Episode 70 - From Shooting Artillery to Shooting Movies with Kevin Bouren

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, hosts Jaclyn and Geoffrey Whitt interview Kevin Bouren. Kevin narrates his unique journey from commanding artillery soldiers and advising leaders at the Pentagon to co-founding Set Shepherds, a ministry aimed at transforming film set culture. He shares pivotal moments, such as how his son's interest in filmmaking led to opportunities in the industry and ultimately to his role as a film producer and set chaplain with Aaron Burns and the Kendrick Brothers. Kevin emphasizes trusting God's plan even when facing uncertainties.

Here are the Highlights:

• Kevin's Military Journey
• Sharing Faith in the Military
• Transition to Filmmaking
• Supporting His Son, and Lamplighter Ministries
• First Film Set Experience
• ‘Life Mark’ and God's Timing
• ‘Legacy Peak’ and New Opportunities
• Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Kevin on LInkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbouren

Set Shepherds: www.SetShepherds.com

Bio:

From commanding field artillery Soldiers in combat and advising our Nation's senior military and political leaders at the Pentagon to producing faith-based films and shining the Light of Christ to cast and crew members alike. We're exploring film producer Kevin Bouren's journey and how those experiences ultimately led him to being the Co-Founder of Set Shepherds, a ministry which seeks to change the film set culture from the inside.

Content Christian media Conference Discount Code: 50FAFF

Jaclyn's Book, In the Beginning, Middle, and End https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

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Geoff: 00:00:00

to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

It's great to be with you today.

Geoff: 00:00:03

I'm Geoff,

Jaclyn: 00:00:04

I'm Jacqueline

Geoff: 00:00:05

and today our guest is Kevin Boren.

Jaclyn: 00:00:08

from Commanding Field Artillery Soldiers in Combat and advising our nation's senior military and political leaders at the Pentagon to producing faith-based films and shining the light of Christ to cast and crew members alike.

Jaclyn: 00:00:21

We are exploring filmmaker, producer.

Jaclyn: 00:00:24

Kevin Boren's journey and how those experiences ultimately led him to being the co founder of Set Shepherds, a ministry which seeks to change the film set culture from the inside.

Jaclyn: 00:00:35

Welcome to the podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:36

Welcome Kevin.

Kevin: 00:00:37

Thank you so much for having me.

Kevin: 00:00:39

I appreciate it.

Geoff: 00:00:40

We met you at, Christian Worldview Festival earlier this year, so, um, I'm glad that we finally get to have this conversation.

Kevin: 00:00:47

Amen.

Kevin: 00:00:47

I agree.

Kevin: 00:00:48

thank the Lord.

Jaclyn: 00:00:49

That's quite a journey to go from, the military to a film set.

Jaclyn: 00:00:55

I mean, I'm sure you're not the only one that made that, uh, journey, but it is a very unique journey.

Jaclyn: 00:01:01

can you first tell me what drew you to the military, what your role was there, and then how that shifted into film?

Kevin: 00:01:09

Yes.

Kevin: 00:01:09

when I was in high school, I was trying to decide and pray about what the Lord would have me do as I left high school.

Kevin: 00:01:17

And should I go pursue, uh, you know, college or some sort of a vocational career.

Kevin: 00:01:22

And as I was seeking that, I grew up as a pastor's kid.

Kevin: 00:01:26

So I kind of sensed that maybe I should go into ministry.

Kevin: 00:01:30

full time vocational ministry.

Kevin: 00:01:32

And my dad had a conversation with me when I was a junior in high school.

Kevin: 00:01:35

And he said, you know, Kevin, don't, don't ever assume that the only way you can be a full time minister is to be a pastor.

Kevin: 00:01:41

He said, we live as Christians in this world and wherever we go, wherever the Lord plants us, It's our responsibility to be ministers of the gospel.

Kevin: 00:01:51

So I know you're interested in the military and if you want to join the military, then I support you a hundred percent.

Kevin: 00:01:57

Just make sure you shine the light of Christ there.

