Category: Faith

Actress Sharon Stone’s Hollywood Lesson

It was the 1990s and Sharon Stone was on top of the world.

She was one of the most popular movie stars of her times.

Her big breakthrough came when she landed a part in the 1990 science fiction action film “Total Recall.”

In 1992 she catapulted to international stardom when she appeared in the big-screen thriller “Basic Instinct.”

Later she would play a role in the 1995 epic crime drama “Casino,” which ended up delivering the best reviews of her career, along with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Numerous films would follow, cementing her position as a top Hollywood actress.

Her life was going exceptionally well with her career soaring, due in large part to the Oscar nomination, which credentialed her as a serious actress.

Her personal life was blossoming too. She and her then-husband adopted a child, experiencing the joy and fulfillment that new parenthood brings.

Unbeknownst to Stone, her world was about to turn upside down. Within a few months, life would take a sudden and tragic change for the worse.

She suffered a type of stroke in which a vertebral artery ruptures. For nine straight days bleeding was occurring in her brain, and she was given only a 1 percent chance of surviving.

Sadly, at a time when she needed them the most, her Hollywood friends and acquaintances all but abandoned her. The only person who really stood by her side in this most difficult time was her devoted Dad.

“My father was there for me, but I would say that was about it,” Stone shared.

After the terrible health crisis, she faced further personal and professional challenges. Her marriage disintegrated and the Hollywood phone eerily stopped ringing.

“I lost everything,” she said. “I lost all my money. I lost custody of my child. I lost my career. I lost all those things that you feel are your real identity and your life.”

Stone’s Hollywood experience provides the opportunity to examine the changes that have taken place in our cultural attitudes and behaviors with regard to celebrity.

Stone was a genuine movie star, the kind that in these continuing digital revolution times seems to have disappeared.

Lost, in large part, is the sense of mystique that Hollywood stars of the past possessed. Lost oftentimes, too, is the basis for admiration given.

So who are today’s stars? And has the arc of fame been irretrievably altered?

The answers to these questions seem to depend chiefly on the medium as well as the manner in which entertainment is presented to and consumed by an anticipated audience.

Over the last several years the changes that have taken place within the entertainment business have no doubt been profound. Movie theater attendance has significantly declined. And for lack of a better word, so have “conventional” movie stars.

At the same time there has been a rise in the actual number of celebrities as well as the types of venues in which fame can be attained.

We now have multiple categories of film stars, television stars, music stars, sports stars, political stars, preacher stars, internet stars, social media stars, etc., all of whom vie for the public’s attention and the varying levels of fame that accompany it.

The opportunity for people to achieve Andy Warhol moments has expanded exponentially. And so it is that anyone with a smart phone and an internet connection can potentially claim their 15 minutes of fame.

While there may be a lot more famous faces around, it is also much more difficult for those faces to maintain their celebrity status over time. In other words, fame seems to be even more fleeting than it was in the past. And the arc of fame seems to have been altered in length and breadth.

For an individual, life in the fame lane can take you from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

Stone has lived it.

She shares her story of survival and serves as an example of the triumph of the human spirit.

She does offer the following admonition, though. “If you want to live with solid citizens, don’t come to Hollywood.”

Don’t know if anyone is going to stop chasing fame, but it’s worth thinking about for at least an LA minute.

‘Sound of Freedom’ Is the Whisper of Hope

Some things are so horrible they are difficult to even mention. Sex trafficking of children is one such unspeakable issue.

However, a recent movie not only dares to breach the subject, it brings a ray a hope to the darkest of places.

People of conscience uniformly agree that the abduction of little ones for the purposes of sexual exploitation is an abomination. It is the slavery of the modern day.

Traffickers seek out the vulnerable, those unfortunate youth who frequently live in poverty or war-torn regions of the world.

Victims such as these are being illegally sold, adopted out, married off, pushed into prostitution, and/or forced to work under myriad of insufferable and degrading conditions.

A newly released film titled “Sound of Freedom” is taking this unmentionable issue head-on.

