How Faith Drives JESUS REVOLUTION Star’s Career
From
"Movie Guide"
:
"How Faith Drives JESUS REVOLUTION Star’s Career"
Actor Joel Courtney explained how his faith keeps him grounded in Hollywood and discussed the incredible privilege he felt working on Jesus Revolution.
“My faith is absolutely what kept me grounded [growing up]. My dad was just steadfast in his position as a bringer of wisdom in my life… Anytime I went down to Los Angeles from the age of 13 to 20, he was with me and — there’s a lot of people out there trying to get a leg up on people, take advantage of people, just industry weirdness — he took better care of me than I could have been aware of at the time, and I don’t think I will continue to be aware of until I have my own kids,” Courtney told Andy Erwin. “He really lived out a father’s love to me.”
“To the aspect of my faith, I really accepted Jesus personally in my faith when I was on SUPER EIGHT because it was my first time leaving [Idaho], it was my first time leaving a small-town community, tight Christian community and seeing, like, atheists… like really interacting with non-Christians,” he continued. “So I was like, wow, these people need Jesus. Like, oh, I need Jesus more than just, my parents are Christians so I’m a Christian.”
“Jesus has been my rock through crazy times in Hollywood, low times in my career, and in the good times. Jesus Revolutionised my life by loving me,” he said previously.
Since then, Courtney’s faith has played a major role in his acting career from relying on the Lord’s wisdom when considering roles to taking on faith-based projects to inspire others.
“[It’s] trying to make good decisions which jobs to take, which jobs not to take, that is a challenge as a Christian,” Courtney explained. “That has been a challenge to figure out, like, especially in this day and age, there’s scripts that I read, like, I’m not comfortable doing, like, sexual acts or nudity or stuff like that, I’m just like, that’s not me.”
While holding true to his faith has caused him to lose out on some economic success, remaining faithful to the Lord has paid out dividends for Courtney that he could have never dreamed of. Working on Jesus Revolution, for example, allowed him to encourage millions of people in their faith and inspire thousands to give their lives over to the Lord.
“I can’t fathom the generational blessing that Jesus Revolution has been,” he said. “I’ve seen it in the first generation’s life, the people who saw it, their kids, you know, will be affected by it, Lord willing, and their children’s children.”
“I just connected with it immediately,” Courtney said of JESUS REVOLUTION. “First off, anything with the gospel in it, I’m immediately passionate about. There’s a joy in my faith that I long for others to experience.”
Jesus Revolution won a Teddy Bear Award® at Movieguide®’s 2024 awards gala. Movieguide®’s review reads:
JESUS REVOLUTION is incredibly well made and captivating. It has many scenes with jeopardy and inspiring, well-written presentations of Jesus’ Gospel. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution because the movie accurately depicts the drug scene from an impartial viewpoint that might attract younger children. The movie also shows Greg Laurie’s mother’s constant drunkenness and philandering. The immoral behavior is part of the true stories in JESUS REVOLUTION, which, to an amazing degree, have been made into an exciting, cohesive, uplifting movie.