Point of View June 6, 2024 – Hour 2 : Deconstruction & the Road Back Home”, Sound of Hope

[00:00:00] To Point of View, thank you for joining us.

[00:00:24] My guest by phone for the next 30 minutes, Christopher Reese.

[00:00:28] He is a writer, editor and journalist.

[00:00:31] He's the founder and editor of the Worldview Bulletin and a general editor of the Dictionary

[00:00:36] of Christianity and Science and Three Views on Christianity and Science.

[00:00:42] Christopher, thank you for joining me.

[00:00:44] Thanks, Paul.

[00:00:45] Great to be with you.

[00:00:48] I've been looking at your article called, The Deconstruction and the Road Back Home.

[00:00:53] Deconstruction is a big word.

[00:00:54] We use it sometimes in the humanities, but you start out by talking a bit about people

[00:01:00] who claim to be Christians and ultimately leave the faith.

[00:01:04] What's happening there?

[00:01:07] Right.

[00:01:08] Yeah.

[00:01:09] Yeah, the word deconstruction, people use it in different ways.

[00:01:16] The sense that I'm using it in is for people who are basically deconverting from Christianity.

[00:01:25] A lot of times this involves walking away and embracing atheism or agnosticism.

[00:01:34] In other cases, it involves adopting a progressive Christianity.

[00:01:40] Those are the kinds of things that I have in mind there.

[00:01:47] Some Christian writers embrace this term and think it can be used in a positive way in

[00:01:54] the sense of reevaluating your beliefs and trying to bring them more into alignment

[00:02:04] with scripture.

[00:02:06] But I tend to think that the word has so many negative connotations that we can't really

[00:02:12] rehabilitate it much.

[00:02:15] You start out with what I would argue is a startling figure.

[00:02:19] You say about 40 million adults who used to attend church no longer do.

[00:02:23] Forty million is a lot of people.

[00:02:27] Yes.

[00:02:28] Yeah, that's an astounding number.

[00:02:31] For the first time in 80 years, more adults do not attend church than do.

[00:02:42] You've probably also seen the statistic that about 30% of Americans now claim no religious

[00:02:50] affiliation.

[00:02:51] They're the so-called nones.

[00:02:53] That's a big number.

[00:02:55] One out of three roughly Americans claim that they have no religious affiliation.

[00:03:03] That's a big shift in our culture these days.

[00:03:07] It really is since we were essentially founded as a, if not specifically a Christian nation,

[00:03:14] the pilgrims came, the Puritans came, Christians came and started colonies and developed

[00:03:20] colonies, developed universities.

[00:03:22] Many of our major universities, Ivy League universities were started as Christian or

[00:03:28] educational organizations.

[00:03:30] So there was a time when almost everyone would identify as a Christian, although I think

[00:03:37] many of us would say they were not necessarily evangelicals.

[00:03:40] They were more people who just identified as a Christian because that's what people did.

[00:03:45] But even still, things are changing now.

[00:03:48] That worldview of the Christian faith that sort of underpinned everything, even if it was

[00:03:54] not explicit in law, it seemed to underpin so much of what we thought about in our laws

[00:03:59] and so forth seems to be evaporating, especially as people are leaving the church.

[00:04:05] That's true.

[00:04:07] Yeah, I think kind of a secular worldview has been gradually chipping away at a Christian

[00:04:16] viewpoint in society.

[00:04:21] And so that's unfortunate to see.

[00:04:25] And yeah, it's definitely a challenge for the church and to try to remain relevant and

[00:04:37] reaching people.

[00:04:38] And that's one reason that apologetics is so important, to be able to give reasons for

[00:04:45] people who are questioning.

[00:04:47] And there are very good reasons to believe in Christianity and the Christian worldview is

[00:04:55] vastly superior, I think, to a secular worldview.

[00:04:59] So, yeah, it's a battle these days.

[00:05:02] You highlight, we mentioned the fact that a number of people are just essentially leaving

[00:05:07] the church, but you also highlight a number of prominent names who have at one time at

[00:05:13] least claimed to be Christian, but have stepped away from their Christianity and their

[00:05:19] prominent names associated in some cases with prominent Christian evangelicals.

[00:05:24] Yes, yeah, there have been a number of high profile folks recently who have publicly

[00:05:31] deconstructed. John Steingard is one.

[00:05:37] He was a former singer of the Christian band Hawk Nelson that made a lot of news.

