My excitement was generated by the fact that God was raising up two brothers, Alex and Stephen Kendrick to lead their congregation in the production of a movie that would address an issue within our society and the church that is silently destroying the fabric of our society. That issue is the self-centered attitude –giving up—throwing in the towel—why bother—throw-away attitude within the hearts and lives of individuals and couples that, gone unchallenged, leads to divorce. The exciting thing to me is that the movie focuses on the “affirmative actions” one partner can take to redeemed what is seen as “beyond repair” by worldly standards. This is a movie that challenges us to raise the bar in our commitment to our marriages rather than continuing to lower the standards of investment in our relationship.
PW: I find it very interesting that you would take on the subject matter of marriage as a topic for your next movie. What lead you to pursuing this particular topic?
SK: We had been praying specifically for a storyline that would help strengthen our culture and had considered several options. To be honest, Alex didn’t initially want to do a movie on marriage though he was taken by the idea of daring a man to love his wife. After months of prayer, the Lord clearly led us to go after this issue through a compelling story that we hope captures the hearts of both women and men. As we presented our thoughts for the movie to others, everyone seemed to affirm our direction. Their words were pretty much in agreement that, “This is of the Lord. This is what you need to do.” So, we began focusing our attention on the message of the movie. Hebrews 13:4 says that marriage should be honored by all. We know that it is the foundational relationship upon which child-rearing, churches, and governments are built. If the institution of marriage crumbles, so does everything built upon it. Based on belief, we went to work on writing the script.
PW: Why did you choose the Firefighter’s profession as one that best portrayed the message you wanted to get across to folks? You have chosen the subtitle of the movies, “No partner left behind.” What does this mean and how does the movie portray this happening?
SK: A standing understanding among firefighters is, “No Partner Left Behind.” You simply don’t abandon your partner in a dangerous situation. There are some obvious reasons for this and some not-so-obvious reasons. Caleb hammers this motto home at work “You never leave your partner, especially in a fire” but does not practice this at home with his wife. By the end of the movie Caleb learns the importance of this motto to his marriage and refuses to let his marriage die.
PW: What is the bottom-line message you want the movie to convey?
SK: There are multiple key issues we want to communicate—truths to deposit in the lives of couples. Some of these are that:
There is a difference between Agape love and “feeling oriented” love that our culture seems to still be hung up on.
Another is that marriage is a covenant not contract. Covenants are God-established and based on unconditional love whereas contracts are based on self-centered rights and responsibilities. We are talking about love without measure; without expectation; without limits; that is unconditional love.
Don’t give up on your marriage. It is too important to you, to your family, to our society, to God and to His Kingdom!
PW: One thing I always try to emphasize is that a covenant marriage is one that makes the statement, “I give myself to thee” whereas a contractual marriage makes the statement, “I take thee for me”.
SK: Yes. That’s a good way to put it. Some other messages we would like for the movie to convey are:
Don’t simply follow your heart for it can lead you in the wrong direction. Instead you need to lead your heart. We are told in Scripture that our hearts can be deceiving. We are told to guard our hearts; that our hearts follow our investments; that is why we need to set our heart on things above.
Another very valuable message that is conveyed in this film is that God is the source of love; being in relationship with Him is the key to loving others. The problem is you can’t give to others what you don’t have to give.
The bottom line is that marriages within our culture are hemorrhaging. They are in desperate need of repair. They are in need of the message of hope found in Fireproof.
To read the complete interview go to the March Issue
of the Monthly Newsletters above.
