Join Priscilla as she interviews (and is interviewed) the cast of the motion picture “War Room”. Producer/Director Stephen Kendrick and actress Katie Abercrombie talk about the film and its potential for life change and renewal together. This episode was produced prior to the Priscilla Shirer Simulcast for the live audience in attendance. For more information about the Priscilla Shirer Simulcast – visit lifeway.com/pssimulcast.Join Priscilla as she interviews (and is interviewed) the cast of the motion picture “War Room”. Producer/Director Stephen Kendrick and actress Katie Abercrombie talk about the film and its potential for life change and renewal together. This episode was produced prior to the Priscilla Shirer Simulcast for the live audience in attendance. For more information about the Priscilla Shirer Simulcast – visit lifeway.com/pssimulcast.
well welcome I’m so glad that all of you
are here that is sitting in this room
but then there are so many of you that
are on the other side of the screen and
we want to welcome you as as well we’re
so glad that you’re here so glad that
you’re joining us this is if you don’t
know what this is exactly let me tell
you this is the chat and this is just a
place where we chat about things that
are fun or insightful or informative
even challenging to you we love to
challenge you and I think that this
particular show is gonna be filled with
a little bit of all of that we’re gonna
inform you about some things that are
happening we’re also going to challenge
you though in a very specific way but
all along the way we’re gonna have a
whole lot of fun as well and so I want
to thank all of you for joining me no
matter where you are I want you to just
pull up a chair get a warm latte a
coffee you know hot tea whatever it is
you drink just grab one of those and
just enjoy yourself and cozy up with us
for a little while we are going to have
a great time welcome to the chat with
Priscilla
[Music]
[Music]
most of the time I have an opportunity
to kind of address topics on this show
that either are of interest to me or
that I want to find out more about
because I don’t know enough about them
this is one that I actually happened to
be very very well acquainted with which
is why I’m even more excited to share it
with you it is about an upcoming film
that you’re gonna have an opportunity to
see no matter where you live in the
country it will be opening in theaters
this summer the end of this summer
August the 28th and a theater near you
there’s gonna be a brand new movie
called war room have y’all heard about
war room yet have you already heard that
war room is coming I am so excited about
war room I think it is really gonna
challenge people all over the place in
specific areas of their life but I want
to introduce you to someone who is you
know can I just say this guy is just one
of the most hysterical eclectic people
I’ve ever met I mean he just is a great
fantastic person that I cannot wait to
introduce to you he is along with his
brothers the creator of the war room
movie they have done other movies that
you know about like courageous and
facing the Giants and fireproof their
first movie was flywheel they have had a
string of incredible movies that have
been a blessing to the body of Christ
and even beyond so would you please help
me to welcome mr. Steven Kendrick
have a seat in my living room thank you
pictures on your wall I do yeah little
bland well but now I’ve got you so it
can’t be bland in here listen this man
has a character he’s the youngest of
three brothers yes tell us about your
brothers Shannon is the oldest and he
loves the Lord he’s quiet behind the
scenes yes alex is in the middle you
know him as the writer director of the
movies he’s always in the movies too
Alec that’s right that you kind of see
in the face in a lot of the movies and
then I’m the youngest I always grew up
getting in trouble Shannon would come up
with the idea I would do it and then
Alex would ya actually Alex would do it
then I’d give the blame for it so that’s
kind of how it worked
so they sent you along today you’re the
representative Kendrick brother crew
okay so tell us a little bit how you got
into moviemaking and what brought you
specifically to the theme of war room
tell us about war room and then here
well my parents are godly parents and we
were kids they prayed about what house
they wanted to live in and the Lord led
them to this house in Smyrna Georgia we
moved in and right next door
ended up being a man who worked for
Lockheed and he would buy these little
gadgets and stuff and he bought these
little eight millimeters stop and go
animation cameras for his son and we’re
next to him so we’re filming these
little videos because we’re playing with
his son making takut trucks blow up and
things like that as kids and we
developed a love for filmmaking and
begin to make home videos chase them
down all of them were chasing down beat
him up that was like our one plot we
would run out the door with no script no
production design anything and we would
say let’s film something and it would
end up being chase him down beat him up
you know so and so you grew up doing
that and just develop more and more a
love for it over time I want to talk to
you more about that but first I think
