I think most every one of us can remember the movie theater we sat in in 2006 when this Christian movie came out called facing the Giants I remember hearing the buzz hey there's this movie it's facing the Giants and it's like a real Christian movie it's not one of those movies that's you know it's family-friendly and maybe they mentioned God in prayer this one like had the gospel in it and I remember watching that movie and it was scream cry good it was awesome and I tell Alex you know maybe the acting could have been a little suspect but it showed you how awesome the Spirit was that it was so powerful and then in 2009 not to outdo himself they key and his brother Steven came up with fireproof and and I sat in the movie theater and I sat in the movie theater hoping that my wife was paying attention to what was going on the screen but I remember sitting there and I started clenching my fist and I called David I said we got to talk with these guys like now so I figured out a way to get in touch with Alex and my thought was hey whatever it takes to get your next movie out we're gonna try to help you fund it whatever we can do to be able to pull together investors whatever it is well none of that worked because they already had a deal with Sony but my brother and I flew out there in 2009 and spent a good long while with Alex and his brother and we formed a fast rillette friendship with them our families are very fast friends and since that time listen we have gone through some things with Alex we've walked through some trials with Alex that he's gone through himself with all the stuff that goes on in his life and I want to tell you this the coach in facing the Giants when he surrendered it all to the Lord and he walked out in that Grove and he got on his knees and he raised his hands up to God and said god I'd give it all to you that's who he is in real life there is nobody that deserves to be on this stage more than our friend Alex Kendrick come on up Alex hey and while he's coming let me say this while he's coming up his best movie is flywheel if you haven't seen that you better buy that CD and I want something first we are very excited to see you tonight so thank you for coming there's 2700 people in here so we wanted to thank you for coming and I hope I hope you pleased you didn't just come to see the afters or Francesca as awesome as they are or me for that matter but that you came hopeful to see the Lord do something and we believe he's going to do something tonight we I'm going to spend about 10 minutes and I'm going to fly through our journey of what in the world a small church in Albany Georgia is doing making Christian films and what the Lord taught us along the way and then I'm going to share with you something that the Lord taught me that radically changed my life and I began to understand the battles that we're in in the church today and if you will stay tuned with me I promised the Lord will give you something as well 2002 I find a article from George Barna hit did a national survey saying that movies television the Internet were the three most influential factors in our culture I took it to my pastor Michael Katniss and what would you think if we made a low-budget film in Albany Georgia for our community that was the extent of my vision he said you know how to make a feature film I said no but I wanted to do is so bad I love telling stories and things like that so Alex how you gonna do that I'm well I began praying the Lord gave me this small little concept for a plot called flywheel it was meant for our community we used all volunteers $20,000 was given to the project we fumbled our way through and not promised making movies as Harding I didn't know what I was doing for example I remember shooting a scene on a Friday afternoon when it got too dark to finish the scene we went home that weekend came back on Monday and some of our actors have gotten haircuts which you can't do so when we finished the scene if you look quick there's one see their hair goes good see I forgot what I was wearing I was thinking what was I wearing and that's it because if your clothes can't change halfway through a scene so I realized man we need a lot of management to finish this thing so we finished flywheel I wanted to get in our one local theater my brother Stephen to help me produce it so we've just fumbled our way through it and I was like lord help us gain the knowledge to do this better next time and we begged God for favor with our local theater the theater manager 16 screens said you can have one screen we were so thankful the Lord opened that one screen and we took our video projector and put it up in the window the bahama thing hooked up our DVD player that's how we could fly a little one theater I was elated we were in a theater we're gonna see the movie we made $20,000 production and he gave us one weekend we didn't have marketing and I said lord I don't know how to market a movie we begged God for help we got our team to pray in unity we stood together in unity no one's being paid for this thing was all free all the money went to equipment and the Lord sent the news radio newspaper television station they started doing news stories about a local church that did a feature film in our local theater opening night it sells out next night sells out next and I says a minute now here's the deal people didn't come to see how good it would be they came to see how bad it would be because it was a local movie right but they came and God did something I didn't expect a lot of people left crying saying I just saw myself on the screen and I saw my own lack of integrity