‘God Is Faithful’: David A.R. White on GOD’S NOT DEAD 4: WE THE PEOPLE

After the financial success of the low-budget GOD’S NOT DEAD, it was a no-brainer for director David A.R. White and his team to create more movies with the same family-friendly values and mass appeal. 

White’s 2012 hit was soon followed up by two additional GOD’S NOT DEAD movies, and he is gearing up for the release of the fourth, WE THE PEOPLE, on Oct. 4. 

“The whole purpose of GOD’S NOT DEAD is always to open up conversations about God in different places,” White said in a recent interview with CCM. “In the first one it was the college campus, the second one was the high school, then the community, and the natural fit is, well, where do you go after that?”

A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads: 

GOD’S NOT DEAD: WE THE PEOPLE is the fourth in the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise. It follows Pastor Dave and a group of Christian homeschooling parents who receive a court summons after a politically correct government inspection of their homeschooling co-op. The group trusts in God’s will and heads to Washington, D.C. to fight for their freedom to home educate their children. They face a Congressional hearing that could determine religious liberty for decades to come. Ultimately, Dave realizes he’s fighting for much more than just the rights of homeschooling, but the foundations of faith, liberty and unity that built America.

WE THE PEOPLE is a strong, patriotic movie about the Christian roots of the United States and its constitution and the importance for Americans to fight for their freedoms. While WE THE PEOPLE has some expository moments, they are augmented by its moral and faith-based content. The movie stresses the importance of the Bible, liberty, standing up to government tyranny, and honoring those people who have served to hold onto America’s freedom. MOVIEGUIDE® encourages parents to watch WE THE PEOPLE with their children.

Despite COVID-19 making filmmaking difficult, White said that God’s will was accomplished through the hardships. 

White, who also stars in all of the GOD’S NOT DEAD movies, revealed that they had written the script for the fourth movie before the third movie, A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. 

“Homeschooling didn’t really seem relevant at the time, but through COVID, obviously, we’ve all been awakened to what it is to home school because we all had to do it if you had children,” he said. “Then you have Europe who’s banning homeschooling in a lot of ways and so this is the backdrop of this this whole political intrigue.

“They want to control exactly what they’re teaching and take God out of that equation,” White continued. “We have the backdrop of a whole incredible movie that deals with the things that are going on right now. Where does the government stop and when is it right for the government to be involved in our lives?

“Ronald Reagan has this great quote at the beginning of the trailer and it talks about how freedom is a fragile thing and if we’re not careful, that it can go away,” he continued. “As those freedoms are stripped away, you’re never able to get that freedom back and what we’re seeing right now in our country is parts of that, and that’s a scary thing and I think that’s why this movie is so relevant.”

Despite touching on American freedom, homeschooling, politics and government, White notes that the ultimate goal is to showcase how God is faithful. 

“Most importantly it is just about the faithfulness of God and that in the midst of these struggles, in the midst of the trials and tribulations that we’re going through and everybody’s going through in different ways, God is faithful,” he said. “He does show up.”