Home Christian News First Leesburg’s ‘No Vacancy’ Exhorts Churches to ‘Stay on Mission’

First Leesburg’s ‘No Vacancy’ Exhorts Churches to ‘Stay on Mission’

“We’re trying to catalyze churches to deal with the issues right there in their communities. Drug addiction is such a huge one, and homelessness is such a big one, and we deal with both of those in the movie,” Ayris said. “It’s just really an encouragement to our brothers and sisters to just really look out for the least of those that are literally right there in our neighborhoods.”

First Leesburg has transitioned the CCC to a nonprofit ministry with a separate board and separate funding, leasing to the CCC a six-acre downtown plot and facilities for $1 a year.

Comprising CCC’s ministries are Samaritan Inn, the Men’s Care Center, the Children’s Shelter, the Pregnancy and Family Care Center, the Women’s Care Center, the Fresh Start Job Program, and the Benevolence Center housing the largest food pantry in Lake County.

In cooperation with a local hospital, the CCC oversees the Community Medical Care Center, a free dental and primary health care clinic.

“The main thing we’re working on now is telling the real story. This is how you deliver hope to your community,” Ayris said. “The movie is a cinematic mouthpiece.”

Ayris raised the capital to make the film, spending about $1 million on the project he said would have normally cost about $2.5 million to complete. Ayris accepted no salary. Viewing and purchase options are available at Kingstone Studios.

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Ayris describes No Vacancy as “90 to 95 percent just absolute accurate with everything that happened,” including the recovery of Cecil Johnson from drug addiction and his call to lead a First Leesburg drug recovery ministry; and the transformative salvation of Orlando Sentinel reporter Brandi Michaels, whose coverage of First Leesburg’s ministry stirred community support.

“The Gospel obviously changed Cecil,” Ayris said, “but the Gospel also changed the people in the church to give them that desire to really go for the broken people around our community.”

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.