The Miraculous Birth of a Film Festival

Jaclyn: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:00:02

This is Jaclyn with you, and I'm with Rob today.

Jaclyn: 00:00:05

This is part two of our interview, Rob Ekno.

Jaclyn: 00:00:08

And I just, I want to kind of pick up where we left off.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

And I think that when we take credit for the work that we do, we can do it in a way that gives Him the glory, because I think that that's what He wants, He is so excited to see his children succeed and work hard and to achieve the things that he's asked them to achieve.

Jaclyn: 00:00:26

And he wants us to have that credit.

Jaclyn: 00:00:28

But in that process, when we do it for him, we give him glory, we give him honor, and that's how that relationship works.

Jaclyn: 00:00:35

And I want to start off this interview by asking Rob For a bit of advice, if there is someone listening who, maybe their career seems to be going well, and maybe on the outside looking in, it looks like this person is doing really well and everyone's so excited for them, but they know inside that things are falling apart.

Jaclyn: 00:00:57

For whatever reason, maybe they've made some choices that have sent them down a certain path, or maybe they're struggling with sin, or whatever the case may be, if they know that On the inside, things are falling apart.

Jaclyn: 00:01:10

What would you say to them?

Rob: 00:01:11

Well, I'll give you two giant examples, and one of the things is I gotta get good with myself first.

Rob: 00:01:20

Right?

Rob: 00:01:20

I have to find a way to realize that God created me, right?

Rob: 00:01:25

He created each of us We're all masterpieces of the Lord, but so many of us get caught up in this man's world.

Rob: 00:01:31

If you just turn on the TV, right?

Rob: 00:01:33

It's like, buy this car.

Rob: 00:01:34

It goes so fast.

Rob: 00:01:35

Buy this thing and you'll be the star of the show when you walk in a room with this clothes or whatever it is, right?

Rob: 00:01:41

And so we find our ways running away, which is why I got into drugs and alcohol, which because I didn't think I was worthy for whatever reason, right?

Rob: 00:01:51

We really do need strong, good, godly fathers in this world to help bring, and, and it is tough.

Rob: 00:01:59

It is tough in today's world, right?

Rob: 00:02:02

And so it is about an inside job.

Rob: 00:02:04

And I will share two stories.

Rob: 00:02:06

I got asked to speak at a, a recovery meeting in North Hollywood, California, uh, about, uh, 10 years ago or so, and I got done speaking and this guy walks up to me.

Rob: 00:02:17

And he says, Son, I want what you have.

Rob: 00:02:20

And this gentleman had just celebrated 30 days sober.

Rob: 00:02:25

He just shared about it.

Rob: 00:02:26

This gentleman was one of the top executives in all of Hollywood.

Rob: 00:02:32

Like, in the top five.

Rob: 00:02:36

He's got the multi million dollar salary.

Rob: 00:02:38

He's got all the power, prestige, everything under the sun.

Rob: 00:02:41

He's got the home, you know, in the Hollywood Hills.

Rob: 00:02:44

He's got the three Mercedes in the driveway.

Rob: 00:02:46

He's got it all.

Rob: 00:02:48

And he looks at me and he goes, I want what you have.

Rob: 00:02:50

And I said, you want what I have?

Rob: 00:02:51

I'm making a couple hundred dollars, you know, a week, trying to build my acting career.

Rob: 00:02:56

I got a little old used car.

Rob: 00:02:57

I got a little apartment near Universal Studios.

Rob: 00:02:59

I said, you want what I have?

Rob: 00:03:01

He said, but you have peace.

Rob: 00:03:04

And I have never had peace.

Rob: 00:03:05

And he said, so I actually got 20 years sober when I was miserable because I never did any work.

Rob: 00:03:10

I just fought to not drink every day.

Rob: 00:03:13

So I was miserable and I drank and I was out for five years.

Rob: 00:03:17

He said, it was the worst five years of my life and that's why you just saw me.

Rob: 00:03:21

He said, 30 days ago, Rob, I took a gun and I put it in my, fiance's purse and we went up to my dope dealer in Beverly Hills and I told her if I grab for your purse, hit the floor, I'm killing the son of a gun.

Rob: 00:03:37

He said, this is where I was with every material piece of anything that any man could ever want.

