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]

welcome back I’m so glad that all of you

are here in this room we have a

wonderful group of women that are

joining us live here in Huntsville but

there are many of you that are on the

other side of the screen watching live

tonight we’re so glad that you’re here

we’re talking about war room movie

tonight I don’t want to interrupt this

for just a second here Priscilla the

chat with Priscilla she’s always

interviewing everybody else but because

she’s in the movie war room I don’t want

to interview her if that’s okay with you

guys you come over here jab the jab with

Stephen has just begun

[Music]

okay Priscilla we work with you on the

movie courageous and and when Alex and I

were writing the the scenes for

Elizabeth we had you in mind as the kind

of person we were looking for because we

developed a friendship with you and

Jerry and so then we one day we decided

you know what let’s just go out on a

limb here we’re gonna call Priscilla and

see would she want to audition for this

movie because she had not done acting

before so we call you up on the phone

one day that was the first introduction

you tell us your side of that door okay

let me just say anytime the name Stephen

or Alex Kendrick pops up on either one

of our phones we go oh because we know

there’s gonna be an adventure on the

other side of whatever that phone call

is so they did call one day Jerry now

we’re driving down the freeway we put

him on speakerphone both of them were on

the phone and they just said you said

hey we’re wondering if you’ll do us a

favor a year and a half long favor so

when they told me what it was that they

wanted me to consider auditioning for

this part we just burst out laughing we

thought you guys are absolute crazy did

we had to get past about a minute of

y’all just laughing imagine us calling

you and saying can we audition you for

this movie heavier every day before in

your life what me yeah and then they

weren’t like you know it’s just a small

part they’re like it’s the lead in the

movie it is about your character and I

thought y’all have lost y’all’s minds I

think you said that I think I said that

yes and then they just said hey just

we’re gonna send you little pieces of

the script just read it pray about it

and let’s just see what the Lord does

and so and so we did we just said okay

Lord well we’ll just see what did I say

we’re gonna cashew we said would you

audition because we didn’t know if she

had a dinner

and so Priscilla Priscilla said we would

send her there called sides they’re just

these little scenes little portions of

the script we would send her we’d second

this is who Elizabeth is and we would we

would say would you film get Jerry to

film you on his iPhone and just send us

these clips and so at random moments

during the week we get these videos and

Priscilla’s oh they’re going

you know she’s trying to cry you know so

tell it tell us what you said you and

Jerry would be driving now right okay

so they’d send me these sides which by

the way that’s how green I am i have

never had sides unless it was next to a

piece of fried chicken I didn’t know

what no sides were so they send me these

sides and I’m reading them and you know

Elizabeth’s got a cry she’s got to go in

one see she’s got to be like laughing

and Benny immediately cry and I’m

thinking there’s no way I’m gonna be

able to cry like that so Jerry and I

would be driving down the street and I

would just be going and I’d get some

good tears going and Jerry would look

over and go baby what’s wrong and I’m

like and it’s not easy to do no it’s not

if you get the tickles on the set all

these cameras are aimed at you and

somebody behind the scenes is making you

laugh and you’re trying to cry it’s not

easy to do listen Elizabeth I have to

commend you some actors and actresses

they can do certain kinds of role they

can do comedy but they can’t do serious

or they can do you know one specific

segment but Elizabeth in this movie

she’s funny she’s serious she’s uh she’s

repentant and broken she’s confident and

cheering she has to be professional she

she’s godly and lukewarm you know

depending on where you were watching the

movie and so there was a huge range here

and so we were thinking Lord you’re

gonna have to make this happen and so we

we prayed it through and God just gave

us this piece he’s like I have chosen I

prepared Priscilla to do this and by

faith we all moved forward wondering

what God would do and he did it he did

it there is not a weak scene in this

movie with her acting

thank you when they told me that they

wanted me to do the film

I remember thinking in fact I think I

said to y’all please don’t let me

embarrass the name of Jesus and please

do not put me in this film if it is

gonna water down have you ever seen a

movie before and it could have been a

good movie except that one actress that

you were like oh that was terrible you

know and I thought that the pout this

movie could be so powerful I would not

have wanted to be in it and in any way

take away from you know this this

wonderful message that you guys have so

so as we were preparing I remember you

would send us every once in a while

these text messages you said this is

what my world looks like it’d be beside

your bed she’d have her Bible some kind

of commentary that she was studying and

