Andrew Erwin Says Movies Carry Christian Testimony
Filmmaker Andrew Erwin says the same studio machinery that sells Hollywood movies overseas can carry Christian testimony into places where preaching openly would be difficult or illegal.
Erwin, chief creative officer of Kingdom Story Company and co-director of “I Can Only Imagine,” compared faith-based film distribution to the Roman roads that helped the early church spread the gospel.
“The Roman road was something that was established in the days of Jesus for commerce, for war,” Erwin recently stated. Yet those roads, he said, became routes for “this group of fishermen” to take the Christian message beyond Jerusalem.
Movie studios have international distribution agreements, and a successful domestic release can move quickly into theaters abroad.
“Studios have output deals that are already laid around the world, just like the Romans Road, they’re there in place,” Erwin said. “And so when you put out a film here and it does well domestically, it goes on autopilot around the world.”
Kingdom Story Company, led by Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin, Kevin Downes and Tony Young, is one of the better-known Christian production companies working with mainstream studios. Its website describes the company as having an exclusive partnership with Lionsgate.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “I Can Only Imagine,” the 2018 film about MercyMe singer Bart Millard and his troubled relationship with his father, earned $86 million and helped lead to the Erwins’ deal with Lionsgate. “Jesus Revolution,” released by Lionsgate in 2023, grossed more than $54 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
“If you prove that it can make money, they will let you do anything you want,” Erwin said.
He also recalled a woman in Australia who approached the filmmakers after “I Can Only Imagine,” moved by Dennis Quaid’s character. She asked whether they were Christians.
“I’m not,” Erwin quoted her as saying, “but whatever the heck just happened to Dennis Quaid in that film, I need it in my life.”
-Alan Goforth
