Former Megachurch Pastor Travels the Globe to Film Miracles of God
It has been nearly four years since Darren Wilson and WP Films have released a new film to the public (the last being 2015’s Holy Ghost Reborn), but their latest film, Finger of God 2, has finally been released around the world.
Finger of God 2 follows the adventures of Will Hacker, a former megachurch pastor, who, through his friendship with Darren Wilson, travels the globe in an effort to understand not simply the point of miracles, but ultimately the point of Christianity. He films in the Middle East; at Bethel Church in Redding, California; with the underground church in China; in a religiously charged bar in Northern Ireland and at a massive crusade in Ghana.
Will Hacker has just competed a 35-city tour across the U.S. with the movie, and audiences have been almost universally ecstatic about the film. “One thing we noticed early on,” says Wilson, “is that while Finger of God 2 still feels very much like a WP Films movie, there are some underlying differences, most notably in the … for lack of a better word, spirit that the film carries. My films tend to be more like blunt instruments designed to jar you a little bit, make everyone a little uncomfortable, embrace a little controversy to shake the audience awake. That definitely comes from my personality as an artist. But with Will, he was a pastor for 13 years, and Finger 2 really carries his pastor’s heart. It’s less “Let’s shake things up” and more “Come with me on this journey I just took; I want to make sure you’re with me.” So there’s a difference in the feel of the film, and I think it’s really refreshing, especially for our long-time fans.”
Finger of God 2 is the first film put out by WP Films that is not directed by Darren Wilson, and he admits that was always going to be the case. “When I first started talking to Will, probably three years ago, about possibly having him direct Finger 2, I knew for sure that I wanted to make it, but I didn’t want to direct it. When I made my first film (Finger of God), I was in a wildly different place spiritually, and it just didn’t seem honest to step back into that world of wonder after everything I’ve seen and experienced in the last 10 years. Plus, that movie was so raw because I had never made a movie before, and I wanted someone to make the sequel who had the same terrifying reality that I did while making the first one!”
While Darren oversaw the entire project, he is also quick to note that the film ultimately comes from the heart of Will Hacker. “I helped Will set up a lot of the shoots, trained him for a couple of years in what it means to partner with God creatively, helped raise the money for the movie, then I just set him loose. He went to all the locations and shot everything without me. I then helped him shape the story he already had into something that I think is really extraordinary.”
For his part, Will wouldn’t have changed any part of his journey, although it was not always smooth sailing. “When I first started filming, Darren had told me so many stories of what it’s like out there trying to film an invisible God, but you don’t really know how hard it is until you actually do it for yourself,” says Hacker. “You go somewhere with an idea of what you want to film, but if that’s not what God wants to do, you either have to adapt to His desires or you get nothing. The hard part is slowing down enough to listen when nothing is going as expected and you’re in the middle of freaking out.”
“I essentially gave up two years of my life, and my family sacrificed a lot to make this movie,” Hacker continues. “No one will ever truly understand what it took to make this film a reality. I mean, we’re a family of six who wound up living for a few months in Darren’s basement—one room. But I want to be obedient to God above all else, and I had to hold tight to the fact that He had asked me to do this and that it would bless the world somehow. And now that I’ve been able to see the unbelievable reaction of crowds all over the U.S., I realize that all the sacrifice and struggle was worth it.”
Finger of God 2 is now available at wpfilm.com, as well as online outlets like Amazon. In a few months, it will be available for streaming on iTunes and other streaming platforms. It has also been simultaneously released in countries like Australia and the U.K.