Kevin: 00:02:00

So that was how I got my journey started in the military.

Kevin: 00:02:03

Went off and joined right out of high school and went to West Point and then graduated 97 and commissioned.

Kevin: 00:02:10

as an officer and then served for, uh, over 30 years when it was all said and done in uniform from 1992 through 2022.

Jaclyn: 00:02:18

Wow.

Jaclyn: 00:02:19

Yeah, that's quite a journey, quite a career.

Jaclyn: 00:02:21

did you feel like you were able to shine the light of Christ while you were working there?

Jaclyn: 00:02:26

Like that you had, those moments, those encounters where you were able to really touch people's hearts?

Jaclyn: 00:02:31

Mm

Kevin: 00:02:33

uh, I always tell folks that I was oftentimes accused of being a chaplain disguised as a commander and, uh, I'm guilty as charged.

Kevin: 00:02:42

I made no, apologies whatsoever for talking about Christ in the workplace.

Kevin: 00:02:47

I would start each of my jobs With a welcome brief where I would introduce myself to the team and I would just talk about my personal faith and how I can't separate Christ from who I am any more than I could separate blood from my body and continue to live.

Kevin: 00:03:02

And so I would have a conversation with all my troops, just letting them know that they don't have to agree with what I'm going to say and they don't have to share my beliefs, but if they want to know who Kevin Boren is, They're going to have to know who Jesus is because he's the very essence of who I am.

Kevin: 00:03:16

And my faith is not something that's reserved for an hour on Sundays.

Kevin: 00:03:20

My faith infuses every fiber of my being, every conversation that I have.

Kevin: 00:03:26

It informs every decision that I make.

Kevin: 00:03:28

And my faith is again, the very essence.

Kevin: 00:03:31

My faith in Christ is the very essence of who I am.

Kevin: 00:03:34

So I would start that way.

Kevin: 00:03:35

And then that just opened many doors of conversation with my soldiers, regardless of their background, whether they shared my faith or they were an atheist or some other faith, we would always, have really neat conversations.

Kevin: 00:03:48

And God would open many doors for me to shine the light of Christ and to share the gospel.

Kevin: 00:03:53

And it was, the highlight of my entire time in the military because God made it very clear to me, Kevin, I'm not giving you this rank or this responsibility or this platform so that you can self actualize and just get a bunch of, you know, decorations and power.

Kevin: 00:04:08

I'm giving you this platform.

Kevin: 00:04:10

To be an ambassador for Jesus Christ and the military was the mission field upon which God placed me.

Kevin: 00:04:17

And I now, to your other question, I now find myself transitioning out of being a soldier in the United States Army.

Kevin: 00:04:26

And I'm now a full time soldier continuing to be a full time soldier in the Lord's army.

Kevin: 00:04:30

And I love getting to go on these film sets and serve in a leadership capacity just like I did in the military.

Kevin: 00:04:38

And I get to shine the light of Christ to our cast and crew members and help them see that this is my new mission field where I'm an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

Geoff: 00:04:48

Can we go to the beginning of this new phase in your life?

Geoff: 00:04:51

How did that start?

Geoff: 00:04:53

what was your foray into, the film sets?

Kevin: 00:04:55

Yeah, I get this question a lot cause people want to know, how do you go from shooting artillery to shooting movies?

Kevin: 00:05:02

And I said, well,

Geoff: 00:05:03

ha ha

Kevin: 00:05:04

It started with my oldest son, Brady.

Kevin: 00:05:06

He, when he was between eight and 10 years old, he got really interested in Lego stop motion videos.

Kevin: 00:05:13

And this, you know, of course, every young kid loves Legos.

Kevin: 00:05:17

And so he's playing with his Legos, but then he wanted to figure out, he had seen a stop motion.

Kevin: 00:05:21

Actually, it was at a homeschool conference.

Kevin: 00:05:24

There was a homeschool family that had made some really neat biblical stop motion videos with Legos.

Kevin: 00:05:29

And that really got Brady fascinated with wanting to do the same thing.

