Tonight I had a beautiful surprise. I went to see a movie that I hadn’t heard a thing about until this week, when someone sent me an email about it. It’s called October Baby. I went to see it, not expecting much, but wanting to support it because it had a pro-life message. Was I surprised! I was blown away. It was excellent, and that excited me for so many reasons.

People ask me all the time why my books haven’t been made into movies. The answer to that is complex. For one thing, it’s not up to me. I have sold the option to several of my books. What that means is that film-makers have paid for the right to make the movie in a given period of time. Some of those options have been renewed over and over as those time periods have run out. But in order for a movie to get made, lots of things have to happen. And when it’s a movie with a Christian theme, the problems are a hundredfold. The film-makers may absolutely love the book and want to invest their lives into adapting it into a film, but if they can’t raise the money, attract the right actors, and get adequate distribution, it can’t be done. You have no idea how often these things almost happen … then don’t. I don’t stress about it at all, because I’ve always told myself that if God wants a movie made of my books, He’ll work it all out. I truly believe that.

That’s why I’m gushing about October Baby. Somehow these film makers–Jon and Andrew Erwin–got everything into place to make this movie … and do it with excellence. It’s the story of a nineteen year old girl who learns that she was adopted after a failed abortion attempt. The message of the movie is forgiveness, and they handle it beautifully. John Schneider stars as the adoptive father, and Jasmine Guy plays a small but significant role. The star, Rachel Hendrix, played the role of Hannah beautifully. It was her first feature film. She blew me away.

The movie could stand up against anything made in Hollywood today, and frankly, I thought it was much better than most. If it weren’t for political correctness, I’m sure we’d see it in every theatre across the country, and it would be winning awards left and right.

Because of this, I now have more hope that my characters might some day make it to the big screen. It’s worth the fight now. There was a time when I thought that it almost wasn’t worth it. If things fell into place and a movie got made, it was likely to have the Christian message yanked out and some Hollywood elements sprinkled in. It would morph into something I never intended and didn’t want my name on. But now I’m thinking that might not be the case. Maybe now it could be made with excellence and integrity, by people who remain true to the message and the intent. And maybe it could impact the world for Christ.

What an exciting idea. Sherwood Baptist Church started this trend with movies like Fireproof and Courageous, because they didn’t know it couldn’t be done. In their naivete, they did it, and did it amazingly well. They paved the way for movies like October Baby, which is paving the way for so many others.

Go see the movie and tell all your friends. Do what you can to help promote it. Let’s show Hollywood that we’re out here, and we’re hungry for movies like this!