action doing this at any time?
David Mullins: Oh yeah. He would do those
kinds of things with me. I think one of the things
people really liked about him was his approachableness. And a part of that was that he was just an
ordinary person with some extraordinary gifts.
What you encountered was not the extraordinary,
it was just the way he was. People would ask him
to talk and he would. He was kind of the opposite
of what people thought of a Christian Rock star.
Faith Filled Family: Rich learned of St. Francis
of Assisi whom he strongly connected with. What
else can you share about your brother’s spiritual
connection to St. Francis?
David Mullins: He saw the movie in high school
and there were a lot of things he connected with.
One I think was St. Francis’s struggle with his
father. That probably was a connection point, at
that point in his life at least. Then the way that St.
Francis, when Christ got a hold of him, pursued
a life of faith. That really stuck out to Rich. St.
Francis walked away from wealth. He came from
a family of wealth and said, “I don’t want that.”
He liked to party and walked away from that kind
of living. I think that those things that St. Francis
walked away from connected in Rich’s life.
He thought, “These are the same things I need.”
I think there were a lot of things. And there were
some things people have connected with from
Rich’s life.
Faith Filled Family: The post I read about the
accident stated that Rich and Mitch were thrown
from the vehicle. It also stated that a tractor
trailer came and Rich was too injured to m o v e
out of the way. Is that accurate?
David Mullins: Well, I honestly don’t know. I
know that is what part of the report says. I also
know they interviewed the tractor trailer driver who
said he did not hit him. So I don’t know. But for
the movie’s sake, there was no reason to show
that if that is what happened. We just wanted to
show that he was killed in a car accident. There
was no reason to show anything more. Nothing
good would come from that.
Faith Filled Family: Certain things were not
expounded on in the movie such as Rich’s
involvement in different ministries such as
Compassion International, and Kid Brothers of St.
Frank. Were there others you were aware of?
David Mullins:Yeah, those were two of the more
continuous ones. A lot of that is just a time issue.
It can already be difficult to follow the trail of the
story. The other thing, and one of the things I get
is, “Is this an accurate story?” I say yes. But it isn’t
the only one. There are hundreds of movies that
could have been made that would be absolutely
as legitimate as this one. But those things
probably would not have helped to push this
storyline along. So those are some of the difficult
decisions
you have to make character-wise.
Faith Filled Family: Do you or any of your siblings There’s a ton of other people that could have
been in the movie, and it can be argued should
also have a musical ability?
David Mullins: Not like that. I think we all really have been in the movie.
like music. Some of us play a little bit, and sing a In Nashville, basically we showed two people
little bit but not nearly to the degree that Rich did. in Nashville. That’s crazy. If you have any
understanding of the music business, the top
aren’t the ones sitting
Faith Filled Family: Take us to the day of the executives of the label
in the studio running the mixing board. In a two
accident. Where were you when you heard of the
hour movie, trying to depict everyone that was
news of your brother’s death?
David Mullins: I was living in West Virginia. I was meaningful is really difficult. So you’re f a c e d
at a church in West Virginia. I was actually at a with the challenge of how to do this and who is
Bible quiz competition with our youth group. When really necessary.
I got home from that, my wife
had gotten the Many of the characters are actually compilation
call, and she had to tell me. I don’t remember a characters. We don’t show any of his band mates.
whole lot other than coming home and her telling None of the Ragamuffins really, you don’t see
me, and just kind of collapsing. From there for them. There were a ton of people who toured with
about a month or two months, I don’t remember a him which is one of the reasons why we don’t
whole lot actually. He was one of the people that show them because he had so many different
people that toured with him over the course of
had a big influence on me.