The movie is directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde, produced by Eduardo Verastegui who also appears in the film, and stars Jim Caviezel, well known as the lead actor in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” film, and Mira Sorvino, the Oscar winning actress in Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite” film.

Caviezel portrays hero Tim Ballard, who left his previous real-life position as an agent with Homeland Security Investigations to pursue a mission of rescuing children from human sex traffickers.

Ballard personally requested that he be portrayed in the film by Caviezel, having observed the actor’s work in the 2002 film “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

The movie tells the true story of Ballard’s dangerous journey abroad to rescue the sister of a boy he had previously saved from traffickers.

The film’s opener contains some compelling scenes that demonstrate one of the diabolical ways in which traffickers abduct children.

A welder who is living in Honduras encounters an elegant woman who claims to be the founder of a talent agency. After seeing the welder’s 11-year-old daughter singing at the marketplace, the woman suggests that she tryout for a potential job in the entertainment business.

The father subsequently drops both his daughter and son off at the tryouts, which are being held at a poorly maintained hotel and are attended by other children as well.

When the father returns to pick up his children, to his shock he finds that the room is empty and his daughter and son are missing.

It turns out that the woman was no recruiter for the entertainment business but instead was a front for the fast-growing criminal enterprise of child sex trafficking.

Ballard is able to engineer a daring rescue of the welder’s son. However, his sister continues to be held captive. So Ballard heads to Colombia to try and rescue the young girl from the clutches of evil.

The backstory of the “Sound of Freedom”’s release is a tale of providential determination. After the project’s original filming and completion in 2018, it takes a detour that almost completely derails it.

21st Century Fox had contracted to distribute the movie, but before it can be scheduled for release the studio is acquired by Disney.

For some reason Disney executives choose to shelve the film. It takes years for the filmmakers to re-acquire the distribution rights.

In March of 2023, Angel Studios (the faith-based entertainment company which through crowdfunding has produced “The Chosen,” “Dry Bar Comedy,” and “The Wingfeather Saga”) was able to obtain the distribution rights for “Sound of Freedom” from Disney.

Angel Studios used its equity crowdfunding expertise to raise the cash needed to market the movie.

The studio also utilized an innovative program that encouraged patrons to “pay it forward,” so that people who might not otherwise see the movie would be able to watch it in theaters for free.

Goya Foods, an executive producer of the film, also provided financial support for the movie via Goya Cares, an anti-trafficking foundation established by the company.

The marketing efforts for the film really appear to be paying off and have resulted in more than $7 million in pre-sale revenue.

During one of the many dramatic scenes in the film, Ballard alludes to a passage from the Gospel of Luke.

“It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than you should ever hurt one of these little ones,” Ballard says.

In the Bible, Jesus himself instructs us about the inherent value of each and every child.

When in the film Ballard is asked why he has taken up this arduous mission, he replies, “Because God’s children are not for sale.”

So strong is his commitment to his mission, during the filming of the movie Ballard reportedly left the Columbian set so that he could join his team of former Navy SEALs to participate in the rescue of more than 200 children.

For me personally, another passage from the Bible comes to mind. It is that of the Good Shepherd.

The shepherd has 100 sheep in his flock. But if one single sheep goes missing, he leaves the 99 in search of the one.

At least in prayer, may people of conscience continue to strive to be like the Good Shepherd.

And may God in his goodness send more Tim Ballards to rescue the one in need.

Paul Simon: The Psalmist and the Song

Paul Simon is one of the most celebrated contemporary artists in the history of American music. The acclaimed singer-songwriter has won sixteen Grammy Awards and is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Simon’s decades-long musical journey had its beginnings in a pairing up with a schoolmate named Art Garfunkel. The two formed a duo, aptly named Simon & Garfunkel.

The combined efforts of the two generated a soundtrack that through melody and lyrics was able to capture and reflect back the thoughts and emotions of a nation in the midst of a cultural shift.

A musical pioneer, the group exquisitely melded the genres of folk and rock. Its success was remarkable as evidenced by massive record sales as well as accolades, including being ranked among Rolling Stone magazine’s “Greatest Duos of All Time.”

