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OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Church leaders at New Song Community Church said the response wasn’t scripted, but even before their new film “To Save a Life” premiered on Jan. 21—in advance of its nationwide release in about 450 theaters the following day—thousands of teens and adults had already been touched.
For its first weekend of release, preliminary estimates show the film pulling in $1.5 million, landing it at the No. 15 spot. In addition, its average revenue by theater, one of the measures of a film’s success, was $3,401, outpacing the No. 7 film, “Extraordinary Measures,” the heavily promoted movie that stars Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser. It’s theater average was just $2,746. “To Save a Life’s” average was also just $22 shy of “The Lovely Bones,” the No. 5 thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.
“This has been almost two years of praying and hoping and watching God do miracles,” said Pastor Hal Seed, senior pastor of the Oceanside church.
While many of the miracles centered on the extended process that brought the screenplay to the big screen, the reviews are transcending the typical theatrical linchpins of talent and technology to personal transformation.
Co-written by the church’s youth pastor Jim Britts, a graduate of Biola University’s film school, the story centers on Jake, a young jock, who, with his peers, encounters a wide range of challenges including suicide, self-injury, bullying, peer pressure, premarital sex, unintended pregnancies and abortion.
Although 200 church volunteers assisted with the filming, the cast uses professional actors, Randy Wayne (The Dukes of Hazard, Foreign Exchange, The Last Hurrah), Deja Kreutzberg (CSI Miami, Law and Order, Hope and Faith), Kim Hidalgo (Ball Don’t Lie, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Scrubs) and Sean Afable (Channels, Akeelah and the Bee, Phil of the Future). It’s directed by Brian Baugh (The Ultimate Gift, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Lost Medallion).
Its gritty plotline casts a dark spotlight on topics that once primarily impacted adults, but that are now common fodder for America’s young people. In the midst of that turmoil, however, God’s grace emerges not only as a buoyant lifesaver, but also as a palatable, healing salve.
“We desired to give a realistic depiction of life in this generation without making something cheesy,” Seed said. “We decided that to skirt around the issue without giving a true glimpse of it would not have integrity.”
Firm believer
Texas Youth Pastor Rick Eubanks needed to screen the movie only once with several teens from his Oak Grove Baptist Church, Burleson, Texas, to embrace its value. Unbeknownst to Eubanks, one of the girls—a last-minute fill in for someone who could not attend—was struggling with depression at the hands of bullies and had toyed with drinking toxic fluids to end the internal discord. She emerged from the movie two hours later ready to fight for her life.
The movie, she wrote on her social networking site, “did save a life.”
Eubanks said the movie is so important, its message so redemptive, his church and nearly two-dozen youth ministers in his community of Burelson, south of Fort Worth, spent $20,000 on a red-carpet premier that included several actors from the film. Five showings of the film were already sold out two weeks before the film’s release and more than 500 adults, including counselors, volunteered on the project.
“The subject matter was really real, almost raw,” said Eubanks, who volunteered to screen the movie at various conferences, including one in Alaska. “I think it’s going to wake people up.”
It comes at a critical time for his community, Eubanks said, adding that the town of 60,000, and several of its neighboring towns, have dealt with a spate of teen suicide attempts, several of them successful.
“We’re serious about trying to help students who are depressed,” he said, adding that junior high school youth are not immune. “It’s almost popular to be depressed in school and talk about it.”
He said the teens are searching for sincere answers to serious topics and shun anything remotely hypocritical.
“It’s about singing ‘Just As I Am’ and really meaning it,” Eubanks said. “I feel in this day and age we have to relate confessionally. It gives us an opportunity to relate and confess, sharing our story without being judgmental. It’s not a generation of easy believers. They don’t like things crammed down their throats. They want to think it through for themselves.”
Cultural influence
Similar stories have popped up around the country, underscoring the motive New Song leaders had when they decided to fund the film two years ago.
“Movies can have a tremendous influence in culture,” Seed, the New Song pastor, said. “We want to be used how God wants to use us. Our purpose as a congregation is to be the church next door, to minister to the neighborhood, businesses and organizations. This is the ultimate infleshment of that. We are hoping to impact the whole nation. It’s become a walking shot of adrenaline.”
Prior to its theatrical opening, Seed said more than 20,000 people, primarily youth workers, principals and school board members viewed the film in screenings across the country. The week of its opening, more than 62,000 people had joined the movie’s fan club on Facebook, with up to 2,000 friends adding daily.
“Our hope is to reach lots and lots of people in lots and lots of situations in life to make the world a better place,” Seed said. “We didn’t set out to make a Christian movie. We set out to create a movement that would help people who are hurting and lonely. We are never more like Jesus than when we are reaching out to the hurting and lonely.”
Redeeming potential
While the film touches on seemly topics that earned it a PG-13 rating, Seed said it’s important to note that the film also points out the “redeeming potential of teens as well.”
“What we’ve discovered is that teenagers reaching out to teenagers is a really good thing, and what if we could help families working behind these teenagers?”
To assist with that goal, the church has teamed up with Vista-based Outreach Inc. to provide books and studies for youth and adults. Burelson’s Eubanks said churches in his community are planning a series of follow-up events to drive home the message that there is hope through Christ Jesus.
Depending on the box office success of the movie, the church is considering another stab at using film to impact culture.
“We want to see how the nation responds to this film before we make a decision,” Seed said.
For more information on the movie, visit tosavealifethemovie.com.
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