SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. Today this is the Wall Builder Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Rick Green here with David and Tim Barton. And guys, when I say uh constitutional, biblical, historical, those three things, our movie we're going to talk about today is all three of those in a really cool way, quite literally going back to the Constitutional Convention, going back to the Great Awakening. I mean, this is gonna be fun, guys. I think we've all wanted to see a movie about Whitfield be done. And today we get to have the producer director of this incredible new movie, A Great Awakening. Gonna be great.

Why The Great Awakenings Mattered

Franklin And Whitfield’s Unlikely Bond

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Yeah, I'm so excited. I they did send us a screener link, and I haven't been able to watch it yet. So I'm already jealous that you already saw it. You've been bragging on it. Uh wait, Tim, Tim, wait, you you didn't even I I had such a good pun there, such a good I said it's gonna be great. Oh, well, it was like I I was not yet awakened to your pun, but now my eyes are open, I've awakened even better to the greatness of your pun. Okay, yes. But I mean, guys, I when we first saw the trailer and just kind of going, I can't believe in the best way possible, somebody's finally doing this thing because we have talked for years about how if it wasn't for the first great awakening, there is no American Revolution. If it wasn't for the Second Great Awakening, uh, you don't see the end of slavery in America, et cetera, et cetera. At least not with the end of the Civil War, kind of the way it unfolded. The Great Awakenings are what moved the culture. And when you go to the First Great Awakening, that that main voice was George Whitfield. And so many people overlook the not necessarily the influence of Whitfield, but maybe some of the relational connections that Whitfield had that very well documented, but uh ignored, where Franklin actually becomes very good friends with George Whitfield. Franklin writes him letters and says, Hey, anytime you're in Philadelphia, like, come stay at my house. It it's it's not much, but I would love for you to be here. And they begin a series of letter exchanges and they they get connected and their friendship and the relationship grows. And there's just so many layers to this that nobody had ever done. So when we saw the trailer, uh, I mean, I remember texting you guys, going, This is amazing. I am so excited about this. And then, of course, we said, I hope they don't mess this up. I I hope they did a good job and tell an honest story. And then, dad, you and Rick both have already seen much of it. And and both y'all were like, they did such a good job. Uh, and and we even talked a little bit before we came on about maybe how much we should or shouldn't say. Um, because we don't want to give away the movie. And then I was chuckling my head, going, well, this is historic accounts. So, like, not giving away the ending is like watching the Titanic with a friend of being like, Don't tell me what happens. Well, this is like historically documented. We kind of know what's gonna happen to some extent with this, but guys, this is so cool that there's a movie coming out as we're celebrating the 250th year of America being a nation that actually tells the foundational story of how we became a nation in the first place. And it was on the tale of the first great awakening. And had it not been for the influence of the first great awakening, we probably don't become a nation in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah, but I thought the thing I really thought was cool about this movie was I was thinking back, and with the collections and the two museums that that we do here, one area that we've collected a lot of is related to Hollywood, and especially in the golden years of Hollywood, and especially folks like Cecil Bina Mill, who was a great director. And here's a guy who was a Christian, grew up as a Christian, did theater, uh, Christian stuff, but he believed that it should be higher quality than anything else out there. And so, I mean, he makes these mega movies, Ten Commandments, and Ben Hur and all these, well, William Weiler did that, but it was that was the kind of movies he was doing. And they're the kind that win Academy Awards. And it's really rare today to have a genuinely Christian movie win Academy Award. And somehow it's kind of like the stepchild in Hollywood, but this one, watching this, watching the Constitutional Convention open, watching the acting, watching the scripting, I was thrown back to, hey, this is a really good Christian type of movie, more like the 50s and the 40s, where that they had great actors and great acting and great stories. And man, I was just super impressed with it. It was it was really nice to have a Christian movie that was uh really struck me as high quality. And what I think is so cool about this is if you go back to Jesus when he's talking to the crowds, uh yeah, he teaches, but he teaches more often with parables using stories. He tells a story. There was this man, there was a servant, there was, and he's always storytelling. And that was the way that the old golden years of Hollywood were. They would tell stories, whether it was Sergeant York or whether it was battles or World War II. There were storytelling. And this is a throwback to that. This is a storytelling kind of thing. Not that you've got a narrator, but you're really watching a story, and somehow God made us respond to stories. We're told that we overcome by the word of our testimony, that is, telling our story. When we tell our stories to others, that's that's a spiritual overcoming. And so I was just really thrilled to see great storytelling in this, great acting in this, and it's about something that is so seminal to American history, Tim, as you pointed out. We're not this nation without the Great Awakening. And we should have had movies in this long before now. But this is this is really great.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Looking forward to talking to the director, producer, writer, and then also just finding out what sight and sound's up to in addition to these feature films. Stay with us, folks. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

