- Here you are my dear, the
lovely and talented Madeline. - Hi.
(audience clapping) - I know right. Okay, she's an old pro
at this because this is her third time on this stage--
- Yes. - Probably your third
time in these very stools. Right (chuckling)?
- Yeah. I'm like, I'm all
emotional after that video. Every time I come I cry (laughing). - That's okay, because it's
really cute when she cries. She's not acting right now,
this is real (chuckling). - This is the real me.
- It is the real you. We're so happy that you're here and I know there's a lot of young girls out there, a lot of old girls out there
that really are excited to hear how in the world
(chuckling), how did you get started in this? You were like, three years old, right, when you started acting? - Yeah, I was three
years old and I just got discovered in a nail salon in the Valley and just some, like, hand
of God and I ended up being with her for 11 years. And God just kind of
always opened doors for me when I was younger, but it's
important for me to say, at the time God was
opening all those doors when I was younger, God
was opening so many doors for me in my heart and my spirit and I was getting closer and closer
to him and just really, journeyed with God and
navigated through it. I was watchin' that clip and I was like, you know, we prayed for
that, we prayed for that (crying) and we prayed for that. And God answered all of those prayers. - That's so great and Madeline,
you, did you always know that you wanted to be an actress? Were you just standing
in front of the mirror and practicing lines (Madeline laughing) when you were yeah high? Or what, what, when did you
discover you had that gift? - I guess when I started really. God kinda just picked me up
and put me on the path of it and I just kind of
through doing it realized, I always was like an out going child. I always was, you know,
one of those ham kids and I just, I just through doing it really discovered that I loved it. And I would say, I would say I like wanted to pursue it for the
rest of my life, probably when I did Swing Vote. That was when I was 11
and I got my first lead, big role.
- That's amazing. - Yeah.
- You were so young, tell us some of the roles
that you've been in? Some of the-- - Okay, so I started off doing commercials and print work and then
I went into TV and I did, like a show Night Stalker
and stuff like that. And when I, I did, my first
movie was Daddy Daycare which I got cut out of and
(chuckling) then, from there I did When A Stranger
Calls and from there I did Resident Evil, was a
zombie movie (laughing). - A zombie movie? I read somewhere on your bio
that you like scary movies. - I love scary movies,
I'm ashamed to admit it. I love scary movies and
then from there I did, Swing Vote and when I
did Swing Vote it just kind of put me into this
whole other category where things started coming
my way and I kind of was getting the foot in for
a lot of bigger projects. And God was just faithful,
he just opened up all these doors, like I remember
for Mr. Popper's Penguins there were so many actresses. I remember walkin' in the audition room and there's like all these
big, really big names there. And I remember we rid up in
the elevator with the director. It was like, super awkward,
like I'm going in to read for him and he's in the
elevator with me and my mom and he was like, I just want
you to know I've rigged this in your favor so go in and be bold. - Oh wow.
- And like, just completely like that was an answered
prayer and just crazy. Like, God's hand was just on all of it, you know what I mean? It was never my talent,
it was just God's hand. - At what age, like you were
raised in a Christian home, your mom is here, where is Donna? - Right there.
- There she is. Donna would stand up
and say hi to everybody? (Madeline chuckling)
(audience clapping) 'Cause this is, she is as much a part of this story as anyone. Your dad's name is Don, right? - John.
- John. - Yeah.
- Okay, Donna and John they raised you in a Christian home. They taught you the Bible
from the time you were little. And you heard the name of
Jesus growing up and you were familiar with the
scriptures, but at what point in your childhood and
obviously you started acting from the time you were
three, it'd be really easy to get sort of swept up in all of that. Your parents held the
course, you know, as Godly mom and dad, you know, in
your life but at what point did their faith and the things you were taught become your own? - Also, I wanted to bring
my Bible up is I just wanted people to see--
- I love this Bible. Look at this girls, do you see this? - (chuckling) Yeah.
