Jonathan Bellamy caught up with Alex Kendrick

Alex: Well the idea of the book came before the film. We didn't actually finish writing it until after the film was completed. So we got the idea for Fireproof and the book at about the same time in 2005. Then worked on it and allowed it to kinda marinade - if I can say that - in our hearts and minds. So we prayed it through and said God would you help us develop this? And by the time that we shot the movie the Love Dare was not in a completed form yet. And so we finished the movie and went back and finished out the forty days. So it took a long time to go through this. But we wanted it to be right. We didn't want to rush it. It was crucial that God had His hand on every aspect of it. And we learned that our greatest asset is the favour of God. So we would never want to jump ahead of Him. And so, as we prayed our way through this, He obviously did something, because the responses have been absolutely overwhelming.

Jonathan: You mentioned that you and your wife have a strong marriage even before you were doing the Love Dare but it's been challenging. Can you describe how your marriage itself has matured or changed through doing the Love Dare?

Alex: Absolutely. One of the concepts that we talk about in the Love Dare is that you do not follow your heart; we're intended to lead our heart. You have numerous people who say, well I've left my first husband or my first wife or my boyfriend or my girlfriend, because I was just following my heart, and I fell in love with someone else, or some other aspect of life that they begin pursuing. Well in the Bible it says, wherever your treasure is there your heart is also. And so we began studying scripture to realise that we are supposed to invest our time and energy and even our money and resources into the things that matter most. And our heart follows after that investment. You know when you begin investing in a charity you will care more about that charity. Well the same thing is true in your relationship. You know when you marry somebody, it starts off with the first stages of love, and you know you just can't get enough of the person you're in love with. Then you marry them and after a while the freshness and the newness wears off. Well if you stop investing in them, then your heart will start looking for something else. And so we learned in my own marriage with my wife, to reinvest and continue to pour into that relationship for the long term. To not allow anything else to pull us apart from one another. So to honour God and to honour each other we intentionally invest back into our marriage. Even when we don't feel like and then soon our heart follows again and it reignites that passion and love we started off with. So that's just one concept in the Love Dare. There are numerous things. I could talk for an hour about what the Lord's done with us.

Jonathan: How would you say this challenges a Western cultures mind set in terms of what they think love is then? Because I know that the Hebraic mindset would be that they see marriage as a cold bowl of soup over a hot stove that warms up over time because what it's sat on if you like is providing that source. Whereas a Western mindset is probably a hot bowl of soup coming together out of lust and passion and those kinds of things but on a cold stove because there is no real substance foundationally, that cools down over time. Do you think that's accurate?

Alex: I do. You know that's a very good analogy. In our culture we think that love is a feeling. We think that love is a chemical reaction. Talk about chemistry and, I just can't stop thinking about this person. But those are the first stages in the most surface level of what love is. It is not the long-term devoted intentional love that you pour into someone's life over time. And so that's a very good analogy. What we're trying to do is to say love is worth fighting for, marriage is worth honouring, and God has set up a standard that we need to honour. In our culture you know the divorce rate is at least fifty percent. For second marriages it's over seventy percent, and third marriages the divorce rate is even higher. That is very sad. So what we're doing is - we did some research and found out that if we can lower the divorce rate one percent in just America; one per cent that's over a million kids who won't have to watch their parents get separated. And so we are praying and we're saying, God use the items, these tools, the Love Dare, the movie and everything associated with it, to help lower the divorce rate and cause a dialogue in our country and other countries of what marriage should be. And so far that's happening. It's becoming more of a movement than just a movie.

Jonathan: That sounds fantastic. What's your favourite day in the Love Dare? When you did it was there one that stood out and you thought, yeh I liked doing that, it was great.

Alex: O my goodness there were so many. Because you know we just poured ourselves into that. I'm going to have to say that the one that jumps out at me is studying your spouse. I've studied my wife Christina when I was courting her and dating her learning all her likes and dislikes and habits and hobbies and all these things. And then after a few years of marriage I stopped studying her because I know her. So what I've learned to do is to go back and to analyse what makes her tick. And there are some new things about my wife that I have discovered since I began doing that. And so I've stopped taking her for granted. And I began studying my wife again. We use the analogy in the movie of not only studying them until you feel you know them but symbolically go get your masters and your doctorates degree on your spouse. Learn everything you can which takes years. But it has really helped me appreciate and love my wife even more, the more I learn about her. That is never to take the place of my walk with God, but as I spend time with my wife, I am more in tune with what makes her tick and what she is thinking and it has really helped our marriage.

Jonathan: That's great. Finally Alex, the success of Facing The Giants, Fireproof, Flywheel right in the beginning. I mean it's taken you on a huge direction for your life, for your Church. I mean, you've been on Good Morning America, Fox News Channel, and CNN even Cross Rhythms, but what does that mean in terms of the future? I mean, are you having to drastically change things to go with the flow of where this is going?

Alex: Certainly it has impacted our lives and changed our direction but we are still of the same Church. We still love being part of a body that helps us stay balanced and keep our perspective and stay accountable. Everyone needs accountability. And so we are still at the Church but we are now working exclusively on these movies; whereas we had other jobs requirements before hand. But the movie ministry has grown to the degree that it requires our full time attention. And we are very grateful to be under the leadership of a Pastor and a Church staff that believes in getting out of the box and doing whatever it takes to reach our culture. And so yes our lives have changed in many ways but our desire is to be faithful with the platform God's given us.

Jonathan: Alex, it's been great to talk to you. You're producing some fantastic movies that challenge some of our accepted norms when it comes to a Hollywood movie experience and it's fantastic to see. We hope you go from strength to strength.

Alex: God bless you. It's great to talk to you.