This is Tim Barton from Wall Builders with another moment from American History. Too often today, history education excludes great black heroes from the American founding, such as Lemuel Haynes. Haynes abandoned as a baby, pioneered churches across Upper New England. He became the first black American to pastor a white congregation to receive an honorary master's degree and to be ordained by a mainstream Christian denomination, the Congregationalists. He was a soldier during the American Revolution and, in his churches on George Washington's birthday, he regularly preached sermons honoring George Washington. Even late in his life, he expressed his willingness to go back to battle if necessary to protect America, which he called a sacred ark. American history is filled with numerous examples of black heroes who are largely ignored by mainstream education today. For more information about Pastor Lemuel Haynes and other colonial patriots, go to wallbuilders.com.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Man, I am so excited about this interview. We talk here all the time about taking the arts back. We talk about being able to get high quality and not the cheesy stuff. And so we are thrilled about this movie, as David's already said. Uh, he greatly enjoyed it as well. And uh Josh Enick is with us uh from Sight and Sound, who do amazing productions on stage, but now to the big screen. Josh, God bless you, man, for all that y'all are doing, and thanks for taking a few minutes with us today.

High-Quality Christian Filmmaking Returns

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Oh man, Rick, God bless you too. You guys are heroes of mine. I'm serious. Like I've been uh appreciating all that you guys have been doing um with the the founding of this nation and your passion for the right kind of liberty. Uh NRB was such a blessing. I was able to see uh the Bartons there, and they were speaking at the event, the 250 event, and uh I leaned over to my colleague and I said, Man, I want to talk to those guys. And so here we are. So thank you for having me. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Oh man. Well, well, we're uh a mutual admiration society today, then, because you know, you're you're doing exactly what we have, you know, called on people to do. And of course, y'all have done it from from the stage for a long time, but this story is so near and dear to our hearts, and and the way you captured even the scenes at the Constitutional Convention. Um, you know, I I've called David Barton the George Whitfield of our of our generation for a long time because he's just tirelessly, you know, 400 events a year and and uh for for decades literally sowed the seeds to help bring back so much of what's happening for the 250th. So for for for us, uh and and you know, David will never call himself that or say that, but uh for for us, it is um the timing's perfect, bro. I I I think God put you all where you are and get and the experience that you've had uh you know with the things you've done over the last couple of decades now uh has been I think I think to lead up to this in many, many ways. I mean, I know everything you've already done with the you know David and and all the different productions has been phenomenal, but the country needs this movie, man. The country needs this movie. Um tell us what how uh why you do the the shift to the big screen, what what motivated this? Give us kind of the backstory before we talk about the movie itself.

Storytelling As The Vehicle For Truth

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah, no, I'd love to. Thank you. Um, you know, sight and sound has been around for 50 years, bringing the Bible to life on stage. Uh we have a 300-foot wraparound stage. We have two theaters, one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one in Branson, Missouri. Uh, we bring the Bible to life in a really big, epic way. And we always say it's where spectacle meets story. That's where sight and sound happens. We're passionate storytellers moving people's hearts towards truth through the power of storytelling. I always say, you know, if the Lord uh chose for three and a half years to be a storyteller to change the world, it still works today. And so we are uh we are uh an 800 strong ministry that uh wants to just move people's hearts toward him. Um in COVID, uh, when all of our theaters shut down, uh, we had um one of our stage productions filmed and it was on the story of Jesus. And we were really excited to get that out in the movie theaters nationwide for Easter 2020. All the theaters shut down, including ours. And uh we were gonna on record to have a record-breaking year with Queen Esther on the Lancaster stage. And so what we did was uh on Easter, we decided to send the that Jesus film that we did uh out to the world through uh TBN. And uh in three and a half days over Easter weekend in 2020, more people saw sight and sound production than two years of sold-out theaters. Whoa, whoa. And we it was the worst economic year of our ministry's history, but it was the greatest ministry outreach year. And the Lord took care of us. And uh we feel like that was a spirit-led decision. And the Lord has just blessed us with that. And that's when we felt the call to not just have the world come to us, but for us to go to them. And with the films, uh, we were commissioned by the board of directors to uh to to do films of figures and events from history that changed the world because Christ first changed them.

