Amid America's foster care and adoption crisis, a heartwarming new movie tells the powerful story of how one pastor and his wife inspired their church and town to help the "least of these" in the most profound and impactful of ways. "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot," which hit theaters July 4, came from the mind and heart of writer and producer Rebekah Weigel and her husband, Joshua, who directed the feature.
Rebekah Weigel told CBN News that the film's roots were set in 2013, when the couple adopted two children and she subsequently learned what happened in Possum Trot, Texas — how a church adopted 77 children in the deepest of need. "I came across this story and it just really impacted me deeply, because we were in the trenches with our own kids, and to just hear about a whole church stepping in and doing it together was just really inspiring."
As time when on, Weigel and Joshua felt compelled to tell that story through film — a process that took eight years before this month's theatrical release. She believes "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot" has the power to transform hearts and minds when it comes to foster care and adoption. "Twenty-two families from a little church stepped into the foster crisis, adopted 77 children," Weigel said. "They were the most difficult-to-place children in the Texas child welfare system."
The film focuses on a number of stories, but the central characters are Bishop W.C. Martin and his wife, Donna Martin (portrayed by actors Demetrius Grosse and Nika King), who spearheaded the adoptions and helped inspire their church along the way. Of course, that process was anything but easy, with the kids' trauma, difficulties — and the adoptive families' struggles — on full display in the film.
Weigel explained that the foster care issue is a "crisis across the country." There are so many kids in need that some youths are placed in hotels or hospital wards as they await foster care placement or adoption. "There's 400,000 kids in the foster system right now," she said. "There's 100,000 that are eligible to be adopted right now that need a permanent, stable, loving home." Weigel is hopeful the "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot" will help motivate the church to do more to meet these kids' needs.
"We have 400,000 churches in America and 100,000 kids just languishing in the system waiting to be adopted," she said. "So, if one church focused on one child, we could wipe out this entire crisis. And we would have more than enough homes, more than enough help and resources."
and this is a show where we go behind the headlines every day to bring you an interview with a pastor, entertainer, politician, or other notable news figure. And this is a show, again, it's daily, but it's based on our weekly TV show, which is also called Newsmakers. You can watch it on the CBN News channel and also on our YouTube page. And on this show, every day we dive deep, it's a little more longer form with one of the people who you will often see on our Newsmakers show or across the CBN News platforms. On today's Newsmakers, Rebecca Weigel joins us to talk about her film, Sound of Hope, The Story of Possum Trott. It recently hit feeders July 4th and it tells an incredible story of adoption and foster care. It's truly a story only God could write. Here is Rebecca to break down the backstory of how the film was made and what she's hoping it accomplishes. So the film, Sound of Hope, The Story of Possum Trott, really powerful movie. How did this come across your desk? How did you find out about this story? Well, my husband and I adopted two of our kids back in 2013 and, you know, this issue started to break our hearts and I started working with different churches to get more people involved in the foster crisis in Los Angeles and I came across the story. And it just really impacted me deeply because we were in the trenches with our own kids and to just hear about a whole church stepping in and doing it together was just really inspiring. And I felt like it was something that we needed to do. And so I went to my husband and I said, I think we're supposed to do this film. And so that was about eight years ago. We've been working on it for eight years and finally here to the finish line, which is exciting. Yeah, I mean, what a what a passion project that's a long time to work on a movie and anybody who has ever worked on a film set or made a film knows it's almost a miracle to get a movie made. So it's incredible that you guys were able to do this. You're dealing with a real life story here, which adds another layer of complexity and intrigue. You obviously have Donna and Reverend Martin, who are the centerpiece of this story. What was it like to approach them and sort of navigate through with them, taking something that really happened and translating that into film? Yeah, I mean, telling two stories is challenging, especially a story like this. So it's 22 families from a little church stepped into the foster crisis, adopted 77 children. They were the most difficult to place children in the Texas child welfare system. So how do you condense that story into two hours with that many characters? And so we did decide to focus on the Martin family and follow their storyline. And, you know, there's one character, Terry's character that really stood out to us and they adopted Terry. She was the third child adopted from their family and she had extensive trauma and her background. It was just heartbreaking and we really wanted to show the perspective of the child and what children across this country, many of them are going through. Yeah. And, you know, one of the things about the movie, and I don't want to spoil it because I want people to go and see it, you didn't shy away from the difficulties in telling those difficulties, right? You know, people are adopting, they're going through this process, but the trauma you just mentioned that comes along with some children and the experience they've had, that is very difficult for some families to navigate, as they're journeying into this foster and