- How long have you had this Bible?
- Two years. - Two years, she's
moved in oh my goodness. That's awesome.
- Yeah, the word was always so important to me. I remember the first thing
I really connected with and to answer your
question, I was about nine when I started kind of
really readin' it myself. I saw my mom and day always reading it. - At the age of nine--
- Nine. - You started to have your own personal, quiet time with the Lord? Okay, those of you young
ladies out there and some of you older ladies out
there, do you hear that? Every day she had a personal
quiet time with Jesus and I think that's
probably a great reason why underneath all of these
that you're going through, all of the ups and downs and ins and outs of being a movie star,
you know, you're able to stay that course. But anyways, so at the
age of nine you were doing your own devotions? - Yeah, at the age of
nine I started reading-- - Did you see your mom doing 'em? - I did, I saw my mom. My mom would always
read her word in her bed when she was goin' to sleep and my dad, first thing in the mornin' when I got up for school, I knew where
we would be and he would be on the couch readin'
his word before work. And, so I just kind of
just thought that was the thing to do and so I
just started havin' my own quiet time with God and
one of the first passages of scripture I ever
remember really connecting with was Proverbs chapters
one through three. And when you read that,
I just read it again the other day, it talks
about not, when you stay in your word and you
stay connected with God and you have a relationship with God, you don't go far from it. God kinda keeps you in
almost like bowling, when you put up the bumpers, they just, you're just in the-- - The lane.
- The lane and of God and I read that the other
day again and I was like, my God, it brought me to
tears because I connected with it you know, at
such a young age, I just knew if I listen to this
everything will go well with me. If I just listen and
abide by what this says, then everything will be okay. And so when I made these
really difficult choices in my career because after
Swing Vote, a lot of stuff came at me and a lot of
opportunities came at me and I was able to
navigate it because I was choosing to please Him and what this said rather than what was most
beneficial for my career. - So, isn't that amazing? (audience clapping) You know, even though you're really young, you're a mature Christian
because you started at the age of nine to know
the Lord the way you did. But at the age of 11
you had an opportunity that came your way and
it was a, if I remember what Greg said, right? He said, it was about a million dollars you were offered for a part. - Yeah.
- Can you imagine being 11 years old and offered,
even for an adult to have that kind of (audience
laughing) temptation thrown at you, a million
dollars to play a role. And it was a superhero
role, which you really would like to play someday,
I've heard that (giggling). - [Madeline] Yeah (laughing). - And what happened? - Well I really wanted
to do it and it just kind of fell on my lap and it came at me literally, with everything. It was like fame, money,
fortune and there's certain roles that you
do that are kind of like the cliche way that Hollywood depicts it. If you do it, your life will be different. If you do it, you will
get work and, and it'll be easier for you and kind of puts you into this other level of things. And so it came at me and
it was real confusing because it literally was like a package with a bow on top and it came to me. I didn't even have to fight for it or audition so I was like,
oh, this must be the Lord. God's blessing me, I'm
getting all this money. It's gonna be so awesome
and I'm gonna have an easier time getting parts. And I was initially praying
about it with my mom and my mom kind of had this
uneasy feeling about it and we ended up asking
the director flat out, would you change this
part to be more suited to what believe essentially? And I don't wanna do this
or that and the director there was just such favor,
he was like, yeah sure we'll do that, we'll change it. And so we ended up signing
on and going and meeting with everybody and that night
I went to a healing service at my church and just
like a prayer service and the pastor, for no
reason, called me up to pray on a little
boy to receive hearing. And so I go up there and
I pray on the little boy and I came back to my seat and I said, mom I can't do this movie and she said, why? And I said, because I
don't think, I just have this feeling that it's not gonna line up with where God's gonna take me eventually. And when I said that, what
