Pastor Bruce Deel and filmmaker Nick Nanton are teaming up to tell a story of transformation, trust, and faith through their new documentary, “The Greatest of These.”
The film follows Deel, founder of City of Refuge, a faith-based nonprofit serving individuals facing addiction, homelessness, trafficking, and incarceration in one of Atlanta’s most vulnerable communities.
While discussing the film with ChurchLeaders, the Emmy Award-winning director shared that he was drawn to Deel’s story following a friend’s recommendation.
“I went and met with Bruce and obviously what he has built in Atlanta…blew my mind,” Nanton said. “I’ve experienced a lot of incredible people making change in their communities, but Bruce is different.”
Despite the impact of his work, Deel was initially hesitant to participate in the film. Nanton said, “He only agreed to do it because we could share the story of all of the people who have been lifted up in the community.”
Deel said his motivation for sharing the story is rooted in a desire to challenge Christians and encourage those in crisis.
“I want to inspire those…who call themselves followers of Christ,” Deel said. “I want to inspire them to step out of the box of comfortability that we have built too often inside the church world where we spend most of our time with those who look like us, sound like us, and act like us.”
“The real opportunity is to go beyond those borders that we’ve established to people that find themselves on the margin and in crisis,” he added.
He emphasized that ministry does not require extreme measures, but rather intentional steps.
“We’re not asking that everybody would just all of a sudden abandon their normal life and go do some sort of radical ministry,” Deel said. Instead, he said Christians should ask themselves, “What is the one first small step you can help to interact with people that you might have avoided yesterday, which we believe that one step leads to another leads to another?”
Nanton echoed that message, encouraging people not to compare their callings to those of others.
“Bruce’s story is not your story. Bruce’s story is not my story,” Nanton said. “If you’re taking the next best step that God is pushing you towards, you’re on the right path.”
