Elevation Church: Oversold
Visit Oversoldthemovie.com to learn more or read below to hear Dave's passion and take on Oversold.
I am so excited about this movie, because this is one of those things in life that can only be explained by God in how it's coming together... so, I wanted to share it with you! — Dave Cowan
I have been inspired by some in the church that have really taken the time to communicate through multimedia in relevant/fresh ways. The screen is the new canvas in which to communicate and tell powerful, life changing stories... and since we meet in a movie theater... this only makes sense to pursue! So, praying and thinking things through, the idea for a modern day Hosea story/sermon came to life. Not long after, I visited my best friend Paul in LA and pitched the idea to him... He flipped. We began to dream together... what if we made this? Undoubtedly, the story of Hosea is one that our world needs to rediscover. We knew God was at work in all of this, so we kept praying for direction.
Paul began to research people/stories that would be good as a backdrop to our new movie. In the process he found the Treasure Web site - a ministry to strippers and women in the sex industry.
One of the stories on Treasure was of a woman named Crissy, formerly Crissy Moran, a very famous porn star that left the industry boldly to follow Christ. Anyway, the story really gripped Paul and he forwarded it to me. (Side note: Harmony, the creator of this ministry and former stripper herself is Crissy's mentor - Harmony spoke at Elevation several weeks ago and shared what she does with our church and we have a few in our midst that will most likely connect with what she's doing. Very cool...). Here is Crissy's public MySpace. Exciting that Elevation Church is listed in her top friends!
In time, we were able to connect with Crissy and tell her about the project and our idea. What's exciting is that she has agreed to help play the role of our modern day "Gomer" - and her boyfriend Grant has agreed to play the bad guy/pimp character in our story. A local LA actor will play the pastor/prophet of the story... His name is Stephen Shaw.
t was incredible to see this dream becoming a reality: camera rolling... lights... sets... it was awesome. cannot wait to show this to the world. I believe it will touch lives... give hope to those in bondage and reveal how we as Christians have forgotten what the word "redeem" means. More on that later, though...
Paul has really done a great job putting all of this together. He's secured all the essential elements to make this short film/video sermon an amazing piece. On top of all of that, my other best friend Josh Smith (of Ashes Remain fame) has written all new songs inspired by this story. Some of that will be revealed in this piece as well. It's a thrill to know that my two best friends in the world (next to Kimme, of course!!) are working together with me on this!
And speaking of friends, I consider Grant and Crissy dear friends of mine as well. This process has really allowed me the privilege of getting to know both of them. I can't wait to get this done and release it this fall! I do hope everything goes well... pray for this, won't you? If and when words gets out who is in this video, it will most likely spread over the entire world.... and in turn, so will this message of hope and grace. I feel like the story of Hosea is one that needs to be remembered and brought into our culture's psyche. When we do release it, I am hoping to really make an impact on the Phoenix area - there are so many here that need to hear about God's grace.
The world needs to know that Hosea is not just an old story but a REAL story that STILL SPEAKS. Looking forward to doing some more films like this in Elevation Church... and hopefully some not so sexually focused. lol - Between Harmony coming and the Hosea story, that seems to be the focus now. Looking forward to more on other stories like Joseph or Ester, etc.
Anyway... That is the latest, I suppose.... please pray for all of this, won't you?
David Cowan
Pastor, Elevation Church