adoption care scenario, you know, what went into your decision to put certain elements in, leave certain elements out? How difficult was that part of the process? Yeah. And I think some people are a little scared, you know, that we're showing some of the challenges and some of the trauma, but I would just encourage people that it's not over the top. I mean, it's rated PG-13 and it's, it is really inspiring and the goal was really to connect people's hearts to these kids because all of us, when we see vulnerable children in trouble, it makes us want to move, get involved, help them. And that really was our goal was to, to move people to action because when we don't see about this problem that's happening in our society and our culture, and, you know, to protect the children, their anonymous, their behind closed doors, you can't take pictures of them, those types of things, but when you drive by an accident, you see children at the side of the road, like you pull over and you stop and you're like, I've got to get involved, I need to help. And that really was our goal while entertaining people with a fun, entertaining uplifting story as well. You know, let's talk about the crisis at the, the baseline of this because this is a film, it's beautiful artwork, it's telling this story, but it's speaking to a very real issue as you were just speaking on that is happening in our country, in our culture, in its children, not having homes, going through these crises, how, how massive in scope is this issue in this country right now? Well, it's considered a crisis across the country. So for instance in Los Angeles, and now we're in Texas, we don't have enough placement. So they have emergency housing is completely full. They have kids that are actually in hotel rooms or hospital wards. I was getting calls when I was in Los Angeles, Rebecca, will the churches open their doors and put some cots in because we have nowhere to place kids are coming out of traumatic situations and then they don't have a safe landing place with a home. And so there's 400,000 kids in the foster system right now. There's 100,000 that are eligible to be adopted right now that need a permanent stable loving home. Wow. And I mean, those numbers are heartbreaking and all over the country, no matter where people are, these needs are there, you know, this is a bit of a tough question because, you know, I know for a fact that, you know, or at least the numbers I've seen and correct me if I'm wrong, when it comes to churches and Christians, churches and Christians tend to adopt at higher rates. They tend to foster higher rates, but is the church doing enough to address this issue? Personally, I don't think so. I think they're at work capable of so much more. We have 400,000 churches in America and 100,000 kids just languishing in the system waiting to be adopted. So if one church focused on one child, we could wipe out this entire crisis and we would have more than enough homes, more than enough help and resources. So it's really something that's doable and we think it's going to happen. I mean, we really have hope that this film is going to highlight this issue and that churches all over this nation are going to rise up and start caring for kids and that we're going to turn this around and be a light to the world the way that this little community in possum trot has been. You know, as you were diving into the story of the 22 families, 77 kids, as you were looking at those details in light of even your own experience, having, you know, adopted, what most struck you about the town, about the story, about the specific church at the heart of it. Yeah, I mean, we were in the trenches with our children, like I said, when we were writing this and I think churches meant to be family, like when you read our scriptures that talks about, you know, the church being a family or the family of God, we're supposed to be there for one another. And I think in our culture today, as much as we've become more connected with social media and internet and Facebook, I think we've actually lost some connection to people as well. And I think many of us are longing for deeper authentic connection and people that are there for us and the thick and the thin when we're going through hard things. And when we're together and we're doing things together, we can do hard things together. I mean, it's just makes such a difference when you're in a hard situation, but you've got people wrapped around you and they're in it with you. And I think that that's the way forward. I think we can do this and we can do hard things together. And we want to see churches bury each other's burdens and care for one another the way that we're called to. Yeah, I mean, that's what we're called to do. And that in the film, again, don't want to spoil it, but yeah, that idea of family is very evident within a church and you beautifully showed how people relied and leaned on one another and look to one another even as they were journeying through this. Now, one of the big questions, whenever something is based on a true story in any way is how close is it to the true story? How much of it did you have to create for artistic purposes from what really happened? I mean, a lot of it, I would say a majority is true. We say based on a true story, we had to take a little bit of our artistic liberty with some of the character arc of our main character of Terry. But for the most part, it is true. The story is what happened in Possum Trot. So you know, when it comes to memories, you know, on set, even of putting this together of, you know, even the impact on the actors, what stands out to you from the filming process of this? Well, it's a very challenging, it was a very challenging film. I mean, we had a lot of obstacles that happened along the way. We had a tough time with casting. We actually had to recast our two leads a week into production. They were fantastic actors, but it just wasn't the right fit. And we really had this desire to see this be an authentic representation of church and of Christianity and of what's possible. And we went back and