Flywheel

Flywheel is a movie from Sherwood Pictures of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. The story, taken from the Sherwood Pictures website, http://www.sherwoodpictures.com/, is worth repeating.

FLYWHEEL is the first feature film from Sherwood Pictures and the Kendrick Brothers, the creators of FACING THE GIANTS.

Directed by and starring Alex Kendrick, FLYWHEEL was filmed with a budget of only $20,000!FLYWHEEL was conceived in spring 2002 after Alex and Stephen Kendrick, who are both pastors on the staff of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, saw the results of a survey from George Barna's organization that said movies and television shows are more influential in American culture than the church. "We decided as a church to step out on faith and produce a full-length feature film," says Alex Kendrick, who serves as an associate pastor at the church.

A storyline began taking shape not long after that when Alex bought a car. He thought, "What if a minister was conned unknowingly at a car dealer and prayed, 'Lord, treat the salesman the way he treated me.'"With that premise, the plot expanded as Alex and Stephen began to write. Along the way, the movie acquired its title, $20,000 in unsolicited donations, and a prayed-for digital movie camera. The all-volunteer cast and crew came from Sherwood members.

"Prayer was the key to the project," says Stephen Kendrick, who is a senior associate pastor at the church. "We prayed as we worked on the story, we prayed before each day of shooting, and we prayed during the editing process. God repeatedly used the prayers and the passion of this church to bring the movie to completion."

On April 9, 2003, FLYWHEEL debuted in a Carmike Theatre in Albany, and ran as an independent film for an unprecedented six weeks, often outdrawing Hollywood films on adjoining screens.FLYWHEEL received a 4-Dove review from the Dove Foundation and received a strong review from MOVIEGUIDE magazine; it aired on TBN; it won Best Feature at San Francisco's WYSIWYG Film Festival; and it was chosen favorite film by festival attendees at the Saboath International Film Festival in Milan, Italy.

Flywheel is not a big-budget hollywood movie, but it is well worth renting or buying and definitely watching.