Candace - The Conversation Every Married Couple Has

Episode Date: June 29, 2024

On this special Saturday edition of Candace I speak with Josh and Rebekah Weigel, the husband & wife film-making team behind Angel Studios new film, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot. For 25% off July 3 & 4 showtimes, go to http://www.Angel.com/Candace and use promo code CANDACE25. Candace on Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/Pp5VZiLXbq Candace on Spotify: https://t.co/16pMuADXuT Candace on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RealCandaceO Subscribe to Club Candace: https://www.clubcandace.com #CandaceShow #Candace #CandaceOwens #News #Politics #Culture #PopCulture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether it's a family member, friend or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer All right, guys, so we are doing a special Saturday edition of the show here, asking a question that I know a lot, maybe every single married couple ever has privately asked one another, which is, would we ever adopt or foster a child? And privately, one of you probably or maybe said, no, I would never adopt. No, I would never foster. And you'd likely offer some reason that you

proceed to be valid as to why you couldn't. It's definitely a heavy topic. And fortunately, fortunately, it is going to get a lot lighter and easier to discuss it thanks to the incredible film Sound of Hope. In this Saturday interview, I'm bringing you such a wonderfully inspired conversation with the filmmakers themselves, Josh and Rebecca Weigel. They're also foster and adoptive parents themselves. Before we bring them in, I'd like to offer you guys this short preview of the film, Sound of Hope. Are you sure these people want us? I know they do. You can call me mama. It's hard to feel like I'm the only one who sees these things.

70% of the kids in the system are there because of neglect. The other 30% are put through hell. Don't hurt me! We need your help. Can you imagine our kids on their own? We can't just look away. The state ain't no family. Are you sure these people want us? I know they do. You can call me mama.

Oh, Lord. No! No, no, no! If we can't wrap our arms around the most vulnerable, then what do we have? Noise! And the children can't take the nods anymore. Yeah! This is something that we must do. 22 families want to adopt. The whole town wants kids now.

That's about right. What's happening with possum trot could mean a huge change for the system. We want the ones that nobody else want. Who hurt you, baby? I don't know. I'm not giving up on you. You can't give up on me either. What are we going to do? Everybody's falling apart.

I'm doing the best I can. A real world hits hard. I don't want to be here. I can't give him back. We got to work on this together. We your people now. And love never gives up. So don't go anywhere, guys.

We are going to have a most powerful discussion that will both move and uplift you. Who doesn't need that on a Saturday? And we get to do some good in the process because in the corner of your screen, you'll notice some names of people who are buying tickets live. They're buying tickets to the Sound of Hope. So be sure to get in on the fun. Join the party. Go to angel.com slash Candice. And if you want a discount, use my code Candice25 at checkout. All right, let, I promised you we are back now with Rebecca and Josh Weigel, an amazing company who brought this story to life.

I mean, bringing it to the big screen. And I know a lot more than you guys know back at home. It's an incredible story, as I said, an important topic that a lot of us are not comfortable speaking about or even knowing about. And I want to start with you, Rebecca, because I was looking into your bio and your background is in psychology. And we talk a lot about psychology on my show. And I'm just examining my own psychology. When you think about the foster care system, when you think about adoption, you know that so many bad things happen there. What is it that makes it so difficult for us to take the next step and just want to completely transform it, get involved with it, especially as parents? Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of fears around foster care. As soon as you say foster care, people are like, oh, okay, those kids are troubled and

they have problems. And, you know, we're not thinking about the kids are the victims. It's not their fault. You know, they're not bad kids. They've just been through hard things. And as people of faith, we should have the most compassion and really step into their story and help change the narrative, help change their story. And I'm guilty of this, by the way. I think it's a question that every couple asks themselves when

they get married, like, would we ever adopt? That's like one of the conversations that you have. And I think that is part of the fear. And part of that is coming from media depictions and believing that you could end up with a totally scary situation that you can't get out of. There's all these documentaries about, you know, children that then try to kill other children. And it's hard for us to sort of face this reality that we do have a crisis in America. And so, Josh, let's move to you because reading how you guys picked up your entire lives and moved to Possum Trot because you wanted to understand out in East Texas, the story of this community that got this involved in the foster process. How did you first learn about Possum

Trot? And when did you know that this was a story that you needed to bring to the big screen? Yeah, Rebecca was the one who found out about it. I would say that we kind of all, if you're in this space at all, you'd sort of heard rumors about this community somewhere that had adopted all these kids. And so Rebecca, she was looking for someone to speak at a conference. She did a lot of work in Los Angeles in this space and ran into Bishop Martin and this whole story. So they connected and on the phone and it did not take long to, you know, decide that this is something that we needed to do. And we just, you know, move some things off of our plate and decided this was the, this was the project that we needed to focus on right now. We could tell that there was something really important about it beyond us.