[00:05:44] Joshua Harris, who wrote the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, which was a huge bestseller in

[00:05:50] the 90s. A lot of Christian young people grew up with that book.

[00:05:55] You know, it has left the faith.

[00:05:59] Marty Sampson, who was with Hillsong.

[00:06:05] Bart Campolo, who's the son of the speaker and author Tony Campolo.

[00:06:10] So, yeah, there have been just quite a large number of folks who have kind of publicly done

[00:06:16] this. And because of social media, the reach of that, you know, once it happened, you know,

[00:06:21] suddenly tens or hundreds of thousands of people become aware of it, you know, sort of

[00:06:27] overnight. And so it makes a big impact out there.

[00:06:32] And, you know, one of the things that you do, the question arises, why is that happening?

[00:06:36] Why are they leaving the faith?

[00:06:38] And what you do, what's good about your article is you bring in the issue of doubt and

[00:06:43] the fact that to be human is to doubt certain things at times.

[00:06:48] And so tell us a little bit about the role that doubt plays in our belief, in our faith

[00:06:54] and our Christian walk.

[00:06:57] Right. Yeah, I think that there is maybe a misconception that if you're having doubts as a

[00:07:05] Christian, then that means you can't be a Christian.

[00:07:11] You know, I think some people think that that means there's something, you know,

[00:07:16] majorly wrong with you or maybe, you know, you would be a hypocrite if you have these

[00:07:25] doubts, entertain these doubts.

[00:07:28] But the doubt is really just a natural part of the Christian life.

[00:07:33] We all experience doubts.

[00:07:37] You know, scripture recognizes that in the book of Jude, Jude says, have mercy on some

[00:07:43] who are doubting. And so, yeah, it's doubt is actually not the opposite of faith, the

[00:07:54] opposite of faith is unbelief.

[00:07:57] But doubt and faith can coexist.

[00:08:00] And they actually do, you know, with with every believer.

[00:08:03] And so, yeah, it's not something that, you know, we should think is fatal to our faith,

[00:08:10] you know, to have doubts from time to time.

[00:08:14] My guest by phone right now is Chris Reeves.

[00:08:16] We have a link to his article Deconstruction and the Road Back Home on Point of View

[00:08:21] website. So you can go to Point of View dot net to find that when we get when we come back

[00:08:26] from the break here, I want to talk a little bit more about this issue of doubt, because as

[00:08:30] you point out, Chris, this is in the this is in the Bible.

[00:08:33] We see believers who have doubts about things.

[00:08:36] And I think we sometimes all face doubts when we're wondering if God is acting and when

[00:08:41] and how he's going to act.

[00:08:42] So stay with us. We'll be back with Chris Reeves in just a minute.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

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[00:10:38] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] For a free copy of Kirby's booklet, A Biblical View on Racism, go to Viewpoints.info

[00:10:53] slash racism.

[00:10:54] That's Viewpoints.info slash racism.

[00:10:59] You're listening to Point of View.

[00:11:02] Your listener supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] And we're back with our discussion with Chris Reese.

[00:11:07] He is the he is a writer, editor and journalist, and he's the founder and editor of the

[00:11:11] Worldview Bulletin. And we're talking about his recent article that came out, Deconstruction

[00:11:16] and the Road Back Home.

[00:11:18] And it deals in that with doubts that that believers have.

[00:11:22] And if the doubts, Chris, you know, you get the sense that the doubts just sort of

[00:11:27] overwhelm you, you begin to believe you begin to doubt the existence of God and just

[00:11:33] your place in that in that panorama.

[00:11:36] And but but we all experience doubts at time, I believe.

[00:11:41] It's true. We do.

[00:11:43] You know, going going back to scripture, you know, Abraham and Sarah doubted that they

[00:11:50] would have a natural born son.

[00:11:53] Job, you know, doubted God's goodness.

[00:11:57] Moses doubted that he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

[00:12:02] We see Thomas doubting that Jesus had risen from the dead.

[00:12:07] And at the same time, you know, most of these people are heroes of the faith that we look

[00:12:13] to for examples.

[00:12:15] And so, yeah, I think it's pretty clear from scripture that this is kind of part of the

[00:12:24] human condition.

[00:12:26] Of course, we should always strive to trust God and have faith in him.

[00:12:31] But, you know, we're weak in many ways as humans.

