David and Helen Smallbone , are the parents of seven children . You may recognize the names of a few of them . Rebecca St James , and Joel and Luke Smallbone , from For King & Country are just three of the aforementioned . A marvelous major film , Unsung Hero , recently released by Lionsgate in over 2,000 US theaters . This is the story of how it all came about .
[ Alex ] Hi David . It ’ s so great to see you again today !
[ David Smallbone ] Hello Alex . I was so glad in my heart the other night to watch you playing percussion with Randy Stonehill . He and I go back maybe 43 or 44 years when I was a Christian concert promoter in Australia . It ’ s so wonderful to know that you are back using your strong skillset . You ’ ve always encouraged me . What a joy it is to know that you are back in the thick of things . God is good , man .
[ WM ] He sure is . Thank you . So we ’ re here to talk about the new film , Unsung Hero .
[ David ] Ok . Well , that ’ s my girlfriend by the way , and she has been for 52 years and blow me down , Lionsgate made a decision to release the movie on April 26th , which is our 49th wedding anniversary . I tell everybody , Hey , I love it so much . I organized a pretty big celebration , didn ’ t I ? I organized a movie to come out on our anniversary . My ownership of that is not correct , but it ’ s an incredible thing . I ’ m glad you want to talk about the movie . I ’ m very glad to talk about this wonderful lady who stood by me through thick and thin .
[ WM ] I ’ ll get into the movie in just a bit , but I ’ d like to start with the subject of personal testimony and the act of giving testimony . Giving personal testimony seems to be somewhat of a lost art in the modern church today , and that ’ s what ’ s so wonderful about Unsung Hero . What are your thoughts on this ?
[ David ] I find myself at 74 years old , 3 score and 14 , cynical of the industry . I love the church and I ’ m trying to bring the church into how we do music business . You ’ re a veteran . You ’ re the good . You ’ ve seen the good , the bad , and the ugly . And you encouraged me when we first came to town ( Nashville ) 32 years ago to not go down a wrong path and I will always be grateful about your transparency . But as far as testimony , Helen initially wasn ’ t interested in me because I wasn ’ t taking Jesus seriously . I was 21 at the time when I met her and she was 16 . And then so she started dating somebody else . A year later in a Bible study , when I was 22 , I made a decision to follow Jesus and the next day she dropped the other guy and we ’ ve been together ever since .
But that was just the start . That movie Jesus Revolution talks about that season . We had revival in Sydney , Australia , which was a movement of the spirit and as you had in Los Angeles , which impacted you . So that was at the start . And I then went to work for a mainstream record label . I was a Christian in the mainstream music business . I was lukewarm and even though I was working in Christian music , I was in the transactional side of the business , which I now think that if we ’ re Christians in whatever business , we have to talk about Jesus , now just live for him . And then 34 years ago , I lost everything on a big tour and lost the house . 32 years ago I went to Helen , I said , “ Hey baby , I think the only way we can get ahead is if we go to America ”. And she said ,
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