ALBANY, Ga. (BP) – Rutha Mae Harris, a founding member of the 1960s civil rights group “The Freedom Singers,” smacks Alex Kendrick upside the head when he apologizes for cheating her on a used car sale in “Flywheel,” one of the Kendrick Brothers’ earliest offerings under Sherwood Pictures.
Decades later, the Kendrick Brothers’ latest release “The Forge” features Harris in a cameo amid an ethnically diverse cast starring Priscilla Shirer and featuring Karen “Miss Clara” Abercrombie and T.C. Stallings of “War Room” fame, as well as African American cast from other beloved films “Courageous” and “Overcomer.”
“When we jumped into our film journey,” Stephen Kendrick told Baptist Press, “our first film, Flywheel, some of our favorite scenes are those with Rutha Harris, who actually marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and was a part of the Freedom Singers when she was a teenager. And she loves the Lord, was such a joy to work with, we gave her a cameo in The Forge, in the coffee shop.”
African American leads and ethnically diverse casts seemingly flow naturally from the Kendrick Brothers’ upbringing, their service at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany and their worship of Jesus, Stephen said.
“Our father launched a Christian school, and it had white, Black, Hispanic – all different races – in leadership in the school, and it was a loving, unified Christian school,” Stephen said. “We saw them modeling the way.”
He describes Sherwood Church as the “most integrated church” in Albany and the region, with Blacks on staff, in leadership, on the praise team and in weekly worship.
“It’s so refreshing to see how the body of Christ edifies one another when we are gathering in unity and in love,” he said. “And we’ve seen, the white churches, they’ve got a lot to learn from the Black churches, and the Black churches have a lot to learn from the white churches. Scripture communicates there’s actually only one race and it is the human race.”
The Forge features Cameron Arnett from Overcomer in a leading role as Joshua, a business owner who goes out of his way to disciple into Christian manhood Isaiah, played by Aspen Kennedy. The newcomer portrays the shiftless teenage son of Cynthia, one of two twin sisters Shirer depicts, adding to her role of Elizabeth from War Room.
Stallings returns as Elizabeth’s husband, with Abercrombie reprising her role as Miss Clara. Ken Bevel, of “Courageous” and “Fireproof,” is included in The Forge. At Sherwood Baptist, he’s the pastor of connections and local missions.
Tommy Woodard of the Skit Guys and lead pastor of New Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Oklahoma City, has a role in the film; as do Arnett’s wife B.J., NFL Super Bowl champion Benjamin Watson, Shirer’s husband Jerry and Shirer’s brother Jonathan Evans.
The Kendricks are trained in ministry –not filmmaking – and entered the industry through doors only God opened.
“I think about the passage in the Psalms where David says the Lord trains my hands for battle,” Stephen said. “And he was not trained by the Philistines or the Egyptians, ‘cause he didn’t show up with a spear or a sword or a chariot. He showed up with a slingshot because God has trained him by his faithfulness out shepherding the sheep in Bethlehem.”
Likewise, the Kendricks have a knack for bringing out the acting talent of otherwise skilled professionals, looking to God and relying on Him to bring it to pass.
“We know that the Lord is our No. 1 partner,” Stephen said, “and that if we will honor Him with the direction, and we’re seeking Him with the writing and even who we cast in the films, and every day we’re praying on set to begin the day, dedicating it to the Lord, we’ve seen that He blesses when we seek Him and when we submit to Him.”
He describes God as a “better director than anyone in Hollywood,” a “better writer/ director than Steven Spielberg,” a better producer than George Lucas or Jerry Bruckheimer, “but He also is the only one that can change a heart.”
The Forge, opening Aug. 23 in theaters, benefits from a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources to provide discipleship resources for individuals, churches and small groups, including the Kendrick Brothers’ book “Devoted to Jesus,” Priscilla Shirer’s “I Surrender All” and “Count Me In,” a book designed for teens and coauthored by the Kendricks and Travis Agnew, among other resources.
“With each one of our movies, we’re hoping that people fall more in love with the Lord, that they experience healing in their own personal lives, that their most important relationships become enriched as a result of this theatrical experience or this viewing experience at home,” Stephen said. “But we know that God can use film to communicate the powerful truths of the Gospel and God’s Word in people’s lives. That is more rewarding than any kind of applause of man that comes and goes 15 minutes later.”
Tickets and additional information for the Sony Pictures release are available at TheForgeMovie.com, in association with AFFIRM Films and Provident Films. Find full resources at Lifeway.com/theforge.