[00:12:36] And so it's just something that we will experience as we go through life.

[00:12:43] So how do how should we deal with people who have doubts and maybe people who have doubts

[00:12:49] and those doubts led them to abandon the faith?

[00:12:52] What you discuss is in your piece, but how should we deal with them?

[00:12:57] Right. Yeah, I think one of the most important things, everyone's story is a little bit

[00:13:05] different. Yes.

[00:13:06] And so I think one of the important things is to be a good listener.

[00:13:14] Talk to the person and really try to get a sense of what it is that they're struggling

[00:13:20] with, what led them to this place of doubt.

[00:13:25] You know, are there are there questions that they have or maybe was it a bad experience

[00:13:31] and with church or or Christians?

[00:13:36] And so, yeah, I think it's helpful to try to get a sense of what it is that led them to

[00:13:42] where they're at, to be a good listener.

[00:13:47] You know, and and try not to be judgmental about, you know, the fact that they're having

[00:13:53] these doubts, you know, as we all do.

[00:13:57] And and I think you want to try to come alongside the person and really just kind of

[00:14:04] love them and try to help them get back on the right path.

[00:14:09] You know, you highlight one or two people anyway who had essentially stepped away from

[00:14:15] the faith. And many times when somebody does that, they they sort of pick up the the

[00:14:21] pen and start attacking the faith now that they've stepped away from it.

[00:14:25] They want to be critical of it.

[00:14:26] But you highlight a few people who have turned around and come back to the faith.

[00:14:30] And, you know, I'm on the I'm on the baptism committee at our church.

[00:14:34] And when we do the baptism, sometimes you have people who were baptized as as

[00:14:40] youngsters, as teenagers, even as adults.

[00:14:43] And at some point they something came into their life and they stepped away from the

[00:14:48] faith and they came back and they've now recommitted their faith.

[00:14:52] And they sometimes want to go back through baptism again just to demonstrate that

[00:14:56] recommitment. But how do you bring them back?

[00:14:59] And and and what how should we treat those people?

[00:15:02] Right. Yes, I think a lot of times it is just a process.

[00:15:11] Sometimes, you know, it's just a matter of spending a lot of time in prayer for those

[00:15:17] folks. I think, you know, we have to be on our guard against trying to maybe try to

[00:15:26] rush that process and, you know, kind of push them back into where we think they

[00:15:32] should be. You know, you can.

[00:15:35] Turn people away pretty easily taking that approach, so you want to try to have

[00:15:42] patience. And, you know, like I said, you know, try to be a good listener with them.

[00:15:50] I mentioned in my piece, there is a fellow named Darren who was came to Christ at the

[00:15:58] age of seven and he was baptized and read the Bible and, you know, tried as hard as he

[00:16:04] could to live the Christian life.

[00:16:07] But there was a point of theology that really bothered him related to predestination.

[00:16:13] And that ended up being a cause for him walking away from Christianity, believing that

[00:16:21] God wasn't fair.

[00:16:23] And so he actually, you know, as you were saying, went and joined this kind of

[00:16:31] skeptical website and for years was writing articles, you know, attempting to debunk

[00:16:37] Christianity from the skeptical website.

[00:16:43] But 15 years later, he came back and, you know, all of his kind of skeptical friends

[00:16:51] were surprised. And he wrote on his website that, you know, my life as an atheist is now

[00:16:57] over, even though I may have doubts the rest of my life.

[00:17:01] There's just a lot of questions that my atheism can't answer.

[00:17:06] And so he, you know, went back to church and Noah's part of that church today.

[00:17:13] So great to see people come back like that.

[00:17:17] It can definitely happen.

[00:17:18] But sometimes it just takes time, like in his case.

[00:17:22] You know, we've got a question from Pete in Texas.

[00:17:24] So let's go to Pete.

[00:17:25] Pete, you're on the air.

[00:17:27] Yes, sir. I was wondering what discouragement and doubt have to do with each other or

[00:17:33] if anything.

[00:17:34] It's a good question because discouragement and doubt aren't necessarily the same

[00:17:38] thing. That's right.

[00:17:43] Sometimes sometimes discouragement can lead to doubt, maybe, you know, with some life

[00:17:50] circumstance that you're discouraged about that can lead to doubt.

[00:17:56] And, you know, something bad happens and maybe you're questioning God's goodness.

[00:18:02] So that can definitely happen.