Kevin: 00:05:34

So we were just cultivating his desire to make stop motion videos.

Kevin: 00:05:39

And we came across a fascinating organization ministry called Lamp Lighter Ministries up in New York, and they do audio dramas.

Kevin: 00:05:47

And they also have a guild in the summer.

Kevin: 00:05:50

they actually just finished it last week, but they have a guild in the summer where it's a guild for the creative disciplines and they bring master instructors from around the world into this place for a week.

Kevin: 00:06:01

And all the students study as apprentices at the feet of the master.

Kevin: 00:06:06

And they had a filmmaking track and the year 2020 was the first time we had gone to this guild and the filmmaking master instructor was one Aaron Burns.

Kevin: 00:06:17

Aaron Burns, who also happens to serve as one of the producers for the Kendrick Brothers, had just, started getting into, uh, wanting to direct his own films.

Kevin: 00:06:28

So he was doing this lamplighter guild where my son was one of his students.

Kevin: 00:06:33

And at the end of the week, Aaron told me, he said, you know, Kevin, your son has been incredibly gifted by God with some very natural talent in filmmaking, cinematography.

Kevin: 00:06:45

He just has an eye for it.

Kevin: 00:06:47

And keep in mind my son is 14 years old at this time.

Kevin: 00:06:51

so Aaron just says, I really encourage you, Kevin, you should cultivate his interest because he has something special.

Kevin: 00:06:58

Now as an artillery officer in the army and as a human resources officer, Uh, for the second half of my career, you know, at this point I'm a colonel in the army and I don't know the first thing about

Kevin: 00:07:10

film,

Kevin: 00:07:10

but

Jaclyn: 00:07:11

How do I, cultivate this?

Kevin: 00:07:12

yes, that's exactly the question I had.

Kevin: 00:07:16

So Aaron, I mean, I think what he does is good, but you're a filmmaker.

Kevin: 00:07:19

You have an eye for this stuff and if you think it's great, you definitely have my attention.

Kevin: 00:07:23

What do I need to do to cultivate it?

Kevin: 00:07:25

And he said, well, what I would like to do with your permission, I would like to invite you and Brady to come.

Kevin: 00:07:29

down to a project I'm going to be working on in the fall.

Kevin: 00:07:33

Well, because of COVID, the fall turned into the spring of 2021.

Kevin: 00:07:38

so they shifted the shooting of this movie and we end up driving down to Georgia, having no idea where we're going what set we're going to go on, but we walk in to the set of Life Mark.

Geoff: 00:07:49

uh

Kevin: 00:07:50

So Life Mark was the Kendrick Brothers seventh feature film.

Kevin: 00:07:54

And we walk in and the first person I see when I walked through the door is Alex Kendrick.

Kevin: 00:08:00

And I wasn't expecting, you know, I thought when Aaron said he'd had a project, I didn't know the lingo in the industry.

Kevin: 00:08:06

So I'm thinking it's like a few guys in someone's backyard with a, you know, a shoulder cam and they're going to, shoot some fun stuff.

Kevin: 00:08:13

And I see Alex Kendrick and then the next guy I see is Kirk Cameron.

Kevin: 00:08:16

And you know, I grew up with Kirk Cameron.

Kevin: 00:08:18

So I was kind of like, wait a minute, where are we?

Kevin: 00:08:21

And so I nudged my son.

Kevin: 00:08:23

I said, Brady, that's Alex Kendrick.

Kevin: 00:08:25

that's Kirk Cameron.

Kevin: 00:08:26

and then the next thing I hear is Aaron.

Kevin: 00:08:28

I hear his voice.

Kevin: 00:08:28

Hey, Kevin, over here.

Kevin: 00:08:29

And I look over and so we walk over and I said, Aaron, what is this place?

Kevin: 00:08:33

He said, Oh, this is the Kendrick brothers film set.

Kevin: 00:08:36

It's called Life Mark.

Kevin: 00:08:37

And, uh, you guys, you know, you're going to spend a few days here and getting to observe what happens on a real movie set.