my need for the Lord to work in my life this story about a used-car salesman if you haven't seen flywheel simple story used-car salesmen goes to the largest church in the city to be seen deceives a local pastor he rips off the pastor if thinking he got a good deal but before the pastor leaves with his car he says Jay the car salesmen he says Jay can I pray for you Sara go ahead and he prays god I thank you for the good deal that Jay gave me and I pray that you treat him the way he treated me it sends him down a path when he realizes I don't like the person I've become I'm playing Christian but I'm not a real Christian I'm not a follower of Jesus he's not Lord of my life so fly was about lordship that that movie went the first week in the theater the theater manager came back said of our 16 screens you guys are the second highest grossing movie he kept us a second week in a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth we spent 20,000 making it we got 37,000 back we said what are we going to do with this money so we started making DVDs and we kept making DVDs pouring the money back into more DVDs and soon we had sold kids you not 100,000 DVDs out of our church but the response the response overwhelmed us now if you've seen flywheel I totally admit we didn't know what we were doing acting's not that great it's a really low price I got it I know but the Lord did something we did not expect we started praying for another idea oh by the way people started coming to our church saying accepting Chrysler results as a result of this movie businessmen and used car dealers it was amazing so so the pastor said Alex this has had a bigger ministry impact that I ever expected what are you gonna do they started funneling the money into ministry ministry ministry we started praying for another idea and the Lord said tell a story about facing fear with faith that became facing the Giants a $100,000 movie again all volunteers nobody was paid except for the equipment and a few people to run the equipment we got in professionals this time shot it in high definition it was amazing High Definition so and I'm thinking this time God I'm asking for something that's gonna be even difficult for you I want to cover the state of Georgia in theaters like 40 theaters of such a goober and so we we show it to a bunch of a movie studio 20th Century Fox and Disney and some other people may said hey we're impressed with what you did with twenty with a hundred thousand dollars we're not gonna release it there's no recognizable stars in this thing there's a lot of Jesus in there I was devastated I went back and I say we don't have a theatrical release I made the mistake of jumping ahead of God we started praying in unity again this is key guys when we started praying in unity for God to do whatever he wants to do we sent a copy of the movie - Provident music group in Nashville to get permission for some music improvident got it watched the movie called us and said guys not only can you use some music we're going to send this to our parent company for theatrical distribution we said who's your parent company and they said Sony the one door we did not knock on you see guys when I was in my own strength knocking on all these movie studio doors they looked at it said nothing but see God said aren't Alex if you're gonna jump ahead of me you go ahead I've got the answer right here so when we got distribution for facing the Giants I had nothing to do with it Sonja said we're gonna put this not in 40 theaters Alex we're gonna put this in 400 to cover North America I fell out of my chair I was so excited so it came out in 2006 it didn't do five million like they thought it did 10 million sold two and a half million DVDs and I'm thinking what only the Lord to do this and again some of you are saying okay it was an okay movie but some of the acting sober man I got it I got it but we're learning so we start praying more and we're praying in unity and our church got together and said this is the Lord's ministry we're not building stars we're telling stories that change lives and again the amount of response we got from facing the John's was more than we could read or process it came in by the thousands letters emails visits from people but I saw what the Lord was doing that movie and flour now in 56 countries around the world so anyway we start praying again we laid the groundwork in prayer prayed in unity as a church corporately we wrote the movie fireproof I get a phone call from Kirk Cameron out of the blue right yeah Kirk Cameron you saw him in growing pains years ago he's then several more movies he calls and goes man I love these films is there any way I can help you with your next film I said yeah once you fly to Georgia and audition for our next movie right he says okay and he does and you can imagine all our church volunteers the day we did auditions and they're all standing in line and one guy turns around and there's Kirk oh great and Kirk listen we put him through the ringer we ask about his faith and his in his marriage and everything because it's not important in us that the number one product with us is not how good of an actor you are and we do want good acting al good of an actor but but can the Lord bless your work on this film so we said Kirk is there anything in your life that would prevent God for blessing your work on this movie he said I have never been asked that before and he shared assessment Kirk loves the Lord and he's growing in his faith if you've seen way of the master some his reach a recent project he loves the Lord he's getting stronger and stronger so he's in