[00:18:06] And, you know, in cases like that, you know, it's good for the body of Christ to come

[00:18:14] around the person going through the issue and, you know, try to help them through it.

[00:18:20] Well, I want to thank Pete for that question.

[00:18:22] Chris, here's an issue that I deal with.

[00:18:25] We don't have a lot of time left, but I'd like to get your thoughts on this, because

[00:18:29] sometimes you have people who are in the faith, were committed believers or it

[00:18:33] appeared to be they abandoned the faith.

[00:18:35] And you will have people say even if these people are living anything but a godly life

[00:18:41] anymore, let's do the opposite of a godly life.

[00:18:44] And people will sometimes say, well, I know that person is a Christian because he or she

[00:18:48] said they were and accepted Christ at some time in the past.

[00:18:52] And yet, you know, we have this we have in the New Testament examples.

[00:18:56] You highlighted Demas and others who seemed to have abandoned the faith.

[00:19:01] And I struggle with I don't want to keep them.

[00:19:06] I don't want to continue to treat them as brothers or sisters in Christ if they aren't

[00:19:11] acting like brothers and sisters in Christ, even if at one time 10, 20 years ago, they

[00:19:15] said they were. How do we deal with that?

[00:19:19] Right. Yeah, you mentioned Demas.

[00:19:24] You know, Demas had been a fellow worker with Paul and he's mentioned in two other of

[00:19:30] Paul's epistles.

[00:19:32] But Paul talks about him in Second Timothy and says that he loved the world.

[00:19:38] And so he had basically abandoned Paul.

[00:19:42] And so there's another example of that in First Timothy where Paul mentioned two guys

[00:19:52] named Hymenaeus and Alexander.

[00:19:56] And he says that they have suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith and that he has

[00:20:04] basically turned them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh, which I think

[00:20:11] means that they've been put out of the church for a time until they would repent of, you

[00:20:18] know, what they were.

[00:20:19] Apparently they were involved in some false teaching.

[00:20:23] So, yeah, I think that Paul says, you know, if there is someone who claims to be a

[00:20:29] believer who's living in a moral life that you should avoid, you know, interacting with

[00:20:36] that person. I think that means in terms of some kind of a close friendship that you

[00:20:42] would have with them, you know, a close fellowship, friendship where that person might

[00:20:50] influence you.

[00:20:52] But, yeah, you know, I think we try to reach out to people, but, you know, if someone

[00:20:59] is going to go down a rebellious road like that, sometimes it's best to back off and

[00:21:06] kind of let them experience the consequences of their choices.

[00:21:11] Chris, thank you for joining us.

[00:21:12] We have access.

[00:21:14] We have links to you so people can reach out to you on our website at PointofView.net.

[00:21:19] Very interesting discussion.

[00:21:20] Thank you so much.

[00:21:22] And you can also get a copy of that article on our website, PointofView.net.

[00:21:26] When we come back, we're going to go to the movie Sound of Hope.

[00:21:29] Stay with us.

[00:21:31] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of

[00:21:36] authority. They say men can be women and women men.

[00:21:40] People are prosecuted differently or not at all, depending on their politics.

[00:21:45] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law abiding citizens.

[00:21:50] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:21:53] You feel like giving up, but we can't.

[00:21:56] We shouldn't. We must not.

[00:21:59] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War Two, never give

[00:22:04] in, never give in, never, never, never, never yield to force, never yield to the

[00:22:10] apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:22:13] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:22:16] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing

[00:22:22] clarity in the chaos.

[00:22:23] We can't do it alone, but together with God's help, we will overcome the darkness.

[00:22:30] Invest in Biblical Clarity today at PointofView.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:39] PointofView.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:22:48] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:58] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:03] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the

[00:23:07] management or staff of this station.

[00:23:10] And now here again, Dr.

[00:23:12] Merrill Matthews.

[00:23:14] And welcome back to Point of View.

[00:23:16] My guest for the next two segments is filmmaker Rebecca Weigel.

[00:23:20] She is a, her career started in the field of psychology and that sort of helped her

[00:23:26] inform her eventual transition to the entertainment industry.

[00:23:30] Her work includes the critically acclaimed short film, The Butterfly Circus.

[00:23:34] She has won over 35 Film Festival Awards, including the Clint Eastwood Filmmaker

[00:23:40] Award, which was presented by Clint Eastwood himself at the Carmel Film Festival.

