The Kendrick Brothers (War Room, Courageous), will release their latest film, The Forge, about the importance of discipleship, in theaters nationwide on August 23. The Stream’s Nancy Flory recently spoke with the brothers about it. Here’s what they had to say.

 

The Stream: You have a great cast. How did you get them all on board?

Alex Kendrick: Well, we started with Priscilla Shirer, who was in War Room. She plays two characters, [the original and] her twin sister that we don’t see in War Room. We have Miss Clara back, played by Karen Abercrombie. T.C. Stallings, who is also in War Room, is back. Then we introduce some new characters. We loved working with Aspen Kennedy. He is the young Isaiah in the movie. Then Cameron Arnett, who plays the gentleman who disciples him. Cameron and his wife, B.J., play a married couple on screen and they [really] are married.

Working with a cast that truly believes in the message you’re presenting on screen is an honor. It was unifying. It was wonderful to start the day off in prayer and ask the Lord to bless what we’re doing. It was just a great experience.

 

TS: What is The Forge about?

Stephen Kendrick: The Forge is about a young man named Isaiah (Aspen Kennedy), who is 19 years old. He has no father, no direction, no job in his life. But he has a praying mama who is crying out to the Lord for him. God has been listening to those prayers. And as Isaiah is looking for a job, he’s hired by a godly older gentleman who is not only successful in business, but also in mentoring and discipling young men.

Isaiah doesn’t realize what he’s stepping into as he gets his job. Joshua Moore (Cameron Arnett) hires him and begins to meet with him in the mornings. Initially, Joshua trains him in how to be a good employee — showing up on time, doing his job with excellence, honoring the people that are around him. He begins to step into Isaiah’s spiritual life and help him work through his issues.

With this movie, we wanted to model discipleship, biblical discipleship, in a relevant context. This message of discipleship is desperately needed by this next generation. When people watch The Forge, they’re laughing one minute, they’re wiping a tear the next minute. They’re wondering what’s going to happen in the storyline.

They leave the theater not only enriched in their faith, hopefully, and challenged in their own surrender and walk with the Lord, but also inspired to pour into the next generation. So, we’re excited. The Body of Christ is going to be able to use this film internationally, and hopefully it’ll spark a new movement of discipleship in churches.

 

TS: Why did you make this film now?

SK: Each of our films are birthed out of prayer. We’ll spend months in prayer asking God for clarity and direction. The Lord will give Alex scene ideas that are pivotal, emotional, turnkey scenes. Usually, I will be studying a theme in Scripture and teaching and preaching on it, and those two things will match.

We saw that happen with War Room. He got the scene ideas of an elderly woman in her prayer closet. I was leading the prayer ministry of our church at the same time, preaching and teaching on prayer. Just working together, God will confirm the direction. And we see that His timing is always perfect. If we just follow by faith, we realize we’re joining Him in what He’s doing.

 

TS: What have you learned by doing this film? 

AS: Oh, my goodness. Well, so the short answer is this is what we’ve learned — we did a book called Devoted to Jesus. That’s 52 short chapters on biblical perspectives of walking with Christ in discipleship and then how to disciple someone else. You could sit down and do a short chapter a day or week with someone else and walk through what the Scriptures say about discipleship. The Lord wants to know us intimately and deeply. It is wise for us to respond to that desire that the Lord has. Scripture says in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you, for My burden is easy and it’s light.” The world puts heavy burdens on us. To walk with Jesus is to be blessed to grow in faith, to grow in strength, to be more fruitful. And that’s what we want in our own lives and with others.

SK: And if we’re going to represent Jesus, He’s worthy of our whole hearts and our lives. We need to be all in because He was all in when He came for us. You’ll see that message of calling us to be all in in our walk with Him. 

 

TS: What will audiences experience when they’re watching the film?

SK: If they’ve seen War Room, they’re going to be laughing at the inside jokes, cheering when Miss Claire walks in the room. If they haven’t seen War Room, they’re still going to love the journey of Isaiah. They’ll be caught up quickly in who he is as a young man, and they will relate to him because so many in this generation are in the same position of life as to where Isaiah is.

They’re going to watch not only the humor of Priscilla’s character, Cynthia, in her hair salon and the funny banter that’s going on with those ladies. They’re going to relate to seeing Isaiah skeptical on the front end of Joshua’s motives as he’s hiring him and working with him. To realize, “This is a godly man that I need to learn from and to follow as an example,” is going to be inspiring.

It’s a clean movie. It’s family friendly. There’s no profanity or immorality in the film. You can watch it with your elementary school kids, with senior adults, whoever, but it feels very organic to this generation and very relevant as well.

 

TS: What do you want people to be talking about on the way home?

AK: We talk about that when we’re writing the film. We usually start with the ending first and work back to a starting place. And we do that on purpose because the way they walk out is extremely important to us. Like our other films, when they’re leaving the theater or finishing watching it at home, we want them thinking, “Where do I stand with Christ?” We want people inspirationally thinking, “God, can I walk with You and bear fruit for Your name and Your glory? And Lord, would You fill me so I desire a deeper relationship with You?” If that’s the result, if people are asking themselves that and desiring that to go deeper with the Lord, then that’s a win. That’s the victory we’re hoping for. We hope the audience is wide. We’re hoping that people, when they see the film, will encourage other people to go see it.

 

TS: How can people get more information about the film?

SK: You can go to TheForgemovie.com. That website not only has a way to get tickets, where show times are going to be, but there are downloadable trailers, there are posters, there are resources that you can use if you want to spread the word in your church or through social media.

Watch the trailer: 

 

Nancy Flory, Ph.D., is a senior editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.