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If faith-based films only speak to people already sitting in a pew, then why did a movie about homeschooling families fighting government overreach land at the exact moment when the Attorney General of the United States was directing the FBI to investigate parents at school board meetings? Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, military families — all showing up to the same meetings, signing the same petitions, recalling the same board members. The thing that united them wasn't faith. It was the feeling that someone had decided they no longer had a say in their own child's life. And that's exactly what God's Not Dead: We the People focuses on. Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks. I'm your host, Jennifer Avila. And this is the only podcast where every recommendation is backed by 35 plus years of watching wholesome TV. Let's get into today's episode. And really quick, before we start — voting is now live for the Women Podcast Awards and Wholesome TV Picks is nominated in the entertainment and news category. I would greatly appreciate it if you went on over to the link in the show notes and voted for Wholesome TV Picks. And if you've already voted, thank you. Picture this — a social services representative comes to observe a homeschool learning day. She then gives a paper to Mrs. McKinley showing that the homeschool is not adequately teaching the children, calls it crazy for teaching the Bible, and threatens fines and jail time if they don't rectify their educational standards to meet public school standards. Reverend Hill, played by David White, is the lead character leading the fight in Washington, D.C. The whole movie goes through the importance of taking a stand for your faith, for your children, for what you believe in, and to not let government tell you what to do.


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There's a touching scene in the movie where the son of the McKinley family offers his dad the money he saved to buy his first car. He says, "Here, I can ride my bike a little longer — this will help if we have to pay fines or anything like that." Mr. McKinley says he's never been more proud of his son, but tells him to keep his money. That's his money. It's moments like that that really show children what it means to put somebody else above yourself. I want to tell you about something I put together — a short list of movies and TV shows you can watch with your family at any time, broken down by category like Heroes, for Moms and Dads, stories for younger audiences, and so on. You can have instant access to it when you join our email list. Head over to WholesomeTVPicks.com and sign up for our newsletter. Another thing this film does very well is it gets the perspective of freedom from people of different backgrounds. There's a man named Martin who explains how homeschooling in China is illegal, and the only way for families to homeschool is to go underground — but at great risk. I have great admiration for those families. There's also a woman named Aisha who converts from Muslim to Christianity, and her father kicks her out of their home. She's now alone with no family. We see her grappling with that decision throughout the film, and the father trying to reconcile with it as well.


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The biggest thing I love about this movie is how it shows that not only can a mom and dad fight for homeschool freedom, but single parents should too. There's a young mom named Taylor Hayes who is homeschooling her young son. There's a surprise about her situation that explains why she's a single mom. She leaves a very prominent, high-paying job in order to be home for her son because of the trauma he's going through emotionally, which then affects his academics. And when she finally announces her background — it's a shocker. I would have never guessed it. In one scene, Daryl Smith, portrayed by Isaiah Washington, is asking an education expert questions about their curriculum and asks, "Will parents be able to opt out of your program?" Mr. Willoughby replies, "I would encourage all states to require participation without exception." Daryl Smith says, "What gives them the right?" Mr. Willoughby replies, "Once the state determines what children ought to know, it's imperative that all children know it — because the children belong to all of us." This movie has a good cast and they all do a great job. Jeanine Pirro plays a liberal judge who thinks homeschooling is racist and privileged. Antonio Sabato Jr. plays the dad, Mr. McKinley. And I'm always taken back to my days at CBS when I see this movie, because CBS had a commissary where everybody could eat. When you walked in, the chefs would greet you — the food was cooked to order, you could hear the cash register, people talking, The Price is Right models. This place was always bustling.


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Me and one of the cashiers, her name was Gia, had a little tiny crush on Antonio Sabato Jr. When I would go have lunch, I'd make sure to sit at the end table closest to the register. Every time Antonio walked in, Gia and I would make eye contact and start giggling. We were like two little school girls cracking up every single time. I'm sharing this story because Antonio Sabato Jr. actually became blacklisted in Hollywood once he took a stand and showed support for President Trump during the 2016 campaign. So even knowing the risk he was taking, he believed in standing up for his faith. There's a line in this movie from a previous God's Not Dead film — "America is a country so blessed that to whom much is given, much will be required." That's something worth noting because we're all busy. We never have enough time. And the families in this film make the time to fight for what's important to them. You can see it's inconvenient — especially for the single mom who ends up losing her job because she takes so much time off to care for her son. That's a heavy lesson, because in today's society we're so apathetic. People just don't want to take time or be inconvenienced to fight for things that matter. But you and I both know that anything worth having — family, freedom — is worth fighting for. That's what this movie relays to the audience. As a private homeschool family, I take this to heart. We're an advocacy family in California. Every year our family travels to the state capitol with other homeschool families and visits all 120 offices to share the benefits of homeschooling and why we love it the way it is and don't want it to change.


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On April 25th, 2018, I traveled to Sacramento with a friend so our voices could be heard at an education committee hearing about new legislation to regulate private homeschooling. When we first arrived, there weren't very many people in line. We thought, is this it? This isn't many people. And then she said, hopefully more people will show up. As the day progressed, that changed. Over 2,000 homeschoolers had lined up to say they did not support these bills. It ended up being one of the longest education committee hearings any legislator had ever seen. All of us came together and made our voices heard. The reason I share this is so you understand that you are a role model for your children. If we want to see change, we need to be the change. The only way to do that is to model it so our kids can see it themselves. Otherwise, who is going to teach them? Never give up even when it seems like everyone and everything around you is against you. You may be standing up for more people than you realize. We'll continue this theme next week — I've got a movie about a boy who had nothing. No family, no home, no reason to trust anyone — and a whale that felt exactly the same way. And what happened after the movie was over changed things for a real animal and proved that kids can move mountains when they decide something matters. Thanks for listening. Have a great rest of your week. Remember, your values matter and your TV should too. Take care.