[00:23:45] And we're going to be talking about her new film that's out, Sound of Hope, the

[00:23:50] story of Possum Trot.

[00:23:53] Rebecca, thank you so much for joining us.

[00:23:56] Thank you so much for having me on today.

[00:23:59] Well, I saw the film.

[00:24:01] It is absolutely great.

[00:24:02] And it's a, you know, it's a stunning film.

[00:24:06] It's hard to watch in places though.

[00:24:09] So tell us what, I know you were interested in foster and adoptive care.

[00:24:14] What got you thinking about Sound of Hope and taking you to that film?

[00:24:21] Yeah, that's a great question.

[00:24:23] Well, you know, in 2013, my husband and I, who's the director and wrote and produced

[00:24:28] with me, we adopted a sibling set.

[00:24:31] So two beautiful children came into our family and really for a season it disrupted

[00:24:36] our family and it was very challenging for everyone involved.

[00:24:39] But it's been one of the most beautiful things that's happened in our lives.

[00:24:43] And it really awakened us to the foster crisis in America and what these children are

[00:24:48] going through, what families are going through.

[00:24:51] And I started working to get churches involved and came across this amazing story

[00:24:55] about this little church in Possum Trot that stepped in.

[00:25:00] And really as a believer and as someone who has a strong faith, just really feel like

[00:25:06] that's what we all should be doing.

[00:25:08] That's what the churches should be doing.

[00:25:09] That's what we're called to do.

[00:25:10] And we want to shine a light on this and get more churches involved.

[00:25:14] Well, this is a true story.

[00:25:16] And you end the film by showing the real characters involved as opposed to just the

[00:25:21] actors who portray the family.

[00:25:25] But start us out with what, you've got a family, they're struggling a little bit.

[00:25:30] She has, Donna has a child with special needs, child has another daughter.

[00:25:37] And but she's struggling with just the issues of having to deal with this.

[00:25:44] Yeah. So, you know, one thing that was so important to my husband and I was that we

[00:25:49] didn't sugarcoat the realities of foster care and adoption.

[00:25:52] And all of us, you know, many of us feel like we have a lot going on in our lives.

[00:25:58] There's a lot on our plates.

[00:25:59] I think it's what's keeping many people from stepping in and caring for vulnerable

[00:26:04] kids is we feel like we can't handle any more than what we already have going on.

[00:26:08] And so, you know, that's one thing we loved about this story is there's this little

[00:26:12] community. You know, they had a special needs child themselves.

[00:26:17] They didn't have a lot of money.

[00:26:18] They didn't have a lot of resources.

[00:26:20] But what they did have was faith in God.

[00:26:22] And they had community and they had strong church that really wrapped around and

[00:26:28] supported them when they stepped into this.

[00:26:30] You know, it's interesting because Donna's husband is a minister and it starts out

[00:26:35] with her having her own personal struggles.

[00:26:38] And as you point out, they don't have a lot.

[00:26:41] But the sort of the turn in the film here is that by not having a lot, they're going

[00:26:47] to step out on faith and God's going to meet their needs as they started bringing

[00:26:52] in these foster children.

[00:26:55] Yeah, and that's typically how it is.

[00:26:57] I mean, a lot of times God waits for us to step out in faith and then he meets us

[00:27:02] there when we step out in faith and obedience to him.

[00:27:05] So, you know, they did that and they are heroes.

[00:27:09] I mean, these, you know, and they're showing the way for the rest of us across the

[00:27:14] country of what can happen when the church really steps in and does what we're called

[00:27:19] to do. And of course, they affect people in the community.

[00:27:22] There are possum tried.

[00:27:23] Several other families get involved.

[00:27:25] Yeah, in the end, 22 families stepped in to take in some of the most difficult to place

[00:27:33] children in the Texas child welfare system.

[00:27:36] So this little church of less than 200 people adopted 77 children and became a light to

[00:27:42] the entire nation and showed us the way forward.

[00:27:47] You know, it's interesting because they go and they say to the to the welfare of the

[00:27:52] social worker, welfare person, we want that.

[00:27:55] We want the kids that no one else will take.

[00:27:58] That takes a lot of faith to take to make that stand.

[00:28:04] Yeah, I think there's you know, there's so many fears that are holding us back from

[00:28:08] stepping in and caring for children.

[00:28:11] And, you know, they did they did this in faith and they did this in obedience.

[00:28:16] And it was hard.