Sponsor Break: Lemuel Haynes Spotlight

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Oh, that's good. Okay, wait, I I'm I'm gonna interrupt you for just a second because I gotta ask this. That's a big shift from and and I've seen I'm trying to remember, I I know I watched David um, you know, the the the uh film production version of your your uh your stage show. My my daughter has been able to go and see in person, and she is just she's twice over the moon. Um, I've only gotten to see it. Um, but but but even watching that, that's such a different animal. And it was amazing even being able to watch it on video, such a different animal than producing something like uh The Great Awakening and and film. How did you tackle that? Like, well, I I'm just curious in in your mind, like, how did you go, okay, how are we gonna shift? What different things do we need to learn? What do we, you know? I mean, because to do it as well as you did it, I gotta admit, I was skeptical, bro. I was very skeptical that you could pull it off. And I shouldn't be, but I was, and you did it. So I'm curious what questions did you ask uh to be able to do that?

Meet The Filmmaker: Sight & Sound’s Vision

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Yeah, no, great question. You know, I don't we don't look at it as a shift, we look at it as a maturation of our ministry. Uh, you know, what we're called to do is to bring truthful moments, you know, to the audience that they can have a response to it. And whether it's on stage or screen, you know, the core of what we do is the same. Um, and so, you know, we're still, you know, as I speak, I just came from rehearsals of our next stage production, which premieres here in a week on on Joshua. So we have not let the foot off of the gas for our stage productions. But what we've done is we've accelerated um our calling on film, on screen. This is our second feature film. And um, you know, honestly, like directing talent is you know the same for both. Uh, it's just that you have a 300-foot wrap around stage or a camera right up in your face. Um, and uh, you know, it takes the same discipline to bring those truthful moments out. But the Lord put the the this film on my heart personally um three years ago. Um I I knew I was born in 1976. I'm a bicentennial baby, so I was a patriot from day one, man. And uh and I knew the 250th was coming up, and I was passionate about doing something that would bring the the Bible's definition of liberty um to the forefront. And so liberty was a beautiful word that I really wanted to wrap our head and our hearts around. And I was convinced it was going to be, you know, a film on the revolution, on George Washington. And for about a year, I was hitting these creative roadblocks with this film. And my wife sent me away to uh an Airbnb near Valley Forge, which is not far from our home. And I sought the Lord for for three days and two nights, just me and my dog. And on day two, uh, I really had a breakthrough. I felt the Lord say to my heart, You had liberty right, you have your Georges wrong. And I remembered, wow, I remembered my writing partner, Jeff Bender, his favorite person in history was this George Whitfield. And you know, it didn't really interest me necessarily, but then when I started to discover the power in his voice, the theatrical training that he had, he wanted to be a theater actor, this George Whitfield. And I started to get intrigued and I started to Google this man, and I started to realize the absolute and the incredible impact that he had in the 30 years that led up to the revolution to bring in this self-governing people that brought in this incredible awakening that was the most formative event in American history, and that he was best friends with Benjamin Franklin. I fell off my chair. I'm like, okay, this story. You couldn't write this, you couldn't make this up, right? You're going to this is good. Yeah. Washington's gonna take a little bit of a back seat here because I think I found something. And who who can say that? He should, you know, he should ever take a back seat to but it was really powerful because I was I I immediately became passionate about how the Lord providentially put the most powerful uh evangelist of all time, arguably, with the most prolific communicator of all time, Ben Franklin. And so our heart from that day forward was let's put Whitfield back in the pulpit, let's put Franklin back at his press, let's do a film called Our Great Awakening, which does which explores their unlikely friendship that really revolutionized um our culture. Uh what we say with this film, A Great Awakening, which comes out April 3rd, theaters nationwide, is it was the revolution, the revelation before the revolution.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

And um that's where we're at. Well, and your trailer, man, when you released the trailer month months ago and it had that line um when it when the kid, when the I guess the the grandson asked uh Franklin, yeah, you know, um, you you knew him in the revolution or whatever it was, and his line is George Whitfield was the revolution. Oh my gosh, I about fell out of my chair. I was like, I'm gonna love this movie. As soon as I heard that line, I was like, this is gonna be incredible.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Oh man, praise the Lord. Yeah, we really feel like the the Lord, you know, authored this for us. We s we bring everything in under his authority, man. You know, this is not about this is not about us, it's not about sight and sound creating a a cool film. It's about a it's not a movie, it's a movement. We really truly believe that the Lord's gonna do something and already is stirring the hearts of men and women with this powerful unknown story.