Kevin: 00:08:42

My son and I were blown away.

Kevin: 00:08:44

And while we're there, the one agreement I had to make was Aaron wanted me to lead a morning devotional for the cast and crew.

Kevin: 00:08:52

In exchange for getting to spend a few days on set so that my son could experience life on a film set.

Kevin: 00:08:58

And I thought, sure, I'll gladly do that.

Kevin: 00:09:00

Well, I didn't know that sitting five feet in front of me at this morning devotional was going to be Kirk Cameron amongst all the others.

Kevin: 00:09:07

So I was a little bit

Kevin: 00:09:07

starstruck . And I'm just sharing what the Lord had put on my heart that morning and the Lord used it powerfully to impact the crew and the cast.

Kevin: 00:09:15

And many of them came and talked to me afterwards and just said, Hey, this is really powerful.

Kevin: 00:09:20

and I had several people on that set, uh, to include Stephen Kendrick since he was the lead producer.

Kevin: 00:09:26

Just say, Hey, you know, whenever you decide to leave the military, you might want to consider being a producer in film because you've got a lot of great military experience that we would love to leverage on a film set.

Kevin: 00:09:37

And we can tell you have a heart for the Lord and for people.

Kevin: 00:09:41

And so this could be a really good combination to minister to a cast and crew and help solve problems, put out fires as a co producer.

Kevin: 00:09:49

And then as a set chaplain, you could be someone who's, you know, ministering to the team and doing counseling and just encouraging others and leading devotionals and praying with

Jaclyn: 00:09:57

Mm hmm.

Kevin: 00:09:58

And that was very fascinating, intriguing to me.

Kevin: 00:10:01

And on that set was Ed Griffin Hagen, who's my ministry partner.

Kevin: 00:10:05

cause his house is across the street from where they were shooting and they had asked him as a local pastor to come in and do, you know, some of the morning devotionals and to just minister to the cast and crew as well, he and his wife.

Kevin: 00:10:16

And so he and I hit it off and started just talking and spent some time over at his place.

Kevin: 00:10:22

And that just turned into, unbeknownst to me, God was actually paving the way for my future career outside of the military.

Kevin: 00:10:31

Because I was preparing after this in spring of 21, I was getting ready to go to Fort Bliss, Texas, El Paso, to take command, uh, the garrison command of the largest army post.

Kevin: 00:10:44

In the United States Army.

Kevin: 00:10:45

And there are 90, 000 soldiers there at Fort Bliss.

Kevin: 00:10:47

And this was going to be a very consequential assignment, a significant level of responsibility.

Kevin: 00:10:53

So as soon as I was done leading that morning devotional, Stephen Kendrick felt led by the Lord to have the cast and crew gather around me and pray over me.

Kevin: 00:11:03

Now I thought that was a little odd only because I was there to minister to them and now he has them all laying hands on me and praying over me.

Kevin: 00:11:10

And I have to tell you this part of the story because it absolutely blew my mind what the Lord was doing.

Kevin: 00:11:17

Stephen and I in that moment, neither one of us knew, What was about to happen, but God did.

Kevin: 00:11:24

So we thought that maybe the reason Stephen and Stephen even articulated this when he came up and said, Hey, let's all gather around Kevin.

Kevin: 00:11:31

He said, you know, Kevin's going to be taking command down on our Southern border.

Kevin: 00:11:35

This is, you know, that was 2021, right?

Kevin: 00:11:38

As all these migrants were coming across the border and they were housing them on Fort Bliss.

Kevin: 00:11:43

And he said, you know, Kevin may be thrust into the spotlight, into the news, and he's got all this responsibility and there's a lot of decisions and a lot of weightiness to this assignment.

Kevin: 00:11:52

Let's pray over him.

Kevin: 00:11:53

Well, I didn't know that I was going to go back to the Pentagon the following Monday.

Kevin: 00:11:58

And that my entire career was going to get flipped on its head.

Kevin: 00:12:01

And I'd find myself just, uh, less than 18 months later, I thought I would be, you know, in the army for another 10 years or more.

