'Courageous' Producer Speaks at Cobb County Prayer Breakfast

Smyrna native Stephen Kendrick, producer of the films “Fireproof” and “Courageous,” called on Christians to put prayer back at the forefront of their lives of at the 28th annual Cobb County Prayer Breakfast Thursday at .

“Our generation has lost sight of the power of prayer,” he said. “It’s hard work. It’s easier to solve problems on our own than to call upon God. It’s easier to save prayer as an emergency parachute rather than our first response in any circumstance.

Kendrick, who is the prayer minister at his church in Albany, said there are “three keys to the locks of prayer.”

“Get right with God, get right with others and get your heart right and God will work quietly in your life,” he said.

Kendrick and his brothers Shannon and Alex are the producers behind the inspirational Christian films “Flywheel,” “Facing the Giants,” “Fireproof” and “Courageous.” He said he and his brothers who have no formal film training prayed throughout each filmmaking process and attribute their success to prayer. 

Kendrick was raised in Smyrna where his family helped found Cumberland Christian Academy before they moved to Albany, Ga. He said he and his brothers became interested in filmmaking when they borrowed their neighbor’s stop motion camera to make movies. 

Kendrick addressed an audience of about 2,000 people at the Cobb County Prayer Breakfast that honors the National Day of Prayer, an observation enacted by President Harry Truman in 1952. The prayer breakfast in Cobb County got its start in 1985 when a group of business and community leaders held the first breakfast to observe the National Day of Prayer. In 1988, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution endorsing the breakfast.

In addition to Kendrick’s address, the ceremony included hymns and praise and worship performances, readings from the Bible, and prayers led by various members of the Cobb County business community as well as branches of government.