But he also understood. “Pastor Lee just wanted to help these kids,” he says.
When asked about the moment that most impacted his life while making the film, Ivie says, “When [Pastor Lee] told me that his heart for adoption sprouted from the truth, ‘God adopted me.’ This is what changed everything.”
Ivie told the story of his personal transformation during his award acceptance speech at the San Antonio festival.
“I became a Christian while making this movie,” he said. “When I started to make it, and I saw all these kids come through the drop box—it was like a flash from heaven. Just like these kids with disabilities had crooked bodies, I have a crooked soul. And God loves me still.”
He went on to say, “When it comes to this sanctity of life issue, we must realize that faith in God is the only refuge for people who are deemed unnecessary. This world is so much about self-reliance, self-worth and self-esteem. It’s a total illusion that we can be self-sufficient. Christ is the only thing that enables us.”
Making the film plucked a deeper chord in Ivie than he could have ever imagined. Though he viewed himself as a Christian before making the film, seeing the true gospel played out in the destitute and humble surroundings of Pastor Lee’s home, Ivie heard the voice of a Savior he had not yet known.
“Most people believe in some sort of God,” he said in one interview. “That’s easy to do. Or at least they believe that everything happens for a reason. So as one of those people, I assumed that I had a pretty divine reason for going to Korea. I assumed that my reason for making this documentary was simply to pass the mic to Pastor Lee. I assumed that God wanted to use my gifts as a storyteller to shine a light on the plight of these disabled babies that Pastor Lee was saving.
“I had no idea God was going to call me out on my own spiritual disabilities. More than that, I had no idea God was going to save, well, me. When I tell people that I became a Christian a year and half ago, they usually say, ‘I thought you were a Christian.’ To which I carefully reply, ‘You know what? So did I.’”
Today, Ivie’s production company, Arbella Studios, is in discussions with a couple studios about a distribution plan for the film. The crew is now preparing for a fourth and final trip to South Korea, where they will grab a few remaining interviews and then finish the film.
Audiences can view a trailer for the documentary at arbellastudios.com.
A Future Hope
With the $101,000 grand-prize winnings from the film festival, Ivie’s team donated $50,000 to Lee—and then used the remaining funds to start a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “support the vision and legacy of Pastor Lee Jong-rak and his flock,” serving as a conduit for financial aid from the U.S. to South Korea, as well as supporting others with similar initiatives.
In Seoul, Lee and his staff are raising money to build a new home for their big family—which now includes more than 30 children—next year with the help of Ivie’s team. Currently, Lee is still operating the ministry from his humble three-bedroom house.
A simple man with a huge purpose, Lee saw a devastating problem. He thought of a way he could change it, and he became a prophetic voice to his culture. His story is one every nation can grab hold of, as South Korea is not the only place dealing with child abandonment or hindering governmental policies or cultural stigmas that contest the sanctity of life. Globally, millions of children die from these issues.
But as Pastor Lee says of these children, “They’re not the unnecessary ones in the world. God sent them to the earth to use them.”
With willing people like Lee, the world is seeing how life can open up for these babies when we take them in, when we become a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. He is showing the world these children are wonderfully made, that their lives have a purpose, that they are worthy and that they are loved just the way they are.
Natalie Brumfield has been the chapter leader of Bound4LIFE in Birmingham, Ala., since 2008 and serves as a weekly counselor for Sav-A-Life, a local pregnancy test center. She longs to teach and provoke the hearts of the next generation for Jesus’ righteousness, intercession and justice.
Go behind the scenes with Pastor Lee Jong-rak as he picks up unwanted newborns from the Baby Box at babybox.charismamag.com.
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