then a book on Hollywood acting this is

my crazy life I’ve got kids socks and

laundry all over the place and then

there were some some books on acting

they told me that I needed to get some

youtube clips I needed to watch so I had

the books on acting and at the time I

was studying Elijah so I had books on

Elijah and the Bible everything and I

was like look at look at my crazy crazy

life you never know when you follow God

where he’s leading you where it will

lead you outside of your comfort zone

but how sometimes the blessings only

come when you’re outside of your comfort

zone yeah when you’re just willing to

say yes and go with God was leading yes

God’s always calling us to something

beyond our ability we’re on our own

we’re gonna fail and by His grace we can

do all things through Christ who

strengthens us you’re not a good

interviewer you’re not supposed to be

preaching sorry every head bowed every

eye closed I’m sorry I’m a minister I

just default back to that okay all right

tell us what is your deepest darkest

secret that you don’t want to share on

the chat priscilla tell us know

okay what was your favorite thing you

said talk about this summer you said

this was one of the best summers tell us

why it was one of your best sandwich it

was a great summer um it’s just very

rare that you have an opportunity to be

in a position that you have just never

been in before a place where you’re the

novice I was the only one as far as I

can tell alena the young girl that plays

my daughter for her too

it was our first time being in this kind

of a setting everybody else this is what

they do they do wardrobe like I

introduced you here in Huntsville to

Katie earlier who does wardrobe they do

wardrobe or they are camera people or

they are actresses this is what they do

so everybody already knew that sides

weren’t green beans and mashed potatoes

that came with the project you know they

all did this and I was the one kind of

sitting there going you know what’s next

how does this work somebody help you

know and it was fun to be in that

position where you just are challenged

and you’re the novice and you’re the one

that has to learn I enjoyed being a

student again being in a situation where

you just got to figure it out and be

taught and be a learner that’s what I

loved so much about well let me say

something about Priscilla real quick

working in acting we we talk about divas

and we have a diva award on our set

sometimes and behind the scenes the

producers are like diva war today goes

to wardrobe department you know diva

award today goes to that actor or that

actress and so and it’s somebody who

shows up and they they think they’re

more important than they really are you

know and so they’re wanting to get

special preferential treatment they’re

wanting they get more upset if the food

they get they get upset if they don’t

get things their way they throw their

weight around they’re difficult to work

with you know they’re just and I

remember at the end of the summer we as

a team look back and we said Priscilla

shower was anti-diva the whole summer

she was humble she was a joy to work

with she the the person that we’re

seeing up on the on the screen and the

person were seeing at events like this

she’s really that behind-the-scenes

there’s times when we’re dealing with a

crisis and she’s praying with us and

ministering with us and so I was

grateful that you were so easy to work

with you didn’t come with a list of

demands you

came saying how can I serve you no and

that’s what Jesus is calling all all of

us today so it really was a great summer

we gathered up all of our families there

were lots of families there camera

people that had to bring their families

the producers and directors we had to

bring our families and we just all moved

to Charlotte for the summer and did a

lot of filming it was a great time okay

let me ask you this first time you the

person sees themself on the screen and a

movie they’re nervous and a lot of times

they don’t enjoy that first time and so

I’m driving up to Nashville we’re gonna

see the movie for the first time and I

don’t know if you called me or if I

called you and I said what are you doing

she was doing Bible study whatever and

she said what are you doing I don’t know

what it was you know so she said what

are you all about to do and I said we’re

driving over to Nashville we’re gonna

watch war room for the first time with

LifeWay on a private meeting and she’s

like so I get I’m driving it takes me

seven hours by the time I get to

Nashville

she had booked a flight flown there and

beat us there and I was like you wait a

minute I was talking to you in Dallas

this morning you didn’t even know about

it and now you’re here at the screening

so to tell us about that first screening

for you what was that experience like it

was just fun because I wanted to see it

with our LifeWay family the folks that

work with life way that produced this

this chat with Priscilla they’re just

like our family so I knew it would be

fun to see them and it wouldn’t feel I

wouldn’t feel stressed out to see her

with him because they were my they’re my

people you know what I mean

so we sat next to each other and I was

you know we were watching the movie and

it is quite painful to see yourself on

screen it but it’s the same as when I’m

watching like Bible study footage if any

of you do Bible study before the Bible

