Promise, Texas is a town in need of hope. Farmers face a year-long drought. The sheriff serves eviction notices on foreclosed homes. Drug and alcohol are abused by children and adults. People are desperate. Enter Gabe (Gavin Casalegno), a mysterious hitchhiker, still just a boy. Gabe recognizes that Promise is broken and he’s on a mission to restore hope to a people and land that need healing. Gabe is taken in by Joe and Ellen Murphy (Carey Scott, Elise Baughman), a couple who lost their child during birth.

Before long, Gabe is making friends and changing lives. Miracles follow him wherever he goes. Despite the good he is doing, he’s investigated by Sheriff Brody (Dean Cain) who believes Gabe to be a runaway and finds him at the center of controversy. As Brody gets closer to the truth, the townspeople find that Promise is being restored through the power of prayer. Gabe leads people to life-changing decisions including the town doctor (John Schneider), career-driven journalists Monroe (Jenn Gotzon) and Frank Pierce (Benjamin Dane), and many of the community’s youth—particularly the inspired characters played by Rebekah Kennedy and Wesley Hathcoat in truly heart-warming performances.

I Am . . . Gabriel is a dynamic, emotional film with a talented cast. The Superman series crossover of Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) and Schneider (Smallville) shows two popular actors who are in top form. All around, this is an ensemble film with a simple message of hope and a stern reminder that God hears us when we look past the messenger and set our eyes on the Author of that message.

I Am . . . Gabriel is not rated but does contain some very mild violence and subjects for family discussion. Bloody sheets are shown during a childbirth in which the baby doesn’t survive. An alcoholic on the run (played by director Mike Norris) is hit by a car. A teen overdoses on drugs but later repents and asks forgiveness in one of the more emotional scenes in a family film that’s packed with them.

 

Featured Image photo credits: Courtesy of EchoLight Studios

Watch the movie trailer for I Am . . . Gabriel

Check out the SCH exclusive interview with I Am . . . Gabriel‘s Jenn Gotzon

For more information about I Am . . . Gabriel, check out Christian Film Database

Gabriel constantly urges his new friends in the broken town of Promise, TX to pray. It’s recorded that the Lord said to Solomon, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14) Discuss what precedes the various miracles that occur in the town of Promise. What happens prior to these miracles? For what reasons might God judge a people and their land? How is the judgment in verse 13 similar to what has happened in Promise, TX? When the people of Promise are reminded that God sees them in their need, how is their reaction similar to God’s desires for his people in verse 14? Hebrews 13:2 tells us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” This occurs in the movie and in the Bible. For what reasons does God send His messengers to us? Perhaps despite the literal occurrences, why is this brought up in Hebrews? What does God say about how we love our neighbors?