Rob: 00:03:44

And I was just dying inside because I never did the work that you did to get the peace and understand the love of God in my life, right?

Rob: 00:03:55

And so at the time, you know, when I see this guy, I'm thinking, God, I want everything this guy's

Rob: 00:04:01

got,

Jaclyn: 00:04:02

Right.

Jaclyn: 00:04:02

Right.

Rob: 00:04:03

Hollywood.

Rob: 00:04:04

He just shows up wherever he wants.

Rob: 00:04:05

Any award ceremony, do this, go there.

Rob: 00:04:08

And, you know, I can't even get into one in 10 years, you know.

Rob: 00:04:11

It's like, and he says, I want what you have.

Rob: 00:04:13

Then there's another one, my friend Sean, his brother gets named in the Hollywood Reporter one day as one of the next seven premier agents in Hollywood.

Rob: 00:04:24

He had, uh, he was 35 years old.

Rob: 00:04:27

He has Stallone, Schwarzenegger.

Rob: 00:04:31

All these guys are his clients.

Rob: 00:04:33

35 years old, they list him as one of the top seven super agents.

Rob: 00:04:38

He couldn't handle the fame he was getting in the next day, Sean goes over the house, his brother's not answering the phone, there's his brother with a noose around his neck in the bathtub.

Rob: 00:04:49

No.

Rob: 00:04:49

longer with us.

Rob: 00:04:51

So the point is, if you're out there and you think right now, oh my gosh, my life, is, you know, going in a direction where if I hit that 20 million dollar picture like Brad Pitt, or I did, if I get the fame, or the role, or this, that my life is gonna get better?

Rob: 00:05:06

Well, unless I take care of my insides first and get a great relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus, then it's all gonna be for naught, because I'm just gonna be miserable.

Rob: 00:05:17

And so, here's the thing that we haven't talked about, Jaclyn, is the fact that when I was 25 I, like my dad and my grandfather on my mother's side, started losing my hair.

Rob: 00:05:29

And for those of you who can't see me on the radio right now, I have no hair on my head.

Rob: 00:05:33

Jaclyn is, Jaclyn's got sunglasses on and she's holding up her hands to keep the glare from blinding her.

Rob: 00:05:40

So anyways, I, end up Becoming the main model for the biggest hair, importer in America.

Rob: 00:05:47

And I was the guy on the videos at 3 o'clock in the morning and, you know, with hair replacement company.

Rob: 00:05:53

And, you know, they're like, you know, hey, this is Rob.

Rob: 00:05:55

Rob has no hair.

Rob: 00:05:57

In the next 30 minutes, we're going to fix that and he's going to look like a Hollywood movie star, you know.

Rob: 00:06:02

So I wore this hairpiece because I had this vision, or this thought, Jaclyn, cause now it's acceptable, but back then it wasn't so acceptable, you know, baldness, and I just thought to myself, this is ridiculous.

Rob: 00:06:15

I can't live my life bald.

Rob: 00:06:17

I'm going to be working on TV out here in Hollywood.

Rob: 00:06:19

I'm trying to get acting gigs.

Rob: 00:06:20

Who's going to hire me?

Rob: 00:06:21

What kind of woman would ever want to go out with a bald guy?

Rob: 00:06:24

I mean, it's just like, you know, I gotta be freaking out that the whole world's looking at me whenever I go somewhere.

Rob: 00:06:30

So I, end up applying to be this model and they hired me as the main model.

Rob: 00:06:35

And I wore that hairpiece, Jaclyn, for 18 years because I had this.

Rob: 00:06:41

Vision and thought that I had to look like you.

Rob: 00:06:44

The world expected me to look, even though I had no clue what the heck you expected me to

Rob: 00:06:50

look like.

Rob: 00:06:51

And I forgot the whole time that I was already a special precious child of Jesus, as we all are.

Rob: 00:06:59

And I wasn't accepting of the fact that he made me perfect.

Rob: 00:07:03

You know, it says in the Bible, you know, he knows the number of hairs on our head.

Rob: 00:07:07

Well, he knew that Rob Ecno was gonna be so much trouble in his life.

