When he was in the eighth grade, Daniel Simmons portrayed a preacher in his school’s production of “Who Killed Aunt Caroline?”
This year, Simmons played Pastor William Barrett in the major motion picture “Courageous.”
It was only his second acting gig, but the role was a natural fit for the senior pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Albany, Ga.
However, Simmons didn’t talk about his role or preach on fatherhood, the movie’s theme, when he led a service at Hueytown Baptist Church on Nov. 6. Instead he led church members and others on a journey through Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, which symbolized Israel’s hopelessness.
“When a person loses hope, they’ve lost what it takes to keep going. … Hope is like the air we breathe; it’s what keeps us going,” Simmons said.
Hueytown Baptist Pastor Jerry Watts met Simmons at a conference Sept. 21–23 in Albany.
“I heard [Simmons] speak four or five times that week, and there hasn’t been a time I wasn’t inspired by his words and his spirit,” Watts said.
With “Courageous” now playing in four countries, Simmons feels as if he is preaching to the world even if his scene is only about a minute long. Still it took eight hours to film and it felt “real” and “bigger than the moment,” he said.
Though Simmons has been preaching since 1984, he said he’s “still nervous every time.”
In the movie, his character serves as a mentor, something Simmons is no stranger to in his personal and professional life. In college, he worked with troubled teens at a detention center and saw the effects of growing up without a father’s support and discipline.
“What I saw was a lot of struggling,” Simmons said.
He watched as the quest for a father figure led many young men to gangs and gang violence.
As a young man, Simmons almost went down that road. One of his best friends was held down and shot at, while the other ended up in prison with a life sentence.
“It was my daddy that pulled me back,” he said.
Simmons credits his father, a pastor who worked a full shift at a factory, with his success.
“I glow with joy when I talk about my family. … My father was my hero,” he said.
Since his college days, Simmons has mentored many men and boys in his life and congregation.
In his church, he created a study group called Boys to Men.
“It takes a man to teach a boy how to be a man,” Simmons said.
The creators of “Courageous” offer books and other tools to help men and women learn to be better parents and leaders. “Courageous” training tools can be found at LifeWay Christian Stores.
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