He and his brother Stephen make up one of the top filmmaking teams in the Christian genre.
The list of box office hits from the Kendrick Brothers is among the most impressive in the faith-based film sector: Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, and last year's The Forge to name but a few. Younger brother Stephen typically produces while Alex directs and acts in the pictures that they write together. And being former pastors, a strong Christian worldview permeates the stories, all of which feature plenty of Scripture and issues of faith.
Not surprisingly, that has opened the Kendrick Brothers' work to criticism over the years. As Alex recently mentioned in a social media post, they have "been asked often why our movies may be preachy." He went on to say that that certainly is not their intention, adding he initially set out wanting their films to be "artistic" and "cool." Being committed Christians, though, more than that they wanted to be obedient to God's will, which He made clear to them.
"And the Lord kept guiding us to, 'You make movies not for entertainment first, but for ministry first.'"
The Kendricks thus target a Christian demographic with their pictures. That, however, does not mean that they have an audience exclusively made up of Believers, according to Alex.
"Our motive is to edify the Church first, knowing that a secular audience will often come over and watch the films. And we have fruit from that as well, but I would say intentionally we go after trying to edify the Church and the Body of Christ first."
The 54-year-old husband and father of six recognizes that not all filmmakers are called to that path, which at times can present challenges. For instance, their 2022 movie Lifemark - written and executive produced by the brothers - tells a pro-life story that their normal partners at Sony Pictures' Affirm Films refused to distribute. Even so, Alex Kendrick says God is doing "exceedingly, abundantly more than (they) could ever ask or imagine."
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