Stephen Kendrick Hopes LIFEMARK Can ‘Change the Hearts and Minds of Our Nation’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Adoption and life prevail in the Kendrick Brothers’ upcoming movie, LIFEMARK, and while political tensions rise in the Roe v. Wade debate, Stephen Kendrick believes that Christians also need to think beyond Roe.
“Let’s change the hearts and the minds of our nation, and let’s do that by introducing them back to what God’s truth says because it does set us free,” Kendrick commented in a recent interview with CBN News.
Other Kendrick Brothers movies received numerous Movieguide® awards in the past. OVERCOMER won the 2020 Epiphany Prize® for Inspiring Movies, WAR ROOM took home the 2016 Epiphany Prize® for Inspiring Movies, and COURAGEOUS earned the 2012 Epiphany Prize® for Inspiring Movies.
Unlike their previous movies, the Kendrick Brothers based LIFEMARK on a true story of life and adoption. Kendrick explains that everyone has a unique journey, and this movie will tell “a story that I think is desperately needed in our generation.”
Kendrick continues, “There’s nothing more powerful I think than being able to say ‘Hey don’t argue with us. You know this is a true story. Let it speak for itself, and let it change your life.’”
Kendrick hopes that LIFEMARK will spark discussions on the beauty of adoption and the power of faith in crisis situations. He believes that the church has a unique opportunity to support women in crisis pregnancies and practice James 1:27—“pure religion is to also take care of the widows and the orphans.”
The church should “champion life, champion adoption, champion families,” Kendrick contends. “We really want discipleship to take preeminence over just overturning Roe v. Wade or helping a girl not choose abortion.”
This interview comes in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court opinion on Roe v. Wade that Movieguide® previously reported on: “On May 2, Politico leaked landmark documents: a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that would reject the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade and all subsequent cases, including Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992.”
While this would turn abortion debate back to the states, Kendrick thinks that “the church has to get beyond political debating. We’ve got to get beyond just short-term thinking.”
“We need to solve the problem of lives and hearts being changed by the gospel,” says Kendrick. When that happens, “God changes their minds about, not just life and what to do in a crisis, but about everything that’s in their lives.”
LIFEMARK’s story of adoption and life focuses on something greater than just overturning Roe v. Wade. For Kendrick, “Everything shifts in a good direction when Jesus moves back towards the center, and so that’s what we want to happen regardless of what happens in the Supreme Court.”
LIFEMARK premieres on September 9 through Fathom.
Movieguide® previously reported on LIFEMARK:
LIFEMARK, the latest movie by Alex and Stephen Kendrick starring Kirk Cameron, will explore God’s heart for the orphan.
“It is such a beautiful thing when our hearts start beating along with God’s heart in valuing the orphan and caring for them. God is a father to the fatherless, and he places the lonely into families. He created not only the family but he created adoption,” Alex says.
LIFEMARK tells the true story of a young mother who chose life and gave her son up for adoption. When her son is a teenager, she reaches out to meet him and learn about the young man he’s become.
The Kendricks revealed that the family was able to come on set and offer insight and advice on the movie.
“Life can be messy life can be hard, families are broken. God has a way of stepping into really painful hard situations and bringing redemption and hope and healing,” Stephen says.
Cameron, who plays the adoptive father, says, “This will be is pro family. It’s pro love. It’s pro forgiveness. It’s pro reconciliation, and new beginnings.”
The Kendrick Brothers also feel like LIFEMARK has Divine timing, given that the Supreme Court of the United States is in talks to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized national abortion.
“None of us knew it was divinely inspired that for such a time as this God wants us to release this movie,” Stephen says.
“Really, the church has an amazing opportunity to stand up with inspiration and hope and healing for people on both sides of the pro-life debate, and also specifically to talk about the beauty of adoption, of what can happen when people trust God in a crisis.”
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