fireproof did a fantastic job at the end of the movie he said I'm rather than you know kissing the actress can I kiss my wife so we flew her in so he shot at silhouette to that big smoochy scene at the end of the film that's his wife that's playing in that role if you didn't know that we loved it god bless that movie you did 33 million in the box office was the highest grossing independent movie of 2008 yeah that movies in 75 countries around the world and we've never stopped getting response from it I got to tell you at least one response there was a couple came to our church started crying as soon as they walked in the door there was so elated to be there and we were like man what's the deal here they calmed down and they told us their story they said 27 years ago we got married too young didn't know what we were doing didn't know the Lord after a year of marriage we divorced ended up on either side of the United States 1-1 in the Carolinas the other one in Washington State so we never remarried two decades go by fireproof comes out I end up seeing at Washington my wife ends up seeing in the Carolinas and I realize I never truly knew how to love her and I wrote to her said I need to apologize I never did they both knew the Lord by this point is that I never truly knew how to love you would you forgive me for hurting you she responds she's amazed and she says yes would you forgive me I saw the same movie they ended up meeting started a friendship fell back in love got remarried and to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their remarriage they show back up and tell us her story I'm thinking praise God only the Lord can be the servant we start praying again we start praying again the Lord says call men to courageous fathering that men are the spiritual leaders of their home and they got to take that those reins and teach their children to love the Lord God with all their heart soul mind and strength and not to advocate that role and just give it over to your school or your youth pastor men you've got to step up and take responsibility for the spiritual leadership of your home and so many of us feel ineligible to do that but that's the role that Lords given to us you will never be a perfect dad but you are to love your children and love the Lord and teach them to do the same so we made courageous grades was a very difficult movie to make and so again this time Sony's been great but they were a little worried that like me you don't know how many stars in this one courageous did better than fireproof and I'm telling you so all over the world it's in 75 countries all over the world we're hearing stories and but I got to tell you about for you 800 officers in Panama got together after seeing the movie and said this is our new standard in their police departments and so they states that they did their own resolution ceremony and they sit in front of their spouses and their children's there said this is our standard this is what we're committing to it Panama wracked with you know criminals rat racked with you know the the hypocrisy even among the police departments and we've seen amazing things happen there and then as part of doing these films I've been invited to speak all over the place and one of the places I went to was Ecuador when I went to Ecuador and I'm going to come back to the story in a few minutes on what to Ecuador I got to preside and had a Spanish interpreter over 1500 officers and their families that stepped up in uniform to take the resolution if you know what I'm talking is a just set there wept unbelievable the resolution if you don't know what it is is basically biblical principles calling men to step up and take responsibility as the spiritual leader of their homes go see men step up and do that and say I will be accountable to do this and even sign a document based on these biblical principles may hang it in their homes and we loved what the Lord was doing so courageous was a big hit started selling millions of DVDs as well and so we funneled this money back into ministry we started three new churches in 82 acre sports park for the community a homeless shelter I can't tell you how he laid there where we walked in the door when we said how much is it gonna take to fill every shelf with food for the homeless and they were like every shelf we said yay let's do it I love taking these resources and doing that for the Lord but along the way I got to go back to this ecuador story this is what I learned I spoke in Canada I'm gonna get to Ecuador I've spoke in Canada and this is what I noticed in Canada I had never been to Canada before but when I was there speaking I noticed that half of their news was about what was going on in Canada and the other 50% of their news was about everything going on in the US Canada knows everything about the US you and I know very little about Canada we know everything about ourselves I then went spoke in Mexico and I noticed half of the news in Mexico was about Mexico while the other half of their news and entertainment everything was about what was going on the u.s. you and I know very little about what goes on in Mexico matter of fact if I said who's the number one guy in charge of Canada or Mexico 99% of you couldn't tell me but they all know who our leader is or our president our politics our entertainment are movie stars our music etc etc they all follow us I then went to Israel same thing then I ended up in Ecuador same thing and I got to talk to the number 2 guy over the entire 40 million peoples in Ecuador the number 2 guy and I was talking to him when I was speaking there to their Police