God Launched This Actress’ Career in a Surprising Place
By Movieguide® Contributor
Actress, director, producer, wife and mother Shari Rigby shared how God met her during a time of disappointment to launch her career.
“I think it’s one of my favorite things to talk about because I love when God says He can do all things through us, and we apart from him can do nothing,” Rigby told CBN’s Brenda Crouch about the beginning of her career. “I think that’s really part of my story is that God really has been at the center of the entire thing.”
“For me, that really started when I was hopeful for a whole house full of babies,” she continued. “My husband and I had our last child, Levi, and so we were really excited about more children, and as we were going through this journey of kiddos, we had helped to open a coffee shop in our church called Hebrews back at Calvary in Phoenix, Arizona.”
“So I was just ready for the next baby after Levi,” she added. “He was our youngest and didn’t have another child, couldn’t have another child actually. And so as I was working through this whole process with the Lord, a man came in[to the coffee shop] with his family, sat down. I literally was serving him coffee, and he looked up at me, and he said, ‘Have you ever thought about doing commercials?’ And that really was the introduction to what God was about to do.”
From there, Rigby found her calling in entertainment, starring, directing and producing movies.
She starred in Teddy Bear Award® winner OVERCOMER and directed and produced Teddy® winner DIVINE INFLUENCER.
“I always tell people, ‘He’s the greatest agent that you can have,'” Rigby said of God’s work in her career. “When you really understand and trust in the Lord and His plan for your life and open your hands up, He can take you to incredible places that you never imagined.”
The actress also founded a non-profit organization called The Women In My World (TWIMW), which was “founded with a passion for spreading the gospel, we focus on developing, educating, and launching Christian women in the entertainment and media industry. Our aim is to empower them to craft impactful, God-honoring content across various platforms, contributing to positive global change. At TWIMW, we are on a mission to cultivate disciples who influence culture through their unique talents and gifts.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the foundation:
Rigby recalled her early days in Hollywood with The Christian Post, “It’s all about movies, I’m going to be a movie star, I’m going to have massive success.”
But God changed her tune.
“’No, you’re here for my women. Like get it in your head, I’m a God of relationship,’” Rigby remembered feeling God say. “’Go back to your Bible and start looking at when I give my disciples their instructions. I didn’t tell them to go out and get famous and get rich and do those things. I told them to go out and serve my people and tell them that the kingdom is at hand.’”
Rigby took God at His word to model discipleship in Hollywood.
“That was a point in time where not only was I hoping to pour into women, but they were also pouring into me,” said Rigby. “So we started to really go through the study of identity and whose we are and who God is and who He says He is and the promises of Him and identifying with how we are built.”
