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Alex and Stephen Kendrick were told they didn't have enough resources, acting ability or experience to get their movie on the big screen.

After all, it was a low-budget film, written and directed by two pastors, shot mostly on church property, with no professional actors.

The setup had all the makings of a classic David vs. Goliath story, and that's just what the faith-based film Facing the Giants delivered. On screen and off.

The Kendricks grew up shooting movies with a clunky video camera in their backyard. Their journey to the big screen came, not through Hollywood, but through a more unlikely path: the church.

The brothers were pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., when they heard a compelling statistic that helped shape them into serious filmmakers.

The stat came from the George Barna Research Group and stated that television and movies were in the top three most influential factors in American culture. And church, well, it wasn't even in the top 10. To Alex Kendrick, this fact was shocking. That's when he went to his senior pastor and pitched the idea for a Christian film.

The brothers made their first film, Flywheel, on a $20,000 budget. They knew they were on to something when Blockbuster picked up the DVD and sold it in stores across the country.

Church members donated $100,000, no strings attached, to start the brothers' second film, Facing the Giants. The story line follows Grant Taylor, a down-and-out coach on the comeback trail. Mixing football and faith, Giants is an "amalgam of real stories within the church community," Alex says.

"We didn't have to spend money on normal things movies spend money on," he says. "Sunday School classes cooked every meal and brought it to location. We only used locations that were owned by the church or our members, so we didn't have to get permits."

"The $100K went toward the rental of one camera, a dolly, a set of lights and a microphone; that's it," Alex said. No professional actors were hired, the entire cast and crew was comprised of church people.

When the brothers finished the film, they were told over and over, "It doesn't work that way. You can't make a movie that's worth watching for $100,000, especially with volunteer actors."

"We kept praying, 'God would you direct this,' " Alex said.

Sony executives took an interest in Giants. Sony felt that the mix of faith and film was a market that needed to be tapped into, especially after the overwhelming results of The Passion of the Christ.

"For Sony it was a business. For us it was ministry," Alex says.

"It's not a perfect movie. There are things we would change if we could go back, and we've been harassed by the secular critics," Alex says. But that's fine with the Kendrick brothers; they didn't make the movie to win awards.

Most Christian films get lambasted by the critics for having smarmy characters and preachy plot lines. Alex understands the argument: "We've got to get better at it. So far the world doesn't respect the Christian movies that have come out. They're low-budget. They're second-rate."

"The church used to be in the center of the arts, and we've given that over to the world, and we'd like to take part of that back," Alex says.

And while faith-based films are starting to gain momentum, they're still an anomaly in the mainstream movie industry.

For the Kendrick brothers, film is another avenue for ministry. And, though, they hope to make another film next year, the miracle of Facing the Giants is still building their faith.

"We were told, 'You don't have enough resources, you don't have enough acting ability, you don't have enough experience to get on the big screen,' and God has shown himself faithful," Alex says.

Facing the Giants was released in 441 theaters on Sept. 29. It never played in the Dayton market, but it is scheduled for video release Jan. 30.

So far, the $100,000 film has grossed more than $7.2 million dollars.

David, meet Goliath.

Brian Orme is an associate pastor at Community Church in West Milton and a freelance religion writer. Send e-mail to mjorme@gmail.com.