Episode 105 - Testimony Series - God Showed up in Guatemala

This episode is a part of our December Testimony series. A series of short testimonies of times that God showed up upon set or in ways related to the film-industry.

In this episode, Matt Chastain, writer, director, and podcast host, recounts a miraculous event that occurred during the filming of 'Small Group' in Guatemala City. He describes how the team incorporated real ministry work by Nathan Hardeman from Engadi Ministries into the film, and faced a tight shooting schedule amid impending rain during the rainy season. Despite the stress, Chastain shares a moment of divine intervention where the rain miraculously held off, allowing the crew to finish shooting just in time. Chastain emphasizes the importance of the work done by Engadi Ministries, urging the audience to support their mission.

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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. 

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My name is Matt Chastain.

I am a writer and director and one of the hosts of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

So, quite a few years ago, while we were making Small Group the movie, those of you who have seen it will remember that probably the best 15 or 20 minutes of the story takes place in Guatemala City.

My thought was that we really needed our protagonist, this guy who, he's been hired to make a documentary on the dwindling influence of Christianity in America.

I needed him to experience Jesus more intensely than maybe he was going to in an upper middle class megachurch.

So I asked my buddy Nathan Hardeman within Engadi Ministries if we can incorporate his real ministry into our story, and he so very graciously allowed us to do that.

Now, in the movie, the role of Sam is played by the amazing Nelson Bonilla, who you may or may not recognize as the assassin, also named Nelson, from the series Ozark.

But the character is 100 percent based on Nathan Hardeman, who He may not look it, but he was born and raised in Guatemala, a missionary's kid himself.

So, we have to shoot this really intense scene that's basically a confrontation between a local gang leader and Sam.

But we only had about four hours to shoot there, and our schedule was really tight.

There was no margin for error here.

Now, part of the cost savings that our producers managed was that we only brought one camera down.

It was an Alexa package that, it was prior to the camera, big package.

But shooting just one camera meant we couldn't shoot in cross coverage to save time.

We had to set up and shoot the master, which, with all these people in the scene, took, you know, almost an hour to shoot.

And then we had to shoot the entire scene at Sam's character's side, which probably took the better part of an hour.

And then we had to shift coverage to the gangster's side.

Now, the problem is, we decided that it would be a great idea to shoot in Guatemala City during the rainy season.

And the clouds, they were coming.

And don't get me wrong, this scene would have actually been very cool to shoot in the rain.

But, we'd already shot the master, and one of the cover scenes, and it's like 2: 30 in the afternoon.

Now, you absolutely have to be done shooting.

packed up and in the van at 4 p.

m.

The entire crew not one second later because the gangs all of a sudden have no grace for you after 4 p.

m.

They own the streets.

Well, they own the streets all the time, but especially after 4 p.

m.

So there's no way that if it starts raining We'd be able to go back and shoot the master and then shoot the cover of the angles that we'd already shot and then come Back to the gangster scene which wouldn't have time The day was gonna be wasted and and the entire crew was actually scheduled to fly out the next morning you So, we were in trouble.

Now, as the rain clouds are on their way, they're, they're dumping rain on the entire city, I'm stressed.

The producers are really stressed.

And I look over at Nathan, he's a man who is as surrendered to the will of God as any human I've ever met.

And he's just sitting there calmly praying.

I walk over to him, and his eyes pop open, and he just looks at me confidently and says, we'll be fine, but we should move quickly.

I kid you not, the storm clouds had covered the entire city except for one little circle, almost like the eye of a hurricane over this compound.

Everyone on the crew looked up and they saw that complete coverage and their jaws dropped.

It's an absolute miracle.

So, we snap them out of it.

We shoot the rest of the scene with a sense of urgency.

I call cut on the last shot, and we ask everybody to gather for this photo, and as soon as it gets snapped, and the first AD calls location wrap, the rains start to pour.

It was, as I put it that day, a really bad day to be an athiest.

But I think it was just God's way of saying look, I got this if you submit your will and trust me now shameless plug Yes, I'd love for you to watch small group the movie if you haven't or go watch it again But more than that I'd like you to check out the work that Nathan and his team have been doing in Guatemala City's zone 18 for the last couple of decades because I don't think God showed up that day to be honest because he's a Movie buff and he wanted to see me make my little film I think he kept the rain away so that we could show the world what it's really like to do his work by telling Engadi's story because as filmmakers, I think we have a major responsibility to completely submit our will to him when we're telling stories because they are his stories.