that we should show them a little bit
about this newest movie about what it’s
all about so just turn your attention to
your screen and take a look at the
trailer for a war room
[Applause]
you’ve been a good enough father I want
to be a good enough father let’s go
let’s go
now quick down
you are good and you are mighty and you
are merciful praise Jesus
guide me to fool you want me to help
raise a bar that will call upon your
name raise up those and love you and
seek you and trust you
like we need an army of believers and
we’ll stand on your word above all else
raise up warriors Lord who will fight on
their knees
who will worship no with their whole
hearts Lord Lord call us to battle
that we may proclaim you king of kings
[Music]
I pray these things with all my heart
raise them up Lord raise them
I mean how can you not be inspired when
you see that movie don’t y’all feel the
chills just up and down the back of your
neck you know it is an incredible film
and now you can probably see why it’s a
little bit near and dear to my heart
because these guys these brothers have a
way of kind of pulling you into their
experience and it’s it’s a wonderful
thing they one of the things I love
about you and your brothers so much is
that you really allow people to see
things that they don’t even know they’re
capable of and you pull that treasure
out of them and allow them to kind of
come along for the journey with you and
that’s what that I had the privilege to
participate this summer and I’m so
grateful for that how did you get to war
room tell us the journey of movies that
the Lord is taking your brothers through
how you’ve seen the Lord sort of bless
it in terms of influence in the culture
and then how you got here with this
particular script well when we were
teenagers
instead of doing papers we would do
videos for and so instead of doing a
health paper we did the better take a
shower body odor our for our teacher at
school and and then later on instead of
Indiana Jones we did Alabama Jones and
we did we did safety from assault was
our safety video where I actually had to
dress up like an old woman and get beat
up in that video believe it or not that
will never get on the Internet
and so but when we were in when we were
in high school in college we fell in
love with the Lord and began to read
scripture for ourselves and develop just
a passion for the gospel and we were
seeing people’s lives transformed so we
both went into ministry and in 2002
Alex approached our pastor and presented
the idea of us shooting a local film for
our for our community and flywheel came
out of that we had no training no money
no budget no experience on a Hollywood
set but we had the Lord and he’s a
majority if you’ve got him you know so
and listen if for some reason flywheel
kind of flew under the radar for you and
you have not seen flywheel you need to
get that movie it is a great film and I
know you said you didn’t have a lot of
budget you’d have experience but I mean
I think that was an incredible writing
like the twists and turns in that script
are
so if you’ve not seen it you got to get
up.get it’s funny we would now have
bigger budgets and we’re working hard to
develop our skills but people still tell
us flywheels my favorite I love the
story and flywheel
I know it’s lower quality but flywheel
though there was a twenty thousand
dollar project we dedicated it to the
Lord we prayed every step of the way and
then now it’s sold over a million DVDs
it’s around the world missionaries have
been using it people been saved prisons
have been using it so it was totally the
Lord it was not us
and so that led us into facing the
Giants and a football movie about faith
and that hit theaters and then fireproof
was about marriage and then courageous
about fatherhood
and so after courageous Alex and I spent
six months to a year in prayer just
saying Lord what is on your heart what
does the next movie need to be about
what do you want us to focus in on and
he specifically said prayer I want
prayer to be what you’re calling the
body of Christ – and that’s what war
room is about it’s about making war in
our prayer room on our knees and seeking
the Lord first that’s amazing and this
movie does it in a very very very
powerful way and it’s clear here’s the
thing that I appreciate so much about
these guys and honestly I don’t know
that if Jerry and I my husband is Jerry
if Jerry and I did not know this to be
true about these guys Steven and his
brother I don’t think we brothers I
don’t think we would have agreed to do a
project like this because I mean I’m no
actress I’ve not been in movies before
or something like that so this was very
new for us but what we knew about the
Kendrick brothers is that they have no
interest in trying to be famous or
trying to get to Hollywood or trying to
be something else they genuinely are
writing these movies to honor God to
call and keep families intact to spur
people on in their faith and that kind
of integrity just does not exist often
enough in this business wouldn’t you
agree so I’m so grateful I’m so grateful
you’re just real clear and unapologetic
have you found that that has ever been I
guess a challenge for you to stay
relevant and current but at the same
time make sure your message was clear in
