Local effort brings film to Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE - There's this movie. An interesting idea, potential for a big audience, but not Hollywood's usual fare.

But there are people in town who want to see it. So how to get it here?

Let the theater know there's an audience out there.

Producers of the movie "God's Not Dead" got the word out about their movie, of course, and among the people who heard about it was Kent Copley, pastor of the Moses Lake Alliance Church.

Copley said it sounded like a movie he wanted to see, and he thought a lot of other people, at his church and around town, would want to see it also.

It's not the sort of thing Hollywood usually pumps out, and not getting the usual Hollywood treatment. Not necessarily going into all the usual theaters either.

Copley said he called the owners of Fairchild Cinema, and they said they weren't planning on showing it. But hey, that didn't have to be the end of it.

"They (theater owners) were really collaborative with us to make it happen," Copley said. They asked the church to buy 500 tickets for the week's run, and the movie would come to town.

So Copley put the proposition before his congregation. "All of our tickets are gone, that we had," he said.

"God's Not Dead" is the story of Josh Wheaton, a college freshman stuck in Philosophy 105 with a professor who's deeply hostile to the whole God thing. He's so hostile he doesn't want to talk about it, and all he requires of his students is acquiescence. Josh doesn't acquiesce, so the professor says in order to pass, he has to work up a proof of God.

Copley said he thought the movie raised some interesting questions about defending faith, which was why he wanted to see it, and wanted others to see it. "We hope it helps (the audience) in their pursuit of God."