Worship Musician Magazine March 2023 | Page 22

the metroplex that said , KLTY- Safe for the Whole Family . And it drove me crazy because I thought , Jesus isn ’ t safe for the whole family ! Jesus said some pretty tough things for people and families to hear . It ’ s not safe .
But let me get back to the film . The mixing of mainstream music alongside church songs was the right call as was the mix of the cultural elements and historical context of war . That was what was going on . We were kids of the singer songwriter movement , and so the new Jesus music reflected stylistically those sounds . The film accurately pointed out the backdrop of war , racial prejudice , and drug addictions , which is what we are seeing again now in our society .
[ Brent ] That means a lot . It ’ s been the journey of a lifetime for me to work on this film , and I got to work with the greatest cast of my lifetime so far , and the greatest crew . We all came together and our morale was high . Making films is very difficult . It ’ s long hours , grueling , and brings out the best and the worst in people . Film sets can often become very toxic , hostile places but I ’ m happy to report that we really stayed together as a family on this one .
[ WM ] Interestingly , as an adjunct professor now for the past 12 years , teaching music business courses , I can truthfully say that above all else , my students have been consistently interested in the Jesus movement and its music more than any other topic .
[ Brent ] I think we ’ re having a return back to authenticity and transparency . There is a spiritual aspect to our lives . And just like the kids in your generation , the kids of today are right to reject a lot of this culture right now that they ’ re presented with . I think they ’ re right to reject a lot of it , but I do hope in all of that rejection , there ’ s a clear portal to look into Jesus and His life , who he was and what he did .
Sometimes we can be really , really , discouraged by culture and what ’ s happening inside the church , outside the church . But man , just to return to Jesus and who he was , and this idea that His love can overcome so much of the problems in our society . And if we return to that , we ’ re going to have a much better world , a much better planet , and a lot less problems in our world . I ’ m actually excited that your students are really interested in the Jesus Movement . I think it was a very beautiful time , for a small blip in history . You see these disparate groups , and you have this square pastor that welcomes the hippies into his church . That was an unprecedented move . But , but it ’ s more nuanced in our film . When he invited the hippies in . The hippies came in with their own thing , you know ? They came in with the love and the acceptance and the belonging and this idea that you can love somebody different than you . I think they brought in this generous faith that the church needed at the time .
[ WM ] I have to confess that I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Kelsey Grammer would play the part of Pastor Chuck Smith , because after all , Kelsey was in a sitcom , and
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