these films the gospel is always
offensive but it is the power of God
salvation I mean well because we’re in
ministry and we see people’s lives
radically changed by the gospel we see a
guy that’s on drugs in jail you know
addicted whatever messed up and we see
him become a godly husband and a godly
father and the Lord then giving him a
ministry with his life and so we we’re
not ashamed of that we love that we want
the world to experience that we it’s
good news you know so we’re we’re
excited about telling as many people as
we can about it so okay now I need to
ask this question because you know I’m a
mother of three boys and they’re still
in there young knucklehead face so I
would you please tell me how your mother
and father raised three well two
well-adjusted men you’re still thank you
I appreciate that
I’m feeling a love but could you please
tell me anything about how your parents
what did they do well that you think
helped to mold you and your brothers to
have such an interest in spiritual
things and a desire listen I’m talking a
lot but listen y’all I learned so much
about these guys this summer in
particular we’ve known them for several
years now but this summer you know one
thing I found out about them I spent a
lot of time with their wives as well
this summer that they literally wrote a
list down of what they wanted their
wives the traits they wanted in their
wives this is when there were little
boys and they would pray over these
lists together so when the women in
their lives showed up one of like Alex
went to Stephen and said I think Jill’s
the one based on the fact that we’ve
been praying over this list and man look
she’s meeting up with the qualities of
your list so this is what they were
doing when they were when they were
young boys and the Lord has just brought
it you know to just an incredible it’s
made an incredible impact not only in
your own lives and families but now
across the world so can you can you help
us write to try to figure out what were
your parents doing that you think made
such an imprint in your life as young
men well
they feared the Lord and I look back
scripture has so many promises for the
children of those who fear the Lord and
I know that we saw hypocrisy in the
church but we saw authentic Christianity
lived that at home and we would stumble
upon our dad on his knees praying for
our family I didn’t stumble upon him
looking at pornography I stumbled upon
him crying out to God in his prayer
closet in front of all those 1970s ties
that
had right in front of him you know and
so and my our mom even now at 72 years
of age gets up early every morning and
prays for us by name pleads the blood of
Jesus over her children her 19
grandchildren and we know that we’re
standing on the shoulders of a whole lot
of Prayer support behind us and the
other thing was our parents would
confess and repent when they blew it
they didn’t act like they had it all
together there were multiple times they
would come to us and they’d say I blew
in this area and i wronged you or i
disciplined you in my anger rather than
the way i should have and i want to ask
you to forgive me and i loved them for
that i respected them for that and we
saw the power of God at work in their
lives through answered prayer and we
knew they’re not just religious they
have our genuine relationship with a
Living God and we want that relationship
too so that’s good stuff right there
that’s a good stuff right there because
you know sometimes when your kids are
young you’re looking at them like there
is no hope right but then the Lord will
send some people that inspire you
remember that that intentional parenting
matters that it really doesn’t matter it
makes a difference we’re gonna take a
break but when we come back we’re going
to talk more about war room and we’re
going to let you see a few more clips
from the movie so we’ll see you back
here in just a few minutes
[Applause]
if you’re feeling discouraged and
defeated if you’re a bit overwhelmed or
maybe even feeling undone if you’re
wondering whether or not your future has
any hope of victory then listen this
Bible study is for you strongholds are
torn down while the Word of God
fortresses are dismantled by the Word of
God when you place faith in Jesus Christ
the righteousness of Christ is credited
to your spiritual bank account that you
are the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus I invite you to join me for a
lesson in putting on the full armor of
God our lives are going to be change
yours and mine because we’re going to
learn that we’ve got the victory in
Jesus name
welcome back welcome back so glad that
you were joining us I want to tell you
again that any of you that are on the
other side of the screen whether it’s
your computer screen or a big screen if
you’re watching it with some other
friends listen just want to welcome you
we are live in Huntsville Alabama
tonight I’m here with a bunch of my
sisters in Christ and one brother and
one brother he leaned over to me during
the break you said there’s a lot of
estrogen in this room and indeed there
is we are here in Huntsville Alabama
because we’re having a little simulcast
event I hope you’re joining us tomorrow
by the way there’s still opportunity for