Rob: 00:07:11

He just eliminated those suckers right off the bat so he could focus on other things besides counting Rob's hair.

Rob: 00:07:17

And so I wear this for 18 years and I'm out in my apartment right near Universal Studios Hollywood, and a female friend asked me to go to lunch with her to help her with something with her husband.

Rob: 00:07:28

So we're there and I finally said, I can't do this anymore.

Rob: 00:07:31

I said, would you come back to my apartment for me please?

Rob: 00:07:33

I said, just for a minute, I know you're going to get home to your husband, And this thing was put on, it had, a clip on either side of it, a clip in the back, and a double sided piece of tape on the front.

Rob: 00:07:42

And I went into the bathroom.

Rob: 00:07:44

I took this thing off.

Rob: 00:07:45

I put my hands around my remaining hair on my side of my head and she looked at me and she goes, Oh my God, I never knew that.

Rob: 00:07:51

She goes, you look so good bald.

Rob: 00:07:53

Why don't you just shave it off?

Rob: 00:07:55

And so I was working on national TV at a studio in Glendale, California, one of the shopping networks.

Rob: 00:08:01

So, Technically, on Monday night, I went on TV with a full head of hair.

Rob: 00:08:06

But Jaclyn, I spent 45 minutes every day trying to make this fake piece of hair not look like a fake piece of hair.

Rob: 00:08:16

And on my days off, I would just wear a baseball cap.

Rob: 00:08:19

And the hours that I wasted of my life, Right?

Rob: 00:08:24

And so we go over to this little barber shop right across the street, one with the old barber pole, it was just a little, you know, and I told the guy, just shave it off.

Rob: 00:08:32

So he shaves it off, so now I look like, I look now with no hair on my head, right?

Rob: 00:08:36

So, go, oh my gosh, I'm going on TV, and because I was in California, well, my face was all tan, but the top of my

Rob: 00:08:42

head, because I had, it was all white.

Rob: 00:08:44

So I call my friend Melissa, and I go, Melissa, Melissa!

Rob: 00:08:47

I said, you'll never guess what I just did.

Rob: 00:08:49

I shaved it all off.

Rob: 00:08:51

I said, but I look white and dark.

Rob: 00:08:53

And she said, well, come on over.

Rob: 00:08:55

I've got some tanning bronzing lotion.

Rob: 00:08:57

We can rub it around.

Rob: 00:08:58

So there I am.

Rob: 00:08:59

We're rubbing tanning bronzing lotion on my head to try to match my face.

Rob: 00:09:03

I go down to the studio at 8 o'clock at night, Jaclyn, and there's like 30 phone operators in there, and the phones are going crazy, and there's a host on the air, and I walk in, and the entire place goes silent.

Rob: 00:09:16

And I don't know whether they realized that it was me or not, or who's this person that just stepped into our studio,

Rob: 00:09:23

right?

Rob: 00:09:24

And so, all of a sudden, the guy on air, he says, Ladies and gentlemen, in about three minutes, you're going to see something across America and the world that you've never seen before.

Rob: 00:09:34

And then, he said, Ladies and gentlemen, goodnight, I'm gone.

Rob: 00:09:38

So all of a sudden it's my time to go on national TV,

Rob: 00:09:41

and there I am looking like this bald with tanning bronzing lotion and a sport coat and tie, and I stepped in front of the camera, Jaclyn, and I didn't say a word.

Rob: 00:09:52

I just stood there for a good minute.

Rob: 00:09:55

At least.

Rob: 00:09:58

And it felt like the entire weight of 25 worlds had just fallen off of me.

Rob: 00:10:06

I was 10 years sober, so this is 22 years ago, and it was the moment on live national TV that Rob just became comfortable with the man that God had created him to be.

Jaclyn: 00:10:19

Oh wow.

Rob: 00:10:20

And the phone started going crazy.

Rob: 00:10:23

People all over America, why didn't you just do that years ago?

Rob: 00:10:26

It happened to be The greatest sales night I had in 15 years.

Rob: 00:10:32

The night that I just became okay with the man that God created me to be.

Rob: 00:10:39

So when you ask me, people that are not feeling, people try to get the faster car, the bigger car, the bigger paycheck to this.