forth like, can you act that? Or, you know, if you have great actors, can they represent these characters? And I think at the end of the day, we ended up going with Nika King and Demetrius Gross. And they just, you know, they have faith themselves, very strong faith. And they just really capture the heart of these two characters. And people are saying, this is one of the most authentic representations of church and of faith they've ever seen on camera. And that was our heart and our goal because oftentimes we watch Hollywood movies and I'm like, they take you into a church and I'm like, this is so lame. I wouldn't want to be here. You know, I don't relate to these characters, even though they're supposed to be like me. And I think that that's different about this. People, a lot of people that are seeing it in pre screenings are being deeply moved and saying, I want to go to a church like that. Or I think I'm going to go back to church because, you know, what we've presented is something beautiful that they want to be a part of. Yeah, I mean, look, a lot of Hollywood films, you know, there's not much more there outside of entertainment value or shock value. There's a lot of films where it's just in TV shows, they're just trying to get attention. They're trying to entertain people. This is different. You're trying to entertain people, but at the same time, there's a deeper mission. How important do you think artistic endeavors like film, TV, are to actually changing minds and changing hearts? Well, I think art is changing culture. I mean, and, you know, we just happen to want to change culture in one direction where we want to get people to care for vulnerable kids and get involved in their church and those types of things bring hope, sound of hope. But if culture is being shaped significantly through film and television right now, and that's what I would like to encourage people is to support the arts, support the artists that are making things that are, you know, trying to bring positive things to culture and in shifting culture in a positive direction because our culture is being, you know, shaped significantly by media right now. Well, yeah, and I think that if anybody has questions of how we got where we are for those who are concerned about where we are, it very much is, you know, entertainment. And look, you know, there's one school of thought that says we need to retreat and we've been doing that. I think a lot of Christians have retreated from entertainment and media in, you know, universities even. And so you have this retreat and yet these are the areas where people are being shaped. And so having you come in with a film like this, and I love it the way you said that, you know, shaping people in this other direction, you know, towards something uplifting and positive, we can deny all day that entertainment has that sway. But we know it does. And we've seen that there are studies on it and the reality of our own experience tells us that. And so, you know, at the end of the day, when people are done watching this film, what are the emotions you're hoping they're experiencing at the end? Well, hopefully you, you know, I know you said that you were really moved, but, you know, we're seeing audiences laughing throughout, you know, really engaged in the characters connecting with the characters at a deep level. And at the end, very inspired, very moved to get involved. And, you know, I mean, a lot of people, I mean, Sadie Robertson, for instance, said she's never been moved this much in a movie before. And we're hearing that from a number of people that they're connecting on such a deep level, and they're very, very emotionally moved at the end. And that's causing word of mouth. I mean, theaters are selling out across the country, and we had some pre screenings on June 19th. A lot of those screenings were sold out. So people are responding. I think there's a desire that we all have to go to a movie and be entertained, but also to be moved deeply to do things that we know that we should do. I know Chandler's List is one of my favorite movies. And every time at the end in that scene where he's like, I could have saved a few more and he gives up his ring. You know, I'm like weeping and be like, ah, what's my life? You know, what am I doing with my life? So you know, we want to move people to really do the right thing. Yeah. Well, and how would you say the cast was impacted? You know, did you see among the cast because here they are, they're coming in. This is an acting project that a lot of them have done many other acting projects. They're coming in for this. And this is, it's a heavy topic, an important one. Did you see, and I'm not going to ask you to come in on individuals unless you want to have the ability to, but did you see change in them as a result of this? Yeah. Our whole cast and crew was very impacted by this project. I mean, we kept hearing over and over. This is the most impactful film we've ever worked on. I'll, you know, in particular, Nika King, our lead who played First Lady Donna Martin. She had an incredible story where her mom was actually fostered and adopted by a pastor and his wife and she feels like, you know, she's helping, you know, to really end the cycle in her family because her mom had been in the foster system and to be able to advocate, to be an advocate for kids now and to play this role was really healing for her. And she's a fantastic advocate. So all of the cast and crew, I mean, Elizabeth Mitchell, who played Susan Ramsey, the social worker also was really impacted by the project. And so it has been, it's been an incredible process for everyone involved. Well, I so appreciate you taking the time. The film is Sound of Hope, the story of Possum Trot. Thanks for your time today. Thank you. Thank you for having me on today, Billy. That's all for today's Newsmakers podcast. Be sure to tune in for the next episode of the show and also head over to the CBN News YouTube channel and the CBN News channel to watch Newsmakers every week. We'll see you soon. 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