you if you want to come to Huntsville
you can or you can just join us online
we’re gonna be simulcasting all day long
I’m going to be teaching on the armour
of God how to stand firm against the
schemes of the enemy so I’m looking so
forward to that
but today we’re just having a little fun
and I always have fun when I’m with
Steven Kendrick or any of the Kendrick
clan because they just fun people and we
want to talk to you a little bit more
about war room this brand-new movie you
may have heard some buzz already about
war room it’s starting to trickle out
don’t you
we’re starting to hear some feedback
about it right yes there’s a few
screenings have been going on and people
are now telling us what gods are doing
in their hearts even from the screenings
and so we’re excited about the world
seeing it August 28th it’s gonna be in
theaters across the u.s. oh all right
there is another clip that we want you
to see this is one of my favorite little
clips in the movie so I set this up for
Steven okay this is your first time to
get experience Priscilla acting and this
is the first scene we shot in the movie
with her acting I cried right before we
shot this but I was so nervous and I
remember after we laughed we filmed the
scene we’re like she’s good she’s gonna
be able to do it you know and so it was
it was this huge relief oz off your
shoulders cuz if she was bad we would be
like oh no what have we done you know
but she did great she did great and so
this is she plays a real estate agent
Elizabeth Jordan and she’s trying to
sell the house of Miss Clara and Miss
Clara in the movie is this godly
warrior who’s already been praying for a
divine appointment Elizabeth doesn’t
know it and so Miss Clara starts asking
some questions about Elizabeth’s life
remember this is like our first or
second meeting like I don’t know this
woman at all okay check out lukewarm
coffee here we go coffee will be ready
in a couple of minutes out good
now I ran a sales report from the area
we’re down to suggested asking price for
the house mm-hmm well what do you think
[Music]
now what did you say your husband did
for a living
um well we actually haven’t talked about
that but he’s a sales rep for Brightwell
pharmaceuticals mm-hmm and where did you
say you attended church well we
occasionally attend Riverdale community
mm-hmm so you would say you know Lord
yes I would say I know the Lord you
think the Lord is okay with this asking
price mm-hmm and you have children miss
Clara my husband Tony and I have been
married for 16 years we have one
daughter her name is Danielle and she’s
10 she enjoys pop music and ice cream
and jumping rope oh well that’s good to
know
now you say you attend church
occasionally is that because you’ll pass
the only preachers occasionally miss
Clara I really would like to help you
sell your house that’s why I’m here as
far as my faith is concerned I believe
in God just like most people he’s very
important to me yeah let me get a coffee
so if I asked you what your prayer life
was like would you say that it was hot
or cold I don’t know that I would say
it’s hot I mean we’re like most people
we have full schedules we work but I
would consider myself a spiritual person
I’m not hot but I’m not cold either just
you know somewhere in the
hey you go I’ve got creamer sugar if you
need Oh No thank you I like it black
miss Clara you like your coffee room
temperature
no baby man’s hot Elizabeth people drink
their coffee hot or cold but nobody
likes it lukewarm not even the Lord
point taken miss Clara but why do you
feel the need to examine my personal
life because I’ve been where you are and
you don’t have to step on the same
landmines that I did that’s a waste of
time and it’s asking price it’s just
fine
let me get you a hot cup of coffee a
little sneaky last time what landmines
do you think I might step on you tell me
now if there was one thing in your life
that you could make better
what would it be just one well I
probably have to say my marriage there’s
one thing we do well it’s fight no I
don’t think you do I’m sorry
just because you argue a lot doesn’t
mean that you fight well every couple
have some friction every now and then
but I bet that you never feel like
you’ve worn after you had an argument
with your husband can I ask you how much
you pray for your husband well very
little Elizabeth I think it’s time for
me to show you my favorite place in this
house
okay
didn’t she do a good job
that you’re the relief you’re feeling is
how we felt they didn’t actually know if
I could act they were what they were
praying you’re praying we were fasting
and praying I want y’all to know that
miss Clara that character she’s really
the heart and soul of this film wouldn’t
you say she’s incredible yeah she is
incredible and she’s not just incredible
as Miss Clara the woman who plays her is
actually incredible as well and we just
thought a show on war room wouldn’t be
complete no without Miss Clara no would
you please welcome
[Applause]
you like a lot younger up voice okay we
have seen that we could talk all day
about Miss Clara okay her name is I call
her Miss Clara all time but her name is
Karen Abercrombie we are so glad that
you are here Miss Karen we are so glad
you’re here and not just glad that you