I was talkin' about (crying) is what I'm doin' today, you know. This year I didn't know
(crying) (audience clapping). I didn't know that God
was gonna put on platforms like this and allow me
to share my testimony and so that thought back
then at 11 and that I think, you know that's not
eventually gonna line up with where God takes me, that's now. And had I of done that,
I wouldn't be here. (audience clapping)
- That's so awesome, you know, I just was
thinking, you know, this world the enemy came and
offered you this amazing, beautiful, what appeared
to be a beautiful gift on a platter but you looked beneath that and listened to what the
Holy Spirit was saying to you and you had that conviction
and you turned it down. And some people will say,
well, that was stupid. You know, a million
dollars and your career could of taken off and you
would have been, you know, but you saw a greater,
deeper value that was following the Lord and now
what you're saying today sitting on a platform
like this, you're like, yeah but, I mean, yeah
there are maybe 1,000 people in this room but a movie,
you would, how many millions of people would have seen that? But in eternity, the
values are quite different. And how God gauges you
know, what is eternal verses what is temporal. I think there's a lot of
us in this room, I won't classify this as young
because I think it hits every woman, we're so
nowadays with social media and Instagram and
everything else out there, we can be the star in our own
little worlds and the desire for so many young girls to
be, you know, on Instagram with a zillion followers
and to have all of that fame of sorts you know, what
would you say to the ladies in this room about that
temptation of wanting to be famous, wanting to be known, wanting everyone to pay attention to you, being that center of your universe? What would you say about that temptation and how do you resist that? How did you at age 11? How do you do it as you're
offered parts and roles and things you feel like you
can't as a Christian accept but you're able to say no? - I think I, the biggest
thing for me is just purposing in my heart
like Psalms 1:19 says, Lord I have purpose in
my heart that I might not sin against you. And just making that my biggest goal. I am only here to act for one person. I'm only here to speak for
one person and if God says job well done, that's all I need. And I think it's just so
crucial to know your purpose and know who you are in Him. First of all, I'm a daughter,
that means I get instructions. God gives me what I need for that day and I just run with that. God what is my task now? And I think it's so important
not to focus on one thing and I used to think
like, if I could just get to this level then I could
speak to all of these people. No, God wants to use you
exactly where you are, you know, in every moment, in every
season, God has a task and a job for you and
the main thing is just to make sure that you're
pleasing him and that is it. And so the temptations of
fame, I mean, that's what I deal with every single day, you know. If I take this part then
I'll be famous, but I'll have lost my soul and
I always stood on it's better to err on the ways of righteousness than err on the ways of the world. And so when I don't know if I should walk through somewhere I always just say no. I always say no, you
know, if you're invited to something as simple
as a party and you don't have a good feeling about it. Just say no, it's better to err on his way and trying to be righteous and
God will always reward that. When God opened the door
for I Can Only Imagine, that movie that I turned
down when I was 11 may have been a big movie
and it may have opened many doors for the actress
that did it, but guess what? When I did I Can Only Imagine,
lives were being saved and it has continued to
bear fruit and God always will close a door and
open one that continues to bear fruit because that is who he is. (audience clapping) - Amen, amen. That's so great. What will it profit a man
if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul in the process? And a lot of actresses
have sold out their souls in order to get that part and done things that they regret to this day. I remember you sharing with
us, I think the last time you were here, that you had been cast in a was it a series-- - [Madeline] Yeah,
probably the series yeah. - Yeah and that at some
point in the series, the character that you
were playing and felt okay about accepting that role, all of a sudden was required to do certain
things that you felt you couldn't do and what
you did as a result, you know, in response to
that was pretty gutsy. - Thank you.
