do for fatherhood what their
film Fireproof did for
marriage.
When Alex and Stephen
Kendrick made their first movie
Flywheel for $20,000, they had
no idea their little film would
change the face of Christian
moviemaking. They didn’t even
know if they’d shoot another
movie. But since 2003 God has
led the brothers and their church,
Sherwood Baptist, to release
groundbreaking films like Facing
the Giants and Fireproof, which
became the highest-grossing
independent film of 2008. Now
Sherwood Pictures is set to impact
culture once again with the
theatrical release of Courageous,
a cop drama about four police
officers who get a crash course in
fatherhood.
Related links:
More about the movie Courageous here.
Watch the movie trailer for Courageous here.
Kerusso Courageous apparel on sale nationwide
Q&A: Randy Alcorn on the Courageous novel
Ken Bevel, who plays Officer
Nathan Hayes in the film,
explains Sherwood’s approach to
filmmaking. “Every idea is bathed
in prayer,” he says. “We’re trying
to stay away from the stereotype
that we’re cranking out movies
and aren’t really interested in
the impact they’re making. There
is such a thing as a good idea
and a God idea. A good idea for
everybody else is for Sherwood to make more movies, but we always ask ourselves if
God wants us to.”
Thankfully for viewers, the resounding answer
after Fireproof was “yes.” The result is a film
Sherwood hopes will turn the hearts of men to their
children and the hearts of children to their fathers.
Fatherhood is a subject that especially hits home for
Bevel whose dad started abusing alcohol and drugs
when he was young, sending him into a tailspin.
“There was no one there to help me be a man,” Bevel
says, “or show me how to be a husband and father.
No one to tell me about the principles of God and
how He can be our sustainer.
“I’ve seen the effects bad marriages and bad
relationships can have on a child. I’ve lived it. I
can identify with this movie on that level and as a
father myself now too. Often you’re going through
life thinking you’re a good dad. But do you really
understand what a good dad is? Do you really know
what God says about being a father?”
Which isn’t to say Courageous is only a movie
for dads. “We all need to ask ourselves about our
purpose,” Bevel points out. “What has God called you
to, and what does Scripture say about it? Everything
in this movie is pointing people to the cross.
“Some see our movies and think the church is
raking in all this dough,” Bevel adds. “But this
process takes an enormous amount of commitment
and people staying on their knees praying. I know
I’m one of the people who’s seen on the screen, but
there are thousands of people in the background. It’s
a huge undertaking, but the great thing about this
is the unity of the group. People are coming together
because they believe God has ordained this and has
allowed the church to do this for a season. There’s no
jealousy. Everybody’s bringing together their gifts
and talents to glorify God.” FF
FIND COURAGEOUS ONLINE
CourageousTheMovie.com
Facebook.com/CourageousTheMovie
Twitter.com/CourageousMovie
BOOK ‘EM
Want more
Courageous?
Best-selling author Randy
Alcorn was tapped to
write a novel based on the
fi lm in just four months.
“I ended up cutting
only one scene from the
movie,” Randy says.
“Besides that, 100 percent
of the movie is in the
book, including 100 percent of the dialogue.
But I did write a lot of things that weren’t in
the movie at all. I created some brand new
characters. I kind of reverse-engineered a
novel out of a screenplay by asking myself,
what would this novel have looked like if
they’d extracted the screenplay out of it?” Read our interview here.
READY TO WEAR
Kerusso has launched
an exclusive line
of shirts and caps
inspired by the
film Courageous.
Spreading the
film’s themes of a
father’s duty to serve
and protect, the
Courageous products
are available through
more than 5,000 retail outlets worldwide.
“Kerusso and Sherwood Pictures are a great
partnership,” Kerusso founder and CEO
Vic Kennett says. “We both want to share
vital biblical truths through channels we
know well, film for Sherwood and apparel for
Kerusso. We couldn’t be more excited to help
extend the important message of Courageous.”
According to Kennett, the average messaged
t-shirt gets read about 3,000 times over the
garment’s life—making Kerusso shirts a
powerful extension of the vital theme of godly
fatherhood in Courageous. Read the news story here.
Watch the Opening Scene of Courageous
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDa0zvQ8zKI?rel=0]