By Anna Keller
On Aug. 28 the makers of “Fireproof” and “Courageous” will release a new Christian film called “War Room.” The film — directed by Alex Kendrick and produced by Stephen Kendrick — focuses on spreading a message of the importance of prayer within a family.
The film’s main characters — Tony and Elizabeth Jordan — seem to have it all, but the movie soon reveals that the Jordans’ marriage is crumbling. Tony begins flirting with temptation, and Elizabeth becomes more and more bitter. However, things take a turn when Elizabeth meets a woman who challenges her to set up a “war room” and a battle plan of prayer to save her marriage and keep her family together.
Tim Cox, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, Chelsea, saw the premiere of “War Room” with his wife at the Southern Baptist Convention in Columbus, Ohio, in June.
“We were really moved as far as its message of the power of prayer and restoring relationships, particularly marriage.”
Cox was so inspired by the film’s message that he’s planned for his church to rent out a movie theater Aug. 30 to share the movie with both church and community members.
“With ‘War Room,’ we want married couples — especially young marrieds — to go to see the power of prayer and how prayer works,” Cox said. “That’s the war room where we battle not just (for) relationships, but (for) life.”
Cox said Liberty Baptist’s goal is to use this movie event as an outreach to couples in their community. The church will offer free child care (at Liberty) and then provide transportation from the church to Birmingham for the movie. He said they plan to distribute a survey form to participants while they’re in the theater so they can get a sense of who was a part of the event and have a way to get in touch with non-church members afterward.
Rich Peluso, senior vice president of AFFIRM Films, said, “Churches nationwide are rallying around ‘War Room’ as a movie that shows prayer can change lives and hearts. The response as we approach our Aug. 28 release date is phenomenal.”
And this isn’t Liberty’s first outreach tied to a Kendrick Brothers film. They’ve hosted screenings for both “Fireproof” and “Courageous” as well. With “Fireproof” the church rented out a theater like they’re doing for “War Room,” but with “Courageous” the church got the rights to show the movie in their church building.
‘Good support’
Cox said, “We’ve had good support from our church family on turnout for these screenings, and certainly these movies have all been positively embraced. Hopefully this screening will lead to an invitation to worship with us. We like to reach out in our community and provide an opportunity for people to have a night out and let them go to a movie.”
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