Film Spotlights Faith in the Face of Cancer

Letters to God, which opens nationwide Friday, spotlights the
power of prayer and how the faith of a boy facing cancer changes his neighbors’
lives. Inspired by a true story, the film stars Tanner McGuire as Tyler
Doherty, an 8-year-old cancer-stricken boy who writes letters to God every day
that eventually make their way into the hands of a troubled postman.

Photo: Tanner McGuire (right) plays a cancer-striken boy in the movie Letters to God.

The cast features Robyn Lively (Saving Grace) as
Tyler’s mother, Jeffrey S. Johnson (CSI)
as the postman and as a neighbor, Ralph Waite of The Waltons, who lost
a child to cancer himself. (Watch trailer below.)

“Everybody has been touched in one way or another by cancer,”
said director David Nixon, one of the producers of the popular Christian films Facing
the Giants and Fireproof. “But the real story is that these little
letters were really prayers, and that’s really what I would like for people to
take away from the movie … that you can have a connection with God and it can
be as simple as writing a letter to Him.”

The $3 million film is one of a string of Christian films
Nixon is bringing to theaters through his Possibility Pictures. Like Fireproof
and Facing the Giants, the films will target Christian audiences.

“We’re not interested in making movies, we’re interested in
touching hearts through movies that would have a redemptive value, that would
tell that gospel story,” Nixon said. “We don’t want to get preachy, we just
want to tell simple stories about Christians and how they go through
adversity.”

Letters to God, co-written by Tyler’s father, Patrick
Doughtie, includes stories of cancer survivors and is being supported with an
array of products to help churches counsel people facing a cancer diagnosis.

Zondervan is publishing a seven-book series to help people
start a dialogue with those battling cancer, and the American Association of
Christian Counselors is developing a counseling series for cancer for churches
and individuals. The Great Commission Network also has created a sermon series
and small-group study around the themes in the film.

“When people are at the bottom of their lives, when they
hear the cancer word and they hear they’re diagnosed, they usually go to
a church,” Nixon said. “So we want to have those materials ready for churches
and pastors to use.”

Churches have been buying out theaters in advance of the
film’s release, and social networking sites have been buzzing about the film
for several weeks.

“People are jumping on the bandwagon over this little
movie,” Nixon said. “We just believe God is going to use this movie mightily
when it comes out, we don’t even know how He’s doing to use it.”

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