Bound4LIFE: It’s an idea we’re seeing take root in the pro-life movement: “To end abortion, the adoption movement must grow.”
Brian Ivie: That’s spot on. The Drop Box is the story of one man who did more than tell women not to abort or abandon. He actually offered to embrace their suffering. He actually adopted their disabled kids.
Embracing mothers, especially by making ourselves available to them—even to the point of taking the difficulties upon ourselves—is the only way forward. Otherwise, our screams and Facebook posts and marches feel like big, empty promises.
My hope is that this film would unify the pro-life movement underneath that same banner of promise. The one that reads, “We love you and we’ll suffer with you both.”
Bound4LIFE: Your journey to knowing God has encouraged so many people. Were other film crew members impacted?
Brian Ivie: Well, my brother also became a Christian after making the film with me. He was the closest thing to an atheist our family has ever had. At 18, he told my dad that he could make his own decisions, and was therefore deciding to leave the church.
After seeing Pastor Lee, I think that started to change.
Bound4LIFE: Now, it’s difficult to make a documentary, but that must be multiplied with the language barrier. What was the process for producing this film?
Brian Ivie: Even after 5 separate trips to Korea, I speak essentially no Korean. It’s rather embarrassing, but it just goes to show how this movie was made blindly.
I had no idea whether any of my questions were resulting in good answers. It’s hard enough to draw out emotionally resonant responses from subjects when you share a common language and culture. It’s another thing entirely to try and guide an interview via a translator, who may or may not be providing the nuance, emphasis and empathy necessary to make the subject feel comfortable and safe.
All that to say, this movie was made on faith. In my mind, whatever we missed wasn’t meant to be in the final piece.
Bound4LIFE: There’s buzz building online about your next project, partnering with the Erwin Brothers, who directed October Baby and Moms’ Night Out with Sean Astin. What’s the scoop?
Brian Ivie: So, in 1971, Jesus made the cover of Time magazine. It was a hippie Jesus, mind you, with a purple mane.
But Jon Erwin handed me that magazine several months back and said he wanted me to tell the world about it. Through a movie. So right now, he and I are writing a script called The Jesus Revolution. It’s a true story about how God used legitimately messed-up people to do legitimately loving things. People like Jon and me.
That’s the next story and it’s not going to be corny, obvious or fake. Because neither is God.
Bound4LIFE: You’ve gone from a film about working toward a culture of life, to one about spiritual revival. Are the two connected?
Brian Ivie: Yes, they are. I tell stories about Jesus because He goes where laws can’t go: into the hearts of men. When we’re talking about abortion or abandonment or sex slavery, the greatest victory wouldn’t be only that laws are overturned, but also that clinics are empty, drop boxes close down, and pimps ask for forgiveness and become new men altogether.
Jesus goes where diplomacy cannot go and revival is about Jesus doing just that in a group or even in a nation. Revival is first and foremost about heart change, which leads to culture change.
The gospel has always and will always have the greatest long-term impact on the most heinous crimes and tragic issues of our day.
Bound4LIFE: Why is it important for pro-life advocates to get out to theaters on March 3, 4 and 5 to see The Drop Box?
Brian Ivie: In a throwaway culture, underpinned by abortion on demand, I know this fight can be disheartening.
But what this story offers, without the distraction of political language, is a precious insight into what it would look like if one family embraced the suffering of its neighbors and asked that no one get thrown away … even kids with serious deficiencies and disabilities … even kids that are inconvenient or unplanned.
It doesn’t write the world an easier story. But it does write a better one. To me, the only way forward is by showing these moms that we’re willing to suffer for them, not just scream at them.
I’m willing to suffer for a better story. Are you?
Josh M. Shepherd serves at Bound4LIFE International, a grassroots movement to pray for the ending of abortion and for revival worldwide. This Bound4LIFE article reprinted with permission.