Kevin: 00:12:09

And I found myself out of the army on October 1st of 2022.

Kevin: 00:12:15

And that was a transition that was based on, the, uh, the COVID shot.

Kevin: 00:12:19

And, I had submitted a medical exemption to the United States Army.

Kevin: 00:12:23

They denied it and said, you either have to get the shot or you're going to be forced into early retirement.

Kevin: 00:12:27

And, my doctors did not feel comfortable with me getting that shot.

Kevin: 00:12:30

I had medical contraindications to it.

Kevin: 00:12:33

And, uh, they said, you know, you'll be at high risk for life threatening.

Kevin: 00:12:36

reactions if you get this.

Kevin: 00:12:37

So I submitted my retirement, sadly.

Kevin: 00:12:40

at the time I thought sadly, but you know what?

Kevin: 00:12:43

I bring up that whole story because do you know where I was on October 1st of 2022?

Kevin: 00:12:50

was standing on the same square of concrete That I had given that morning devotional for Life Mark, but now I'm the co producer and set chaplain for the movie Birthright Outlaw.

Kevin: 00:13:02

And that was my first day as a retired soldier.

Geoff: 00:13:05

First day.

Kevin: 00:13:06

And I'm standing there in Georgia working for Aaron Burns, the director, and I'm his co producer and his set chaplain.

Kevin: 00:13:13

And I'm making my first feature film on my first day on retirement.

Kevin: 00:13:18

And I could never have drafted that up.

Kevin: 00:13:21

That was the hand of God orchestrating those steps all through my son, who had an interest in Lego stop motion videos.

Kevin: 00:13:29

then manifesting itself into his desire.

Kevin: 00:13:32

And now he's already directed his own first short film, Ember.

Kevin: 00:13:36

And then he's worked on six or seven film sets.

Kevin: 00:13:40

And it's just been amazing how the Lord has allowed us to work as a family on these sets, which by the way, was an answer to a 15 year prayer.

Kevin: 00:13:48

I had been asking the Lord for a way that we could serve as a family when I left the military, whenever that was.

Kevin: 00:13:55

just a fascinating, Evidence of God's sovereign hand orchestrating steps well before we ever know what he's doing.

Jaclyn: 00:14:04

Exactly.

Jaclyn: 00:14:05

Yes.

Jaclyn: 00:14:06

Yes.

Geoff: 00:14:07

I notice some of these people that you've already mentioned are on your board of directors, Kirk Cameron, Aaron Burns, others that would have been probably on that same set,

Kevin: 00:14:17

Yes.

Kevin: 00:14:17

Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin: 00:14:18

In fact, that's what I meant when I was talking about the Lord was he was establishing connections and relationships with key people throughout this time when I was I was in my final 18 months in the army, but I didn't know it.

Kevin: 00:14:33

And the Lord was laying down all these really key relationships and establishing strong prayer warriors.

Kevin: 00:14:40

And that, was actually the key part of this was the men God was bringing in my life in those last 18 months, they specifically were feeling burdened to pray for me and for my family.

Kevin: 00:14:52

As we were navigating this very difficult, transition of what's going on.

Kevin: 00:14:56

We've got this mandate that's coming out.

Kevin: 00:14:59

kind of saw that on the horizon and I knew that was going to potentially be a problem.

Kevin: 00:15:03

And I just thought, you know what, I'm going to have to trust the Lord through this because you know, this is the way God operates.

Kevin: 00:15:09

He knows things that we don't know and I just have to trust him in it.

Kevin: 00:15:12

And so God built those relationships in such a powerful way.

Jaclyn: 00:15:15

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:15:16

I love how often that comes up is the timing of God and the way that he things.

Jaclyn: 00:15:22

It's just, it's so common that we hear that.

Jaclyn: 00:15:25

And, you know, I think that's one of the things that I love about having this podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:15:29

is being able to hear from so many people, it's just so encouraging.