It wasn't, you know, we never do movies just to do a movie. What we hope to do are films that are really great cinematically. We want people to have that experience. I love that experience. So it's got to be that first. But this story had so much drama, so much importance, all these things mixed into it that it really took over, really took over our lives. And what was that like for you?

How long did you move out to East Texas? And what were some of the early struggles that you went through just kind of learning about this community? Well, first we did the typical research, you know, we met with, we traveled out from California and met with them a number of times and took all of that information and experience back and kind of got through our first few drafts. And one of the most important things to us about this was that it was authentic and that we were giving people a fair perspective of what this is about, what it takes, what it's like. I'm not into propaganda. I'm not into sweet little movies about orphans. This was a real true story. A lot of people had suffered through, kids had suffered,

families raising them. There's a lot that we needed to honor. And so we got to a point where we felt like we got to be all in on this. And so it doesn't feel like we've hit the deepest places. And so we decided at that point, let's move out there and see what we can do, just getting into the community. So they welcomed us with open arms after they got through the whole surprise of it all. We were actually going to move out there. They're like, you're moving? Wait a minute. Staring at us in shirts. We knew you liked us, but. They're really here, you know? And we're like, no. So we just immersed ourselves as much as we could. And it was so much better.

It was so much different. There was a whole trust level barrier that we broke through, I think. And it did a lot for the story. And we got to meet a lot of the other kids too. And just in every way, I think it helped. Yeah. They came to our house when we moved there and brought the whole church and prayed over our family and anointed us with oil. And they've prayed through this whole process. So it's been really to like connect with this little church, you know, this mighty church in the woods that prays and thought, okay, they're going to make it seem like this process is just so easy so that everyone gets inspired and they go out. And I think part of my perspective was colored because I have situations in my family and I know how complicated these situations can be. And yet you guys just confront it like head on in this film. And I'm trying here not to give too much away, you guys. I'm going to keep saying this

as we have this conversation, but please head to angel.com slash Candice. You can use code Candice25 and you can see the available show times and purchase tickets. But that was one of the things is you confronted it. Like, yes, this is going to be difficult. Guess what? Life is not easy. And this story is a story that I think you guys were well equipped to tell because of your own experiences. You guys are both foster and adoptive parents. Now, was that before you jumped onto the film, or is it because of learning this possum trot story that you decided to become foster and adoptive parents? Yeah, it was before. I mean, I think I can remember even being a kid thinking about this. Not too seriously, but it just felt obvious. Like there's

kids in need. I'm sure one day I want to, I'm going to do this. And so, yeah, we were, we had three of our own biological kids and we talked about it and it got to that point where you're like, this is never going to happen unless we just do it. So we had already jumped in and we're in that, the thick of it all and experiencing all the things you experience. And so we had a lot to draw from, but we definitely put our foot in the water first and learned a ton too. Rebecca's work just put us on the front lines of a lot of data and information and experiences that we weren't aware of, all kinds of connections we can get into with other issues. But there was sort of a groundbed created before. And then the story felt like the right time,

just kind of came into our lives at the right time. So you had three... We adopted... Go on. We adopted our kids. It really just broke our heart for this issue and opened our eyes to what kids are going through. And I think, too, we were longing for more support from our church. We felt like we were kind of alone in this journey, and we were going through really hard things. And we were writing at the same time, and just seeing how this

church came around and did it together and wrapped around each other. I think it was such a beautiful picture of what the church can be and I think should be. And so, I mean, some of it is we really wanted to elevate the church and show what's possible through churches when they really confront this issue and step in and care for kids together. You know, one of the things that I speak to my audience about and what I love about this story and what you guys are bringing to the big screen is this topic of spirituality. And I think for whatever reason, America has really kind of departed from that conversation for too long. And maybe it's because everyone's on their smartphones and we've become so technological that in many ways we become spiritually quite backwards,

