Author, Bible teacher, and actor Priscilla Shirer stars in a new film from the Kendrick Brothers (“War Room,” “Overcomer,” “Courageous”) titled, “The Forge.”
The film tells the story of a young man who just graduated high school, has no job, no plans for the future, and lives only to play video games and basketball.
Shirer, who has starred in the films “War Room,” “I Can Only Imagine,” and “Overcomer,” plays the young man’s single mother, who gives her son an ultimatum to step up or move out. Her ultimatum forces her son to get a job. Soon, his boss begins discipling him and helps him discover God’s great purpose for his life.
“The Forge” focuses on the message of discipleship and the importance of having godly mentors in the lives of young people in the church—a message that Shirer told ChurchLeaders is “critical” for church today.
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“It’s part and parcel with exactly what Jesus’ message and model was when he was with us physically in the flesh,” Shirer said. “One of the first things he did was call 12 men that were supposed to be tethered to him,” telling them to “leave everything and follow me. That whole picture of one life being connected to another.”
Shirer explained that Christians need “older, wiser people in our lives” who walk alongside us and demonstrate what it means to “honor Christ” in our everyday lives.
“So in the body of Christ, not just in a church, but in the body of Christ, meaning every area of the marketplace, wherever the Lord has assigned us…no matter where we are, we are in ministry,” Shirer continued. “And our goal is to say, Lord, open the eyes to see whose life I’m supposed to be impacting for your kingdom.”
Discipleship comes at a high price, Shirer said, sharing how that message is portrayed in “The Forge.” “You can be a believer [in Jesus] and not be a disciple because discipleship comes at a high cost—it’s about surrendering everything to Jesus,” she said.
That message will be “jarring” for some viewers, Shirer explained. “I think it is going to shake a lot of people awake when they see the movie.”
Shirer told ChurchLeaders that for the disciple, the compass for living is not “how close” they can get to sin but rather “how close can I get to Jesus?”
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