Jaclyn: 00:15:34

Because, you know, when you're in that time, whether it be of transition or waiting on the Lord, or, you know, trying to figure out if something's gonna ever get off the ground, hearing these stories of, you know, God provided in His timing, in His way, but it's He does it.

Jaclyn: 00:15:51

Um, yeah, much for sharing that, it It is incredible when you look back and realize, like, he was already working on answering that prayer for such a long time, you know, and then he brought it about in the right timing.

Kevin: 00:16:05

Yeah.

Kevin: 00:16:05

And you know, I left out a key, thing that happened right between my, um, doing the life mark morning devotional for the cast and crew and then co producing and being set chaplain for birthright outlaw in that window in between, it was the fall of 2021, where my whole family, I took leave.

Kevin: 00:16:25

While I was in the army and we drove up to Estes Park, Colorado, because Aaron Burns was directing his first film called Legacy Peak.

Kevin: 00:16:36

And he asked if we were available to come help with the movie.

Kevin: 00:16:41

And he said, I can't pay you guys, but I can put you up, cover your expenses.

Kevin: 00:16:45

And I said, you don't need to pay us because I'm being paid by the United States army.

Kevin: 00:16:48

I've got a full time job, but I can take leave.

Kevin: 00:16:51

And that'd be great if our lodging and meals are taken care of, we'd love to do whatever we can, you know, to help on that set.

Kevin: 00:16:57

So we came up to Estes Park and helped them make the movie Legacy Peak.

Kevin: 00:17:02

And while we were on that set, again, they had me do morning devotional, uh, had me just serving kind of wherever was needed and that the greatest need when I first got there.

Kevin: 00:17:11

was with the catering team.

Kevin: 00:17:13

they needed a dishwasher.

Kevin: 00:17:14

I love washing dishes.

Kevin: 00:17:15

So I was happy to be at the sink washing dishes and ministering to the catering team while I was washing.

Kevin: 00:17:20

And at the end of that first week of washing dishes, Aaron comes over to me and he taps me on the shoulder and he goes, Hey Colonel, I really appreciate that you're willing to wash the dishes, but I kind of feel like we have an underutilized resource on the set.

Kevin: 00:17:33

I feel like we could maybe maximize your, capacity and your ability in a different way.

Kevin: 00:17:38

And I said, Hey, Aaron, I'm here to serve, man, wherever you need me.

Kevin: 00:17:41

So they put me with the assistant director team, and that was actually where Aaron got the first opportunity to plant the seed.

Kevin: 00:17:50

with me and observe me working in a capacity where I'm just in a, more of a leadership, capacity, uh, working alongside the other leaders and just serving where it was needed.

Kevin: 00:18:00

And he did tell me at that moment, and it was, this was late November of 2021.

Kevin: 00:18:05

He said, if you ever leave the military, I would really love to work with you and your family.

Kevin: 00:18:10

I think you guys would be a real blessing.

Kevin: 00:18:12

You've been a blessing here on this set.

Kevin: 00:18:14

So that next summer, when I found out I was getting removed from the military in very short notice, Aaron got wind of that through my son because he's mentoring Brady.

Kevin: 00:18:24

And he called and said, Hey, Colonel, are you going to be available this fall?

Kevin: 00:18:27

Because we're going we're wanting to shoot my next film.

Kevin: 00:18:29

And I said, well, I had a really, really busy calendar, but now my calendar is very open.

Jaclyn: 00:18:34

Totally opened up.

Geoff: 00:18:35

hmm.

Kevin: 00:18:36

Yes, I'm going to be, out of the military.

Kevin: 00:18:38

So I've got a wide open calendar.

Kevin: 00:18:39

What do you need?

Kevin: 00:18:39

And that's when he had pitched the idea of me coming on to be the co producer and the set chaplain.

Jaclyn: 00:18:44

Wow, that's amazing.

Geoff: 00:18:46

Well, Kevin, we're going to talk a lot more about set shepherds and what you do on set when we get into our next episode.

Geoff: 00:18:53

It's been incredible hearing your, story and God's story.

