Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 10/19/22

A man of may hats. A fire hat is but one of the hats worn by Ryan O’Quinn in the making of the inspiration biopic Paul’s Promise. Not only does he play the title role of Paul Holderfield Sr., a firefighter-turned-pastor whose greatest triumph was over his own racism, but his company Damascus Road Productions  produced the film which also co-stars Linda Purl, Nancy Stafford, Shari Rigby, Josef Cannon and Dean Cain. Out conversation follows the film’s trailer.

JWK: Tell me about Paul’s Promise, your role and what you hope people take from it.

Ryan O’Quinn: I wear a couple of different hats for Paul’s Promise. I play Paul so I’m the face of the movie for one thing. I play Paul Holderfield Sr. in the movie as an actor but I’m also one of the producers. My production company Damascus Road Productions was the lead production company on the film. We’re also involved in the distribution side of it, as well…Integrity Releasing is the theatrical distribution arm of Damascus Road Productions. So, we’re the producers (and) the distributors.

When the film first came to us, we loved the content, first of all. We knew that there was something here that America, arguably the world, needs to see right now. It is a true story of Paul Holderfield Sr. who was – by his own admission – a bigoted, racist firefighter in the late 1960s in Little Rock, Arkansas who early on had a black best friend growing up…As he grew up, he kind of fell in with the wrong crowd, started running with the wrong folks and was not sensitive to race issues – which is the polite way of saying it. As he got older, he realized (this) primarily through the power of his praying mother. Hence the title, on what essentially was her deathbed,he promised her…that he would look into her faith and just check into this whole Jesus thing. As a result, he did a complete about face in his own life that completely turned his life around and which ultimately led to him pastoring one of the first integrated churches in the American south. So, I feel like it was timely then and it’s timely now and I think audiences will resonate (with it).

JWK: Why do you think it will resonate particularly now?

RO: I think we can’t overlook the power of a praying mom or a praying dad – you know, somebody in our life who knows the plans that the Lord has for us. You know, Jeremiah 29:11 is very specific. We (should) take that to heart and realize that the Lord has good plans for us in mind. Sometimes we often get away from that with all of the things that vie for our attention in 2022…So, just having that person in your life who is a genuine mentor – in his case a mother who essentially prayed without ceasing for him to understand that sort of power and that sort of freedom – I think that’s one aspect, for sure.

I think certainly the zeitgeist of race relations in this country has had a spotlight shined on it in the last couple of years. Where are we as a nation? Where have we been? Where are we now? What are the principles that this country was founded on? Where do we as individuals find ourselves in the midst of some of the things that we’ve seen play out on the television and otherwise in the last couple of years? And what does that mean for us? So, I think a couple of those huge issues are on point in this film. I think now is the perfect time for release and for audiences to see this.

JWK: What insight do you think the film gives us?

RO: In Paul’s case, it’s the story of one man’s journey. I think each of us has our own individual journey to glean from what the Lord is saying to us. I think in his case it was about examining his own life, looking squarely at The Bible and seeing what The Bible says about specific issues. He was an alcoholic and was a racist. You know, he examined his own life and compared that to the Word of Scripture and realized that the track he was on was not the track that the Lord would have anyone on. ‘

JWK: One thing the film said to me – and tell me if I’m on the right track – is that anyone can change – and the country can change too – and that we should not be locked into the past.

RO: Yes, absolutely! Change is possible! Paul Holderfield Sr.’s life is a perfect example of that. He was, by his own admission, a ne’er-do-well in anyone’s estimation. The about face that he experienced in his own life was a true 180.

JWK: Is Paul still alive?

RO: He is not. He passed away in 1998. His son Paul Holderfield Jr. is the senior pastor of that church now. So, he’s the second-generation pastor.