Rob: 00:10:49

If I don't get comfortable with me inside, I end up like being that huge executive in Hollywood and just want to die.

Rob: 00:10:57

I'll end up being like Sean's brother and I actually do die because I got everything and I'm still miserable,

Rob: 00:11:06

but I don't have the Lord,

Rob: 00:11:09

And so that's my biggest thing that I tell people is that Take time every day.

Rob: 00:11:15

I get up every morning, I pray, I spend a half an hour in meditation.

Rob: 00:11:20

Then I go to a recovery meeting, and on my way to the recovery meeting, which is 15 20 minutes, I don't turn any music on.

Rob: 00:11:27

I watch the birds flying, the squirrels running around, I watch, and I just look at the beautiful sunrises, and I stay focused on the Lord for a couple hours.

Rob: 00:11:39

And it helps ground me so when I go, because listen, you're working in Hollywood or in the entertainment business, you are gonna hear no, you know, 90 percent of the time, and yes, 10 percent of the time.

Jaclyn: 00:11:51

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:11:51

On a good day.

Rob: 00:11:53

Right?

Rob: 00:11:53

And so you got to be able to handle rejection and you got to understand that you're getting rejected not about you all the time.

Rob: 00:12:01

Like, a lot of this stuff is already cast ahead of time,

Rob: 00:12:05

but because they have agreements with the unions and stuff, the producers, they've already cast their daughter, their son in law, somebody with a different name.

Rob: 00:12:13

You don't know who they are.

Rob: 00:12:14

It's already been cast, but they have to go through the process, you know, to fulfill their contract.

Rob: 00:12:20

So it's already been cast and it has nothing to do with you not being a good actress, actor, podcast host, you know, musician, whatever.

Rob: 00:12:27

It's just that things behind the scenes, you had no control over.

Rob: 00:12:32

So you, you, you gotta be okay.

Rob: 00:12:34

with taking the word no and realizing they're not rejecting you personally every single time.

Rob: 00:12:41

They might be on occasions you just might have not stepped up to the plate that day and it could be your performance, you know, but realistically you got to get used to taking the word no, but you got to get good with yourself.

Rob: 00:12:55

and be at peace and knowing that whether or not you ever get the 20 million dollar contract or you're only making 20 grand a year, the Lord loves you so much.

Rob: 00:13:05

And as long as I put my heart and soul like you're doing with your podcast, you're honoring the Lord with your podcast.

Rob: 00:13:12

You're getting people to share their testimonies of how the Lord has changed their lives.

Rob: 00:13:16

So we're having this great conversation, and the Lord is up there going, Yee haw!

Rob: 00:13:20

Can't wait to hear this on the radio.

Rob: 00:13:22

This is some good stuff.

Rob: 00:13:23

And it,

Jaclyn: 00:13:24

really worked hard on this story.

Jaclyn: 00:13:25

I'm glad they're sharing it.

Rob: 00:13:26

I got two people on this line that wanted to jump off and end their lives a few years ago, and now they're talking about me.

Rob: 00:13:32

And, what he did was he gave each of us the tools to be able to become the best we could be.

Rob: 00:13:39

And I, it's a work in progress, right?

Rob: 00:13:41

It's every day I look to become a, but so excited.

Rob: 00:13:44

It's just like, you know, if you're a parent and you have kids, and your kids are suffering and you're like spending time with them.

Rob: 00:13:50

It's like, Dad, I really want to be a good baseball player in Little League.

Rob: 00:13:52

And you take them to the park and you buy them a new glove and ball and you practice with them.

Rob: 00:13:56

And then the kid's like, you know, and I just don't want to play the game anymore, Dad.

Rob: 00:13:59

It's like, God says, Rob, you're a drunk and stoned alcoholic and addict.

Rob: 00:14:04

I'm giving you the gift of recovery.

Rob: 00:14:06

Here's these rooms.

Rob: 00:14:07

People are helping you for free.

Rob: 00:14:09

There's 12 steps you can use.

Rob: 00:14:10

There's other methods.

Rob: 00:14:11

There's therapists.

Rob: 00:14:12

I've given you everything you need.

Rob: 00:14:14

I'm just hoping you'll use it.