- Yeah, so would you tell 'em about it. - Yeah (audience laughing) thank you. Yeah so I got a beautiful offer on a show through a friend of mine,
who's a wonderful friend. And was just blessing
me with an opportunity and what's scary with
TV is, you never know where it's gonna go. You never know where the
characters gonna end up and I originally signed
on, did a few episodes, and like perfect role, beautiful part. And then all of a sudden,
they decided to write you know, an episode that was
completely from left field and the friend of mine
who got me the on the show called me and it was the weirdest thing. I had a feeling not to go
to the table read that day. So my friend calls me after it's over, I was on my way to church,
and he says I think that you need to read the
script and I don't think you're gonna be okay with it. And I led early, I was like, okay. Opened it up, literally
read the first opener and had my mom pull over and I started throwing up outside the car. And she was like, what's wrong? And I was like, like hyperventilating because I had my whole life
avoided these landmines you know what I mean, and been so careful not to put myself in certain situations. So now here I am, I'm
stuck, I'm tied in under contract, they legally
could force me to do it, and my friend, like
his neck's in the noose because he's the one who give me the part, you know what I mean? And now all of a sudden,
I'm the difficult actress who doesn't wanna do it so I'm throwing up outside the car and I'm
crying and my mom's like calm down and I pulled
myself together and I said, you know what mom? God would not have brought me this far for me to be literally
trapped in a situation to where I can't get
out and I said, somehow, someway, God's gonna fix it. I'm not gonna worry about it anymore and I said, matter of fact,
they're going to bless me as I leave and I'm not kidding. And so, I give like this
grocery list to God. And so, then all that like big talk said, and then I finally, like me
and mom had to make the call and tell them like, hey,
I'm not gonna do this. And so, long story short, you know, my mom said, Madeline you know, she's devastated. She's so sick, she doesn't wanna do this. And then I got on the
phone, and said, look I'm sorry, if you wanna
change it to be anything else, I'll do it I just don't wanna do this. And thank the Lord,
they ended up letting me out of the contract and
recasting and I kept getting a phone call all
that day and I didn't know who it was and I don't
answer like phone calls I don't know, and they
finally started calling my house phone and I answer the phone and it's the lead actress. And she said, hey I just want you to know, and I'm passin' out, I
think she's gonna like be really mad at me. And I'm like, hello. And she said, I just want
you to know that I am so proud of you for walkin'
away and I wish that I would have made those
choices when I was younger and now I have to have
them in my crawl but I just want you to know, don't feel ashamed. I'm happy for you and I am
blessing you as you leave because guess what, God is your director, God is your casting director
and God is your producer and you have no one to please but him. - That's amazing (chuckling)
(audience clapping) - Unreal.
- It reminds me of Eric Little, there
was the Olympic athlete in the famous film The Chariots of Fire where he refused to run
on a Sunday because it was against his convictions,
against what he believed the Bible taught, and he, the Lord made a way for him as well and
I think one of the things the scriptures that he quoted
was, he that honors me, I will honor and you put
God first, in the center. And it's, he's gonna work
everything around that. But you know, you have had rejection. You've had things that
came up in your life, how do you cope with that? I mean, I have a feeling I
know what you're gonna say but (chuckling), you
know, is rejection hard? 'Cause a lot of people in
this room that whether it's rejection for their stand
in Christ or rejection 'cause they didn't get the job interview or their being rejected
by, you know, there husbands walk out on them. There's rejection in life
and for you, that's like you go out for these
auditions, you get turned down, you get told no a lot, how
have you dealt with that? - So in what I do, I'm
constantly, you know, being rejected all the
time and what's hard for me as a person of faith is so,
say there are 10 auditions, maybe one of them is something
that I could actually do. So you put your whole heart and soul in it and you pray and you ask
God and there was a case this last fall where a
superhero movie came along, completely the hand of God that I even got into the audition and it came down to me and one other person
and I literally, fasted for a full month I gave
up meat from the time I first auditioned to
the time I was waiting to hear back and I went
into my prayer closet and I really thought
