Based on a true story, “Ordinary Angels,” starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson, releases from Lionsgate Studios this week, showcasing the power of service and community. For the real-life Pastor Dave Stone of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, the film also highlights the vital role of the church.
Stone is portrayed in the film by Drew Powell, offering spiritual encouragement and comfort to the Schmitt family. During the film’s premiere in New York City, the pastor pointed to a scene that held a very significant meaning for him and his congregation.
“One of my favorite moments in the movie is when Alan, who plays Ed, is on his way, in a frantic drive,” he said. “And the guy says to him, ‘We’re going to Southeast Christian Church. And his comment is ‘That’s my church!’ There’s something special about a person who moves from saying, ‘This is where I go on Sundays’ to where they have this sense of involvement.”
As depicted in the film, Stone still remembers the incredible sight of volunteers coming from all directions to help the Schmitt family in their time of crisis.
“It’s a visual that I’ll never forget,” he said. “And it was a perfect picture of the Body of Christ being the hands and feet of Jesus. There was something that had to be done, and everybody came together.”
Southeast Christian Church held an advance screening of the film, with approximately 2,100 in attendance. Although Stone says “we don’t get a whole lot of snow in Kentucky,” on the night of the screening, it snowed again, thirty years after the events in the film. And he recognized the real “ordinary heroes” in attendance.
“I said, ‘Would you stand up if you happen to be in that group that shoveled?’ Twelve people stood up from thirty years difference, so that’s pretty cool.”
“Ordinary Angels,” directed by Jon Gunn and starring Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, and Tamala Jones, releases February 23, 2024, in theaters from Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate.
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