A look into the Christian mirror

LO filmmakers create not just a movie in ‘Lord Save us from Your Followers’

By Linda Hundhammer

The Lake Oswego Review, Mar 27, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

VERN UYETAKE / Lake Oswego Review

Dan Merchant, left, writer and director, and Jeff Martin, producer, of Lord Save us from Your Followers, have spent the last three years taking the hundreds of ideas from their post-it-note wall and turning them into the powerful documentary they envisioned.

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When was the last time you went to the movies and felt something big … something deep from within … something that made you want to stand up in the theater and shout out, “Yes! I’ve been feeling that way too! Thank you, thank you for finally talking about this!”

Lord Save Us From Your Followers, Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America? a new documentary created by Lake Oswego filmmakers Dan Merchant and Jeff Martin might just be that movie.

In screenings around the Portland area, standing-room-only crowds have left in tears, in laughter, and, most importantly to Merchant and Martin, in conversation.

The movie, due in theaters on June 13, 2008, and the accompanying book, written by Merchant and in bookstores now, take an honest look at Christianity in America.

“As Christians, we had to ask ourselves, what is missing? How did the public perception of Jesus’ followers get so wacked out? Christians are supposed to love one another, yet there seems to be some sort of a disconnect,” said Merchant.

Martin added, “Our film asks Christians to take a look in the mirror. Are Christians really doing good PR for Jesus? Can we do better?”

The idea for the movie started when the team returned from filming in Ethiopia in 2004.

“The Christians we met there had nothing but a yurt and a yak, but they were happier, more content and more giving than any we knew in the U.S. The purity of their faith seemed so simple. We came home to the Bush-Gore election where Christianity was an issue that was divisive, noisy and culturally and morally crippling. The contrast made us realize that something had gone terribly wrong,” said Merchant.

But it also told them that they were on to something – something atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews and, yes, even Christians – needed, and wanted, to talk about. With nine out of 10 Americans claiming a belief in God, why is faith more contentious than ever?

Martin, the executive producer, took the role of moneyman. He scraped together funding from private donors, churches, Christian organizations and friends.

“It was not easy. The title itself was an obstacle. Christians feared we were creating another ‘go to the zoo and look at the weird Christians’ movie, and, the secular groups feared it was all too Christian. What we wanted was something balanced, something truthful, something that represented people of all faiths – something that would help start a much-needed conversation.”

Merchant, the creative side of the team, interviewed public figures with varying religious perspectives including Al Franken, radio host and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate; Rick Santorum, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania; Michael Reagan, radio host and son of former president Ronald Reagan; and Tony Campolo, author, professor and evangelical Christian.

“I was disappointed that some of the faces of Christianity – Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins – turned us down,” said Merchant. “I actually sat in a hotel room for three days waiting for an interview promised by Jerry Falwell, and never got it. It was a shame because the public seems to misunderstand the good work these people do.”

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