The Newsboys Dish on GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Newsboys have been an integral part of the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise, and with the important message of the franchise’s fifth installment, that’s truer than ever.
“They sent me the script about a year ago, and it didn’t really have a title,” bassist Adam Agee told Movieguide® this week. “It just was GOD’S NOT DEAD, this is going to be the fifth installment, and they’re like, we need you guys to write some songs if you can for the movie because we’d love for Newsboys to be involved, which was an honor…just to partner with the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise.”
“And so I’m reading through the movie script,” he continued, “and just making notes in my phone and like, oh okay that could be a song, that could be a song, and we’re in the process of writing our record, and we fly in our buddy Paul Duncan from LA who’s a great writer, and then we’re in with one of our favorite producers Colby Wedgeworth here in Nashville, and we all get together.”
“We’re like, ‘All right what are we going to write about?’ And I always ask the writers [who actually] do it for their job if they have any ideas because they’re really good at it actually, and so I’m like, ‘Paul, what do you got?’ And so he’s like, ‘Well I don’t know if it’s the right idea, but I’ve got this kind of like this thing going like what about, like, In God We Trust? and I just laughed and I showed him the notes in my phone, and the first note at the very top said In God We Trust.”
The Newsboys and the writers wanted to get to the root of what “In God We Trust” means. They boiled it down to the meaning that God is the only one who you can put faith in.
“We can’t put our faith in people, in policies, in any kind in government and its policies…because we’re going to fail because we’re people and so the only place we can put our faith and trust is in God and so that’s what the song is all about,” Agee explained.
Some of the song’s lyrics read:
In God we trust
‘Cause there is power in His name
Age to age, He’s still the same
In God we trust
Jehovah
He is Rapha, He is Jireh
He’s the banner over us
In God we trust
IN GOD WE TRUST is the fifth GODS NOT DEAD movie that the band has created music for. Lead singer Michael Tait is proud of the franchise’s success and thinks IN GOD WE TRUST provides a “timely” message.
“We love being a part of something that lets us be conduits and callous to the unbelieving world, if you will,” Tait told Movieguide®. “Sharing the gospel through GODS NOT DEAD…We’ve done… this thing about oh about two or three times. First time was in 2013…and funny story behind that, we were on the road on a long tour as usual…tours non-stop.”
“We were on the fourth show of a four-day weekend and a 42-city tour. It was in Houston. We didn’t have any idea when the song came out it’d be as big as it was,” Tait said, referring to the band’s song, “God’s Not Dead.”
The Newsboys had only a week or two to memorize their lines, and when they showed up on set, they didn’t have them memorized.
“We get to the set in Houston, we get up the get off the bus tired, baggy eyed, worn out, walk into what we thought was going to be some little, you know, quick little hand camera…you know, do your lines and they’ll be a part some cheesy movie,” Tait said. “So this was a big deal. We underestimated. We did not plan.”
Eventually “the producers were happy. Director was happy and it came out it was like number three in the country. God’s Not Dead, the first one. And…this time around we’re prepared,” Tait said.
GOD’S NOT DEAD and GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 both won Movieguide® Teddy Bear Awards®.
Movieguide®’s glowing +4 review of IN GOD WE TRUST reads:
Pastor David Hill of the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise is back, in a new story titled IN GOD WE TRUST. Everywhere Pastor Hill turns, it seems like God and Christianity are being erased and replaced by hostile, godless, immoral values. When a candidate dies unexpectedly, Reverend David decides to run for Congress against Peter Kane. Kane is a died-in-the-wool atheist fundamentalist. He wants to totally erase God and Christian, biblical values from America. Meanwhile, the local women’s shelter is losing government funding merely because some of the women started a Bible study.
GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST is a well-crafted movie that’s consistently enjoyable, well-acted and suspenseful. David A.R. White and Ray Wise do wonderful jobs opposing one another. They are ably supported by the rest of the cast, which includes Dean Cain and Isaiah Washington. GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST has a strong Christian, biblical, moral worldview. It stresses the importance of God and Christianity in our culture, politics and daily lives. The movie gives parents a chance to discuss God and political issues with their older children.
IN GOD WE TRUST hits theaters Sept. 12.
The Newsboys posted on Instagram last week:
God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust is a film about prayer, perseverance, and standing up for what you believe in — no matter the circumstances. 🙏🏼 We’re honored that this song is part of that story, and it’s been incredible to work alongside the God’s Not Dead movie team again after so long! 🎬
The movie is IN THEATERS starting September 12 & we need YOUR help to keep it on the big screen. Tickets are on sale NOW & buying ahead of time lets theaters know that faith-based films are important! We’ll be seeing it on opening weekend as well… maybe even in a theater near you! 🍿👀
