I, along with a number of other Christian writers and bloggers, have been invited to the set to see the set, production, and filming of Courageous, the newest film produced by Sherwood Pictures, which is set to release in 2011. Sherwood Pictures is the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Church in Albany, Ga. I will be blogging about this trip over the next couple days. This is an exciting opportunity for BreakPoint and the Colson Center to have an up-close look at what is likely to be another success from Sherwood Pictures.

Many of you probably remember the smash hit Fireproof, a movie about a fireman’s struggle to save his marriage and strengthen his faith. Courageous follows a similar path and addresses the issue of fatherhood, showing the struggles many police officers face in protecting and serving their own homes.

When I first heard that this movie was going into the filming and production stage, I was excited. The effort and the success of Fireproof were magnificent, and I am glad that this church was inspired to address one of the most fundamental needs of this great society. Fatherhood was the right issue for Sherwood Pictures to select for two reasons: 1) Our culture needs a better understanding of fathers and their role in the family and society; and 2) It has a lot of public appeal.

Chuck Colson often reminds his audiences that the prisons are filled with fatherless individuals who are desperately in need of love. Not surprisingly, our juvenile prisoners are just as lacking in active fathers as adult prisoners.

The prisons have long served as a microcosm to view our culture’s systemic lackings. When families are broken and desperate, you can expect crime to increase and prisons to fill. Why? Well, sin, but this sin proliferates more abundantly when young men--the highest demographic in prisons--are often given little-to-no positive male leadership. Who is the best to provide such leadership? The Father up above, and the father in the home.

The public appeal of this movie should be impressive, in part, because President Obama has taken fatherhood as his social initiative. When the President announced this as his primary issue, I thought he hit the nail on the head. With the highest population of single mothers and fatherless being amongst the black community, I thought his wisdom about the struggles of living without a father, drawn from personal experience, would be superb and possibly culture-changing. Though I have not heard of any major efforts made by the President regarding his contribution to this issue, merely identifying this issue sends a real signal regarding its importance.

Please pray for me as I travel to Albany, Ga., and may this film be a blessing to His Kingdom.