Selfie Dad

It's Father's Day weekend, and there's a new movie being released this weekend, not in theaters, but available on demand.

You know how that's working these days. It's a movie called Selfie Dad, and the writer-producer of the film Brad Silverman says this is a comedy about dads stepping up to be spiritual leaders in their homes. At the heart of the story, it's really a call out to dads to try to really invest in their families, invest in their wives, invest in their children, essentially by being shepherds through the Word of God in their homes.

Just wherever you are in your walk with God, just sharing what you're learning, God giving you what you need through the Word of God and sharing that with your family. This is Family Life Today. Our hosts are Dave and Anne Wilson.

I'm Bob Lapine. You can find us online at familylifetoday.com. So, yup, for something this weekend, Father's Day weekend, something that'll make you laugh, that'll make you think, that'll make you smile.

We're going to talk about a new movie called Selfie Dad that's coming up. Stay with us. And welcome to Family Life Today. Thanks for joining us.

I don't know how many of our listeners know this, but if they don't know by now, they're going to figure this out. We like movies, right? Oh, yeah. Yes, we all like movies. And not all movies are God-glorifying, but there's something about stories that take me into an understanding of humanity, an understanding of what's going on in people's lives. I remember reading a quote years ago from a guy named Ken Guyer, and he said, Good art is like a step stool in a room with high windows. He said, When you step onto it, you get a view you weren't able to get before.

That's good. And I've gone to movies in the past that have given me a view on life that I hadn't gotten before because I get entered into other people's stories. So – So, Bob, you know what happens to me.

What happens to you? At every movie. Every single movie.

I will vouch for this. And what happens today? I'm not even going to tell you.

I'm going to let my wife tell you. Cries at every single movie, whether it's something very emotional and gripping or it could be Firehouse Dog. He cries. Firehouse Dog is a real story. My son brings it up all the time.

I watched it on an airplane. He looks over and he says – Coming home on a mission trip. Why are you crying, Bob?

The little dog came back to the firehouse. Anyway, it's because of what you said. Story grips my heart and emotionally moves me.

I love it. You are not a crier in real life, right? Well, this is the tension because I'm like, why aren't you crying in life with me?

Like, let's bond through this emotional – How about we just step right into my marriage? There it is. But it's true. But in a movie theater with the lights out – no, seriously. There's something that when art is done so well and excellent and takes you on a journey, it always moves me. It has the ability to move the soul.

It does. And we're always happy when we can come to our listeners and say there's a new movie that is coming out that is going to move you. This is one that was headed for theaters, but of course we know what's going on there.

So it's opening this weekend, video on demand. It's called Selfie Dad. And we've already seen it and I cried. You cried at Selfie Dad?

Yes, I did. Why are you looking at me like that? Because it's – I mean, it's Selfie Dad.

I watched it, but I don't think I choked up watching this particular one. Bob, you need to get in touch with your emotions. Come on, Selfie Dad, we'll talk about it. Brad Silverman is joining us on Family Life Today. The writer and director of Selfie Dad, welcome.

Bob, it's great to be here to talk to you guys. Brad has been on Family Life Today before because you wrote and produced a movie back a decade ago called No Greater Love. That's right. And then a few years later, a movie called Grace Unplugged that was in theaters. And it's been a while, but this is your new movie starring our friend Michael Jr. The one and only, yes, Michael Jr.

In the starring role, and it's a comedy. Right. We should also mention you brought a friend with you.

I did. So Pastor Adam Tyson is here. Welcome to Family Life Today. It's great to be here.

We'll explain in a little bit why you brought Adam with you. Sure, sure. But it sounds like some big secret, but it's not. It is. It is not.

It is not what he says. Can you give us a rundown on this movie? Okay, so Selfie Dad, from like a plot standpoint, you mentioned Michael Jr. He's just a very brilliantly funny guy. So it's basically a story of this, he plays this former comic, and now he's having this midlife crisis. So like anybody having a midlife crisis, if you're a former comic, you start a YouTube page. Right. In a sense, it's kind of a little bit of Art Imitating Life, but let's not talk about that. No, why is that, Brad?

Explain a little of that. I think I sent you a video a couple years ago, did I not? You did, yeah. Okay. You used to do some stand-up comedy, right?