Department this resolution ceremony he was there he was excited and I said what are you guys dealing with here and he said well right now the main thing is what are we gonna do about gay marriage I said well why which way are you leaning he said we're still watching to see what America will do and it hit me guys the world is watching us and we're looking to ourselves they compare themselves with us we compare ourselves with ourselves you and I don't care about what's going on around the world the way they care about what's going on in America we have a lead dog right now and therefore the church in America is of utmost importance so you look at the church what are we doing what are we doing to influence our culture to love the Lord to seek Him to pray in unity what is the church doing and sad to say and you I don't have to tell you thank God for the church and thank God for the many things he's doing but the church in America is not unified we are divided a hundred different ways and I'm talking about those that say Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross for my sin raised from the dead and it's only through him that we can be saved I'm talking about people that agree on the main thing we are not in unity in the Lord began to show me three battles I'm going to talk about these three battles so follow me closely here this is utmost importance the first battlefield I'm going to talk about is the personal battlefield this is where you are with the Lord your job your family your spouse your children your either your private sin or hopefully your own healthy walk with the Lord that's the personal battlefield I am in the personal battle field and I'm responsible to walk with the Lord and seek Him and obey Him the second battle that I want to talk about is the corporate battlefield the corporate arena is where we are as a local church and even as large as a city are we unified are we engaged are we praying together we doing the work of the Lord corporately in our region the third battlefield I want to talk about is the Kingdom battlefield when I say Kingdom battlefield I'm talking about the heart of a nation where do we stand as a heart of a nation are we seeking the Lord or we get closer to him or further away from him this right here is Satan's favorite playground he wants the heart of our nation and every other nation so what's my battle you see if I'm stuck in the personal battle field and I've got private sin and I refuse to get it right thinking it doesn't impact anybody else but me I am ineligible to fight in the corporate battlefield I've got to get right with the Lord and most Christians are stuck right here matter of fact most sermons and churches deal with this battlefield the enemy wants is stuck here because if I've got private sin if I'm not seeking the Lord if I'm just filling myself with the riches and pleasures of this world I'm ineligible to fight as a unifying factor in my church to pray together to serve together and to get back on the front lines and therefore if our churches are not unified and fighting together locally and partnering locking shields we're not making a dent in the kingdom battlefield and therefore Charlotte we are losing the heart of America are you following me you say give me a word picture where are you getting this from scripture I'm going to point to King David King David as a youth fought the lion in the bear alone first before he fought Goliath corporately in front of the armies of the Philistines and Israelites he defeated Goliath before he became King and led the nation to seek the Lord and defend the land you follow me three battlefields where are we Charlotte where are we is Jesus Lord of America is he Lord of the church in America so I'm thinking Lord I see the church fighting for unity mainly stuck in the personal battle field and so many even the men the men the men with private sin unaware that they are ineligible to fight corporately in our cities in our communities and even in our churches you know as well as I do that many churches meant forget the fact that it's hard for them to partner with other churches in their area there haven't unity struggles in their own walls churches in our cities that all proclaim Jesus as Lord won't work together they won't pray together they're worried about stealing sheep or losing their tithes and offerings guys if Jesus is Lord he is the greatest unifying factor you could ever have and if we get behind the banner of Jesus Christ as Lord lord over your ties lord over your your people lord over your attendance churches and I love you pastors and I love you churches we desperately need you we've got a lot shields because when we do that and we start stepping out and getting our hands a little dirty doing the work of the Lord saying I'm unafraid to do something even makes me uncomfortable lord help me live for you to love you and to love others let me go where you want me to go I will obey Lord we do it in unity when we do it in unity we then start making a dent in the kingdom battlefield the enemy does not want you here he wants Christians out of this because he says I will define what marriage is I will define what morality is I will define the standards of entertainment that you are filling your homes with this is the enemy's battlefield so I said Lord please use me my brother my church to get to that battlefield so that means I got to get before the Lord with my marriage and my children and say Lord keep me clean keep me clean acts 3:19 says return and repent that the Lord may wipe your sins away you may experience refreshing times in the presence of the