are here we are glad that you are in
this film because the heart and soul of
this film is what you brought to the
character of Miss Clara really really
tell us a little bit about how the role
came to you I know you’re gonna want to
talk about this a little bit too Steven
well it’s very interesting a gentleman
from my church said that the Kendrick
brothers were making a movie and that I
should submit a picture and I did and I
never heard anything back from him
that’s because you look like you’re 25
they need somebody to play 70 euro we’re
looking for a 70 year old actress though
so then the gentleman his name is Gary
wheeler he said you know they’re having
auditions down at the church maybe you
should just get dressed up and walk in
and so that is what I did I dressed up
and I she dressed up as a 70 year old
woman to walk into the audition yeah I
went in and it happened but but an
interesting thing was as I was reading
the dialogue I could hear her voice
immediately I could hear her voice so I
went in when I auditioned that is the
voice we heard her boys honey cuz you
brought it oh oh thank you thank you
it was awesome Thank You Steven though
you from you know that’s her perspective
of how we found miss Clara but would you
please share your perspective about we
were we were writing this movie by faith
and we were thinking we god you’re gonna
have to see Miss send miss Clara because
we don’t know who can bring this and we
wanted someone who genuinely loved the
Lord that believed in the words of this
film so we had in our rental house I had
a little sticky note on my wall praying
God would you send miss Clara we were
two weeks away from filming this movie
and she was the first week of shooting
and we were saying Lord we need you to
send her and Alex
in this audition room Karen walks in
dressed up in character and she starts
acting and I’m choking back tears I’m in
awe I’m like Lord there she is
after all this time and all this prayer
there she is
it’s true and I remember the day that
you all found her you you guys called me
and said we really need y’all to pray
you to pray for so there is two weeks
left and we have no miss Clara and then
in walked Karen Abercrombie would you
please tell us about yourself because
listen I came in off the street she’s
like a serious actress this is what she
does so I got to spend the summer
filming a movie with a woman who is a
the epitome of great acting is Karen
Abercrombie so tell us just a bit about
your life and as an actress and as a
believer in that field oh gosh I I
started acting as a young kid you know
running down the street after watching
Elvis Presley movies and you know
reenacting all of these things that we
would see and I got really serious about
it in high school and then I went to New
York and started doing theater around
loved the theater it hadn’t had much
film experience I had done some
television shows and I don’t know just
the opportunity to even do this piece
that God had to step in all the way
around and I had gone I was telling
Steven that I had gone to a women of
faith conference and I was just
impressed and then Nicole the dramaturg
amazing and I was like God please God
please I would love to be able to use my
gifts to magnify you in the way that
this girl is doing and then years past
years past time pass and then my family
moved from Los Angeles to the Charlotte
area a little almost six years ago and
full circle levy films in Charlotte all
summer long last summer so she so the
fact that they would even be in
Charlotte that the gentleman from my
church
would know that they needed an actress I
mean it was a golf God think over it all
over well I remember when she was
auditioning Ephesians 2:10 was like
right in my face
we are his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus to do the specific good works he’s
prepared beforehand when people see the
movie they’re like my favorite character
of all is Miss Clara I love her I have a
grandmother like her I have a mom like
her and she’s inspired me when I hear
her when you heard the trailer you’re
getting chills and it’s because she’s
crying out to the Lord in that trailer
and I remember thinking we wanted
someone who can act like this lady she’s
got the voice she has a love for the
Lord all of those things are wrapped up
in you and we just see all these years
of preparation God has been preparing
you and now Lord willing 76 countries
around the world are gonna hear the
gospel because of God’s using you to do
[Applause]
so I want to ask you a question that has
nothing to do with acting okay and every
woman that is in this room and on the
other side of the screen also wants to
know this we want to know how you are
dead fine and look this good tell us
because you can I ask how old you are
yeah I’m 58 soon to be 59 59 58 years
old and you just look good
oh thank and all summer long one of the
things I admired about her because y’all
I had no idea how much work making a
movie is we were filming for 12 or 13
hours a day every day for the entire
summer and some of those shoots were all
night long we’d have to shoot from 7:00
p.m. to 7:00 in the morning if they if
it was a night scene we would need to do
that hours and hours and hours
this woman’s stamina her level of energy
