By Paula Harrington
Summertime brings Vacation Bible School, church camp, mission trips, work camp, as well as the Summer Youth Series. And for my family, it also brings movies.
Sixty years ago my husband’s grandparents built a drive-in movie theater off a dusty state highway in a small Western Kentucky town. When Granddaddy passed away in the ‘80s and Granny decided to retire, our family drive-in was operated by an uncle and later my father-in-law. And for the past two years, my husband has been the manager. It was the first job for nearly everyone in our family including our five children.
In the glory days of the drive-in, over 4000 sprinkled our country. Sixty years later, there are less than 400 in the entire nation, and due to the industry’s move to the digital format, this past year many more theaters are closing their doors.
Ours recently took the giant leap and moved into the digital domain, opening greater possibilities for our business and more entertainment options for our customers. But being in the movie business is no easy task for Christians.
We enjoy those late summer nights serving customers and visiting with friends, but there have been moments when we’ve worried that our family business may interfere with His family business. Are we where God wants us to be? Is being in a working relationship with Hollywood the right place for people of God? Deep questions have filled our hearts and we have occasionally pondered this venture.
With the drama, violence, and sexual content that saturate so many movies, we carefully strive to offer only family-oriented films. But yes, there have been times where we have felt the pangs of guilt for showing a movie that was not what we thought it was only to send it back to our film distributor early. The world’s view of entertainment seldom aligns with what we would perceive quality entertainment to be, and we are well aware of our responsibility to the adults and children in our community.
Throughout the Bible we’re encouraged to walk the walk and talk the talk and to do it for Jesus regardless of what profession we may find ourselves in and that includes the movie industry, as well. It’s possible. Not easy, but possible.
As long as we can choose movies that are family friendly and refuse to show R-rated films, we will continue to glorify God in all that we do even if it means carrying on a family tradition that includes watching movies under the stars with some of our favorite people.
Paula Harrington and her family worship with the Calvert City, KY church of Christ. She is a columnist for Forthright.net and author and compiler of Once Upon a Bible Class, A Common Bond, and A Sunday Afternoon with the Preachers’ Wives.