I did. It was a long time between Grace Unplugged and Selfie Dad. Let's just say that. Would it make me cry? Yeah, that gap of my career would have made a lot of people cry, if you must know. But Grace Unplugged, that'll make you cry. Okay. That was designed that way. Yeah, I've seen it.

It made me cry. So Michael Jr. plays this guy, and he's having this midlife crisis. He starts this YouTube page. Now, playing his foil, his boss is someone you probably know, Shonda Pierce.

Yes. Shonda, now if you know Shonda, she's a genius comic as well. You put Michael and Shonda together, the odd couple, it's almost like it was when the camera wasn't rolling, as you can imagine, that we're all just crying behind the scenes. But Michael, he starts a YouTube page, and it works.

He becomes this comedy dude on social media to really try to get rid of this midlife crisis to capture that long lost dream of being a comic. Right. At the heart of the story, it's really a call out to dads to try to really invest in their families, invest in their wives, invest in their children, essentially by being shepherds through the word of God in their homes. And you don't have to be a pastor like the dude sitting next to me here, just wherever you are in your walk with God, just sharing what you're learning, God giving you what you need through the word of God, and sharing that with your family. Step into a spiritual leadership role in the home, and that sounds intimidating to a dad.

Right. Spiritual leadership. I can't be a spiritual leader because I'm not a really spiritual guy. But you're saying it's not that complex.

You can just live your faith out loud in front of your family and bring them into it. Well, it's funny you mention that because part of the reason why the first part of what the film is about, it's this comedy. Because it's sort of, I think at some level, just looking at my own frailties and failures and weaknesses and journey, and just kind of, in a sense, making fun of that, in a sense. Just saying, hey, maybe these are things that I've struggled with and tried to illustrate those in a comedic way through the brilliant Michael Jr. And then maybe other people can relate to that and maybe soften the awkwardness or tension and say, yeah, now in this comedic setting, let's step up our game and be the dads we're called to be. And I would say the interesting thing is, early in the movie, I see myself in Michael's character, and I see a lot of men in my church in Michael's character, as simply as the Bible in the back of the car. And I don't want to give away the movie.

But he doesn't pick it up for another week, Sunday to Sunday. And I'm like, that is most men, not just some, most. And man, the journey that this Selfie Dad goes on. Now, of course, you've got to explain Selfie Dad. Everybody's hearing this title, like, what does that mean?

And I had no idea until I saw it in the YouTube channel, like, oh, there it is. So what does Selfie Dad mean? Well, Selfie Dad is sort of a play on kind of the concept of just this self-centered world that we live in. And everything about this particular story was just really looking at my own weaknesses and seeing, man, just what is my motive for doing this? Why am I getting up in the morning?

What is my mission in life as a human being, as a dad, as a father, as a follower of Christ? And sadly, so much of it is centered around self, evidenced by this barrage of culture that is too self-focused. So it's sort of a, I don't know, just sort of a play on that in the negative, if you will.

But sort of making fun of it at the same time. In the movie, Michael's married. He's got two kids. You're watching them kind of be isolated from one another. The teenage daughter is kind of starting to explore her boundaries and sneaking out. And the son is kind of in his own YouTube world and online and gaming, and that's what life's all about.

He and his wife are kind of drifting toward isolation. She's frustrated with his lack of spiritual leadership. I do have to tell you, there's a little Easter egg in here that we just, we howled over when we watched the movie. So one of the actresses in this movie is Karen Abercrombie, who played the older grandma woman in War Room, who kept saying, you need to be fighting for your husband, and she's that character, right? She's in this movie as a friend to Michael's wife. And at one point, she's asking this wife, do you pray for your husband? And the wife says, well, yeah, not as much as I should. And Karen Abercrombie says, you wrote this, Drew.

I vaguely remember, yeah. She says, have you seen the movie War Room? And how does the wife respond? I don't really like Christian films. Exactly. And Karen Abercrombie's staring at her like, say what? And so it's this great moment in here because it's a Christian film.

