An optometrist who directed large scale Easter passion plays at his church on the side, David Evans recently took a huge leap of faith to chase after a much larger dream God placed in his heart. That dream was to direct and produce a movie that would communicate the need and power of grace and forgiveness. Putting everything on the line, David pursued this calling with fervor. The result – an amazing movie that is touching lives everywhere.
The Grace Card made its debut in theaters February 25, 2011 and has since been leaving viewers riveted by its powerful portrayal of how grace can revolutionize a person’s life and relationships. Layered with storylines that everyone in the audience can relate to, The Grace Card depicts miraculous healing and hope through forgiveness. It is a must-see film.
David spoke with me in depth about The Grace Card, grace and forgiveness, as well as his own personal journey through movie-making, balancing it all, marriage, and much more. Take a look …
SMR: What was your inspiration behind the story of The Grace Card?
David Evans: First of all, a lot of folks like to ask, “Is this a true story?” Really it’s not— because it’s not about any one particular episode that I know of that happened, but we did make the mistake of saying that at one of our screenings we did somewhere across the country because we did so many of them. A gentlemen stood up and said, “I’m sorry, I disagree; it is a true story because this story is played out in cities across America every day.”
I’m an eye doctor in Memphis. I’ve been in practice for fifteen years, actually it’s sixteen now; I lose track. During that sixteen years, I’ve been writing and directing a large scale Easter passion play at my church just outside of Memphis, a little community called Cordova, Tennessee. I went to see Fireproof during its opening weekend back in September of 2008 and left the theater that night realizing that God had us in training for fifteen years to do something greater than anything we could ever imagine.
In being an eye doctor, I have a good relationship with so many different patients that I see on a daily basis. One of my patients, his name is Sam, and he is an African-American pastor and police officer here in Memphis. Just in speaking with him I learned about some of the different challenges he may face, not just on the street but also challenges with his own congregation, in having the time to devote to one of those, which is really a full-time job, and then walking the streets of Memphis as a police officer. We’ve gotten to know each other very well over the last fifteen years, so I would have to say that Sam is actually kind of the inspiration of that [Sam] character. Then I just really began to think about what it would be like if Sam were put in the car with someone who is the complete opposite—someone who is very bitter, very hateful, and had turned their back on God and their own family as you seen in the movie.
So, that’s kind of where the story began, and then of course, I just kind of built off the storyline from there. I guess if there were any inspiration, it came from this eye care patient of mine that I’ve been taking care of for so many years. I kind of modeled that character of the movie after him.
SMR: A lot of people rallied around you to help make this movie possible. What was it like to experience such an outpouring of support to make your dream possible?
David: It was a testimony of how passionate people became about the story and the themes of grace and forgiveness that we are portraying in the film. When we put the word out that we were doing this movie and invited other churches to send in members of their congregation to audition for the film, over fifty churches responded. We had hundreds of people who are aspiring actors or actresses who would love nothing more than to be a part of a faith-based project. It’s not too often these types of projects come along.
So, after these churches responded in that way, we also kept them informed as to the progress of the film. Many of their members again turned out as volunteers to help us behind the scenes to actually being extras in the movie. Then, of course, there were people who wanted to work in production of Christian films. There were even folks who traveled to Memphis at their own expense, put themselves in an extended stay hotel, and worked on set every day during the filming. Really, they did it just as a ministry; they weren’t paid. We did have some paid professionals who helped us with the lighting, sound, and our camerawork, but we did have some who had some experience, little, or no experience that just said, “I want to come to Memphis and be a part of that.” That was really another amazing testimony of different individuals who were passionate about seeing this project come to completion.
SMR: Several relationships throughout the movie become opportunities for grace – a husband and wife, father and son, man with himself, co-workers of different races, among others. How do you think grace plays into reconciliation for all types of real-life relationships?
David: As you know from seeing the movie, there are so many different elements that are brought into play with the different characters and different relationships – Mac and his wife and their teenage son; Sam and his wife, Deborah; and then Sam and his relationship with his grandfather, as well as his own congregation. As you know, everything comes full circle by the end of the movie. Even Sam makes reference to his father whom he hadn’t spoken to in almost ten years. Again, we were just trying to allow people to identify with different characters that they see on screen. I think that no matter what issue – a marriage conflict, mother and son, father and daughter conflict, or whatever the situation might be – hopefully we’ve given some unique examples of how grace can be extended.