her ability her memory was so quick with
all the lines she had to know and then
just I admired so much just seeing you
be so elegant and so beautiful and I
thought you know and I did ask
summer I asked you a lot about your
workout regimen your how is it that you
have so much energy and you look and
feel so good there are a lot of women
that would like to know if you could
help us get it together and look amazing
at 58 anybody want to know can somebody
say again I love you and I’ll pay you
after I’ll pay you what I owe you
hopefully seriously tending the temple
it is not just a spiritual thing but we
have to take care of ourselves then we
can better do whatever it is God has for
us to do so I exercise I try to eat
right and I drink a lot of water and
that is it and I feed on the the Word of
God
so really mm-hmm and you know what I
love so much Stephan you were talking
about how important it was to you to you
guys that people actually love the Lord
and believe the words of the film you
all need to know that the I don’t know
if you would call it distribution
company or whatever but they offered the
Kendrick brothers you know real
actresses for my part like people who
would have had name recognition who
would have brought people into the
theaters because you knew you would know
their name and Steven and Alex were like
no we actually want someone who
genuinely loves the Lord and I think
that is such a testament to their
integrity to find people who have a
heart for the Lord well how many times I
remember as a kid watching actors and
actresses on the screen and then
admiring them respecting them and then
finding out how they were living in
their private lives and being
heartbroken it was a stumbling block
really in a lot of ways and so it is so
important to us that the gospel is
authentic and as powerful it is be
backed up with people that believe it
when they’re communicating it and we
could we could hire professionals to
look good sound good on the screen but
if if off camera after the end credits
roll people are looking at their lives
they’re thinking but they don’t even
believe those words they don’t care
about that it undermines this message
that God’s given us so with Priscilla we
fell in love with Priscilla and Jerry we
were working on courageous and got to
know you and when we were
riding the scenes we were thinking what
would priscilla shirer do in this
situation you know and we’re writing
some of these lines and then we thought
why don’t we call her and see if she has
any acting experience because we we
believe that we believe that it’s more
important to find godly people and train
them in acting than to just pick anybody
out of Hollywood and hope that they have
their hearts right so good that’s good
that is a real testament to their
integrity and this young lady brought it
as you saw she she just trusted the Lord
to to to help her prepare and do an
amazing job cuz yes you did and I
remember you were talking about the day
you cried Karen was wiping my tears she
was like baby don’t you cry you gonna be
okay you’ve got this that’s right and
what an amazing job talk it’s so proud
so proud of you so proud of you and it
just goes to show you that like God had
called Moses and Moses said no I’m not
an eloquent speaker da da da da da da
and God had something just for Moses to
do cuz only Moses could do it and baby
you came and you did it you know an
amazing way you really did we we kind of
feel like family you know cuz once you
spend a whole summer together in hot
sweaty temperatures you know you’re in
you’re just kind of in close knit
quarters for a very very long time you
kind of end up feeling like family and I
want to ask you what was your most
memorable part of this summer if you
could kind of narrow it down to one
thing that stands out the most to you
from filming war room what would that be
it would be difficult to pick one moment
because there were so many and I saw God
around every turn and in everything you
know and it was a godly set oh yeah the
Kendrick brothers will he’s set before
shooting you know UCL’s
yeah they’ll pray respect hey we haven’t
had training in Hollywood we didn’t know
so what we did is we took what we’ve
been doing every week in ministry
and we translated that onto the set so
it’s more so like a summer camp you know
than it is a Hollywood set so we were
like let’s dedicate every day to the
Lord and we would start off every
morning with devotions in prayer we
would commit the day to the glory of God
who would ask him to give us wisdom to
give to enable the actors to act even
beyond what they could do on their own
ability and and we saw the Lord show up
every day
that’s that my favorite part was seeing
those answers to prayer seeing God to
show up and work miracles provide a Miss
Clara provided the house for Miss Clara
which was another miracle that were in
the movie there were multiple things
where the Lord was laying tracks in
front of this moving train of War room
and and us getting to share the stories
look what he did you know it was
exciting the whole summer and you are
gonna see the ripple effect of that in
this film you will see it you will feel
it when you watch every single portion
of this movie it’s just a great film and
I can’t wait for you to see it
[Music]
you