said he gets to you they send the

footage to me so I can just make sure it

doesn’t need to be edited anything I

said that wasn’t necessarily right

theologically or we need to change we

have to watch it and any time I have to

watch myself on screen it is painful

you’re just thinking why did I wear that

why did not lift wings right why did not

run you know it’s just it’s painful so

it was it was kind of like oh the first

time I watched it but by the time you

get to the end of the movie because the

message is so powerful it just doesn’t

matter nothing it just doesn’t matter

nothing

it’s not about it’s not about us it’s

about this message of Prayer impacting

the hearts it really is exactly right

well I am grateful that you are

passionate about prayer Priscilla has

just written a book called fervent which

is about a woman’s guide to strategic

specific prayer it’s gonna tag along

with war room it’ll be it’ll be we’re

really excited about that and your

teaching on spiritual warfare this

weekend right

give us some I sure I have been studying

the armor of God which is such a

well-known passage and yet there’s so

many riches in there that are still yet

to be mined and known that’s what I love

about the Word of God it’s like a

diamond you know when you just turn it a

little bit differently the way the light

hits it from that direction is gonna

give you something unique that you’ve

not seen before and so I am writing a

Bible study as well on the armor of God

and I’m and I just can’t wait to talk

about this week and how you can stand

firm against the schemes of the devil

that the reality is he is scheming he is

real and he wants you to think that just

because he’s invisible that he’s also

fictional because then you’ll direct all

of your frustration at your spouse or

your job issue or you’ll use physical

weapons that do not work against him so

he has deceived us for far too long

and I think it is time for the people of

God but the women of God to decide you

know what I’m gonna use the weapons that

work and I’m gonna stand firm against

the schemes of

I’m gonna let you wrap this up or do you

want me wrap it up oh you can wrap it up

throw it to a break and then we’ll be

back in just few minutes we’re so glad

y’all join us for chat with Priscilla

it’s been great sitting in the living

room with all of you eating our cupcakes

and drinking our coffee and thank you

again it’s an honor to be on the program

with you I hope you enjoyed chat with

Priscilla hey it’s your acting like

we’re closing we’re just going to a

break throw to a break it’s just a break

yeah we have one more we have one we’re

coming back for more

[Applause]

hi I’m Priscilla and I wanted to take an

opportunity to invite you personally to

join me

for a seven session Bible study on the

armour of God will dive deeply into what

it means to be equipped to stand firm

against the schemes of the enemy he is

very real and he has been so strategic

and targeted in his attacks against us

why shouldn’t we be equally strategic

and targeted and standing firm against

him and you and I have an opportunity to

suit up to put on some armor that works

and to go to battle and to see victory

declared in our lives and the lives of

those people that we love

this Bible study will be one that would

change our lives forever and will help

us to walk in victory so plan to join me

won’t you the armor of God

welcome back

I’m so glad that you guys are here again

I want to welcome any of you that are

joining us on the other side of the

screen thank you for being here with us

live tonight we are in Huntsville of

Alabama and I am with two of my favorite

people in the world would you just

applaud and welcome again Steven and

Karen

you’re awesome um you know what Steven I

just remembered you have a little cameo

in this movie – I do I got cut out of

the first three movies and so we picked

a role that I knew I couldn’t be cut out

of and and we tried to do something that

I could do easily and I’m a jump rope

competition announcer in this movie for

what it’s worth you know what I

appreciate about these guys among many

other things that I’ve already mentioned

is that they don’t automatically get

roles in their movies they have to

audition in front of a group of people

as well that will decide if they’re

really the best for these films so they

could be the writer of the film they

still have to audition before they get a

role so they’re they’re their children

as well they don’t like put their kids

in the movies and stuff like that

everybody has to audition they don’t

give any roles because it’s about

impacting people not about us we have to

come back to that yeah that’s awesome

okay there is another clip that we would

like to show you this particular clip

when it was filmed this was one of the

many times that Alex Kendrick stopped

all of the filming brought the camera

people lighting art wardrobe everybody

came in so that we could pray pray pray

together about the effectiveness of this

particular scene they wanted to make

sure that it would go forth in power and

that people that just thought they came

for a movie and they’re just having

their popcorn and they’re just having

their coke when they see this particular

scene the Holy Spirit of God will grab

hold of them so please watch Karen

Abercrombie in action as she shares the

gospel

[Applause]