Paul Sr. was a reluctant shepherd of that church. He started a food pantry and a homeless shelter somewhat by accident. He really just started, honestly…at a time when (North Little Rock) was dangerous. (It was) one of the city’s with the worst crime rates in America at the time. He really just wanted to take care of kids, make sure they had food (and) make sure they had shelter. He just started following the biblical example of loving on others, loving your neighbor. That sort of accidentally spawned into a church. His close allies and friends who were helping him encouraged him to start a church and to speak and to teach and to be a pastor…He was very hesitant to do that. He had not been to seminary and assumed that that was Step One. He was encouraged by his cloud of witnesses, so to speak, that, you know, you don’t have to do that. You just stay in the Word and teach from what the Lord’s laying on your heart and he was a pastor for all those years. Now, his son is the senior pastor of that church and the rest of his children are also in vocational ministry at the same church.

JWK: Doing some research on you in preparing for this interview, I’ve discovered that you’re sort of Renaissance man in the industry. You’re an actor, a voice actor, a producer, a stand-up comic and an author. That’s a lot of stuff.

RO: Yeah, quite a few hats that I’ve been wearing over the last 25 years or so. You’re exactly right. One thing has led to another in the entertainment industry. I felt like early on there was some semblance of a calling on my life – ministry in some capacity. I didn’t feel like vocational ministry at the local church level was exactly what I was called to so I just started looking at other options and other things I felt like the Lord was leading me towards. ‘

I always had kind of a penchant and a bent for the entertainment industry…That led to a relocation from Virginia – where I grew up and went to college – to Los Angeles. Here in LA I started doing film and television work and then sort of parlayed that into a traveling comedy ministry. So, I went on the road. At its peak I was on the road 120 days a year doing improv, stand-up and sketch comedy all over the country. Most of the time it was at large-platform church events. Sometimes it was denominational statewide gatherings or statewide youth conventions, sometimes large-platform Christian music festivals where I would be the M.C. or host.

Then, three kids under five will drag you back home in a heartbeat. My wife and I realized that that was not conducive to family life for me to be gone and for me to away from her and my children. So, I came off the road in 2013 – although I had lived in LA the whole time. I kinda came back and paused my stand-up and traveling career and dived back into film and television as a voice actor. I did some viral videos which spawned into a couple of books and led to a couple of movies and, ultimately, led to our production company and distribution company.

JWK: Which hat do you enjoy the most?

RO: That’s a good question. It really depends on what day you ask me. I just finished a movie this summer that I both produced and was in. On the days that I was on set as an actor, I loved that. That really floats my boat. It really kinda ticks all the boxes of what gets me going. I love performing. I love entertaining. I love the idea of taking on a character and really breaking  down and examining a script and looking both from a 30,000-foot view of what the message of the movie is down to, literally, what is my role in this and how does this character affect the outcome of the film? So, on the days that I’m an actor, that’s the greatest thing on the planet.

Then, the rest of the time, (there’s) my parents’ influence. Both my parents were self-employed business persons and entrepreneurs in their own right with a great business sense. My mother owned a CPA firm. My dad was an entrepreneur both in residential and commercial real estate and had a physical convenience store.  (He) was just a really excellent people person and understood the people skills involved in creating and growing businesses. So, I’ve employed that on the producer side.

So, it just kinda depends on the day. Sometimes I call myself an actor and sometimes I call myself a producer. It just depends on what it looks like that day.

JWK: You have a lengthy acting background. You’ve done shows like Alias, Third Rock from the Sun and Beverly Hills, 90210 where you actually played someone who was accused of rape. Is there a difference between acting in mainline network TV shows and the faith-based stuff you’re very much involved in?

RO: The short answer is not really when it comes to process. The real difference is in the marketing of individual projects and the outcome of the distribution model. My talent, if you will, and my skill set that I employ whether it’s a network television show or a faith-based movie is the same. My process is the same. My approach to characters is exactly the same.

The real difference is in the distribution and the placement of where those products end up. In the last few years our focus has been primarily on the faith and family marketplace. Much of the time the local church level is the goal in terms of our target demographic audience – but, you know, it’s kind of a broad range. I did a movie last year that wasn’t necessarily a faith film but it was a family movie. It was a family comedy about girls soccer called Little Angels that’s coming out soon. So, it just depends on what the product is and what the target demographic is and where those things end up but the process is pretty much the same overall.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.