In his solo career, which launched in the 1970s, Simon would continue his eclectic musical and lyrical exploration, this time combining reggae, soul, and indigenous styles.

Simon’s dad Louis provided his son with an early musical head start. In addition to being a college professor, Louis was a bass player and bandleader, performing under the name Lee Sims. Mom Belle taught elementary school.

Simon’s latest work is a 33-minute suite, titled “7 Psalms.” The project came to the iconic poet-wordsmith in a compelling dream, which has evidently reshaped his life’s work.

Spiritual language and imagery has long been a trademark of his inimitable songwriting. Simon wrote the timeless inspirational hymn “Bridge over Troubled Water,” which he and Garfunkel performed to the adulation of audiences around the globe.

He is able to make his religious visions uniquely relatable, as he did in his 2012 album “So Beautiful or So What,” which was so filled with faith-based references it surprised even him. The song lyrics feature poetry about God, angels, creation, prayer, and the afterlife.

While discussing the spiritual nature of his art during an interview with the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” he noted that “for somebody who is not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs.”

“I think it’s a part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis,” he said. “I think of it more as spiritual feeling. It’s something that I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, and I don’t quite understand it.”

Although his music is cherished by people of all faiths, he was actually raised in the Jewish tradition. Regarding his Jewish roots, he explains, “I was raised to a degree enough to be bar mitzvahed and have that much Jewish education…”

With fans of every spiritual persuasion, Christians appear to be especially appreciative for his Christmas song additions. In “So Beautiful or So What” he includes the Christmas tune “Getting Ready for Christmas Day.” In another song called “Love and Hard Times,” he includes the gentle line: “God and His only son paid a courtesy call on Earth one Sunday morning.”

In the song “The Afterlife,” he imagines waiting in a line similar to the Department of Motor Vehicles. But his poetic description of life after death is anything but ordinary. Rather, it is a word picture describing the awesomeness of God.

“Face-to-face in the vastness of space

Your words disappear

And you feel like you’re swimming in an ocean of love

And the current is strong.”

“By the time you get up to speak to God, and you actually get there, there’s no question that you could possibly have that could have any relevance,” he explained.

Simon has been artistically attempting to deal with the power of the visionary dream he experienced in 2019. It is from this dream that his latest album “7 Psalms” originated.

He revealed the project on a video trailer that he released.

“On Jan. 15, 2019, I had a dream that said, ‘You’re working on a piece called 7 Psalms,’” he revealed. “The dream was so strong that I got up and I wrote it down, but I had no idea what that meant.”

As Simon describes it, after the dream episode, segments of “7 Psalms” gradually came. “I would start to wake up two or three times a week between 3:30 and 5 in the morning and words would come. I’d write them down, then start to put it together.”

In his spiritual search for truth, he asked probing questions.

“This is a journey, for me, to complete,” he shared. “This whole piece is really an argument I am having with myself about belief, or not.”

His lyrics in one of the tunes ask:

“Is sorrow a beautiful song,

lives in the heart and sings for all?

Your forgiveness.”

He then candidly sings:

“And I, the last in the line,

hoping the gates won’t be closed before Your forgiveness.”

In a song recorded in a church with wife Edie Brickell, his words hearken back to the Old Testament.

“The sacred harp, that David played

to make his songs of praise,

we long to hear those strings,

that set His heart ablaze.”

According to the video, the album release is set to have a companion documentary, titled “In Restless Dreams,” which is directed by Alex Gibney.

In his PBS interview, he expressed his deeply thought out concept of the Creator.

“When you’re looking to be thankful at the highest level, you need a specific and that specific is God,” he said.

Like a lot of us, Simon derives profound inspiration and gratitude from the beauty of the universe and the gift of life.

“How was all of this created?” he asked.

“If the answer to that question is God created everything, there was a creator, than I say, Great! What a great job,” he said.

He and the psalmist David may have more in common than Simon could ever imagine.

A Faith and Family Hollywood Merger

With the out-of-touch product that Hollywood has been serving up for far too long now, it turns out that a sizable audience has been built up, one that is truly longing for solid faith and family-based entertainment fare.

