|PIC1|Sherwood Church, home of the hit independent Christian movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof, has announced its next movie is to focus on fatherhood.

“The movie is about fatherhood and the title is one word: Courageous,” said Alex Kendrick, who is on the leadership team of Sherwood Pictures.

“Four fathers who are all in law enforcement — who protect and serve together — go through a terrible tragedy,” he said. “They begin looking at their role as fathers ... and they begin challenging one another to fulfil God’s intention for fathers."

The announcement was made that the church's Sunday evening service by Kendrick and other members of the Sherwood Pictures leadership team, Senior Pastor Michael Catt, Executive Pastor Jim McBride, and minister Stephen Kendrick.

That single-word title, Pastor Catt said, echoes God’s call for men to “rise with courage” in their homes and as leaders at a time when four out of 10 marriages in the US are ending in divorce and more than a third of children are living away from their biological fathers.

“The statistics on fatherless children are devastating,” McBride said. “And because the family is the building block of society, one important place to rebuild families is through fathers who stay and lead and love."

“God led us,” co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick said to the audience of church members, many of them volunteer crew, cast, or catering in earlier Sherwood movies. “We believe God is calling men to rise up with strength and with leadership in their homes, with their families and with their children."

"For more then a year we’ve prayed to be sure that we’re pursuing God’s idea and not our own,” Pastor Catt said. “With action, drama, and humour, this film will embrace God’s promise in the Bible to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers."

Alex Kendrick, co-writer/director of Courageous, said: “We focus on the crucial role of father; it’s not just to be a father who loves his kids. It’s to be engaged with a purpose - to be a father on purpose."

All four leaders of Sherwood Pictures are husbands and fathers. Pastor Catt has two children; Pastor McBride has four; Stephen Kendrick has four; and Alex Kendrick has six.

Sherwood movies aim to entertain as they touch audiences where they live, and they show the means to live more fully through faith in God. Flywheel focused on compromise and business integrity; Facing the Giants on despair and hope; Fireproof on a dying marriage rekindled.

With previous Sherwood movies, fans, churches, and organisations around the world became “partners” in the movie’s impact - giving prayer support for production, distribution, and the movies’ messages. Ministries and outreaches used the films in creative ways. Churches built series and group studies on the topics; Sunday schools seized the momentum of good entertainment that emphasizes life-changing truths.

“It’s been the Bible’s story of Jesus multiplying the boy’s fish and loaves,” Alex Kendrick said. “God has multiplied these movies beyond our wildest dreams."

Principle filming of Courageous begins March 2010 in Albany. Like the previous three Sherwood films, Courageous will be marketed by Provident Films.

Sherwood Pictures is a ministry of Sherwood Church of Albany, Georgia, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Michael Catt and Executive Pastor Jim McBride.