[00:28:18] And we show the realities of that, as you saw in the film.

[00:28:22] We show that it isn't easy.

[00:28:24] We show that it's challenging and but we also show the beauty of faith and the beauty

[00:28:31] of perseverance and the resilience that this community had to do this incredible thing.

[00:28:38] And I think, you know, that was the case with our family, too.

[00:28:43] You know, we were scared when we stepped in to care for vulnerable kids and bring them

[00:28:47] into our family.

[00:28:48] I mean, there's so many fears that you are worried it's going to disrupt your own

[00:28:53] family. But it's been the most amazing thing that we've experienced.

[00:28:58] It's changed our lives.

[00:29:00] It's deepened our faith, made us more reliant on really on the Lord and on the church.

[00:29:06] And I think there is some hidden beauty here that that we are going to discover as we

[00:29:13] step in and do, you know, really the thing that that we're all commanded to do, which

[00:29:18] is James 127 says true religion is the care for the orphan and the widow.

[00:29:25] Talk a little bit about the broader crisis, the foster care crisis we have in the

[00:29:29] country now. Yeah.

[00:29:32] So there's currently 400000 children that are in the child welfare system in America.

[00:29:37] And the thing that's really standing out is that there's 100000 children like the

[00:29:43] children that were adopted in Possum Trot.

[00:29:44] There's 100000 children waiting for a family.

[00:29:48] So these are kids that are languishing in the system.

[00:29:51] There's no hope for reunification with their biological families.

[00:29:55] And they just need good people, loving people to step forward and to care for them and

[00:30:00] to bring them into their family.

[00:30:02] So we have 400000 churches in America.

[00:30:05] I mean, there is no excuse.

[00:30:07] It's free to adopt from the foster system.

[00:30:09] They actually give you a stipend to help cover the needs of the children.

[00:30:12] And it's it's our calling, you know, as the church to do this.

[00:30:16] So we are hoping that the 100000 children that are in the system will find a home as

[00:30:22] a result of this film and that it will this film will turn the hearts of the fathers to

[00:30:27] the children. You know, you mentioned about this is there's some reality here.

[00:30:32] There are parts of the film that are really a little hard to look at just because of

[00:30:37] some of the struggles that some of the children are going through and even that the

[00:30:41] parents are going through as they try to grapple with these challenges, especially with

[00:30:45] kids who have been coming from abused homes and have all kinds of problems.

[00:30:52] Yeah. And these these children need they need a voice.

[00:30:57] This issue has been behind the scenes for too long.

[00:31:02] A lot of us and a lot of people across America haven't realized what the children are

[00:31:07] going through and the pain, the trauma, the longing to be accepted and to be loved and

[00:31:13] to be brought into a family.

[00:31:15] We believe family is where these children will find healing.

[00:31:18] And so we didn't want to sugarcoat any of that.

[00:31:21] It is not a typical faith based film in the regard that it's you know, we really wanted to

[00:31:26] show some of the realities that the kids and the families go through so that we could,

[00:31:31] you know, so that it would ignite the movement and people would respond to help and to get

[00:31:37] involved. Talk a little bit about what the net, the the natural children feel like in this.

[00:31:44] So if my parent, if I'm a child and my parents are going to go adopt, bring in foster

[00:31:49] children, some, you know, bring in people that we've never met before.

[00:31:53] How do the natural born children feel about that?

[00:31:58] Yeah. And that's one of the biggest concerns people have is, you know, when it's natural to

[00:32:02] want to protect your own children, your biological children, keep them safe.

[00:32:06] But I'll just say that for our own family, this has been a gift to our children.

[00:32:11] It's been a gift to our children that they've had to learn how to lay their lives down and to

[00:32:16] care for people and care for others that have come into their family and have pain and have

[00:32:21] trauma and to learn how to have compassion and really to lay their lives down.

[00:32:27] And that's what we're called as Christians.

[00:32:29] You know, the gospel is about laying down our life and following him and giving up

[00:32:34] everything. And that's what our children have been able to do.

[00:32:37] But it's made them better people.

[00:32:40] And I would say that all my children want to adopt kids themselves.

[00:32:45] So it's you know, I feel like it's grown them in character and just who they are as people

[00:32:51] to really get their focus off of themselves and their own comforts and onto others.

[00:32:57] That's probably the best testimony there is that your children want to be foster parents as

[00:33:01] well. That's an amazing testimony.