quite archaic spiritually. And you kind of can feel that there's sort of this resurgence happening right now and people are beginning to speak a lot more about spirituality. And I can't think of anything that is more crucial to an upbringing of a child than to come from a steady household and how much their spirits are disrupted when that steadiness is removed. And in particular, one issue that you tackle, and this is the biggest fear, even for people that are adopting and people that are taking in foster children, is older children in the system. Can you guys just speak about that? Yeah, that's one of the things. So one of the things that really stands out about this community and this story is that they asked for the ones that nobody wanted, the most difficult to place, we say. So that could mean severe abuse. That can mean there's a sibling set. They don't want to break up four or five kids. Thank God. They could be older. It's really difficult to find families for teenagers. And so they focused on that. And

that's like going headlong into fear. The things you are most afraid of, they just took this on. And so that really stood out to me. We've seen that just in, you know, in our experience, talking you know that there are challenges to other children that you are going to have to embrace, um, it's a real thing. And I, to me, this all comes down to, um, you know, what are we really willing to do about the problems that are around us? You've got, you've got, you're compelled by your faith. Many of We're compelled by our humanity. You feel that sense that you ought to do certain things. And then it's like, we complain or we think a lot about and talk a lot about all of these issues around us, but we don't often either have a way to do anything about it other than vote or throw some money at it. But this issue, like you can dive into this, you can actually get into it and you can start affecting all kinds of areas in our lives. And so it's really, in one sense, a question

of, are we really serious about taking on the problems of society? And are we really serious as Christians being Jesus in those places where he already is? he's beckoning us to come to him. He's already there. And so that's what we're meant to do. We're meant to go into the hard places. We're meant to do the hard things. And what comes with that is everything you need. It's hard.

And we've made sure that that's depicted in the film. We're honest about the things that you're going to face. But the difference is you're going to face. But the difference is, you know, you genuinely have what you need and you are genuinely changing as a person. You are in something that's so dynamic and important. It's not just one thing that's happening. You're not just helping a child in need. You are doing something spiritually dynamic. Literally, you know, you're changing this kid's life, but your whole family is affected. There's just a lot going on that people don't necessarily think about. But it takes that willingness to dive into the problems and not leave them to somebody else.

Now, I should issue a spoiler alert here. Apparently, I can't hold water because there's another moment in the film that is coming to me. And it was just such a deep moment. I really want to ask you about it, Rebecca. And you guys, please go to angel.com slash Candace. Use code Candace25. And just let's make this the best July 4th weekend where we can really start to confront these issues that really matter in America. But going to that moment, and this really is the question that I think everybody asks themselves, you know,

if I adopt a child, am I actually going to see this child as my child? And there was this moment in the film where this woman really dealt with this really subconsciously. There was nothing to be mean about. She just, the child was giving her trouble and giving her biological daughter trouble. And that to me, like to see that question that I think is in the back of everyone's minds before they ever get to the adoption phase play out on the big screen. I just have to ask you, Rebecca, you know, is that a conversation that you had with yourself before you jumped into the foster process and the adoption process? Is that a conversation that the two of you have one another? Like, am I I want to be the best person that I can be, but we can't stop being ourselves. Is there, is there something bigger going on here? I hope I'm asking that in the right way.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's interesting as foster adoptive parents are watching this film, a lot of them are saying like, were you in my closet? Were you listening to my conversations? You know, and, and I think sometimes we're scared to be honest as foster adoptive parents, because people put you on a pedestal and they act like, oh, you're some hero or you're special or, and you're feeling weak and vulnerable and like, man, I've never felt, you know, like I need more help and more support. And so a lot of it was, you know, we experienced a lot of these things personally. I mean, when we adopted our children, we adopted a seven.

She was seven and her brother was three. And that was definitely challenging. But and we had a lot of those, you know, especially when you adopt older children, you don't have that. You miss out on all of that bonding that happens, you know, when you have a baby and you nurse and you wake up with them and you feed them and you watch them take their first steps and all these things. That creates this bonding and you don't get that when you adopt older children. So it takes more work and you have to work at it. So it was definitely, you know, we went through a lot of those challenges and didn't want to sugarcoat it because the last thing we wanted to do was draw people into something, make it look easy, and have them become disillusioned.

So we thought, well, we'll make it look hard, but encourage people that we're called to do hard things. And we actually grow in that process, too. Yeah. I mean, this is a really important issue. There's a, there's a few key things, you know, fear being one of them, but this is another one I think a lot of people are concerned about. And, you know, I think about it, um, you know, if you have your own biological child that's acting out and, and doing things that are hard to like because of whatever

reason, you can have a difficult time liking your own child. I mean, that's a real thing for people. And so you've got children who are traumatized. They've gone through some of the worst things you can go through, losing your biological parents, being hurt by them or whatever. I mean, very deep, profound pain. And so to be healed, to go through the process of being healed, that's messy. And it can be hard just because of how they're processing. It can be hard to experience that. And it's like a really practical thing.