The characters say, I don't like Christian films, to Karen Abercrombie, who was in War Room. I just, we loved that. That was a nice drop. It's funny, in the right audience, it can be the showstopper. In the wrong audience, no one gets it. And I love that. Yeah, that's good. I love that aspect.

What are they laughing at? That's great. I appreciated even the realness and how you were authentic where the main character starts getting, you know, he starts verbalizing his faith to his family and to his kids sitting at the table. And I'm thinking, oh, here we go. The kids are going to sit at the edge of their seat, like, oh, thank you, Father. And yet the kids are like, can we leave now?

Right. I like that you were pretty honest and real, but that can be very typical. Now, the hardest thing for me to do is write the female characters, the wife characters, because my wife, as Pastor Adam here, my friend here knows, my wife, she's not like frail and weak and fallen all over the place like me. Like barely, you know, she's so steady and everything. Having said that, what I noticed in her was that if I did, like, for example, when we talk about the YouTube page and stuff, if I do like a performance, right, I do a comedy thing or I do a show or she watches a movie I make and I'm like, yeah, look at honey, this is amazing. This is great. She's like, yeah, no, that's really good. That's good, honey.

No, no, I liked it. And so I tried to portray that. When he's doing his career, it's polished, it's good, it's solid. And she's like, okay. Yeah. But he's fumbling through, barely trying to try to disciple his kids in the Word. And in his mind, he's not doing a good job, he can't get it right, but it's that that she's absolutely falling in love with.

Yes, she says she's so attracted to him as he's trying to lead and he feels like he's failing, but she's like, you're amazing. Right. I love the fact that there's a family life we still do plaque in the background of the movie. So thank you for putting a little product placement for us in there.

20% is 20%, you know, so we can, yeah. So I thought it would be appropriate, since he's not here with us, if we just reached out and saw if we could break through to the star of this film. Selfie dad himself. And it turns out that his agent has cleared the way.

We had to go through like four levels of red tape to get there. He's very big. He's very big, isn't he? You text me, bro.

Just ask him how big he is. He asked us on Family Life Today, Michael Jr. Yes. As a matter of fact, you guys are all, this is three of my favorite white people. So we should say, Michael, you had an opportunity to work together with Dave and Ann Wilson in Detroit about four or five months ago. Tell about that.

I did. It was awesome. I really, I mean, Ann is amazing. Dave was there too. Yeah, it was great, man. We got to talk about marriage and just laugh.

I mean, you know, they're brilliant when it comes to marriage. Did you guys make up yet, by the way? Yeah, we made up. We made up that night. It was pretty sweet. That was like six months of silence. That was weird.

That's not true. Those guys are awesome. They have so much fun. Anytime you guys see Dave speaking anywhere about marriage or anything, actually, you got to go see them too because they're so doggone dynamic.

The way they speak and communicate and they're just phenomenal, awesome people. We were on a boat together. Remember that? They were funny.

I do remember that. We were on a cruise. It was so much fun. It was a dream come true for Ann and I to combine humor and comedy with working on your marriage. In fact, Michael came up with the title of it, Funny How Marriage Works, sort of date night. So I hope we can do it all over the country. It was just a really great night for couples. Yeah. It's weird as a dream of you and your wife.

That's the weird part of it. A dream come true, really? I'm just trying to make you feel better.

You're about to be on screens in living rooms, tens of thousands of living rooms this weekend, in homes all across the country. That is so cool, right? I thought it was something worse, the way you set it up. You were about to be arrested.

I was like, what happened? You had a movie that was out, this was maybe more than a year ago, that was out for a couple of nights called More Than Funny, right? Yeah, my comedy special, yeah. This is actually a theatrical feature that Brad Silverman put together, who's there with you, right? Brad's there, right? That depends what you say.

That depends what you say. Yeah, I'm here, dude. I'm here, man. And that dude is a great director, extremely funny, just a great, great dude. So I'm excited about this movie, really, really excited. I was in one room, but I actually made it in a couple more scenes in this one, so that was great. Oh, you're in almost every scene in this one. And this is new for you to be acting in a feature-length film like this. Well, actually, I was in Titanic.

I missed that part. You guys didn't see me. I was in Titanic.