Geoff: 00:18:57

Uh, God's timing, it's really amazing what can happen in your life when God's doing it and it's not something you're trying to make happen yourself.

Geoff: 00:19:05

but before we, finish up, is there anything you'd like to share, final thoughts with our listeners?

Kevin: 00:19:10

Yeah.

Kevin: 00:19:10

Actually, it's something you just said, Geoff, I think is really important for all of us.

Kevin: 00:19:15

And especially for your listeners, as we think about trusting God in all circumstances, I just want to encourage everybody who's listening, that oftentimes when we're in the middle of something, we don't necessarily understand all that's going on.

Kevin: 00:19:30

We don't have that entire path lit up for us.

Kevin: 00:19:35

You know, God gives us just enough light, to take that next step.

Kevin: 00:19:38

And that was something that God has really worked in my heart over these last two years since I left the military was just showing me that he was trustworthy and faithful through it all.

Kevin: 00:19:49

And he continues to be that because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Kevin: 00:19:53

And a lot of people, as they come into, this film industry or frankly, any, any way you go, but since we're talking faith and film, as folks are wanting to get into film industry, I know a lot of folks I've talked to on set, talking with cast and crew members, many of them will tell me, I don't know that I can really just work exclusively on faith based sets still provide them for my family and make a living.

Kevin: 00:20:17

So I go and I do these secular sets that maybe I have to make compromises and I've got to do some things that I wouldn't otherwise want to do, especially as a believer.

Kevin: 00:20:26

And I just want to encourage everybody.

Kevin: 00:20:28

If we truly believe that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, as it says in Psalms 50, then we have to trust God that if we honor him with the work of our hands, And we say, you know what?

Kevin: 00:20:41

I'm not going to compromise.

Kevin: 00:20:42

I'm not going to do things that I know would be dishonoring to the Lord because I just want to make money.

Kevin: 00:20:48

Then I believe the Lord will honor that.

Kevin: 00:20:51

And I'm not saying that you won't have difficulty and there won't be challenges.

Kevin: 00:20:55

I mean, we certainly are going to deal with difficulty.

Kevin: 00:20:57

Jesus said, in this life you will have troubles, but he says, take heart because I have overcome the world.

Kevin: 00:21:05

Well, if we are in Christ and Christ is in us, We have overcome the world.

Kevin: 00:21:10

And so I just want to encourage folks truly walk by faith and trust God, even when things aren't making sense in the moment, or you're not necessarily sure how you're going to make ends meet.

Kevin: 00:21:22

And so you might be tempted to just grab onto that opportunity that you know, isn't God's best for you, but you can't figure out how to make something else happen.

Kevin: 00:21:32

So you're just going to take this into your own hands versus saying, you know what, Lord, don't have a piece about doing that thing, but I do have a piece about following you and trusting you.

Kevin: 00:21:41

And then just watch, just watch what the Lord does.

Kevin: 00:21:45

I was literally about to be homeless.

Kevin: 00:21:49

as a 48 year old husband and father of four at the end of my career, cause the army gave me five weeks notice to leave the army and I had no job lined up.

Kevin: 00:21:58

I had no idea that I was going to be kicked out of the military.

Kevin: 00:22:01

And so I had five weeks notice and I could have easily just completely fretted.

Kevin: 00:22:07

in that

Kevin: 00:22:07

moment and run the other way.

Kevin: 00:22:09

Rather, by God's grace, I said, you know what, Lord, I don't know what the future holds, but I know that you hold it.

Kevin: 00:22:16

And I'm going to trust you to orchestrate the next steps.

Kevin: 00:22:19

And then God blew the door open for us to be on that film set where we could honor Christ.

Jaclyn: 00:22:24

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:22:25

Amen.

Jaclyn: 00:22:26

Fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:22:27

Thank you so much for sharing, and I look forward to talking with you more in the next episode.

Geoff: 00:22:31

Thanks, Kevin.

Kevin: 00:22:32

Absolutely.

Kevin: 00:22:32

Thank you so much.