It's hard to like a kid sometimes that's going through that process. And so it's something I hope people understand. It's relevant to parenthood. And yeah, it's a thing with kids who need healing. And it's challenging to keep that perspective that this child is going through something that I don't fully understand. I can't totally relate to. God, give me the patience to, as a human, process with them.

And people need to know that that's OK. That's not like, now you're an evil person because you don't feel the way you're supposed to feel about the child at that moment. But as we've gone through that with our own kids, it's there. I mean, it really is something that just takes time. And sometimes it's not very much time at all. It's different for everybody and every child, but so good you're asking because it's, it's something that as you process that with people who walk through it, um, it's not as scary as you think. And there are, there are things you can do to help that as certain kinds of parenting, different, different things you can do to make the process easier

and more harder for yourself. So it's a really important issue, but shouldn't scare people off. And it's so funny that you say that because it is very true that it is the fear that paralyzes people. They keep these questions in the back of their minds. They don't want to talk about it. And I recognize that there's a psychology to that. If I don't talk about it, maybe nobody else is thinking that. But once you ask the question and you hear the answer and you go, yeah, okay, you might go through this and it's going to take a little bit more work. And you realize, okay, this is not going to be a permanent feeling. And, yes, whether you have biological children, I have three.

You go through days. I say to my husband, you know, I always wondered whether or not when I had children if I was going to have a favorite child. And I said the answer is it depends on what day it is. Are you crying and throwing a tantrum? You're my favorite today. You're like – It's really hard for me to like him today. Exactly.

And, and, and it is a total normal part of parenting and you, you're not, you're not going to be perfect. And then that's the beauty of having a relationship with God is because you know that you're not alone and you can always give it up to him and you can always just be better the next day and make, make a real attempt to better the next day. And then you have moments of just sheer happiness and glee and you're, and you're grateful, um, that you pushed through. And as we all know, God does not give you more than you can handle. Even in the moment when you think, no, there's just no way I could possibly handle anymore. That's usually about the time that I always say you should, you should

thank God because he, he's the great mathematician. He is seeing ahead and he is putting you through that. And that is something that you really saw with the Possum Trot community. And community is also what's so important in this world where we've just gotten so far from each other. Everyone's on their phone. There is no sense of community. And that's the beauty of the church, it bringing people back together. You're not alone. Here is a community of people. So I'd love to ask you, what is your relationship now with the Possum Trot community? How long did you guys live there? And when did you guys leave? We haven't left yet. We're still in the area. We have five kids, three are still living with us. And so we knew that if we go, you know, we got to think about school and their life too. We don't want to, you know, be constantly unsettling them.

But no, we're still nearby. We don't know what the future will hold. But, you know, it's really nice to be in an area like that with a whole different perspective on life and life together. And, you know, being in L.A. for so long, it's just very tough to find community like what we're experiencing now. So, you know, we'll see. There's a question mark there. Yeah, it's been really good for our kids just to experience a different part of the country and see that not everybody thinks the same. You know, growing up in LA, like, everyone thinks the same. And, you know, now they're in Texas. I'm like, wow,

people in Texas don't like people. They're like, careful. We're not from LA. We're from... Yeah, it's been a good experience. And we actually don't live in Possum Jar. We moved to the big town outside of Possum Jar, which is still a small town, but there's at least a Chick-fil-A. The biggest is we didn't send our kids into shock completely.

Gotta have the Chick-fil-A. Yeah. So what are you guys hoping is going to be the response to this film? If, if, if anything, go for it. I mean, well, you know, our hope is, cause I mean, we were talking a little bit about the foster crisis. I think a lot of people just aren't aware. And that's what we saw when we stepped in is there's just a lack of awareness. People don't know what kids are going through. And because they're in the system, they're protected, you can't show pictures, they don't see them. You know, we wanted to really make this issue, like put it out front, highlight it, bring awareness, and have people, you know, really, we want to break people's hearts for the kids and see what they're going through, so that they'll