Rob: 00:14:16

But the problem is, as you know, especially being a host, is that far too many people go, yeah, that's good for you, but it's not good for me.

Jaclyn: 00:14:24

Right.

Rob: 00:14:25

and they still find a way to try to play the victim, which is the greatest insult that we can give to our Lord, because He creates only masterpieces.

Jaclyn: 00:14:36

Oh, amen.

Jaclyn: 00:14:37

Amen.

Jaclyn: 00:14:38

So good.

Jaclyn: 00:14:38

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:14:39

And I think part of it too is I think sometimes people are looking for an easy way around it.

Jaclyn: 00:14:44

You know, like how can I circumvent the work and the reality is you can't.

Jaclyn: 00:14:48

Nobody can do the work for you.

Jaclyn: 00:14:51

It really does take work and discipline and all the things that, I mean, the Bible says that these are good things, right?

Jaclyn: 00:14:57

Like these.

Jaclyn: 00:14:58

Read proverbs.

Rob: 00:14:59

Yeah, the sufferings, the

Rob: 00:15:00

trials, the tribulations.

Rob: 00:15:02

Yes, you hit it spot on.

Jaclyn: 00:15:04

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:15:05

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:15:06

Um, is there any other advice that you would like to share with our listeners?

Rob: 00:15:11

You just can't give up.

Rob: 00:15:13

If it's logical, right?

Rob: 00:15:15

Now, if I said right now at this time in my life, my dream is to play center field for the Boston Red Sox, well, that's not a realistic dream, right?

Rob: 00:15:25

And so I have to set realistic goals for myself, and I don't want to make them too small.

Rob: 00:15:31

I want to make them achievable.

Rob: 00:15:33

A lot of people said, you know, Hey, listen, I'm going to give myself two years in Hollywood.

Rob: 00:15:36

If I'm not making 20 million a picture, I'm leaving,

Rob: 00:15:40

you know, but a

Rob: 00:15:41

lot of people, but a lot of people do that,

Rob: 00:15:44

right?

Rob: 00:15:45

And, and so they make the goals so unrealistic that they just get frustrated every day, and they hear another no, and another no, and then somebody cuts them off in traffic, and then somebody has 15 items in in the 10 item food line, and everything is just throwing their whole life off.

Rob: 00:16:02

But get grounded in the Lord, because this is a crazy world that we live in.

Rob: 00:16:07

But if you know that you're secure, and especially when, hey, listen, you might go two, three, four months without any work.

Rob: 00:16:14

If you're in Hollywood, for example, right?

Rob: 00:16:16

Even as a background actor, there's so many trying to do it.

Rob: 00:16:20

And they're cutting back now, especially with AI and computer generated images and all this other stuff.

Rob: 00:16:26

There's a lot less work.

Rob: 00:16:27

there was a SAG strike, you know, what a year or so ago, and we were out of work for a long time.

Rob: 00:16:32

And there were about 600 shows before the strike.

Rob: 00:16:35

Well, now there's just over 300.

Rob: 00:16:38

So think about all the people that lost work.

Rob: 00:16:41

I have friends in Hollywood that were making very good money.

Rob: 00:16:44

hair and makeup, you know, behind the scenes people that were always working.

Rob: 00:16:48

No matter which show and they're on social media going, can you please help me pay my rent this month?

Rob: 00:16:55

And so you have to, you have to have a backup plan too,

Rob: 00:16:59

you know, so if you need to have some other reliable source of income, you know, to help you pay your bills, and then, You have to set realistic goals and you have to, pay attention to where God is leading you.

Rob: 00:17:12

quick story, I got an F in English in high school.

Rob: 00:17:15

Teachers voted that probably Rob's not going to benefit the world by knowing Shakespeare, which he's getting an F in, so let's give him a D so we can graduate him his senior year.

Rob: 00:17:25

So I, here's a guy with a D in English in high school, Don't want anything to do with writing, reading, nothing.

Rob: 00:17:31

I become a homeless cocaine and alcoholic, right?

Rob: 00:17:35

All of a sudden, God sends me to Alaska after my ex wife goes in a different direction, and I am an author of four books now, with four more on the way, three award winners, a best selling audiobook.

Rob: 00:17:49

I said, God, you're asking me to write?

