[MUSIC PLAYING]
God said something to me.
It's like he spoke to me so clearly I heard
him word for word.
And he said, Alex, would you rather have an easier road
with less fruit or a harder road with more fruit?
And I was so stunned at that, I turn to my wife and I said,
God just asked me a question.
And she said, what?
I said, God just ask me a question?
And she said, we'll, what did you say?
And I said, well, I don't know.
I didn't answer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
As a boy, for years, we didn't even have a television.
Our parents were pretty conservative.
Loved the Lord and wanted to, you know, rightly protect us.
We were able to see, on occasion, a movie-- a family
friendly movie at the theater.
And I remember being so enamored with these huge
stories on screen.
The Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Star Wars movies.
And somewhere around the age of 9 or 10, I remember
thinking, I must do this.
Most of the stories that I made as a kid with our home
video camera were chase them down, beat them up movies.
We had to have action, we had to have humor.
We'd show them to our family or our neighborhood friends,
and they'd laugh with us.
But the older I got, I remember seeing how a good
story would impact the audience.
And that was my wake up call.
That God could say, Alex, I can use your desire to do this
for my purposes and do more with it than you ever thought
possible if you trust me with it.
I prayed about it.
And God give me this idea for a plot call Flywheel.
Flywheel was about a used car salesman who would live one
way in front of his family and church friends, of course
another way behind the scenes.
And men began responding to the story of Flywheel, saying,
that's me on the screen.
That is me.
Then before we knew it, Blockbuster Video had picked
it up and put it in their stores nationwide.
And I was excited.
At the same time, I was overwhelmed.
And our pastor, Michael, came back and said, this may be an
open door that God has given us.
We may need to pray about continuing
this avenue for ministry.
And that led us to our second movie, Facing the Giants.
And I had no clue what was coming.
God was about to teach us something
hard and yet amazing.
We felt a very strong sense that God was
saying, deal with faith.
Everybody has a giant fear, a sense of failure, is
struggling with inferiority, or some ball and chain in
their own life.
We asked the question, is God only worthy of being
worshipped when he's good to you?
Or is he worthy of being worshipped because he's God?
I'm excited about this message.
And then we go knock on several doors of distributors,
hoping that somebody will pick it up and release it
theatrically.
No one was interested.
They said, it's a nice story.
Not really our cup of tea or not something we feel like
would work well enough to invest for
a theatrical release.
So I was frustrated, and I said, God, I feel like you
gave us this theme and this message.
And you took this down this road.
And we have poured our heart and soul into this.
And we did this for you, and now it's sitting on a shelf.
No one's interested.
Why?
God said to me, Alex, you made a movie that says that God is
worth worshipping and serving, whether you win
or whether you lose.
Will you do that with this film?
So we surrendered it to God.
And I'd die to do a theatrical release.
Soon after that, a music company calls us that we asked
permission to use a song in the film's Facing the Giants.
And they say to us, not only can you use this song, but our
parent company is interested in releasing your movie
theatrically.
And we said, who's your parent company?
And they said, Sony.
It's the one door we had not knocked on.
God opened a door we could not have opened.
We didn't even knock on their door.
And Facing the Giants was released in several hundred
movie theaters in the fall of 2006.
And it did better than any of us expected.
The marketing budget was small.
The number of theaters was so far less than any other
Hollywood movie.
But the response was incredible.
And people were saying, this is my giant, that's my giant.
God had done the same thing in my life.
And watching him do it in so many other lives was so
fulfilling.
Facing the Giants opened on 441 screens in the United States, and went on to gross $ 10,225,767 worldwide.
Nearly 100 times its production budget
As the platform expanded for us to tell these stories, as
more theaters jumped on board, as more ministries caught hold
of what these movies could do for people, for some reason,
the path got harder for us.
My time with my wife and my children began to lessen and
lessen and lessen.
And that began to pull on my own identity.
Who am I?
What am I supposed to be doing here?
And it would only get harder from there.
As we continue praying, God impressed on us to make a film
about a marriage totally surrendered to him.
God gave us this concept for what we called the love dare,
about a husband whose marriage was failing.
So he wanted out, his wife wanted out.
And the husband's dad, who had trusted God late in his life,
comes to him and says, don't get divorced yet.
I want you to hold off for 40 days before proceeding.
And I want you to apply these principles to your life and
how you treat your wife for 40 days.
So we make this movie Fireproof.
And my brother, Stephen, and I start praying through should
we write this book, The Love Dare, for real?
And as we're working on this book, and we find a publisher
for it, before it comes out issues in my own marriage
started to bubble up to the surface.
Some insecurity in my wife, and some of her frustration
that, because I was pouring so much of myself into something
that was good, she felt in many ways neglected.
Put on the back burner.
And she's saying, Alex, and I need you to continue pouring
in and loving our marriage.
I feel like you're pushing me away so you can do some good
for other people.
And I knew she loved me and I knew I loved her.
But I was thinking, what is going on here?
I'm writing a book and making a movie about how to have a
Godly marriage, and my own marriage is being stretched
and pulled more than it ever had.
So we agreed to go to counseling--
marital counseling.
And while we are in counseling, this book, The
Love Dare, on how to have a good
marriage, is being released. [laughing]
So, God--
it's not that The Love Dare wasn't true and didn't work,
because they are biblical principles.
And I ended up doing it in my own marriage.
But God stripped me down to the core.
And reminded me, just because I know some truth here,
doesn't mean that I've got it all figured
out in my own heart.
And that I needed Him as much as anybody.
I had to cling to His grace and His truth as
much as I ever had.
Fireproof became the highest grossing independent movie of 2008, earning over $33,000,000 at the box office.
The Love Dare has spent more than 80 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, with over 4 million copies in print.
After Fireproof, God, do you want us to make another film,
and if so, what should it be about?
And after praying, God directed us to Fatherhood.
And I don't have to tell you what's going on with men in
our culture.
They're not stepping up the way they need to step up.
And in some ways, I wasn't stepping up the way I needed
to step up.
It kind of freaked me out, because I was thinking God,
why are you making me live out the movies that we're
presenting?
You did in Giants, You did it in Fireproof.
And it kind of unnerved me, because in some ways, I wasn't
so sure I wanted to do another movie.
He kind of has a way on knocking the pride out of you.
But He also has a way of using you.
So as long as He gives me the strength and the grace to tell
another story, if He's there with me, I'll do it.
Courageous will be released September 30, 2011.
It is Alex and Stephen Kendrick's fourth feature film...and only God knows if it will be their last.
My prayer is that Courageous grabs men by the throat and
reaches into their hearts, and sparks them
to chase after God.
We want to see God rock our culture, with men stepping up.
So I'll carry that torch.
My brother, Stephen, will carry that torch.
If He helps me.
And I'm counting on it.
My name is Alex Kendrick.
And I am second.