On Location at the God Almighty Restaurant
Michael W. Smith and Steve Taylor are making a feature-length movie about cross-cultural ministry, right in one's own backyard. We visited them on the set recently in Nashville to get the scoop.
photos by Katherine Bomboy | posted 11/01/2004
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Editor's note: For the whole month of October, Christian music icons Michael W. Smith and Steve Taylor and a bunch of other colleagues were running around Nashville with a bunch of cameras and sound equipment. A new music video? Nope. They're making a movie, starring Smith and directed by Taylor. In the film, called The Second Chance, Smith plays a music star (duh!) who's a bit too comfortable in his white, suburban megachurch. Newcomer Jeff Carr plays an African-American who ministers to gangs, teen mothers and drug addicts through an urban ministry called Second Chance. When these two men are thrown together in a tough neighborhood and forced to work side by side, Smith's character discovers there is no boundary between the streets and the sanctuary. Can these two guys overcome their prejudices to give themselves—and a struggling urban church—a second chance? The film is slated for a Fall 2005 release.
When Christianity Today Movies was invited to the set during filming in Nashville, we sent veteran writer Merrill Farnsworth, who just happens to be a good friend of Smith's and Taylor's, so it was a good fit.
Writer/director/producer Steve Taylor, writer Chip Arnold, and writer/director of photography Ben Pearson on the set
Driving down Jefferson Street toward the river, I didn't have much of a problem finding the spot.
Two catering tents and a production crew—very white in both cases—stood out amid the fenced-in junkyard, the apartments with bars over the windows, and a tiny barbershop across the street. Two men in headsets direct me to a parking space. You can tell they're not from around here.
I park, then walk toward the God Almighty Restaurant, where I spot a circle of African-American men and women seated in folding chairs. They're laughing, talking slow and easy, like folks who've known each other for a while. Turns out they have.
A small woman, graying and adorned with black knitted hat, gives me a welcoming smile. Later I discover she's the owner of the God Almighty, where she's well known for her house specialty: fried chicken served up with the Word of God. Today she's an extra waiting for her scene.
Then I spot an old friend emerging from the catering tent: Michael W. Smith. Our sons were best friends back in middle school, and we've kept up our friendship since. He smiles, gives me a hug, and is his usual gracious, humble self. "Can you believe this?" he asks.
I can believe it. Michael's always looked like a movie star. But can he act? I don't know, but I'm about to find out …
Chicken Legs and Cockroaches
Entering the God Almighty Restaurant, I spot a huge Bible in the entrance. It's open to the book of Kings, but this humble establishment is a long way from Solomon's palace. I wonder if Solomon's wisdom could untangle the racial and spiritual complexities addressed in this film.
It's too early in the morning to solve the world's problems, so I wander into the small kitchen where they're cooking up chicken and turnip greens on a hot stove. A haze of smoke fills the room and I'm doomed to smell like fried food all day. This is the South. All problems can be temporarily solved with comfort food. There's plenty of it here. It's 7 a.m.—not too early for a chicken leg.
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