Another way we did that was through the physical grace card that we present in the movie. These cards are being developed right now and will be available, especially to different churches who use the film or Grace Card curriculum in their small groups or Sunday school classes. We are letting people know that there are actually grace cards available that you can pass off to someone else to let them know, as a way of demonstrating grace, that you’re their friend, praying for them, and going to stand by them through whatever situation they might be going through.
So, we just hope that The Grace Card can do exactly what it says, and that is extend grace. We’ve had countless people already write in saying, “Hey, I’m making my own grace card to share with someone in my life.” That’s the greatest compliment someone could give – to know that we have demonstrated that and are, in turn, allowing someone else to put it to use.
SMR: During the movie, one of the characters says, “It’s easy to receive grace, but it’s hard to give it away.” Why do you think that is? And, in what ways do you believe people can learn to be more generous in giving grace?
David: I think a lot of people are in one sense kind of selfish in that they want to make sure they’re taken care of. “What has that person done for me?” Sometimes we have to be the one to stand at the plate, even though that person hasn’t necessarily extended grace toward us. I believe that’s what God calls us to do: to extend a hand out to someone who needs help and for us to be Christ-like. This is one of the ways to be Christ-like, extending grace to someone who is in need of help from a friend just like God’s grace is extended to us.
We have seen so many examples, even taking a step beyond grace, how people have stood up in a theater, written us an email, or posted a note on Facebook saying, “Today I forgave a person that I had been holding a grudge against for many years.” We’ve even had numerous adults, who have suffered a tragedy in their lives, have breakthroughs. For example, we’ve had a couple of different people who had a family member who was murdered, and they said, “After tonight I feel like I can stop carrying this with me every day. I can actually forgive this person who did something so many years ago, but I’ve never been able to forgive that person. I think about it every day.”
I think this is just the beginning. I believe this movie, for many years to come, will be teaching some important life lessons to people as it’s demonstrated in the movie. It doesn’t mean you’re going to forgive and forget about it, but it does mean to forgive and kind of let it go. We don’t ever necessarily forget the wrongs that are done to us, but we can certainly, after forgiving that person, drop it and ask God to give us peace so that we don’t have to carry that with us every day.
SMR: One of the main characters, Mac McDonald, struggles intensely with anger throughout most of his life. How do you think anger affects both an individual and his/her relationships?
David: I think that a lot of Mac’s anger comes from his bitterness toward other minorities. I think there are a lot of people who have experienced that in the work place, in their churches, and in their own families, and that’s another area we really wanted to demonstrate grace and forgiveness is in racial reconciliation. Mac is a character who feels like every time there’s a promotion in the police department it’s given to an African American or Hispanic. That coupled with the fact that it was an African American who killed his son seventeen years earlier, where the movie takes place, have all kind of built up this absolute bitterness that he carries around with him every day. Of course, it’s Sam who comes along and extends the grace, and ultimately, kneels with Mac in the chapel to give his heart to the Lord.
I have experienced many people like that in my own life that. No matter what you say or do for someone, sometimes they can still remain very bitter. What I find is that through a continual demonstration of grace toward that person, letting them know you are there, and praying for them, though it can take longer with some than others, ultimately, that allows for healing in that relationship. I know a lot of your ministry focuses on marriage. There are a lot of folks who still cannot even speak to their spouse or carry on a normal conversation even years after a divorce situation because people are not willing to forgive and extend grace.
If there’s any one character that people identify with most in this movie it’s Mac, because people see themselves on the screen almost like they’re looking in a mirror. They say, “Wow! Those are some of the same feelings I’ve been experiencing in my life.” Maybe it’s something that’s been passed on by their parents or grandparents, but there are these feelings of anger and bitterness.
If I can let you know one story, we got a note emailed to us from a lady who took her husband to see the movie. She said, “My husband has been a racist his entire life. He cried throughout the movie, and even after we arrived home from the movie, he continued to cry for at least another two hours.” He had continued to repeat, “I have not been doing right in my life.” While I look back, I say, “Wow! Two hours of this man crying!” That’s even more evidence of how important it is to put your trust in God with any project like this, and follow His direction. These are the testimonies that have come back as evidence of God’s absolute blessing on this project from beginning to end.
