What began as a Christmas stage production written by Calvary Baptist Church, Dothan member Wayne Patterson in 2008 ended up on the big screen at Dothan’s Northside Cinema II Dec. 10–16.
“Writing Christmas Cool,” the first independent feature film produced by the Columbia Baptist Association church’s Kenosis Media Ministries, is purposely evangelistic with the goal “to win one more person for the kingdom of Christ,” said Patterson, who directed the film.
Said to be patterned after musicals like “Glee” and “High School Musical,” “Writing Christmas Cool” is about seven students who are on a quest to discover what is “cool” and end up rewriting their church’s Christmas musical. Along the way, these students reveal major life problems and challenges they have encountered.
From having the help of almost 200 volunteers to receiving funding to attaining Northside Cinema, Patterson said it has “been a God thing the whole way through.” That included enlisting the help of Denver Bierman of the Christian big-band Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, who arranged all the music but one song for the film and starred as Carl.
But “we never want to come across as a one-shot wonder,” said producer Brad Bradford, who serves as the church’s worship minister.
That’s why Bradford’s team chose to use the film as an opportunity for follow-up.
As people left the theater, Calvary Baptist members gave them a LifePoints brochure that Kenosis developed that deals with five difficult questions found in the movie. In the brochure is Scripture to answer each question as well as the plan of salvation. On the back of the brochure, people are invited to two follow-up events on the evenings of Jan. 9 and 16 at Calvary where the questions will be discussed further, clips from the movie will be shown and cast members will give testimonies.
“[Kenosis Media Ministries] is commissioned as an outreach and that is our goal,” Patterson said. “We are more excited about the LifePoint brochures (than the movie).”
Patterson and Bradford hope local churches will use the movie and the follow-up material to reach their communities for Christ.
The first place for this to happen is at Sardis Springs Baptist Church, Athens, which will show the film during its Dec. 26 evening service.
“[The movie] is going to relate to everyone in my church, from old to young,” said Tim Keenum, pastor of Sardis Springs Baptist. “The thing with this movie is if you see it you’re going to like it.”
For more information, call Calvary at 334-792-5159.
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