STEPS OF FAITH

STEPS OF FAITH opens with Faith getting bested by a young boy in Sunday School. She’s told to leave and no longer teach Sunday School. At lunch, her parents gently grill her and her sister, Angela, makes fun of her because she’s afraid of children and animals, does not have a boyfriend and annoys her family because she only goes to church only once a month.

Faith, however, has a vision from God, literally, about leaving her accounting job and going to Red Springs, Texas to work in Hippotherapy, which means using horses to help children with autism and severe learning difficulties. Her family doesn’t find it credible that God would have given her a vision since she’s scared of animals and children. Discouraged, she asks God to confirm the vision, which He does when her boss asks her to mail a check to the Hippotherapy farm in Red Springs, Texas.

So, Faith packs her bag and heads to Red Springs. When she gets to the farm, she meets the big, handsome, strapping Marshall, who’s shoveling manure. She has a pratfall, embarrasses herself, and Marshall tells her to talk to the farm manager, Belle. Belle is a wiry old lady who refuses to hire Faith.

Faith goes to the local restaurant and tries to eat her discouragement away. The waitress tells her that, if this is what God asked her to do, she’s got to go back and break down the barriers. Her black pastor in Dallas puts her in touch with his friend, the pastor of a white church, who tries to get her involved in his church.

Faith returns to the farm. She says she’ll do anything. They put her to work shoveling manure and feeding and grooming the horses. She’s so exhausted the first day, Marshall has to help her into her hotel room. Faith’s persistence and dedication convinces Belle to give her a trail job, but when she has to help an autistic child, she panics and runs back home.

Will Faith overcome her fear of children and animals? Will Faith realize Marshall loves her?

STEPS OF FAITH is the story of a young woman who grows up in the church but has to find her own way to a personal relationship with Jesus. In the process, she helps Marshall come back to church. She helps the church come alive with contemporary music, and she even helps Belle confess her faith.

The movie is well directed, except for the slapstick comedy, which comes off as hokey. The first scene of her being expelled from teaching Sunday School wants to be reminiscent of I LOVE LUCY, but instead looks like a B Christian movie. The stepping in manure scenes are overdone. None of this slapstick is necessary, because most of the movie is faith-filled romance. Without the slapstick, the movie would be four stars. Even with it, STEPS OF FAITH is one of the better faith-based movies. It is refreshingly clean and wholesome, as well as entertaining to watch.