SMR: Why do you think grace is such a powerful force, particularly in relationships?
David: Even in my own marriage, I realize we all make mistakes. One thing my wife and I always make sure of in our relationship is that we try to overlook whatever little faults each of us has. We try to always make certain to address the situation if there’s something that’s being done or upsetting the other person, whether I’ve upset my wife or she’s upset me.
We’ve learned so many important lessons about grace because my wife and I both are in our second marriage. Simply saying, “I’m sorry,” is important. They are two very difficult words that some people, whether it’s a husband or wife, have great difficulty saying. I’ve known people like that in my own life. I think that that’s just the most important thing – being willing to extend the grace and tell your husband or wife those two important words, “I’m sorry.” That works great for us because we work together eight hours a day in our clinic. She administrates our eye care practice, and I’m one of the doctors.
A lot of people say, “Oh, I could never work with my husband or wife,” but we actually love working together. Because we’re in tight quarters all day long, it’s easy for one person to kind of rub the other person the wrong way, but we both always put God first in our lives. We know that offering grace and forgiveness is one of the most important elements in a happy relationship. So, we’re very blessed that, number one, God brought us together, and number two, that He knows that we are basically walking together in unity every day. We come together in our practice and when we go home in front of our children.
SMR: What would you say to an individual who is really struggling with extending grace to someone in his/her life because they are just so hurt and/or angry?
David: First of all, I think it’s important that we come to the realization that it’s not benefitting them in any way to continue to carry that anger and bitterness with them on a daily basis. Secondly, God would not want you to carry that anger and bitterness inside. It’s important to understand that without extending grace to that person, it’s very difficult to forgive. Ultimately, the next step is reconciliation.
We’ve had an example of a mother who said that, after watching the movie with her son, they sat, embraced, shed tears, and had their first normal conversation in a couple years. This is a mom and her sixteen-year-old son. She said, “Now we’re actually speaking to one another again.” So, it never ceases to amaze me how God is working through this film to reach out to people who are harboring anger, bitterness, and resentment to overcome years of these feelings, then having them walk out of the theater and just look for someone they can embrace. There’s even a story of where, at the end of the movie, the whole audience began singing Amazing Grace while the credits were rolling.
While it’s easy for me to look at the movie and see the fine defects and certain things in the project, God quickly reminds me that that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the tool that God gave us through this film to help heal relationships across our country and, ultimately, outside of our country. These feelings of anger and bitterness are universal, and everyone needs to understand grace. The movie is going to be subtitled in various languages, so we’re really celebrating another victory that we have in extending our message outside of our country.
SMR: How have you experienced the power of grace and forgiveness in your own life?
David: One of the Scriptures I’ve constantly had in front of me throughout this entire project over the last two years is Proverbs 16:3, which says, “Commit your plans to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Basically my wife and I had to fund our entire movie project because our church really didn’t have the budget to support all the pre-production and production costs that went along with making The Grace Card.
The enemy fights very hard when we’re doing God’s work like this, and there have been many situations that I believe the enemy has put in front of me to try to make me question if this was really the right thing to do. When I’ve encountered those situations, whether it was with a person or some event occurring, I’ve been able to extend grace in some amazing ways to individuals. Whenever something seemed to get in our way, God always gives me the ability to face any challenge we had along our way. There were some individuals, even in our local police department, where I faced some challenges during the making of the film. Again, God always allowed me to extend grace to that person and still accomplish what we needed in order to have a project like The Grace Card that had realism. Without the support of people like the police department, it would have been hard for us to pull this off. Any time we faced a situation that required some delicate communication, I was able to extend grace to these few individuals who then made it possible for us to accomplish what we needed to do in a day of shooting.
So, I was frequently faced with those challenges, but looking back, I know that God was there with us. He allowed us to demonstrate, as cast or crew members, to people around us that it is very easy to extend grace. Hopefully they’re seeing the results of that now that they can sit down and see the movie – the finished product.
SMR: When you aren’t working on movies, you are an optometrist working alongside your wife. What is it like working with you wife?
