Mike Vogel (center) stars in Heaven's Rain
Screenwriter Brooks Douglass will be on hand to discuss the true-life story of his family's ordeal with murder, anger and forgiveness.
Screenings are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the church, located at Mockingbird and Abrams.
Heaven's Rain features Mike Vogel (Cloverfield, Miami Medical, The Help) as Brooks and Taryn Manning (Hawaii Five-O) as his sister, Leslie.
In his film debut, Brooks Douglass himself plays his father, Richard – pastor, missionary, and example of the life-changing power of forgiveness.
In 1979, when Brooks and his sister were teenagers, drug-crazed drifters invaded the Douglass' rural Oklahoma home, bound the family, attacked Leslie, and shot them all, leaving the parents dead and the children clinging to life.
Initially sent into an emotional tailspin, Brooks regained his footing, became Oklahoma's youngest state senator and championed important victims' rights legislation. But all was not well.
Deeply affected by his experiences, Brooks' life hid financial, marital and emotional troubles.
In Heaven's Rain, as Brooks dedicates his life to gaining legal revenge for the unjust and illegal acts his family suffered, the story flashes back to happier times for the Douglass family.
As Baptist missionaries to Brazil, Brooks' mother and father were models of the Christian virtues of laying down one's life for others and forgiving those who wrong us.
Young Brooks absorbs these values watching his parents live among, love, and sacrifice for natives along the Amazon.
Returning to Oklahoma, Richard Douglass serves as pastor of a large church, never forgetting and ever reminding his congregation that God's grace falls on us like a gentle rain from heaven.
In 1995, the "trigger-man" in the Douglass murders received a death penalty reprieve, commuted to a life sentence.
In a dramatic recreation of a true encounter in Heaven's Rain, Brooks meets face to face with the man who destroyed his family.
What Brooks finds is a broken spirit, a contrite heart, a man seeking not release from prison but forgiveness from Brooks – and Brooks gives it, releasing himself from the prison of bitterness that had dominated his life and relationships.
Screenings are scheduled for Friday, July 22nd at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, July 23rd at 6:00 p.m.
Admission is $5 per person, and tickets will be sold at the door.
View the trailer on the movie's official page.
Wilshire Baptist Church is located at 4316 Abrams Rd., just north of Mockingbird.
Because of the violence portrayed briefly in the flashback scenes, this film received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Therefore, children and youth under the age of 17 will not be admitted to the screenings unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
To learn more about Wilshire Baptist Church, visit their website here.
Photos: (below left) The Douglass family in 1979; (below right) Brooks Douglass with actor, Mike Vogel
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