[00:33:04] My guest for the one final segment is Rebecca Weigel.

[00:33:08] She is a she's a filmmaker and she's produced a film, The Sound of Hope, The Story of

[00:33:15] Possum Trot. When we come back, I'd like to ask you, Rebecca, tell us a little about some

[00:33:19] of the memorable things that happened during the making of the film.

[00:33:23] We have information about Rebecca on our website at Pointofview.net.

[00:33:27] I think we have a link to these things, so you'll be able to get access to them.

[00:33:31] And when we come back, we want to find out more about this beautiful film.

[00:33:35] Stay with us and we'll be right back.

[00:33:37] No segment for Point of View today with Rebecca Weigel, filmmaker, and we're talking

[00:34:07] about her new film, Sound of Hope, The Story of Possum Trot.

[00:34:10] And Rebecca, how did you go about choosing the actors for this?

[00:34:15] Because they and we should mention this.

[00:34:17] This is a black family, so most of the people that are in the film are black.

[00:34:22] But there's some very raw emotions that are on exhibit in the film.

[00:34:27] And you've got to be good to be able to do just to be able to do that.

[00:34:34] Yeah, well, I mean, we had incredible talent involved with this film.

[00:34:39] And that's been one of the things that we've been really passionate about is really

[00:34:44] seeing films that deal with issues of faith elevated to the next level with excellence,

[00:34:49] with the beauty and everything that we know.

[00:34:53] You know, these stories are so powerful.

[00:34:55] The media is so powerful.

[00:34:57] And we want to create films that really change the world and impact culture.

[00:35:01] So my husband was a director.

[00:35:02] He is a very talented director and award winning director.

[00:35:06] And so he is very good at getting performances out of actors.

[00:35:11] But we also just had incredible talent across the board.

[00:35:15] Mika King plays Donna Martin, and she is also a woman of faith and has some history with the child welfare system.

[00:35:23] Her mom was in the system for a season and she's very passionate about the issue and became an executive producer for the film.

[00:35:30] So she is very talented and really captured the heart.

[00:35:34] And one thing we're hearing from these early release screenings is this is the most authentic portrayal of faith that people have ever seen on film.

[00:35:44] That was our goal, was take people to church in Possum Trot, let them really experience the beauty of the church and how the church can and should be operating when we're really following God's path.

[00:36:00] And so Demetrius Gross played the Reverend Martin and he did a fantastic job as well.

[00:36:05] And Elizabeth Mitchell played the social worker.

[00:36:08] So, yeah, we're so proud of our cast and our crew and just what they were able to accomplish with us.

[00:36:14] If you're if you're if you're creating a film that's on the basis of faith, is it important to have the actors and even the film crew as believers as well?

[00:36:28] You know, we wrestled with that.

[00:36:29] And to be honest, the first we did cast the film initially and we had to recast the film because we found that, you know, that was a critical component.

[00:36:42] And we really wanted the authenticity and we really wanted the faith to shine and feel authentic.

[00:36:50] So I personally think that that is an important factor.

[00:36:55] And that's one thing that you'll see watching Sound of Hope is, you know, when you feel these characters praying and calling out to God in the midst of struggle, you're going to feel like, yes, they're actually praying because they are.

[00:37:10] And we have people on our crew that were like brought to tears at times during scenes that were not believers that said, I've never felt anything like this.

[00:37:20] Like what is happening?

[00:37:21] And we were able to really share the gospel with them and say, this is the Holy Spirit.

[00:37:25] And he's moving right now because, you know, they're praying and we're worshiping.

[00:37:30] And some of the scenes on set even turned into true, authentic worship.

[00:37:35] Something that really was special about this is we were able to bring the little church, Bennett Chapel out.

[00:37:41] I should say little small but mighty church out to set.

[00:37:45] And they were able to be on set with us, including the Reverend Martin and First Lady Donna.

[00:37:49] And so they were worshiping in the church scene.

[00:37:52] They were bringing the authentic cries and the prayers, dancing.

[00:37:57] And there was times where we would cut and say, OK, it's time for lunch.

[00:38:01] And they just they were like, no, no, they just kept going.

[00:38:04] They were worshipping, praising on set and just having so much fun.

[00:38:08] So it was just such a special experience.

[00:38:11] So so making the film can be something of an evangelical tool or evangelical expression to people,

[00:38:19] the other the camera crews and other around.

