More than 20 years after Flywheel helped launch the filmmaking ministry of the Kendrick Brothers, the story that began in a Georgia church is preparing to reach audiences again, this time through FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL.
And as the film moves closer to its October 16 U.S. theatrical release, its message remains remarkably close to where the Kendrick Brothers began: surrender.
The official trailer for FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL has now been released, with additional advance screenings beginning September 10. A free virtual faith event connected to the movie is also being made available to churches, Bible studies and small groups throughout September.
But behind the expanding rollout is a much bigger story about what can happen when believers are willing to place something they love back into God's hands.
A Story They Had to Let Go
When K-LOVE News previously sat down with the Kendrick Brothers, they reflected on the unexpected journey of Flywheel, the low-budget movie created with borrowed equipment, volunteer actors, prayer and approximately $20,000 raised by members of Sherwood Baptist Church.
It was the beginning of something the brothers could not have predicted.
Flywheel eventually opened the door to movies including Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, Overcomer and The Forge. But when filmmakers in Brazil wanted to reimagine the story that started it all, the Kendricks faced a different kind of faith decision.
They had to release it.
“We had to let go a child that the Lord had given to us,” the brothers shared with K-LOVE News.
Rather than simply recreating the original movie, the new film allowed Brazilian filmmakers and actors to tell the story through their own culture and language, while preserving the spiritual heartbeat that made Flywheel more than a movie about a dishonest used-car salesman.
At its core, it is a story about lordship.
More Than Changing Behavior
In the original Flywheel, Jay Austin knows how to sell a car. The problem is how he does it.
His dishonesty has seeped into his business, his marriage and his relationship with his son. His turning point comes when repentance becomes more than something he says. His decision to surrender to God begins to change the way he lives.
That same spiritual question drives IGNITION OF THE SOUL.
Will we simply ask God to bless the life we have chosen, or will we allow Him to lead it?
It is a theme that reaches well beyond a movie screen.
During their earlier conversation with K-LOVE News, the Kendrick Brothers put the question this way:
“What can God do if we will be surrendered to Him?”
It is a question they have had to answer themselves.
What began as their story has now been entrusted to filmmakers thousands of miles away. The Brazilian production was created in Portuguese and developed with Brazilian actors, locations and leadership, while the Kendricks helped mentor and support the team.
The result is not merely a translation of Flywheel. It is a new telling of an old truth.
Taking the Conversation Beyond the Theater
That message will also move beyond movie theaters.
From September 9 through September 29, the Kendrick Brothers are offering a free virtual event called IGNITING YOUR FAITH, designed for churches, Bible studies, small groups and individuals.
The event is connected to the heart of FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL and provides an opportunity for viewers to explore the spiritual themes raised by the film.
Advance screenings in additional markets begin September 10, while churches and other groups can begin arranging theater buyouts starting October 2. The film is being offered in its original Portuguese with English subtitles, with an English audio track, and with English audio and Spanish subtitles.
The U.S. theatrical release is scheduled for October 16.
The Same Question, 23 Years Later
There is something fitting about Flywheel returning now.
The first movie was built around the image of a flywheel, the part of a car that helps transfer power and keep an engine moving. But spiritually, its central question was much simpler:
Who is driving?
More than two decades later, the production is bigger. The reach is international. The languages are different.
The question has not changed.
The Kendrick Brothers have said their goal has never been simply to chase success or recognition, but to pursue fruitfulness and allow God to receive the glory.
“Do not chase self-glory,” they told K-LOVE News. “Chase effectiveness and fruitfulness and for God to be glorified.”
Perhaps that is why the journey of Flywheel continues.
The movie began when a group of people prayed over something they did not have the resources to accomplish on their own. Twenty-three years later, they are watching others carry that story farther than they could have taken it themselves.
And the message they hope audiences encounter is the same one they discovered along the way:
Sometimes surrender does not mean the story is over.
Sometimes surrender is how God begins the next chapter.