act and they'll act and they'll get involved. Because when they actually see and meet Terry in the story, they're connecting on a deep level emotionally and going, okay, I think I could love like that, and I want to. And we want to see the whole crisis turned around, really. We want to see this movement of churches all over the country and then see the church rise up and end the foster crisis in America. And why the title Sound of Hope? Right. That's good. So that came through some discussions with Angel Studios. And we've learned over the years that some of the, let me just name a few of them, like child trafficking itself,

anywhere between 70, 90% of those kids have spent time in the foster system. And homeless, 50% of the homeless, 70% of the prison population, you know, there's these areas of life where these people have had history with the foster system, which means brokenness and trauma and all of those things that come with it. So when Sound of Freedom was released and people, you could just feel, people were so moved. And we were in theaters where, you know, you could feel that people wanted to do something, but not everybody can go be a Green Beret Christian or, you know, child trafficking warrior. So we understood those connections. So we talked about it with Angel Studios and said, hey, look, this is a way to follow up the sound of freedom phenomenon and not only continue creating awareness and spreading awareness, but giving people a way in. How can

they actually get involved and affect the trafficking issue? Well, you go to the foster system. And so that's one aspect of it. And so they felt like, let's connect it. Let's really make sure people understand this is sort of an anthology kind of idea. It's not the same type of movie, but it's actually touching on the same issue and giving people a chance to do maybe more than they could have with that one. Because at the end of this movie, there'll be a website you can go to, you'll be connected to, where you can get your church involved to do what Bennett Chapel has done. You can learn how foster and adoption works and be connected to that and get involved there. Or you can get involved in prevention, you know, really keeping kids out of the system. We're helping them reunite with safe, loving families that just

are dealing with things that they need help with. So those are the three areas. And, you know, for us, it's like, it's the best thing. You've got this movie that you'll have a cinematic, fun, theatrical experience with, moving, emotional, and then you're going to go out and be able to do something and change the world around you. So it's the best of both worlds. Well, I'd like to again invite my audience, you guys, for July 3rd and 4th showtimes only. Go to angel.com slash Candice and use my code Candice25. This is something that you can do. Maybe you're not in a position right now where you're thinking that you can foster a child, but you can support this movie and getting people to recognize, take a friend,

you know, embrace this. These are topics that actually matter. I mean, you probably saw action films and all of this stuff. It's not gonna make a difference in your life, but this actually will. And I am telling you, my heart was pulled in so many ways, so many directions watching this. I felt so blessed to be among the first to see it. And it will really force you to examine yourself and whether or not you're making an imprint in the world. You know, we always ask, what can I do? What can I do? Well, let me tell you, you can support this film. And then having seen this film, you will then deeply ask yourself, am I doing enough?

What more can I do? And sometimes it's just being a part of a community, reaching out to community and letting somebody else know that they're not alone when they are going through this process. And as you mentioned, the statistics are incredible. I just want to rattle off a few of them. 80% of prison inmates grew up in foster care. I mean, that is unbelievable. You hear so much talk about people that are in prison. Well, the reality is that growing up without a father in the home, growing up without a stable two-parent household, that is the greatest disadvantage to a child, without question. It is a direct pipeline to prison, especially for young men. Another statistic is 91% of gang members have been

in the foster system. I did not know that. That is a reality. Another statistic is that 80% of the kids entering foster care have notable mental health needs. 70% of foster youth will be on government assistance within four years of aging out. And 50% of the foster youth develop substance abuse by the age of 24. You know, I just want to say to you guys, you are just an amazing couple. I mean, what you are doing, the films that you are bringing, they're courageous. They matter. So much of what we are looking at are fantasy, and we love to plug ourselves into fantasy. And we need to begin plugging ourselves into reality.

And I just would love to hear the story about how you two met and when you decided you guys were going to take a bite out of this and say, you know what, let's actually produce things that matter. Love it. Well, that goes way back to me being, I think, 12 or 13 years old. And I was struck with like what I want to do in life. I knew I loved movies, but I had this experience where I just felt there was real purpose in it and somehow creating movies that were different. And the way I would describe it now is what I want people to do is have the best possible movie experience you can have. I mean, I love the craft, the art. We all love movies and they ought to be that and be really, really good. And so many times when you want to say something important, it turns into propaganda. And so I'm not interested in that. I don't really relate to that kind of movie. The faith-based movies are not sort of my world either. And so it's always been something in my mind. And I want people to

experience God when they see these films. I feel like the spiritual nature is an important part of it for me and Rebecca. And so within a good story, we want them to have hopefully made the choice that people also experience much more. And so we've always been kind of designed that way. That's how we think. That's how we approach everything. And she, you know, basically we were surprised with Rebecca's involvement. She was- I didn't like Hollywood. I was like, I'm going to keep you grounded. Like you can be the filmmaker and I'll be the steady income, you know. Well, she, we moved in 1998 to Los Angeles for, you know, me to pursue it. And eventually we started doing short films.