Well some good news is on the horizon for folks like these and likeminded ones. Two highly successful media outlets, both of which have been providing consumers with faith and family focused content, are teaming up.

Great American Media, parent company of the popular cable channel Great American Family, is merging with PureFlix, a streaming service that offers a variety of faith-based movies, television shows, and documentaries.

The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but Great American Media will hold the majority interest in the upcoming combined company.

Great American happens to be the current competitor and business rival of the Hallmark Channel. Interestingly, the person who launched Great American had been at the helm of Hallmark for over a decade.

Bill Abbott, then-CEO of Crown Media, which is the parent company of Hallmark, guided the channel to become the go-to network for made-for-TV Christmas movies.

Abbott left Hallmark in 2020 over an incident involving traditional versus non-traditional values. He went on to launch Great American Media and its two cable TV channels, Great American Family and Great American Living. He also launched a free ad-supported subscription streaming channel called Great American Adventures.

Great American Media’s programming features the aforementioned Christmas films, rom-coms, and classic series that focus on “faith, family and country” themes.

The executive was also able to bring over some of the top former Hallmark Channel stars to his budding network, including Danica McKellar, best known for playing Winnie Cooper in the original “Wonder Years” television show, Lori Loughlin of “Full House” fame, as well as fellow “Full House” star and queen of Hallmark’s Christmas fare Candace Cameron Bure.

PureFlix is a streaming service that is known for its extensive library of faith-oriented and family-friendly content, including the “God’s Not Dead” film franchise and “The Chosen” streaming series.

The streaming service presents a family alternative to Netflix. It currently has a price tag of $7.99 per month and boasts more than a million subscribers in over 190 countries.

In 2020 PureFlix became part of Affirm, Sony Pictures’ faith-based division, which had previously released faith-based films known for modest production budgets and sizable profit margins, including such successful titles as “War Room,” “Heaven Is for Real,” “Overcomer,” and “Miracles from Heaven.”

Abbott will remain as CEO of the newly formed entity created by the two-company merge, and he will report to the board of directors.

The merger highlights the importance of faith-based family-friendly entertainment to Hollywood as a whole.

“This merger will allow us to further our commitment to original, quality content and makes Great American Media and Pure Flix leaders in a large and under-served market,” Abbott stated in the announcement of the transaction.

It is this oft-neglected group of media consumers that stands to benefit the most from the merger. This being said, my prediction is that the joining of forces of the two media outlets is likely to produce an all-out faith-based juggernaut.

It is going to have a larger reach, a larger library of family-friendly material, and a larger comprehensive streaming and cable television experience. And Pure Flix and Great American Media will most likely enhance one another’s content.

Great American Media had previously launched its content on traditional cable networks as opposed to a streaming service. The company’s networks are not only available in 50 million pay TV homes, they are featured in internet TV bundles such as Frndly TV and Fubo, and also on its own free, ad-supported channel, making it one of the fastest-growing television outlets.

After the merger takes place, PureFlix will have given Great American’s networks a streaming home of their own.

At the same time, Great American’s cable channels will have provided a new platform for Pure Flix to showcase content for TV audiences and will also have made available a library of new content that can be shown on Great American Media’s networks.

This is the kind of win-win business deal that makes for a very happy Hollywood ending.

The Devil Went Down to Boston

SatanCon, an event billed as “the largest satanic gathering in history,” recently took place in Boston, Massachusetts, courtesy of a Salem-based group called The Satanic Temple.

The mainstream media largely labeled it as satirical and harmless. NBC News even seemed to give it a sort of veiled plug with the headline “SatanCon, poking at religion and government, opens this weekend in Boston.”

The news outlet described the convention as “mostly lighthearted” and characterized The Satanic Temple as “a progressive church that doesn’t worship the devil but instead uses the word to get attention.”

Other media outlets were similarly generous in their descriptions of the event as well as its organizers.

The Satanic Temple has identified itself as a religious organization. In 2014, it promoted a Black Mass at Harvard University. And in 2019, the group persuaded the federal government to grant it recognition as a tax-exempt religion.

