Sunday, November 5, 2017

DAVID A.R, & ANDREA LOGAN WHITE - THE REEL DEAL/NEW AUTHORS

The first I ever heard of  David A.R. White, was from watching a series of movies I had bought at the now defunct Family Christian Bookstores, over a decade ago.  Second Glance (1992) showed a young David, who himself was not too long out of high school, in what was the first of a multitude of independent Christian films which are assuming higher prominence, in these last days.  It was not his first movie, but the first one which led me on a journey to build a library of these early movies produced by transplanted New Yorker Rich Christiano, his brother Dave and starring David A.R. White. I have spoken with Rich several times over the years, in the course of public showing of his movies, and understand his heart and passion for what began in this genre over two decades ago with the young David and others in this now established field of Christian film.

Fasting forward to White's powerful alliance with Michael Scott, Russell Wolfe and Elizabeth Travis, David formed PURE FLIX (2005) which took the message of the Gospel, Christianity and the Bible to various action movies like Jerusalem Countdown; The Mark 1 and 2; Sarah's Choice with Rebecca St. James and so many more, one will have to go to their website (here) to get the full list. Some of my absolute favorites, for which I purchased several licenses over the years to show at church were The Book of Daniel; Woodlawn; Do You Believe and what several of us consider the best movie on Evangelism we have seen - Encounter with Bruce Marchiano!


CLICK HERE FOR BOOK INFO
Of course, what really blew Pure Flix, the Whites and Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo into the stratosphere was God's Not Dead (GND)1! The award winning GND 1 was the highest grossing indie movie of 2014. It has not stopped as the world keeps giving storylines with God's Not Dead 3 due in the near future. However, while most people associate David A.R. White with Pure Flix and Christian movies, they may not be too aware of his first book - "BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HOLLYWOOD....Chasing Your God-given Dream" (2016). Click here to read the First Chapter and here for purchasing opportunities. Any successful person will tell you, there is no such thing as an "overnight success". What can happen though, is a Christian who is faithful in the hard things, the seemingly small but important things and who completely follows the God Who will break things open in His Timing. I read the book and enjoyed the funny narrative of this young man from a conservative Mennonite background, who never took his eyes off why God put him here. I heard him describe the book for a full interview on Chris Fabry's Moody Bible Radio show and it became obvious why he wrote it - to encourage somebody else to follow their calling God has put in their hearts. White says on his website "there is no one too common, too uneducated, too poor, too inexperienced, or too broken that he or she cannot be used by God". This is reason enough to get his book.
CLICK HERE
 FOR BOOK INFO

The family that writes together, makes a whole of impact together! Andrea Logan White is David's beloved wife and from the state of Illinois.  Her book was released less than two months ago (Sept. 2017) and is a stunning work called "PERFECTLY UNFINISHED: Finding Beauty in the Midst of Brokenness"

Two things I gleaned from reading Andrea's book. The first one is do not start it unless you intended to finish reading the entire book, because it is not what you think. The second thing is, once you have decided to read it, you cannot put it down. It will stun you, make you scratch your head and then you get to the incident where God reveals Himself to the hurting and lost Andrea, your concern turns to rejoicing as another soul is added to the Rolls of Heaven.

I was not planning to write a full article like this on this, the REAL (reel?) Power Couple of Hollywood and both their books, until I could not put down the second half of Andrea's book, in spite of an busy early morning coming up. All I had planned on doing was to leave reviews on Amazon.com, where I got both David's and Andrea's books.  But completing Andrea's books in one sitting opened my mind to this article. It is, as Rich Christiano's movie is called - "A Matter of Faith" 

In troubled times, the matter of Faith, with feet that walk righteously, requires us to do the following:
1. Praise God in the Storm. This is not just a Casting Crowns Song. It is the foundation of a lasting Faith.
2. Love God in the choppy seas of doubt, pain and suffering.
3. Obey God even if you think you have nothing left to give...because you do (have something left to give - YOU).
4. Say NO to temptation to shake your fist at God. Job's wife told Job to "curse God and die". Job refused because He knew the Character of God and that His Redeemer liveth.
5. Trust, follow and BELIEVE God in Christ, no matter the depression, doubt and despair. Trust Him completely, even there seems no earthly hope. Trust Him because Hope in God IS out of this world.
6. Praise God in the Storms. While weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning (Psalm 30:5) 

The portion of the book which describes Andrea's Walk with Christ as a wife and mother could describe the hidden trials and tribulations of many in today's high-stressed world. What was incredible to me was the previously unheard-of level of pain (physical and other) which one human can endure. I minister in men's ministry (for over 20 years); senior homes for about 14 years; street ministry etc. for over a decade, and have never come across such a warm, heart-felt, completely heart-breaking yet uplifting series of pages as I read in PERFECTLY UNFINISHED.

As I read about the Faith behind Andrea's pain, which led to her present perseverance, my mind immediately shifted to the words of the great Joni Eareckson Tada (a quadraplegic) who had this to say about living in constant physical pain and a horrid diagnosis. Joni said the following during an interview with Christianity Today (in part): "Even though it seems like a lot is being piled on, I keep thinking about 1 Peter 2:21: 'To these hardships you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.' Those steps most often lead Christians not to miraculous, divine interventions but directly into the fellowship of suffering".

Andrea Logan-White is not without her own movie portfolio! She was one of the leads in the hilarious "MOM's NIGHT OUT" and is currently in a weekly comedy series with her husband and several others, on the increasingly popular PURE FLIX Streaming service called "HITTING THE BREAKS".

PERFECTLY UNFINISHED is available here on Amazon.com.

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