Pure Flix Entertainment founder David A.R. White, who is also an actor and producer of the highly popular "God's Not Dead" movie franchise, has shared how God's faithfulness has been helping him push faith-based movies that touch the hearts of moviegoers.
He said "a lot of prayer" has gone into the creation of "God's Not Dead 3," which they are currently filming.
"Throughout the process, we've prayed for what it is that God wants us to do through this franchise, and what's that next step," he told the Gospel Herald. "Our prayer for 'God's Not Dead 3' is that the Lord continues to guide us through each and every step that we take."
"We pray that we're not doing it for our own agenda or what we're passionate about, but ultimately, what the Lord wants for these films and what the Lord wants for Pure Flix and what He wants Pure Flix to do," he said.
The studio released the first movie "God's Not Dead" in 2014. With just a budget of $2 million, the movie surprised everyone when it earned $8.6 million from just 780 theatres during its first weekend of release.
All in all, the movie earned $60 million, making it the fifth most profitable film in cinema history based on return of investment. Because of this, the studio produced a sequel entitled "God's Not Dead 2" starring Melissa Joan Hart and Sadie Robertson among other stars.
But White revealed that success wasn't always on their side. He struggled financially for years before co-founding Pure Flix in 2005.
"It took us a long time to get to this point," he recalled. "We were around for a number of years before 'God's Not Dead' happened. We struggled for year two and three, we went without a salary for almost two years. I learned that my wife really did love me in the process of having to sell off everything we owned. It was a tough deal; to keep things going wasn't always easy."
But that was not all. White and his colleagues faced a lot of backlash for making Christian films. White said it's easy to think that they had an easy ride now that they've reached this level of success. But the truth is, White said with every success comes a new set of problems to conquer.
"It's an interesting thing, because a lot of times when people have success of some sort, then they think life is going to be easy," he reflected. "But with that, with the success ... comes a new set of challenges and struggles and things that happen."
Throughout everything that's happened to them, White has learned one thing: God is faithful. God never left their side even at their lowest point. That's why they vowed to exhaust all their energies in glorifying Him.
"When you think about the doors that open up and what one can accomplish, it always comes back to me that God is faithful," White said. "No matter what life throws at you, God will work out all things for those who love Him. God has your back, He is for you, and He will not let you go."