that I was gonna get it because you know, in my flesh, I was like, I gave up this for the Lord way back then, this is gonna be my reward. I'm gonna get this part
and I just, you know, kind of made it make sense in my mind. And I was praying so hard
for it, really thought I was gonna get it. I'm in my closet, on my hands and knees, like praying to God,
crying, and all of a sudden I saw a vision of myself
get down on all fours and the girl who is
auditioning opposite me stood on my back and
lifted up her hands to God. And so I was like, okay God, I think I see what you're saying, I
think she's gonna get this and somehow I'm gonna help her
relationship with the Lord. I cried so hard and I
was like, God, I just want you to know like, that's fine. I accept that but when
that happens, please God give me peace, like, give
me peace 'cause I've went to bed over things before. Like your whole heart and
soul is in it 'cause you have to keep in mind, like,
your whole life changes you know what I mean? It's opportunities where
your whole life changes and so I wait like a few days. The news comes in, you
know, I texted my agent. She said they actually have a offer out to the other person and I literally felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. I was like, oh my goodness, like, sick. And then instantly, just
exactly how I prayed, the peace of God came
from my head to my toes. Exactly what I prayed for,
but all of that to say so that was hurt, that was
rejection but in the process of that my vision came true and the girl who got the part, is now
asking me for counsel as to how she can be used in the position where God has put her in that movie. - Wow.
- Like. - So cool.
- It's just unreal how God like works it out
and so just always know that every no, there's a
purpose it in and there's intent behind it and just
know that God's a good Father and he doesn't take any toys away that he doesn't wanna replace. And when he does, it'll
be for a reason, you know? It'll be for a reason and
a purpose and it'll be so much far greater, I
mean, that was a movie role. This girls life could be
completely, 'cause if it's heaven or hell for somebody, you know? - Yeah, that's so... The priorities that you
have, is so important that we play those out all
of you young ones out there and older ones out there too. That you see that the
priorities are the most, the most important things
are the most important things and the eternal things are
the most important things. - [Madeline] Yes. - Right? One last question, how
important is this book to you in navigating the
waters of what you do in life? - Oh my gosh, it's, I can't
imagine not having the word. I go to my word for everything. It is truly my instructions
for daily life, you know. I just today was reading
in Psalms and in it's just so perfect, God speaks to
you in your prayer time. God speaks to you at church. But God really speaks
to you through his word. We're supposed to look to the people who have gone before us. You know, a lot of the
times I'll see myself in scripture as Daniel,
saying no I will not partake of the King's table. And just seeing how God
worked it out for him and having something to
stand on that the Lord is going to let you succeed. God says that he gives you
hope in your final outcome no matter what you have
going on right now, this is your peace and
your comfort that you have hope in your final outcome no matter what goes on in your life. We will have victory and
that's what this book is and I can't stress enough
how important it is. 'Cause sometimes you'll
read things even, like, you'll read in the
mornin' and then you won't believe it, you're like
living it out that day. The scripture is coming to life. - Yeah how many times and that's what this Virtual Ministry loves to
hear because we believe that whole heartedly that God's
word is the guiding light. It is the anchor in the storm. It is the guard rails, as you even said. It's so important that we have his word in our heart and it's so
wonderful that your mom at a very young age saw the value of that and made that a priority
and modeled it for you, lived it, and now we're just
so thankful to hear this coming out from you and
we're gonna be praying for you and all the opportunities-- - Thank you, I mean it. - That God has for you and like you say, you know, she's quite
the little speaker here. (both chuckling) She's got a whole 'nother
world of opportunity to get up and testify
before a lot of people on what God's done in your life. It's beautiful and as
far as the word of God, we know what it says. It says, if you abide in
my word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And isn't that what we all want? We wanna live free, knowing
God has all the things that concern us under his control. It's so beautiful that you
have that at such a young age. And we hope all of you ladies
will take Madeline's advice. Get deep into God's word
and discover for yourself the beautiful plan that
he has for you, amen. - I love you.
- Thank you Madeline. - Thank you.
- Okay. (audience clapping)