From Stage To Screen: The Leap

SPEAKER_03 16:05

And like I said, the timing is is so perfect because as people celebrate the 250th and you know, we talk about making America great again and all those great things, uh, we have to know what made America great in the first place. And so you're reaching back even before the revolution itself, but yet telling it through the revolution, which is what I loved. I love the time travel and the way it's you know, not time travel, but just the uh the flashbacks and how you start with that, you know, the the the scene of the convention and I love the frustration on Frank. I don't want to give away too much in the uh of the movie, obviously, but uh that you see in in Franklin's face and Washington's face. Um you just you you did some things that that could have come across um you know uh fake or cheesy or whatever. Uh it was it was risky. And you did and you did them so well, man. It's it's it's so and I don't pe our listeners know uh we don't perfume it up. Like if it's if it turns out cheesy, we say so. And uh on the on the show, and you guys God just gave you the ability somehow to get past that, which is I hope you're planning to do a lot more movies. Uh I honestly I don't want and that's part of why we want to promote this and encourage people to go opening day because it's so important to to what happens, you know, in the in the coming weeks after opening day to have a good opening weekend and all that. Um, because we want to see you do more and more of these movies. So I don't want to get ahead of myself here. We want this to be a success, but part of the reason we want it to be a success is because these are the stories that need to be told and they need to be told well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Amen. Rick, thank you, man. You know, and the thing is, like these just because they're long gone and and and they've passed away, doesn't mean that their uh anthems are dead and that the banners they waved are dead, and that the the sermons that they preached are dead. Um, George Whitfield spoke, he was heard by over 80% of the colonists with their own ears. And our prayer, which is a crazy prayer, is that what if, what if Whitfield's back in the pulpit and 80% of Americans can hear his voice once again and proclaim liberty throughout all the land until all the inhabitants thereof. Like our heart is to be part of this and to be on the forefront of this. And uh just just going back to your your compliment about not being hokey and cheesy, our standard is high because the audiences are extremely smart. And uh, I got saved when I was 19. So I grew up feasting on this big epic films of the 80s, man. I was like watching Rocky and Platoon and Braveheart and Schindler's List and you know all these incredible movies. And so we want to bring that same artistry to these uh historical films.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Well, you pulled it off uh for sure uh with this one. Thanks for sending us uh screeners. Let's talk about how to uh what people could do now because um off air we were talking about the fact you can actually get tickets now in anticipation of opening day. And it's is did you say the sixth, April 6th is opening day?

SPEAKER_02 18:52

No, spread the word April 3rd.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Third, third, okay. Well boy, we don't want them to miss the okay. So April 3rd, April 3rd is opening day, and uh and that'll be all over the country. What's the website to be able to go find out which theater is close to them and go ahead and get tickets?

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yep, a great awakening.com. A great awakening.com. They can also go to site-sound.com. Uh, but if you just type in a great awakening movie, it'll come up. Um, and uh, and just a kind of an important note, it's called A Great Awakening, not the Great Awakening, because there's a couple more documentaries out there. Um, so thrilled to be bringing this to the masses and to the to this beautiful nation, especially in this 250th year where the word liberty is going to be at the centerpiece of so many conversations, and this film really clearly lays out that true liberty is only found in Jesus Christ. And so we're passionate about um bringing that to the forefront through these two incredible people, Benjamin Franklin of all people, and George Whifield.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

A greatawakening.com. A greatawakening.com is the website. And and I tell you, I'm gonna recommend to all of our listeners grab the link on the trailer and and just text that to friends. I texted that to my family chat when it w when it first came out. And I mean, everybody was just like once they watched it, was oh, we can't wait to see the squeeze, can't wait to see this. So it's this is really, really well done. So send that trailer, be a force multiplier, help uh get this this movie in as many hands as possible, not only so that we get you know continued good entertainment in the future, but because of what this movie can do for the heart of the people. I I'm not I'm not blowing smoke here, Josh. I'm telling you, there were so many scenes that I mean chills and tears, and it it just it captured so many moments that uh and maybe part of what I was thinking about was not only that moment and and what it meant for the person in the scene, but just knowing what audiences what it's gonna do to audiences across the country. So it's it's just bro. I'm I'm super, super excited. I uh before I let you go, and I know we're out of time, but before I let you go, catch us up real quick. So you said what are the stage productions this year?