The recent convention actually conducted a number of worship rituals, the focus of which was on the Devil and related demonic entities.

During the event’s opening ritual, a lead figure tore pages out of the Bible.

In another ritual, individuals engaged in what was termed a satanic “unbaptism,” wherein participants made their way to a center altar, took on new names, and chanted a blasphemously revised “Hail Mary” prayer.

Notwithstanding mainstream media claims to the contrary, the SatanCon event was created as a promotion tool to disseminate information on one of the darkest of ideologies and to sing the praises of evil personified.

From time immemorial, philosophers and theologians have pondered the question of how to delineate good from evil and evil from good.

Good is universally understood.

Associated with an innate goodness are the attributes of honesty, loyalty, fairness, kindness, and the like. Such traits have been, and continue to be, admired and encouraged in human cultures across all time.

In his book “The Road Less Traveled,” psychiatrist M. Scott Peck wrote of values that lead people to live meaningful lives. Some of the virtues the author cited were truth, integrity, fair-mindedness, gratitude, kindness, and humility.

Dr. Peck discovered that in order to understand spiritual growth, one has to also understand its opposite. This notion inspired him to write another book, “People of the Lie,” in which he explored the concept of evil.

He found that evil people share some key behavioral traits.

– They lie.

– They are intellectually devious.

– They scapegoat.

– They turn their backs on facts.

– They self-deceive to escape their own consciences.

They are also narcissistic to an extent that enables them to “ignore the humanity of their victims” and incite hatred against their enemies.

Dr. Peck additionally dealt with the question of whether or not the Devil is real. Being a psychiatrist and perceiving himself to be a man of science, he initially believed that the Devil did not exist. But he changed his opinion after confronting the reality of spiritual evil.

His work prompted him to delve into several cases that involved demonic possession. His attendance at an exorcism ultimately compelled him to believe in the existence of Satan. The experience led him to be discipled by a Roman Catholic nun and to be baptized into Christianity.

He was open about his conversion.

“After many years of vague identification with Buddhist and Islamic mysticism, I ultimately made a firm Christian commitment….My commitment to Christianity is the most important thing in my life and is, I hope, pervasive and total,” he stated.

In a similar philosophical vein, Tucker Carlson approached the determination of what is good and evil by examining the byproducts of each.

According to the iconic cable news host, “Good is characterized by order, calmness, tranquility, peace…lack of conflict, cleanliness…”

Tucker noted that evil is defined by opposite byproducts, such as “violence, hate, disorder, division, disorganization, and filth.”

“If you are all in on the things that produce the latter basket of outcomes, what you’re really advocating for is evil,” Tucker said.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia actually spoke about the Evil One in an interview with New York magazine.

When Justice Scalia unequivocally stated that he believed in the Devil, interviewer Jennifer Senior was taken aback.

“You do?” she asked.

“He’s a real person,” Justice Scalia answered, and added, “Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.”

French poet and essayist Charles Baudelaire once said, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

He does.

People of true faith know it. And they pray for all.

Stars of ‘Jesus Revolution’ Ride the Heavenly Wave

Liberals mock it, mainstream media critics slam it, and jaded journalists sneer at it. But “Jesus Revolution” just keeps beating every benchmark.

With a few weeks running under its belt, the Lionsgate faith-based film just sprinted past $47 million in domestic box office, simultaneously out-grossing the combined total of four of this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees.

Directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, the little flick with a $15 million budget has Hollywood execs green with envy over its ample profit margin.

In order to raise awareness and interest in the film prior to its release, the PR team scheduled lots of church and university screenings. The strategy paid off big-time, especially at the movie’s debut where it was projected to bring in $7 million and instead more than doubled expectations with its $15.5 million take its first weekend.

“Jesus Revolution” tells the true story of the national spiritual awakening that occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has officially become Lionsgate’s highest-grossing post-pandemic film since 2019.

As is the custom in the entertainment business, when a project experiences this type of success, opportunities tend to multiply for the lucky folks involved.

