We’ve been praying through Coach Joe Kennedy’s story since 2018. Average Joe, a new film opening nationwide tonight, tells the story of how his public school district fired him for praying at the 50-yard line after every football game he coached, win or lose, and how he brought his case to the Supreme Court.

The filmmakers wisely fictionalized the school where Joe was coaching, but the story’s basic facts are brought to life truthfully by creatives who have honed their craft. Joe was also able to weigh in on the script.

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The secular media will probably pan this film because it depicts a Christian standing… well, kneeling… for faith and country, but they can’t pan the quality. It has solid writing, acting, and cinematography.

Stephanie Katz, who was the screenwriter for The Blind and helped Kennedy write his memoir (Average Joe: One Man’s Faith and the Fight to Change a Nation), chose a very creative vehicle for telling the story! After interviewing Joe and his wife Denise, Katz dramatized that interview, and it’s the glue holding the film together.

In the mid-20th century Bertolt Brecht used techniques like that to remind the audience they were not seeing reality. He did it to indoctrinate audiences in Marxist ideology.

Katz uses Brechtian techniques for Kingdom purposes! She uses the staged interview, glimpses of the film crew at strategic moments, and asides to the camera to remind viewers they’re watching events that really did take place.

A Love Story

Coach Kennedy (played by Eric Close: Without a Trace, Indivisible, Nashville), and Denise (played by Amy Acker: Ordinary Angels, Person of Interest, Alias) begin their “interview” talking about how they met as teens. Joe knew from the day they met that he was going to marry Denise, but she took some time to come around to the idea. As the story unfolds, younger actors portray them in their teens and twenties.

Joe tells Denise that she started his journey to the Supreme Court: “You’re the one who taught me there are still things worth fighting for.” She also modeled a relationship with the Lord for him while they were still teens.

Katz grabs hold of the fact that Joe was a fighter from the start, lashing out in one foster home situation after another.

We see him join the Marines where he’s paid to fight, and his commanding officer demands everyone in his company stomps on the company flag. One by one they obediently smash it with their boots, but Joe refuses. The commanding officer forces him to do pushups until he obeys the command, so he just keeps doing them.

The scene captures Joe standing up to authority when that authority is wrong. And because he fought for our rights, when he’s fired for expressing his faith publicly, we’re not surprised he won’t let those rights be trampled.

Committed

When Denise suffers a mini-stroke it makes their marriage challenging, and one Sunday morning Joe goes to the altar. He prays:

Surrender’s never been an option for me, but I can’t do this alone. … If You can somehow fix things for her, for us, I promise You I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to You.

After serving in the military, Joe is courted by the athletic director of the high school in the district where Denise works as head of human resources. Joe resists the invitation to coach football, but the film shows how the Lord used many things to confirm He was calling Joe to coach, including a recreated clip inspired by Facing the Giants, the second film by the Kendrick Brothers.

We captured all three of the Kendrick Brothers praying for Joe after watching a video of him thanking them for inspiring him to pray on the field. After hearing their prayers he said, “They will never be able to understand how much God has used them to direct my life, save my marriage, and show me how I want to live my life for God!”

Average Joe makes it clear Joe takes up coaching to be a mentor: “I never thought of my job as training football players. To me, my job was to teach young guys how to become men and set a good example.”

The film shows how everyone at the school (except the students!) turned on him as he took a stand for the Lord and for his right to be public about his relationship with the Lord.

There’s a powerful scene in which Ben, a counselor at a boys’ home — where Joe spent some of his formative years — attends one of Joe’s games. Joe confirmed this really happened: He asks, “Why me, Ben? I’m no saint.”

Ben replies, “No, but you’re a fighter. God’s been preparing you for this fight your whole life.”

I asked Joe what his favorite scene is, and it’s a conversation he has with an atheist at a diner. The man accuses him of coercing the players to join him on the field, but Joe denies that was ever his motivation: “It was always about freedom.” The man softens and says Joe is like Peter, but “instead of denying your faith, you did what Peter couldn’t do: You stood by what you believe and faced the consequences.”

Joe tells him he knows a lot about the Bible for someone who doesn’t believe in God. The man says he grew up — like many — in the church, but he was “turned off by bad experiences.”

Joe asks him if he ever had a bad experience at a restaurant. The man replies, “Who hasn’t?”

Joe responds, “Don’t let one bad meal keep you from being fed.”

Marital Challenges

The film captures the tension that arose between Joe and Denise as his commitment to God rankles the ire of her superiors in the school district office. At that point in the film, they move from telling the stories on the couch to separate chairs!

When Joe spoke at the 50th anniversary of IFA, it was such a blessing that he brought Denise onto the stage to thank her for standing by him throughout the ordeal. This gratitude comes out in the film, too.

The film ends with the real Joe introducing Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty who explains how Joe’s case overturned the 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman:

Any judge could rule that a public display of religion was unconstitutional simply because they wanted to. It created a hostile environment to religion nationwide. What Coach Kennedy did — and what the government might not want you to realize — is that Lemon is now as dead as a duck when it falls in the decoys, which means you now have more religious freedom than you had in the last 50 years.

I asked Joe how he’d like for us to pray for the film, and he wants us to join him in praying that it “inspires relationships, love of our country, and helps people see God can use even guys like me.”

Kris Kubal, IFA’s Chief Program Officer, will interview Joe on Pray with America’s Leaders October 17, the last day Average Joe is guaranteed to be in theaters. It’s being distributed by Fathom Events, which usually puts films in theaters for one or two nights. This one is scheduled for a full week, but that could be extended if it’s well attended.

Here’s the trailer:

The film is rated PG-13 for thematic material and violence. There is also some vulgarity and shows a man wearing only his underwear.

Post what you’re praying the Lord can accomplish through Average Joe.

Rich Swingle has presented in 42 nations on six continents, mostly with his own one-man plays. He’s performed in about 50 films, and he and his bride Joyce Swingle have 41 screen children. The Swingles live in New York City. www.RichDrama.com. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.