Rob: 00:17:52

He said, Rob, I gave you all these incredible experiences.

Rob: 00:17:56

I need you to share about this stuff that I did for you.

Rob: 00:18:00

I need people to know that I'm alive and well, and they may not want to hear it from me or in the Bible or, or at a church.

Rob: 00:18:09

But they'll hear it from you just talking one on one to Jaclyn,

Rob: 00:18:13

right?

Rob: 00:18:13

No preaching, just sharing your story.

Rob: 00:18:16

And that's what I did, and that's how they became award winners.

Rob: 00:18:18

If you read the reviews, people are like, you know, one of the easiest books to read, because it's just us, talking, and I'm sharing about, God's glory.

Rob: 00:18:26

So from that Jaclyn, continuing the Hollywood story, those stories, people read those, books, said these need to be movies.

Rob: 00:18:35

So, so God sets me up with a fabulous faith based screenwriter who had just graduated from college up in Canada, but her thesis was a, uh, award winning, faith based film.

Rob: 00:18:48

And a friend turned me on to her, so she's helped me write these three scripts, and now we have three award winning screenplays based on my books, right?

Rob: 00:18:56

Faith, faith based.

Rob: 00:18:57

God says, I need you to get out of California, Rob, and I need you to go to Knoxville, Tennessee, about 11 months ago.

Rob: 00:19:04

I get here and I go, why would I ever be in Knoxville, Tennessee?

Rob: 00:19:10

Randa, in Bristol, Virginia, who I had done two faith based films with, Dean Cain and Eddie McClintock, before I moved out here.

Rob: 00:19:18

Uh, and one of them was A Life of Purpose.

Rob: 00:19:22

The last thing I did was a Life of Purpose movie in San Diego before moving out here.

Rob: 00:19:27

I get out here and Randa was the leading lady and I called her, I said, Randa, why did God bring me 2, 300 miles to the middle of basically nowhere from Hollywood when things were starting to really flourish for me again?

Rob: 00:19:40

I believe he brought you here, Rob, to elevate you to new heights of a man that he's never taken you before.

Rob: 00:19:47

And I'm like, okay, a friend of mine, a screenwriter, an award winning screenwriter in Hollywood, calls me out of the blue, hadn't talked to her in a couple of years.

Rob: 00:19:57

She says, Rob, are you going to the NRB convention in Nashville in February?

Rob: 00:20:02

I said, what is NRB?

Rob: 00:20:03

She said, National Religious Broadcasters Association.

Rob: 00:20:05

She said, with your award winning scripts and books, you need to be there So, anyways, Adlai Blue, another God shot, Kimberly called, and I said, okay, well, I'm going to be in Knoxville.

Rob: 00:20:14

You don't know this, but I'm moving to Knoxville.

Rob: 00:20:16

So, I'll drive up.

Rob: 00:20:17

So, I stay at the Opryland Hotel.

Rob: 00:20:19

I meet this lady, Dorothy Spalding.

Rob: 00:20:22

who owns TV 49 in Augusta, Georgia.

Rob: 00:20:25

Dorothy says, Oh, I love your books.

Rob: 00:20:27

Why don't you come down and be a guest on my show on April 16th?

Rob: 00:20:31

I said, fabulous.

Rob: 00:20:32

Next day I get a text message email from this guy who's running a Christian film festival in Newport News, Virginia.

Rob: 00:20:39

He said, Sir, your Two of your scripts won a Best Writer and Best Screenplay, and your book, Your Second Cruising Toward Heaven, won a 2024 Nonfiction Christian Book of the Year award.

Rob: 00:20:52

And we're having a red carpet event on the 27th of April.

Rob: 00:20:56

Then he calls back the next day and says, I'm sorry, sir, our venue got lost on the 27th.

Rob: 00:21:02

We have to move it to the 20th of April.

Rob: 00:21:05

And I think about it, I said, well, if I'm going to drive down and do a triangle, I called Dorothy, I said, any chance you could move me to the 19th on Friday, she says, oh, we can do that.

Rob: 00:21:16

So I go down on the 18th, because it was an eight hour drive down there, so I stay overnight, I get to the studio at nine in the morning, they do a show for 40 years now, 10 10 to 12.