I’m sorry just thought I should call

Tony I understand you think you’d be

more alarmed he just kept saying that

since we were all okay she’s just calm

down I’m having trouble calming down I

said really

you seemed calm earlier yeah but I got a

huge sugar rush from all that ice cream

yeah I feel like I could run around a

block of v-tach

oh why are we on the subject of Tony I

have something for you to do what’s that

I want you to write down everything that

you can think of that he’s done wrong

miss Clara if I did that I’ll be right

in a long time well then just write down

the highlights and I’ll be back to check

on you in a little while

oh that’s almost three pages and I could

write more but you’ll get the gist of it

when you read it actually I’m not gonna

read it

my question to you is this in light of

all these wrongs does God still love

Tony we both know he does do you know

miss Clara you’re meddling there’s love

in my heart for Tony but it’s just

buried under a lot of frustration so he

needs grace grace I don’t know that he

deserves grace do you deserve grace miss

Clara you have a habit of backing me up

in a corner and making me squirm I felt

the same way but the question still

remains do you deserve grace the Bible

says that no one is righteous not even

one for we have all sinned so really

none of us deserve grace but we all

still want God’s forgiveness Elizabeth

it comes down to this

Jesus shared his blood on the cross he

died for you even when you did not

deserve it

and it rose from the grave and offers

forgiveness and salvation for anyone who

turns to him but the Bible also says

that we can’t ask him to forgive us

while refusing to forgive others I know

miss Clara but that’s just so hard to do

yes it is yes it is

but that’s where grace comes in he gives

us grace and he helps us to give it to

others even when they don’t deserve it

we all deserve judgment and that is what

Oh

gives us when we don’t repent and

believe in his son I had to forgive Leo

for some things and it wasn’t easy but

it freed me Elizabeth there’s not room

for you and God on a throne of your

heart it’s either him or it’s you you

need to step down now if you want

victory you’re gonna have the first

surrender

well I mean really Bravo to the writers

of these movies who make the Gospels so

clear they’re not messing around I love

that but you brought those words to life

and so I want to ask you about when you

hear those words what does it mean to

you personally as a woman that loves the

Lord tell us a little bit about when you

came to know the Lord and what your sort

of spiritual journey has been in terms

of seeing the Lord manifest himself in

your life and in your experience

well I’m sure like many of the people in

the audience I gave my life to Christ as

a young girl you know as a young child

but once I left the children’s choir in

high school I lived a completely

different life you know partying hanging

out all of that stuff and it wasn’t

until several years later that I read my

life to Christ and the grace the grace

is I look back the places he kept me

safe the places he brought me from

Amazing Grace and I stayed on my knees

for over seven years praying for a baby

and I’ll never forget I was now 38 and

my menstrual cycle hadn’t come on and it

was quite regular and I tried a

pregnancy test it was pink went back to

the drugstore got another one it was

pink by the time I had finished testing

I had gone to the drugstore several

times tested five times but the god of

grace that brought me through saw me

through so much during my teenage years

opened up my wound like he did many of

women and I’ve got an amazing son right

now but I’ve seen his grace over

and over and over and over it was over a

huge miracle a huge answer to your huge

answer to prayer a huge and and the

reality is that is what this movie is

all about is reminding people that there

really is power in prayer that it is not

it cannot be y’all it cannot be an

afterthought it cannot be something we

do on occasion or we can’t just throw

something up and you know hope it sticks

we’ve got to be strategic and

intentional and passionate about our

prayer lives because prayer really is

the divinely authorized mechanism that

God has given us to connect not only

with him but to all of our spiritual

blessings and resources that are

available to us in heavenly places so

that we could stand firm against the

enemy prayer is like your Wi-Fi

connection to God it’s what puts the

antenna up and lets you stay connected

to him and he answers right on time it

may take a long time but he answers

right on time just like me getting this

role or it even coming in my direction

me even being in Charlotte after living

in LA at this time I mean his timing is

perfect

we were thinking recently about in Luke

chapter 1 when we’re introduced to John

the Baptist father Zechariah yes and he

is an old man now and he’s at the time

of the burning of incense and the angel

says to him God has answered your prayer

and he’s like what he says you’re gonna

have a child and he’s like I didn’t pray

that like years ago what do you mean I’m

gonna and he didn’t even believe it you

know he was stricken with silence

because he didn’t believe it but if you

go back and think about it the timing of

the Lord was perfect because he John the

Baptist needed to be in Elizabeth’s womb

when Mary walked in with Jesus in her

womb and to kick and Furby for him he

had to be the right age to be able to

say behold the lamb of God who takes

away the sin of the world God’s timing

on the answer of that prayer was perfect

but he answered it 20 years later and we