David: It really is amazing. My wife and I really complement each other in many ways. She administrates the office and takes care of employee issues, be it family issues or interoffice conflicts that might be arising. I think my wife is able to share examples with our own staff of ways that we need to extend grace, not only if it’s someone coming to talk about family problems but interoffice communication as well, and then encouraging them to extend grace to one another so that patients see us as a Christ-centered practice. We have Scripture in our front office window. We have a Bible in our waiting room. It’s not too often you can go into a doctor’s office and see signs before you even get to the front desk that these people are obviously believers who work here.
Again, going back to what I was saying a moment ago, my wife and I kind of complement each other in that she handles the interoffice situations, and I handle the things that are going on with the patients. We are there to support each other. If there’s a problem we’re encountering in our business, we can come together as husband and wife to solve these issues we are facing on a daily basis. Because in a clinic where you employ twenty people, many patients, and five doctors working at any given time, things happen on a pretty regular basis. There are little fires you have to put out.
I think that’s why we are so close in our relationship because we go home at the end of the day, and we enjoy being able to continue to discuss the different things we encountered throughout the day and comfort one another by saying, “Hey, you handled that very well. Thank you for taking care of that situation,” whether it was with an employee or patient. We just love doing what we do. We believe this is what God has always wanted for us was to have this ability to take care of patients and minister to them in the way we do because we also, in addition to be healthcare providers, many times deal with situations where patients are losing vision and you kind of have to put on your counselor’s hat. You have to extend your hand in a different way than being a physician but being a counselor, praying with that person, and helping them cope with whatever situation it is they’re dealing with concerning their health.
We love working together. I may have said this before, but I hear a lot of people say, “Oh, I could never work with my husband,” or, “I could never work with my wife.” We just love the fact that we’re blessed and can work in the same office together. Her name is Esther, and she was also executive producer on the movie, so when we left the practice for those six weeks to do the movie, she was there with me. She kind of took on the role of seeing to the different needs of cast or crew, special things that this person may need to kind of help get them through their day. She also took care of some of the financial elements of the film like when it came to payroll, handling invoices, and things like that. We complement each other very nicely on set just like we do in our practice. We’re really blessed to do those things together, and of course, always pray about what story God wants us to tell next.
SMR: How did you manage juggling a thriving optometry practice, directing a movie, and being both a husband and a father?
David: And being on the golf course with my son (laughing).
You know, I think it all comes down to time management. I try to start my day with some quiet time, asking God to appoint our steps and give us the patience we need to get through another day because our days are very hectic and busy. Especially now because now we’re kind of going into the DVD phase of the movie and working on some of those elements. Really I’ll see a number of patients, and then I’ll have a few minutes of downtime where I can kind of shift gears and work on the other things that need to be addressed. Then I kind of jump back into doctor mode. I guess I’ve done it for so long now through our passion plays, working on those things, and now in the filmmaking realm where I’ve kind of gotten accustomed to making sure I’m using my time wisely during the day so that when I walk out of the clinic, I can focus on family matters and giving our teenage sons the attention they need. I try to use every minute as wisely as I can so that when I do get home at the end of the day, it’s not a continuation of emails and movie business.
SMR: What do you hope that people who watch The Grace Card take away from it?
David: I’ve been asked that a lot. I kind of alluded to this earlier in our conversation; just hoping and praying that people have a clearer understanding of what it means to be able to extend grace to other people. We challenge people to extend grace to their neighbors, co-workers, and their own family members. It may be a person at church that someone is holding a grudge against, but even without verbally saying that to people in the movie or at the end of the movie, we know the message is getting across.
People are writing in on Facebook how powerful the message is to them and how people at the end of the movie are sitting while the credits are rolling on the screen. You’re used to seeing people stand up and walk out of theater, but over and over again, we’re hearing where people continue to sit during the credits. They would look around and see someone leaning over hugging the person next to them or hear people crying as they were leaving the theater.
We praise God for giving us the story, number one, and number two, giving us the financial success we’ve seen in our own practice. The ability as husband and wife to step forth in faith and see The Grace Card project be completed, have it now on the big screen, and then ultimately, pray for a successful DVD release. We hope that this can minister to tens of thousands of people in the years and months ahead.
Thank you, David, for taking the time to share with us! To find out more about The Grace Card, including where you can view it, visit The Grace Card website. You can also get connected through Facebook and Twitter. If you are interested in church licensing or The Grace Card Bible study, visit Outreach.com.