Rob: 00:21:26

Every day it broadcasts across the world.

Rob: 00:21:29

So she does the first half hour with her, son and daughter in law and she brings me on and there's a black couple, middle aged, over in the corner and she said, you see those two people?

Rob: 00:21:40

She said they were getting divorced.

Rob: 00:21:42

And I talked them into reconciling, and this is their first performance back since they reconciled, and so they were playing in between the commercial breaks, and she said the name of their group is called New Purpose.

Rob: 00:21:56

And I'm like, what?

Rob: 00:21:57

I'm looking for my purpose, and here I am.

Rob: 00:22:00

So they play in between, and I end up being on from 10 30 to noon, a whole hour and a half, And she gets done and she looks at me and she says, Young man, I just want to let you know I've done this show for 40 years straight.

Rob: 00:22:15

Never once have I ever let a guest stay for more than 15 minutes.

Rob: 00:22:20

So apparently the phone lines, whatever I asked the Holy Spirit to infuse me with, must have been lighting up the prayer lines in the back room.

Rob: 00:22:27

So I leave there, drive 10 hours up to thing, I get to festival the next day, I didn't even get out of my car, Jaclyn, and a guy runs out to me and never met in my life and says, Sir, I know who you are.

Rob: 00:22:42

I have been given a message.

Rob: 00:22:43

that you are to hear before you drive home to Knoxville today, you cannot leave this facility until you get the message I've been given to give you.

Rob: 00:22:51

And I'm like, okay, what is this guy, you know, some lunatic or, you know, what's going

Rob: 00:22:56

on?

Rob: 00:22:57

So we do, it's a small ceremony, it wasn't a giant thing, you know, you take pictures on the red carpet, make a couple of speeches, take pictures, and, and he goes, sir, he goes, everybody's gone, he goes, sit down, you, I, remember I told you, you cannot leave, sir.

Rob: 00:23:09

And I had a 10 hour ride home.

Rob: 00:23:12

and it was already 2 in the afternoon.

Rob: 00:23:13

I'm like, I gotta get out of here, man, you know?

Rob: 00:23:16

And he said, Sir, sit down.

Rob: 00:23:18

This is the message I've been giving you.

Rob: 00:23:19

He said, You are now a multi award winning author, multi award winning screenwriter, broadcaster, award winning speaker, and you've been in the Screen Actors Guild for 30 years.

Rob: 00:23:29

I have been told that you are to immediately drive home, just get there, and you are to immediately start the Knoxville Christian Film Festival.

Rob: 00:23:38

To open up a new avenue for creative Christians to have their, uh, be recognized for honoring and glorifying God.

Rob: 00:23:46

I'm like, what?

Rob: 00:23:47

I said, I don't even know where Cracker Barrel is yet.

Rob: 00:23:49

You know, I haven't, I haven't even gotten settled in.

Rob: 00:23:52

I got boxes that we haven't unpacked yet.

Rob: 00:23:54

He goes, sir, the message was that you are to do this immediately.

Rob: 00:24:00

so right before I get in my car to drive home, I call Randa, and I say, Randa, you know, you told me God was gonna elevate me.

Rob: 00:24:07

I didn't know he was gonna do something this crazy.

Rob: 00:24:09

And she said, well, you know, I know people that have tried and they've failed and stuff.

Rob: 00:24:14

And I said, well, you're a graphic artist.

Rob: 00:24:16

If you'll do a logo, I'll start this thing.

Rob: 00:24:18

listen, we're friends no matter what.

Rob: 00:24:20

Just pray about it.

Rob: 00:24:22

the answer's no, that's fine.

Rob: 00:24:23

An hour later, I stop at one of the rest areas.

Rob: 00:24:26

I get out and look at my text messages.

Rob: 00:24:28

My husband says, I don't need to pray about this.

Rob: 00:24:31

It's a no brainer.

Rob: 00:24:31

I need to help you right away.

Jaclyn: 00:24:33

Uh huh.

Rob: 00:24:34

She designs a logo for me.

Rob: 00:24:36

A couple weeks later, we start taking submissions.

Rob: 00:24:38

This past July 2nd, and just this, uh, uh, December 1st, I just announced the winners.