[00:38:22] But I guess to do you hear from people who've seen the film and said this, this changed my life, this helped me either in this or some of your previous films?

[00:38:33] Absolutely. I mean, we are seeing people coming out of screenings just in tears, like deeply moved.

[00:38:41] Saying they want to get involved, saying they want to sign up to foster and adopt.

[00:38:45] Where people that used to have a history with the church saying I gave up on the church, but now I'm going back to church and I've decided that I need to go back to church because, you know, and we're even having unbelievers who are seeing the film.

[00:39:00] A lot of them who are coming and being so deeply moved.

[00:39:03] They're saying if church was like that, I would go to church.

[00:39:06] And so we really see this as a tool to bring your friends, bring your neighbors, let them come and experience possum trot and church at Bennett Chapel and really let them see what can happen when the church really steps in.

[00:39:25] You know, in the in the 40s and 50s and even in the early 60s, tent revivals, revivals were a major thing.

[00:39:32] Billy Graham was out there and he was speaking to thousands and thousands of people.

[00:39:37] We don't see that as much anymore.

[00:39:40] Can film become the in essence, the revival mechanism that we used to see just from the tent revival approach?

[00:39:49] Well, that's been a prayer of ours for many years, we've actually prayed and fasted and asked the Lord to anoint films once again to ignite people's hearts.

[00:40:02] I mean, you have a captive audience in a movie theater, you know, there to experience the story.

[00:40:07] That's how Jesus told stories.

[00:40:09] You know, that's how he communicated.

[00:40:12] And with the power of cinema and music and story, we believe that's going to happen.

[00:40:18] We're seeing that starting to happen actually in pre-screenings.

[00:40:22] People so moved that they haven't experienced anything like it.

[00:40:27] So we're praying this is the beginning of many more films that come to theaters and reach not just the church, but really reach the masses with truth and with the gospel.

[00:40:39] What's next on the agenda for you?

[00:40:43] Well, next up, we have the Butterfly Circus feature film.

[00:40:47] So we made the Butterfly Circus about 14 years ago.

[00:40:52] It's had over 100 million views.

[00:40:54] My goodness.

[00:40:54] 100 million all over the world.

[00:40:57] Yes, and we have a feature length script that we have been in development and we are so excited about it.

[00:41:04] So we're looking for the right partners for that one.

[00:41:08] Something that happened on Sound of Hope was that we found the right partners who really trusted us and really were in it for the right reasons and cared about the cause and cared about helping kids.

[00:41:20] We're partnering with Care Portal and other nonprofits all over the country to ignite this movement.

[00:41:27] And so with the Butterfly Circus, we're looking for the same right now.

[00:41:30] We're looking for the right partners that can help us create a beautiful story that can be really an allegory of God's heart and love for us.

[00:41:41] So that's up next.

[00:41:42] We don't have much time left.

[00:41:44] But if you were able to get this done as soon as you wanted to, we're looking at a year, year and a half, six months.

[00:41:52] How long?

[00:41:54] The Butterfly Circus?

[00:41:56] Yeah, in the next couple of years.

[00:41:58] The script is ready to go.

[00:41:59] We've actually had a number of offers in Hollywood over the years and from independent financers where we've been waiting for the right partners.

[00:42:05] But we hope to go into pre-production pretty quickly on that and be filming in the next year or two.

[00:42:13] So.

[00:42:15] Well, we'll be looking forward to it.

[00:42:16] You can go and go ahead.

[00:42:19] Sorry. You can go online and Google the Butterfly Circus.

[00:42:21] It's online or go to the Butterfly Circus dot com.

[00:42:24] Click the blue butterfly and watch the short film.

[00:42:27] And we would encourage our listeners to do that.

[00:42:29] Rebecca, thank you so much for joining us.

[00:42:33] Yes, and please go out to theaters.

[00:42:36] Opening weekend is so important for small independent films like this.

[00:42:40] We want to flood the theaters on opening weekend, July 4th.

[00:42:44] Bring your church, bring your family, come and see The Sound of Hope.

[00:42:48] I agree. It's a great film.

[00:42:50] Thank you so much.

[00:42:51] And we have more information about that on the on the point of view website.

[00:42:56] You can go to point of view dot net and find out more about The Sound of Hope, the story of Possum Trot.

[00:43:02] Thank you for listening.

[00:43:03] And we'll be back tomorrow.

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