tell. We have nothing to hide.'”