He was in the water. It was a bootleg, and I walked past the screen, and you just kind of see me in the foot. You know, I'm very excited about this. I think those guys did a great job, the movie, it's a great, great story. And then Brad was kind enough to couple his sense of humor with mine on the set, and we actually were able to create some pretty cool moments on the set that weren't even scheduled, weren't even planned. We just created them on the spot, and they ended up in the movie. And I think the people are really going to enjoy the fact that, I think you're just going to enjoy the story, and then the stuff that just happens as a result of us being open and willing to, one, listen to God, and two, use our talents to see what could show up on the screen. It happened. You guys will see it.

It's pretty dope. What drew you to this project was the overall message of this movie, and I know this has been a passion of yours as you speak and do comedy, is to see couples and dads and families oriented around God's word and basing what they do on God's word. Yeah. No, no, no, that's not it. It was the money. No, Brad told me how much you got paid. It was not the money.

It wasn't the money at all. You know, you're 100 percent, I'm all about being a dad. I can be in a film.

Like, anytime I'm on stage, anything I do, any joke I write is really about the verses, the separates, the Old Testament, the New Testament. It's about what can I do to help return the hearts of the sons to the fathers and the fathers and sons. So if I can do a movie that's going to encourage dads to be a dad the way that our father has showed us to, then I'm all in. Like, I'm completely about that, even if it means stepping out the back of this convention center and waiting to rejoin these people and do what I need to do.

I really, really am excited about this movie. Well, we appreciate you taking a few minutes to be a part of today's program and hope everything goes well at the convention center. And you have a good night tonight. Yeah, you guys are awesome, man. Thank you so much.

Great job. Dave, you're doing awesome. And then Bob, dude, you're awesome, man. You're great. You know, the other dude has got a song.

What was his name? I'm the goddamn guy. We love you, dude.

We'll see you soon, man. Yeah, you guys are awesome. Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Michael. One of the things I love about Michael is so many people know his humor, know his comedy, and that's all you sort of get to see sometimes.

Yeah, yeah. And yet when you're around him, there's a heart for God that is so pure and a passion for the gospel getting to people. I mean, his real dream is to use comedy to share the gospel.

And everywhere he goes, people come to Christ, and I just love that about him. It's bigger than comedy. Comedy is just his tool, and that's so great that he's a part of this movie, because as I watched the movie, I could see here's the message, and it's straight from your heart, Brad, I'm sure, and from Michael's. So let's explain why Adam's here.

Yeah. You hardly said a word other than thanks for allowing me to be here. Hey, I'm having a great time, man. Just hearing about the movie and hearing you guys just to discuss what God's doing and putting this thing together. Later in the development of this movie, just a couple of months ago, as you were finishing it up, Brad, you had something pop into the project that you weren't expecting.

I think it's a very good way to put it, even understated perhaps. So we finished this project, and we shot some scenes at our church called Placerita Bible Church in northern L.A. County. And that's where Adam's pastor? Adam is the pastor of that, dear friend of mine.

We've been very close for many, many years. One day, we're at the church, again, the actual parking lot, if you remember, think Selfie Dad, where he puts the Bible in the trunk, and that very spot, a couple months later, someone says, who brought the SUV Lamborghini? And the buzz starts going around the church.

Someone looks out and says, Kanye West is here. And then we kind of went up to the, we have like a cry room, right, for little babies, right? So the friend who brought him there, they kind of took him up kind of away from the crowd.

Right. But Kanye West is there, so we kind of start talking around just amongst our little, you know, church 350 people, and he comes back. A second week. A second week.

He comes back again. And, of course, by this point, most of our audience has heard about what's been going on in Kanye's life for the last year, since he first showed up at the church. But Adam, you had no idea you were going to have an unusual visitor show up that particular Sunday.

Not at all. It was just a regular Sunday. You're there, ready to preach the word and minister to the people in the flock that God's place before you. And after the sermon was over, somebody came up to me and said, guess who was here today? And I'm like, who? And they're like, Kanye West. And my first response was, who is that? Seriously?

Seriously. You'd never heard of Kanye West? I had heard a little bit about it, but I had forgotten what his name was or exactly what, you know, because – Hang on.

