Producer/Actor David A.R. White Believes God Still Not Dead

DAVID’S JOURNEY
David grew up in a small Mennonite farming town outside of Dodge City, Kansas.  “Movies and acting was not part of my DNA,” says David.  “I worked on the farm but had this dream inside of me from the Lord that I couldn’t get out of me to go into the entertainment industry.”  After high school, David went to Moody Bible for a year before calling his parents to tell them he was moving to Hollywood.  They told him, “As long as you serve the Lord, we will support you.”  So at 19, David started on what would quickly become a successful career as an actor, writer, director and producer.

His first starring role was in the hit TV show, Evening Shade, with Burt Reynolds.  “It was an eye opening experience,” says David, whose co-stars included Hilary Swank.  “I had no idea who these people were at the time.”  During his time off from the show, David started doing Christian movies.  “I didn’t have a passion for it,” he says.  “But I felt like the Lord started putting it on my heart.” His projects included 30-minute videos for clients like Focus on the Family.  At the time, the only Christian ministry producing films was Billy Graham.  “I felt like I could lend my skills at producing faith based movies,” says David.

In 2005, David became a founding partner in Pure Flix (www.PureFlix.com).  Today, after producing 100 movies, they are the number one faith-based studio for producing and distributing Christian films.  In 2014, David produced and starred in God’s Not Dead which was the number one independent movies of the year and the fifth highest grossing in cinema history based on the percentages.  It has been seen by more than 50 million people worldwide and grossed over $60 million.

BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN
On April 1, David returns to the big screen in his role as Reverend Dave in his new movie, God’s Not Dead 2.  This new film focuses on a Christian teacher (Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina the Teenage Witch) who must fight for her job and reputation after answering a student’s question in her public school classroom.  Her refusal to apologize leads school district officals to enlist a zealous civil liberties group to find her guilty of violating the “separation of church and state.” Other stars include Duck Dynasty’s Sadie Robertson, Robin Givens (Head of the Class), the late Senator Fred Thompson, Pat Boone, Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas), the Newsboys and others.

The film is rated PG (for thematic elements) and being released on April 1, an unconventional release date as that day is recognized as National Athiest’s Day.  “Our goal has always been and remains about making movies that entertain and educate an army of people who can talk about their faith intelligently and really take that to the world,” says David.  “Our hope is that we can start a conversation in the country with this movie about how critical the right to believe and to talk about that belief in public is to our nation.”