And she kind of chimed in every now and again, had like really good ideas. And she was pursuing her master's degree in psychology and all of these other things. And so I talked to her. I'm like, I think we should do something together. And I said, you know, in one movie, you'll be able to do more with that person than probably 10 years of counseling. So let's just see what happens with it. And we started creating short films together. And we ended up doing one called The Butterfly Circus that just took off for us, went viral, won all these awards. And people

around the world just latched onto this. And it was about a limbless guy who is stuck in the sideshowed world. And he leaves the sideshow world to join up with something like Cirque du Soleil, where he finds, you know, meaning and we do a lot with identity and things like that. And it just like ripped people. And so that opened doors for us. And that's when we really felt like, okay, this okay, there's purpose in us working together in that. And we compliment each other gift-wise. And so it's been a great part of my experience. And we started getting emails from all over the world of like, I struggled with depression. And then I watched this film and now I know my purpose. And so we've gotten to see, and Josh is like, that would have taken six years of therapy. So, you know, and we really do see how the media is impacting culture so much.

I mean, these stories are shaping our culture. They're influencing the minds of this generation. And that is something that's very important to us, is creating art that influences for the good and is positive and brings hope. And like you said early on, like faith is a universal thing that everyone wrestles with. So why are we shying away from faith in Hollywood and putting it in this little corner of faith-based films when this is a universal thing that people are, you know, deeply moved? I mean, even in pre-screenings of Sound of Hope, even people that don't identify as Christian or having a faith are walking out in tears and saying, you know, I felt something in that movie. What was it? And they're saying, if church was like that,

I would go to church. And it's drawing people. They're saying their hunger, I think there's a hunger and a thirst for truth right now now because people are wanting these universal truths and it's being expressed. They're running into dead ends with the other stuff. It's not working. Yeah. And when you are living through a time of such tremendous darkness, I think people naturally then go and pursue light. And you're correct. Maybe they don't have faith.

And that's why many of my listeners and I love hearing, you know, listening to your show made me want to go to church. And some people are not there and you take a different step. Well, I can promise you that if you are thinking about spirituality, if you're grappling with the understanding that we are facing dark times, you're grappling with an understanding that there's a lot going on in this world. And we can't pretend it's not. You are absolutely going to love this film. It is going to compel you and move you in so many different ways. And so I just want to, again, remind my listeners, please, please, please go to angel.com slash Candice and use my code Candice25. Buy tickets. Buy more tickets than you need. Give it to someone who maybe doesn't have the means to buy a ticket. And go with them to the theater and watch this.

And you will be forever moved by this. You guys, I know that we are coming up against time here. And I just want to say that I truly feel that God has his hand on you. And I know that this film is going to be a tremendous success. And I want to thank you on behalf of everyone for having the courage, because it's not just the heart, but also having the courage to do the work to bring this film to the big screen. Thank you. And we want to shout out to Angel Studios, too, because as you know, you've seen the film. There's some hard things.

I mean, it's gritty. There's some scenes. I don't know if you recognize Josh from the pastor scene. Pastor Mark, he played the megachurch pastor. Oh, my gosh. Yes. I just put two and two together. I know. I told him I'm like people all over the country are not going to know who you are. They're just going to not like you for some reason. You know, that was a risky scene. And there was a lot

of companies and people that said, you know, you need to take out that scene. That's going to offend your core audience. And, but it's not, I mean, people are walking out feeling really, you know, you need to take out that scene. That's going to offend your core audience. But it's not. I mean, people are walking out feeling really, you know, we had one pastor walk out of a screening and say, I'm like that pastor and I need to change. So, you know, Angel Studios is taking risks that a lot of people aren't taking. So we're grateful for the distribution and thankful that you're using your voice to bring people out and encourage people to see it. So thank you. Yes, definitely. Thank you so much. Well, to both of you, Josh, Rebecca, Weigel,

this is going to be an amazing success. God bless you, and we'll be praying for you. Thank you. Thanks, Candice. Thank you, Candice. Great time being here. Thank you.