- Welcome back.
Michael Spurlock is asalesman turned pastor
whose first assignment was essentially
to close the country church
where he was invited to serve as pastor.
More than 10 years later,
the church's doors are still open
and Michael Spurlock's storyis a major motion picture.
Our Studio 5 sits downwith Pastor Spurlock,
but first, here's aquick look at the film.
(gentle music)
- Dear friends in Christ, theReverend Michael Spurlock.
- Your first job as a pastoris to shut down a church.
- That's what it became.
- What are you thinkingwhen you take that job?
- We didn't meet before, I'm Michael.
- You here to sell the church, ain't ya?
- The fact is we had 12people in that church today.
- Jesus had 12 people.
He done all right, didn't he?
- It's hurting
and folks were discouragedand deflated, hurt,
not quite knowing how to move forward.
- Michael, you're not here to perform CPR.
- If passing out a few flyers
helps my congregation feelthey can let their church go,
I'm gonna do it.
- If All Saints had a future,
we didn't see how it wasgoing to be encumbered
with a building thathad an $850,000 mortgage
and a $5500 a month mortgage payment.
- We're closing the church, we're broke.
- What is broke?
- Yea when, and a group ofrefugees from Burma showed up
and it was really the 11th hour
when we thought we hadan offer on the church
and we're going to have to accept it
that I took a walk out onthe fields behind the church
and God said, "Michael,I have given you farmland
and I have sent 65 expert farmers
from the other side of the world.
You're supposed to start a farm here.
- Start a farm and worktogether, we save the church.
- [Congregant] Amen.
- How you gonna plot?
- It's funny you should mention that.
- What do you do withthat mandate from God
when you hear it?
- I ran up the hill to my office
and I called my senior warden,
who's the senior lay leader of the parish
who's a retired Methodist minister.
And I said, "He'll bring me to my senses."
So I called him and I said, "Michael,
I've just heard God tell me we're supposed
to start a farm here."
And he says, "Great, call the bishop."
- (laughing) Wow, so he didn'tbring you to your senses.
- He didn't bring me to my senses.
- You're blowing your boss's chance
at a big sale here, preacher.
- You risked our careers on this.
(screaming)
- You swore on oath as aminister to God, not to me.
To obey even when you disagree.
- Swore an oath as a Christian
to care for the least of these.
- When, yea when and refugees show up
at the church, seeking shelter and help,
and you're in the processof shutting down the church,
what was it that made youopen the door and do this?
- I don't see how we couldhonestly claim the title
of Christian and doneanything differently.
What, send them away?
Tell 'em no?
It just didn't.
My faith in Jesus,
my love of Jesus just tells methere's only one answer here.
- I thought I knew the will of God.
Is it His voice I heard or was it mine?
We're back where we started.
- I wanna show you something.
We are not where we started.
We are somewhere completely new.
- And here we sit, thischurch's doors are still open.
There's still a farm out there.
- There's still a small farm.
- Yeah.- Still.
- And there's a movie about this story.
- There's a movie about the story.
I should also say it's debt free.
- (laughing) Awesome.
- And that provides the community
that's still here freedom from
at least that burden too.- Absolutely, absolutely.
- It's strange and it's wonderful.
And, because it's strange and wonderful,
it seems to fit perfectly with this place
'cause this is a strangeand wonderful place.