I just love the fact – I do. I love the fact that you're just not a huge fanboy for Kanye West, that you're a pastor. You know, you've heard he's around, but it's not like, oh, Kanye came to my drink, you know. Yeah, it was more like we had been talking a little bit about him and praying for him. There was a guy at our church who had told us about how he worked for him and that how he had been having conversations about God. And he had asked me, would I be willing to meet with him? And I said, absolutely.

Yeah, sure. But then months had passed, and I kind of forgot about it. We live in Los Angeles. There are celebrities that come and go, and I just didn't really think that much about it. And so when they said he was here, I'm like, who?

And they're like, Kanye West. So when I said, who is that? It just took me a minute to be like, oh, you mean that guy we've been talking about, the one we've been praying for, the one that our small group said, you should invite him to church. Like, he actually showed up. And they're like, yeah, because I never saw him.

You know, I'm just preaching. He came in a little bit late, left a little bit early. And it was just amazing that he was there.

So we're like, praise God. That's so cool that he came. We thought that would just be the end of it. And he came back.

He initiated a conversation with you? Well, he came back a second time. At that point, I didn't see him again. People told me he was there a second time. And at that point, in my heart, I knew that God was at work. Like I've said a few times, nobody comes to our church twice unless they want to hear the Bible preached. So the fact he showed up again was evidence that God was really working in his heart. And then on the third time, he waited at the back of the church when I finished preaching, and many pastors tried to greet as many people as you can. So I'm waiting back there. And he just came up and introduced himself. He said, my name is Kanye West.

Can I talk to you for a moment? I said, absolutely. And we stepped right there in the parking lot where Selfie Dad was filmed and where a lot of the movie was filmed and had a wonderful conversation just hearing about what God was doing in his heart and in his life. Since that time, you've been meeting with him somewhat regularly, doing Bible study with him, right?

That's right. We had the Bible study up about a month or two later, and we'd meet every other week and we'll have an opportunity just to teach the Bible, answer questions, and really reach out with the gospel to whoever comes to this Bible study. He's spiritually hungry.

There's no doubt. He wants to learn God's word. He wants to know what does the Bible say. And when you can show it to him from the Bible, he's all in. You just talk and he's like, hey, show me in the Bible where it says that.

Interesting. He'll say that at times. So you're discipling him. I would say that there's a lot of people who are pouring into him, but I have the privilege of probably just opening up the word with him, helping him understand it, answer questions that he has, and just to pray together with him that God would help him be the man that God's called him to be. Adam, you know that there's a lot of crosstalk on the internet about what should we think about this, and he went and spoke with this guy, or do we believe this, or I don't think it's real, and all of that. So you're in the middle of all of this.

What's your coaching to us? You know what, I think we should just treat each person with respect and with utmost honor. I believe that from what I see in Kanye's life and what I've heard him profess with his own mouth, there's no doubt in my mind that he loves the Lord Jesus Christ, that he wants to honor God with all of his gifts and all of his talents. He has said that many times. And what I've seen in private is no different than what we're hearing in public, of he loves the thought that God has redeemed him, and he's quick to say, I've been delivered, and I want to use my life to glorify God. And it's just been amazing to see the journey that God's taking him on as he uses his resources, his time, his talents, whether it be music, whether it be designing something, whether it be building something, he wants to pour everything into it being a God-glorifying experience that would point to the fact that God is real and that God saves people, and that as a redeemed person, everything you do is an expression of worship to our Lord and Savior. And he has said it's cool with him if you use one of his new songs in Selfie Dad. Yeah, it was pretty spectacular when he watched the trailer for Selfie Dad, and I guess, Adam, you could fill in what happened there.

It was pretty spectacular. Yeah, just basically said, hey, Kanye, there's some guys at our church that are filming a movie. It's all about this dad being reawakened and his love for Christ and his walk for Christ. And I even told him a lot of this is what's going on in your life. You're a dad who's kind of walked away. You've come back to the Lord.

You're loving your wife. You're wanting to point your kids to Christ. This movie is talking about that, and these guys want to know if they could use one of your songs out of Jesus is King on their movie. And after he watched the trailer, he just said, yes, absolutely.

So, the first movie from Hollywood to have a Kanye West gospel song in it is Selfie Dad. That appears to be the case. It's crazy. That's what we planned all along. Yeah, there you go. That was the, yeah. I have a feeling it might not be the last.