look back and say Lord how wise you were

to choose that but I’m sure in the

moment for many years Zechariah and

Elizabeth were saying Lord where are you

at in our crisis

luli but when he answered that prayer

when he answered it that that that the

child would wash the feet of Jesus he

answered it to them you know this summer

we jokingly but very it ended up being

very seriously that we called the

Kendrick brothers Pastor Steven and

pastor Alex all summer

excuse me Jerry and I did and lots of

people did and they actually are pastors

and our ministry leaders and I want you

to talk to the woman that is praying

right now for something and honestly

she’s discouraged because she’d been

praying a long time about that husband

or about having a child or about her

health or finances and it’s been a long

rough journey and honestly she really is

discouraged and on the brink of kind of

giving up well the the in Scripture the

the Lord looks at us when we’re praying

he loves us he he sent Christ to die and

and open up the the veil so that we

could talk to God he didn’t do that so

he could say no to our prayers the Holy

Spirit is in us prompting us to cry out

Abba Father talking to our Heavenly

Father he didn’t do that so he could say

no to our prayers and so he wants us to

be right with him first when our kids

come to us and and they’re in rebellion

a lot of times we’re like I don’t even

want to hear what you’re asking for

right now because I want you to be right

in your heart and a lot of times the

Lord I think with us he wants to make

sure we’re right with him we have a

relationship with him but secondly his

timing is perfect and God God many times

will say you know you’re asking for this

but I have something so much better than

what you’re asking for but I want you to

trust my timing on this and so one thing

that helps me to pray in faith is to

first spend time thanking God it’s like

in Philippians 4 when it says instead of

worrying stead of being anxious with

with prayer and supplication with

Thanksgiving let your requests be made

known to God when I spend time looking

in the rearview mirror thanking God for

His faithfulness in the past it gives me

that running head start to now pray with

faith towards the future trusting him

with that but here’s the other thing the

Lord reminds me he’s like Steven I do

things for my name

sake and I I have been Jehovah Jireh for

all these generations and I’m not gonna

ruin my reputation on a balding

gray-headed 41 year old in Albany

Georgia you know and so he’s not gonna

ruin his reputation on you God loves you

and he wants you to keep trusting him

and and keep coming before him Jesus had

asked and keep on seeking seeking

knocking keep on knocking and when we do

that God is gonna answer so we can trust

the sovereign faithfulness of God with

our prayers and we got to keep rabid on

and hanging on during those times he

knows what he’s doing yes he does know

what he’s doing and I even want to

encourage you you will see when you see

the entire film and I can’t wait for all

of you to see it but when you do see it

you will see that this movie is not just

about praying but it’s about being very

strategic in your prayers writing down

your prayers so that a lot of it is so

that you can remember what your focus is

so that you can be intentional so that

when you post that prayer up on your

wall and you see it you remember oh you

know what I’m gonna be praying that

prayer today while I’m washing these

dishes or while I’m folding these

clothes or while I’m getting dressed or

washing little hands of my kids that I’m

home with today I’m gonna be praying

this prayer and be strategic about it

because here’s the thing y’all the enemy

is strategic about his attacks against

us he’s not mess you know he’s not just

doing he doesn’t have this general

broad-stroke approach to to all of us of

course he’s got some general ways that

he comes against humanity and comes

against the body of Christ but when he

looks at you he is targeting your

weaknesses and your vulnerabilities and

so we need to be that strategic in our

prayers against him don’t we we need to

be targeted and so I want to encourage

you as we close our time together to

take prayer seriously enough to be

strategic about it just like you would

about other areas of your life that

you’re serious about so if you would

have a financial plan because you want

to be able to retire at a certain age

and be able to be comfortable at a

certain age well you put a plan together

you might even meet with a wise

financial planner who helps you to set

that plan in motion well if we will do

that for our finances or for our health

when we want to lose a few pounds or you

want to get healthy in our body well we

set a plan in place and we might even

have accountability because we want to

make sure that

there is somebody there to make sure we

wake up at 5:00 in the morning go to the

gym like we said we would well if we

will do that in those areas of our life

why wouldn’t we do it in the most

important area of our life so that we

can stand firm against the schemes of

the enemy and so I want to encourage you

not just to see the movie yeah see the

movie but I want to make sure that you

prioritize prayer in your life so that

you can see how effective it really can

be in your family in your personal life

and in all the affairs that are near and

dear to you so thank you so much for

joining us I’m so glad that you were

here I’m so glad that all of you are

here and I’m wondering if one more time

you would help me to thank these

incredible people for being on this

platform with

[Music]

you