Lord Lord refresh me and prepare me then we go to the corporate battlefield lord help me be a unifying factor my pastor's not a perfect man but I pray for him and I stand with other men in our church and then as the church we start standing with other churches we got to courageous we partnered with four other churches to make courageous it was awesome white churches black churches etc etc we had come help us come pray with his conservatives it was incredible and I saw unity and the Lord blesses unity so when we started doing that saying our worship styles may be different we may disagree on secondary though I can't talk to him he's pre-trib and he's post Riven I'm and I'm mid-trib we're going to find out at the same time anyway it doesn't matter it's a secondary issue keep the main thing the main thing that is Jesus is Lord and it's the cross and it's the blood that saves us that's where we're unified you want to raise hands in your church do it you want to clap do it you want to keep them by your side cuz your churches are reference trips do it but don't knock the others that are saying Jesus is Lord and proclaiming him as the answer pray together we've got to have pastors and churches praying together and we've got to have churches unified saying what will it take to lower the deaths in Charlotte thirteen hundred churches in Charlotte per capita is the most churches of any other area in the United States Charlotte thirteen hundred churches here there should be no issue with these ditches that are taking human life when you and I joined together and we pray and we call on the name of the Lord and we say we'll get our hands dirty will will help the ministries out hear these moves out here that are saying we're ready to go fuel us pray for us join us so two years ago I came out and said I'll go to the front lines I'll go pray I'll go praise I'll go minister and I did and I saw things I've never seen before praise God Lord shake me up if you need to shake me up we're going again tomorrow come join us you say you sound like you're recruiting us you betcha I need the church that loves Jesus to get their hands dirty and do something that they're not comfortable doing because guys think about this you weren't called to comfort you were called to love the Lord and serve Him so come join us and guys victories don't happen by accident we need you in the war a war to share the love of Jesus Christ the war is to stand against the enemy and bring truth and love because the person behind truth is in love is Jesus Christ we're not just giving you a plan and saying we're going to call them to a plan we're not even calling them necessarily to a deeper purpose in and of itself that's all part of a greater thing we're calling them to a person the person of Jesus Christ he is the engine that drives everything we're doing so tonight I'm going to ask you is it true that if my people are called by my name Christian follower of Jesus Christ that's an Old Testament verse that is perfectly applicable to New Testament today my people are called by my name and you and I will humble ourselves and pray in unity and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways and that may be we just want to ignore something that's very important to God but uncomfortable for us we come together we pray and we seek his face turn from our wicked ways he will hear from heaven you'll forgive our sin and heal our land and there is too much death in a city that has 1,300 churches there's too much death in any city so we're saying God do something awesome so bless the after's bless Franchesca bless cities for life but we need your prayers we need your unity saying we're gonna set aside every secondary issues and we're coming together into the banner of Jesus Christ will come we'll pray well support will give we'll serve whatever the Lord prompts you to do do it do it and let the Lord shake you up but then watch what he does beyond your own strength Joe's gonna come back up in a minute but that's my message tonight I beg you if you're stuck in a personal battle field you know what it is and if you ask the Lord he will show you every time I ask the Lord is there anything in my heart or life that you're just pleased with boom right there Alex right there and I get that right it frees me up to reengage in the corporate battle with my local church my local community and say Lord speak speak to me and use me and prep me for greater service when we get together you get that momentum going to you're praying together and especially when you're in unity he does amazing things so every time I look at the the response to our films I see that unity and I see stay right with God and now we're getting from 75 different countries all sorts of response saying I'm a dad again I've got together with my wife I asked him to forgive me I'm operating my business with integrity now as before the Lord praise God and all glory goes to him we need you Charlotte would you pray with me lord jesus as francesca and her team started getting ready as joe comes up to the stage I asked you to pierce every heart or if there's anybody in here that says I know there's areas in my life or there's areas I don't have right with you and I've been thinking I'm only affecting myself no Lord show them the bigger picture we need them in the battle lord I ask that you convict them but you remind them how much you love them you got your hands dirty Lord you gave your life you showed mercy you showed grace to us and we are to do the same love and show mercy and grace to those who need it most where do we want to fight for life we want to share