You know, who knows, but who cares? But right now, it's just like so great. And I would just say this, Adam, you know, as I've watched you mentor Kanye, and one day in Detroit got to literally be with you, what a beautiful thing that God has brought you into his life. Because, you know, as I mentored pro athletes, it was interesting. You're seeing the same thing.

What happens out there in the public world and the media world is often nothing close to what's really happening. And everybody has an opinion, and yet knowing there's a man of God who's a man of the Word mentoring Kanye, it's beautiful that God's put you in his life. And now it's beautiful that he's paired you together in this movie, and it's going to have an impact on the world.

It's pretty exciting to see what God's doing. Adam, tell listeners about how you and Dave got connected in Detroit. Well, my wife actually grew up in Detroit, and she had been there a long time. And we were able to go back there to visit recently, and we decided, hey, we've got to go visit Kensington Church. We've got to go here, Dave, and maybe Ann will be there too. And so we got up early, went to the service, and just were able to connect with Dave after the service, just for a few moments, just to talk and get the medium, take a picture together. I didn't even preach that day. My son preached, right?

Cody? Yeah, we were actually bummed. We were super bummed. We were like, oh, man.

Cody did a great job, and we really enjoyed being there. And I didn't think that much about it, other than it was an honor to meet you, and we connected with a conversation after the service. And the reason you knew me was right here. From Family Life Today.

Yeah. We had heard your testimony. We had heard you guys as guests on the show. We had heard all about you flipping across the stage and you trying to catch her, and you turned around and walked away. We heard all kind of stuff about you guys. We were like, we like this couple.

This couple is the real deal. So, when Kanye did a Sunday service in Detroit, you called Dave and said, can we connect? I was actually just scared out of my wits. He was like, well, you come preach at this event in Detroit. The first time, right? The very first time, I said, hey, I don't know if you want me to do that. And he's like, well, why not? And I'm like, well, if I preach, I'm going to preach the gospel, and that'll be just a little bit of a different flavor than what Sunday service has had up to this point. And he's like, that's exactly what I want. So, next thing I know, I'm on a plane heading to Detroit, but the day before I left, I'm like, I'm going to call the one man that I know in Detroit that I would love to come help me just experience this, maybe give me some wisdom of how I could approach the situation and be faithful in this opportunity.

And so, I called Dave out of the blue, and he was kind enough to return my call. This is all pretty amazing, this kind of harmonic convergence that's happened here between the movie, between the church, between you guys here at Family Life Today, Michael Jr. I hope our listeners will have a movie night this weekend, Father's Day weekend, maybe invite another family to join you as long as you feel safe doing that.

But sit down together, watch the movie Selfie Dad. It's available, video on demand. You can go to our website, familylifetoday.com, to get access to the film. Again, the website's familylifetoday.com. It's opening this weekend, and Father's Day weekend's the right weekend to watch it. So again, go to familylifetoday.com for more information about how you can view the movie Selfie Dad, and this is a movie the whole family can watch together or get a couple of families together, as I mentioned. Our website is familylifetoday.com. If you have any questions about how to access the movie, you can call us at 1-800-F as in Family, L as in Life, and then the word TODAY.

I hope that a lot of listeners will do this, in part because there are people paying attention to what kind of movies people want to watch, and the more people that watch a movie like this on opening weekend, even with a video on demand, studio executives are paying attention and will make films like this if audiences will support them. So you can see the trailer for Selfie Dad on our website, familylifetoday.com, and you can get information on how to view the entire movie again when you go to familylifetoday.com. And we hope you have a great Father's Day weekend. Hope you and your family are able to worship together with your local church in some way or another this weekend, and I hope you can join us back on Monday. We're going to talk about what happens when your marriage goes through trial after trial after trial, and it starts to wear on both of you.

How do you sustain the us-ness of your marriage when things are pushing you apart? Jeff and Sarah Walton join us to talk about that. Hope you can be here as well. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, along with our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I'm Bob Lapine. We'll see you back on Monday for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a production of Family Life of Little Rock, Arkansas, a crew ministry. Hope for today, hope for tomorrow.