Finding The Right George: Whitfield

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, our theater, uh premiere show, Joshua, to watch the walls come come down. And then in Branson, Missouri, we have our second year of David out there. So we're busy. We got a lot going on, man.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

So yeah. So Branson is David, and then uh Joshua in uh in Lancaster. And you said you're not far from Valley Forge. Do you live in Lancaster? Is that home for you? I was born and raised in Lancaster County.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yep. And we live about an hour and 15 minutes away from the great city of Philadelphia. And uh and you know, Valley Forge is just kind of in our back, our backyard. So that's awesome. You know, we've been saturated and inundated in this culture. And I believe like where the country was birthed out of Philly, it's gonna be rebirthed. I think that there's a mighty move of God coming uh across this nation. And I'm just thankful to be a part of it. It's awesome. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Oh man, all right, a great awakening.com, agreatawakening.com. Get the tickets now. April 3rd is opening day. You don't want to miss this. Josh, appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on today.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Appreciate you guys too, and all that you do for us.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Thank you, folks. Stay with us. We'll be right back with David and Tim Bart.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Hey, this is Tim Barton with Wall Builders. And as you've had the opportunity to listen to Wall Builders Live, you've probably heard the wealth of information about our nation, about our spiritual heritage, about the religious liberties, about all the things that makes America exceptional. And you might be thinking, as incredible as this information is, I wish there was a way that I could get one of the wall builders' guys to come to my area and share with my group, whether it be a church, whether it be a Christian school or public school or some political event or activity. If you're interested in having a wall builder speaker come to your area, you can get on our website at www.wallbuilders.com and there's a tab for scheduling. And if you'll click on that tab, you'll notice there's a list of information from speakers' bios to events that are already going on. And there's a section where you can request an event to bring this information about who we are, where we came from, our religious liberties and freedoms. Go to the wall builders website and bring a speaker to your area.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. So there you have it, folks. April 3rd is opening day. And uh and of course, guys, it's it's cool to see. We've all we we've heard, y'all may have been to some of these shows too. I haven't been to any of the live ones. As I mentioned in the interview, my daughter has, and I've wanted to go, but I've seen some of the uh kind of adaptions to to film. Anyway, they've done a great creative job in the past, but man, we need feature films like this. So, David, I think what you said at the opening is is spot on, man. More of this, it's a throwback to those those epic movies that tell such great stories.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yeah, there are so many great stories from from back in those golden years of Hollywood. Matter of fact, um we're working on a book, it'll be out in a couple years. But it is the the American story dealing more with the 20th century. And the story of Hollywood back in those golden years is really the story of Christian entertainment in a in a big way. It's not that changed in the 60s, but this is a throwback to that. It's a great recovery, great healthy thing for the nation.

Whitfield, Franklin, And Liberty

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Well, one of the things too, guys, that struck me is he talked about it would be so great to get George Whitfield's voice back in in America again. And it struck me that, you know, when you go back to the founding era, one of the things we talk about often, it's well documented of the influence of pastors on the founding fathers, that they're how significant their voices were. And one of the most significant voices in the founding era from a pastor standpoint was a pastor named John Wise. But John Wise did not pastor in the founding era, he pastored in Massachusetts back in the late 1600s through the early 1700s. And so if if you just look at when he died and look at the founding era, you go, well, how did this guy influence them? And it's because the Sons of Liberty reprinted two of his sermons and they distributed those through all of the colonies. And as Americans read the sermons of John Wise and got some biblical discipleship training, they realized, whoa, a lot of what's happening right now under the king, under the crown, these royal appointed governors or these judges, whoever, they're violating what the Bible says government should do, etc. And so it really was pastors' voices from a different generation that were revived that were part of that awakening. And we've talked often, we think we're we're probably in another awakening based on not just the fact that God is moving all over this nation, which he is, and it's amazing, but also the fact that we are seeing a shift toward pastors trying to emphasize discipleship so much more. And and and when you do, one of the things that we can show historically happened, like in the founding era, they didn't just have incredible pastors in their time, which they did, like a George Whitfield, and we can go through Edwards and Cooper and Chauncey, etc. But also even going back to voices of old who were speaking such profound truth, and those revived voices impacted culture. And so certainly bringing Whitfield back would be pretty awesome to help reintroduce two Americans to him and understand the true founding of this nation being rooted and shaped by the pastors.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

And what a great time to do it on the 250th, because he really is probably the single individual most responsible for us starting the nation uh at that 250th kind of birthday. So this is a great, great time to bring this movie out. Yeah, David, it is the perfect time uh for this to happen.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

And what a great example of lives, fortune, sacred honor. Before that phrase was popular. I mean, it shows Whitfield's sacrifice to do those 18,000 servants, to be on horseback all the time. And it really, it it in many ways, it gives us a theatrical version of what you've been teaching for decades and decades. I mean, you've always had Whitfield as a part of the story uh because it's part of what made America uh what it became. So I just love the fact that we have a theatrical version of that now. Really encourage everybody to go. Uh great awakening.com. That's a great awakening.com. You've been listening to the Wallboarders show.