The filmmakers recently announced the release of another faith-based movie, which is set for later this year. The movie’s lead character is played by two-time Oscar-winner Hillary Swank.

Casting Swank in the starring role was quite a coup. Not only has the actress garnered two Academy Awards for Best Actress, Time once named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

After winning her second Oscar, Swank famously said, “I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve this. I’m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream.”

The upcoming movie, titled “Ordinary Angels,” tells the real-life story of a struggling Kentucky hairdresser, who helps rally a community to come to the aid of a widowed father to help save the life of his gravely ill little girl.

“I was drawn to this beautiful true story because it’s such a powerful reminder that angels reside everywhere among us. And that faith, hope, grit, and positivity are all powerful fuel for miracles,” Swank said in a statement.

The backdrop for the hairdresser’s heroism is a region that has been devastated by an immense snowstorm, which occurs during the record cold wave of 1994. The father is pursuing a life-giving liver transplant for his daughter.

“Ordinary Angels” has a lot of connections to “Jesus Revolution.” The film is directed by one of “Jesus Revolution’’’s screenwriters, Jon Gunn. It is co-written by “Jesus Revolution” director Jon Erwin. And it will be released by the same company that brought the public “Jesus Revolution,” Lionsgate.

“Ordinary Angels” also features Nancy Travis of “Last Man Standing.” And Oscar nominated actress Meg Tilly of “Agnes of God” and “The Big Chill” fame has a co-writing credit for the screenplay.

Meanwhile Kelsey Grammer, the star of “Jesus Revolution,” and Jonathan Roumie, the co-star of the film, have new projects in the offing.

Grammer’s career has been seriously elevated, due to his brilliant portrayal of Pastor Chuck Smith as the legendary evangelist who pilots the Christian revival of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The signature hit sitcom that established Grammer’s stardom, “Frasier,” has been rebooted by Paramount+. Grammer’s character, Dr. Frasier Crane, is an on-the-air psychologist, who comes back to Boston and now has to deal with unexpected life challenges. The “Frasier” reboot boasts a fresh cast.

After plenty of internet speculation by fans of the series, a few weeks ago the reboot was confirmed.

The original co-stars, which include David Hyde Pierce (Niles), Jane Leeves (Daphne), and Peri Gilpin (Roz), are not counted among the cast of the reboot. In fact, the only returning original cast member is Grammer himself.

The new series will feature Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier’s son Freddy Crane, who is expected to bring in elements of the beloved Frasier dad character Marty Crane, a role that was portrayed by John Mahoney, who passed away in 2019.

Unfortunately, no release date has yet been set for the “Frasier” reboot, but it is likely that the series premiere will be slated for late 2023 on Paramount+.

Nothing but good things also seem to be on the horizon for Grammer’s co-star Roumie, who has become a favorite faith-based actor.

Not only is he fresh on the heels of his success in “Jesus Revolution,” he is the star of the largest fan-supported entertainment project of all time, “The Chosen,” a dramatic streaming series about the life of Jesus Christ (portrayed by Roumie).

The powerful United Talent Agency (UTA) took note of Roumie and signed the faith-based phenom to a multi-year deal.

Kelsey Grammer Is the Preacher Man in ‘Jesus Revolution’

In its debut weekend, the new Lionsgate film “Jesus Revolution” managed to exceed all monetary expectations, more than doubling box-office estimates in North America.

The movie’s success has not only stunned the entertainment industry by soaring into third place in ticket sales, but it has also gotten sterling reviews from viewing audiences.

Providentially the film’s opening comes at a time when a bona fide Christian phenomenon has been taking place.

Now known as “The Asbury Revival,” tens of thousands of young people have been gathering together at Kentucky’s Asbury University for non-stop prayer, song and praise to heaven.

The Asbury awakening experience has been spreading around the globe, spontaneously igniting crowds at colleges, theaters and sports stadiums. Throngs of ardent worshipers are refocusing their lives and looking to a higher power.