the love of Jesus Christ take people to the person of Jesus Christ we're prompt us to give to serve whatever you want us to do that your name may be lifted high Lord I bless I ask that you bless every person that walks across the stage tonight and every person that came in the doors tonight shake us up and do whatever you want to do show us what to do next Lord and we will obey we love you Lord Jesus and it's your name that we pray amen Joe thank you so much Alex what a what a great encouragement to us we're going to continue on with the evening Francesca is going to come up in just a moment but I wanted to say a couple of thank yous and one or two other things before we continue with the concert to finish the night I want to thank Hickory Grove Baptist Church for hosting us this evening will you join me in that I also want to thank cities for life for joining with New Life 91.9 and I want to thank Lee and the rest of the new life 91.9 staff for the great job that they have done my my last thanks goes because of this fifteen thousand eight hundred thirty four dollars in gift cards tonight almost sixteen thousand dollars that is going to your Charlotte area crisis pregnancy centers and that is going to help them in the work that they do thank you lord thank you for doing that you know I was I was talking with my wife earlier and I just want to be really transparent with you for a moment and I may get a little choked up because if you put anything on like Michael Landon or reruns of Little House on the Prairie I start to cry so I'm probably going to get choked up here just warning you but our family has been touched very directly by life and by pro-life because I have a little boy that I can tickle every night and I slept I slipped into his room the other night and left a dollar because he lost his third tooth and his other brother has a best friend for life and I could go on and on and on but this special young life that's in my family is here because a particular woman chose life so it's touched us very directly and there's something that we can all do and maybe may not be to that extent but as I said earlier tonight if you leave tonight and say man what a great concert I hope they do it again next year and that's it then maybe we have failed it's about lighting a candle in the darkness right we can talk about all of the atrocities in our nation and all of the lives that have been lost over the the last years and yes that is horrible but that's the past what are we going to do from the present forward right how we shine a light in the darkness I want to go through a brief list with you okay surely there is one or more things on this list that you can do starting tonight list number one or item number one volunteer at a local crisis pregnancy center there are some fantastic work going on they are here they are in the lobby they need volunteers okay that's number one number two you can come alongside a mother during her pregnancy they need Mentors they need encouragers they need facilitators people to love them and guide them you can assist at one of the ultrasound units from Monroe or the Charlotte PRC they have those ultrasound units that go out they need help you can become a sidewalk counselor there are opportunities to influence a young lady's decision up to the very last moment if you're a nurse become a volunteer sonographer that I used to say that sonographer scenographer I probably got the wrong syllable if you're a nurse there's a great need for that if you are a doctor join the the life network to offer medical services to moms if you are a pastor consider how your church can be involved I think Alex hit the nail on the head when he said churches and Charlotte need to lock shields together enough of this going solo well we're going to do that because it didn't come from us we need to lock arms on that and if you're a pastor you are in a position that God placed for a very important reason and then perhaps lastly I think this is the last on the list we need prayer warriors interceding for life on a daily basis we can all do that right so I pray that at least one if not more of those things resonated with you tonight inmate be the beginning of a movement for the people in this room alright before we continue let me pray we pray to earlier by the way you have been prayed over already but I'd love to pray with you and for you one more time father God thank you so much for this evening already it has been an incredible evening and we have heard from you in in music and in the spoken word lord I pray first of all for these crisis pregnancy centers Lord empower them meet their financial needs so that they don't have to be distracted and delayed and downtrodden because of inadequate finances meet their needs in terms of people that there would be volunteers that that even come forward tonight to help serve alongside of them and that they will continue to make a difference and an even greater difference in our city going forward lord I pray for this precious crowd see they think they just came tonight well some of them some of them think they came tonight to enjoy a concert little did they know that you were going to prompt their heart and say you know what it's it's time it is time to enter a new realm of making a difference Lord motivate their hearts may this not be some emotional high tonight may this be the beginning of a movement I thank you for what you're doing I thank you for what you are going to do from here forward we give you praise thank you for the gift of music and that we're going to continue to enjoy it tonight in Jesus name we pray amen