Rob: 00:24:45

and December 8th, I'll be announcing publicly the winners, but out of the blue, we did it only online because, you know, I didn't have money, facilities, all that.

Rob: 00:24:56

we did it online, and the amount of submissions we got have blown away, marketing geniuses, and I tell them how many, and they're like, you kidding me?

Rob: 00:25:05

They go like, if you had gotten 20, I would have thought you had had it.

Rob: 00:25:07

And anyways, Um, I won't tell you exactly how many we've got, but we, far surpassed what anybody would have predicted.

Rob: 00:25:13

And because, Jaclyn, I said, Lord, I will do this if you promote this.

Rob: 00:25:18

I said, nobody knows I exist.

Rob: 00:25:20

If you want me to take time away from my family, and my cat, and my dog, and, you know, taking care of the yard, and going to recovery meetings, and all this, I'll do it, but you gotta promote it.

Rob: 00:25:32

you know it, three weeks before the end of the festival, a I get a call from the Tennessee film community.

Rob: 00:25:37

The guy asked me to come meet him for coffee.

Rob: 00:25:40

I go down and he offers me three hours of free auditorium for 150 people on January 11th to showcase winning projects.

Rob: 00:25:51

And the biggest thing for people is that nobody will show their projects, even if they get selected into a festival, most of them don't get shown.

Rob: 00:26:00

So I'm getting all these emails and texts, Hey, will you be able to show mine?

Rob: 00:26:03

Will you be able to show mine?

Rob: 00:26:04

And I'm like, okay, Lord.

Rob: 00:26:06

And just last week I met with one of Hollywood's premier faith based actors.

Rob: 00:26:12

Like, he's in the top three, if not the top one,

Rob: 00:26:16

right?

Rob: 00:26:16

I met with his business partner last week here in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and they are going to bring me on in June when I start season two to showcase award winning projects with them at their festival that they have a big faith based festival.

Rob: 00:26:35

It's kind of like, um, Comic Con or something like that, but it's all faith based people, that come out.

Rob: 00:26:40

And so all of a sudden the Lord is just like, Elevating this thing to new heights it hasn't even been a year yet.

Rob: 00:26:48

So I don't know whether to be scared, Jaclyn, if I had here I'd be pulling it out right now,

Rob: 00:26:54

so the point is is that We stay in the game and when God asks us to shift the game, even if we don't understand why the shift is needed, He has a much bigger plan.

Rob: 00:27:06

When He sent me to Alaska, I thought my life was over.

Rob: 00:27:09

Like, how do you take me off the beautiful beaches of sunny Southern California and stick me in Alaska?

Rob: 00:27:14

I get off a plane at like 9 o'clock at night, it's still sunny, I'm looking at the Mendenhall Glacier in front of me, I've got eagles flying over my

Jaclyn: 00:27:22

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:27:22

It's gorgeous.

Rob: 00:27:23

so, that's the advice I give is that, you know, ask God for wisdom.

Jaclyn: 00:27:28

Mm hmm.

Rob: 00:27:29

it may be that your dream is to be this.

Rob: 00:27:32

Well, I never dreamed of being a writer.

Rob: 00:27:35

But it's because of doing the thing I never even thought I would do.

Rob: 00:27:40

that has now led me to being in a position to honor and glorify God in the biggest way I possibly could.

Jaclyn: 00:27:46

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:27:46

Amen.

Jaclyn: 00:27:47

That's fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:27:48

Thank you so much for being on our podcast and sharing about your stories.

Jaclyn: 00:27:53

Well, God's stories through you and, uh, and also, about your festival.

Jaclyn: 00:27:57

How can people learn more about your festival?

Rob: 00:28:04

knoxvillechristianfilms.Com.

Rob: 00:28:05

Season two begins on February 1st, and it is going to be a glorious time.

Rob: 00:28:10

I can just, I can just tell already.

Rob: 00:28:12

KnoxvilleChristianFilms.

Rob: 00:28:15

com.

Jaclyn: 00:28:16

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:28:16

Thank you so much.

Rob: 00:28:18

Oh, thanks for blessing me, and I hope you have a fabulous New Year, Jaclyn,

Jaclyn: 00:28:22

All right.

Jaclyn: 00:28:22

God bless you.