Movie theaters in which “Jesus Revolution” has been shown are having similar, unprompted worship activity that cannot be contained. Attendees are bursting out in spontaneous prayer, and many end up making commitments to follow the Broken Road.

“Jesus Revolution” tells the true story of Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith, the highly influential and beloved Christian leader, pastor and teacher.

Never wanting personal credit but rather always giving the glory to God, Pastor Chuck was the humble leader of the “Jesus Movement,” the phenom of its time in the late-1960s and early-1970s. He went home to be with the Lord in 2013.

A lover of The Word, Pastor Chuck planted the “seeds” for the historical revival. The first Calvary Chapel was located in Costa Mesa, California, and many more Calvary Chapels were soon to follow.

The film’s title was taken from a 1971 Time magazine cover, where the two words made major headlines.

Based on a book of the same name, the movie follows pastor-in-waiting Greg Laurie (played by Joel Courtney), Christian flower child Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jonathan Roumie), and lead character Pastor Chuck Smith (played by Kelsey Grammer), as the three form what would come to be looked upon as a watershed spiritual awakening.

As a result of the efforts of Laurie and Frisbee, in the late 1960s Pastor Chuck finds that his Southern California church is suddenly overflowing with hippies, who are seeking an encounter with the God of the Bible.

Particularly gifted in the art of storytelling and blessed with a professional narrator’s voice, this was a pastor who was kind, gentle and irrepressibly joyous.

What better material for the master storyteller than The Bible? He took the congregation through The Good Book line by line, cover to cover, multiple times, and the people loved it. I was privileged to be one of them.

In both real life and now on the big screen, Pastor Chuck is the perfect greeter to welcome young truth seekers into the Christian community.

The film’s actual archival footage of Laurie, Frisbee and Pastor Chuck preaching to massive gatherings is a moving reminder of the spiritual power of revival.

The film was theatrically released in the United States by Lionsgate on February 24, 2023. Entertainment companies had forecasted that the faith-based film would bring in around 6 to 7 million dollars in revenue in its opening weekend.

But remarkably, “Jesus Revolution” took the third place slot in the weekend box office, with more than 15.5 million dollars. It actually played to packed houses, taking in almost $6,300 per theater.

The critics predictably gave the movie mixed reviews. Conversely, filmgoers themselves gave “Jesus Revolution” an A+ CinemaScore and a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

The film’s director Jon Erwin made history by obtaining four A+ CinemaScores, more than any other filmmaker since the ratings began. Erwin had previously received the highest CinemaScore rating for “American Underdog,” “I Can Only Imagine” and “Woodlawn.”

The industry is struggling to explain why this film surpassed box-office expectations. It may have to do with the personal relationship that Christians have with their Savior, which they oftentimes keep to themselves until the right moment presents itself. Like enjoying a meaningful movie together.

Box-office predictors may also have underestimated the star power of Kelsey, the actor best known for the lead role in the long-running television sitcom “Frasier,” which is still going strong in syndication. His expert acting skills, length and breadth of experience, and unapologetic Christianity come to the fore in his Pastor Chuck portrayal.

Kelsey turned out to be a brilliant casting decision, not only because the resonant baritone voice that he possesses is so reminiscent of the pastor he portrays, but also because he’s the real deal when it comes to his Christian faith.

When he spoke during a recent interview about his portrayal of Pastor Chuck, he described his faith walk in a way in which a lot of folks are able to relate.

“I’ve had hiccups. I’ve had some tragic times,” Kelsey said.

He noted something that is a common struggle for those seeking God, particularly when individuals are going through difficult times.

“I have wrestled with those and worked my way through them: sometimes rejecting faith, sometimes rejecting God even, in a period of being pretty angry about it, like, ‘Where were you?’…,” he said.

Kelsey concluded with personal testimony that is unequivocal and at the same time relatable.

“I have come to terms with it and have found great peace in my faith and in Jesus. It’s not cavalier. Jesus made a difference in my life. That’s not anything I’ll apologize for,” he said.

To put it mildly, today’s Hollywood is generally less than friendly toward people of faith, especially Christians.

Leave it to Kelsey to go where most stars dare not tread.