I stopped praying when in 1996. That's the year I prayed very hard for my parents to not get divorced, to no avail, subsequently prompting me to make the decision to stop thinking magic might help me in some way.

Turns out that God had a very good reason for forsaking me back then: she was saving up all her energy to make millions for a couple of Christian filmmakers!

“I’m not impressed with Hollywood in general. They don’t make a lot of movies that lift our standards and morality.” That’s what director Alex Kendrick told me in a telephone interview on Monday after his new movie "Fireproof" (IDP Films/Samuel Goldwyn) opened with a downright shocking $6.5 million opening weekend.

LA and New York are filled with talented film professionals who spend countless hours and millions upon millions of dollars making movies. The cost of development, production, a director, actors and marketing make the craft of filmmaking prohibitive. So how did a little church in Georgia score the 4th-best gross of the just-completed weekend?

The answer, according to director Kendrick, is prayer. “Before we shot a tough scene, we prayed. This movie was bathed in prayer.” He is serious.

Although Alex and his brother, co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick, “grew up making silly movies in the backyard with a video camera,” they have no formal training in the business. They are both Associate Pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, 3 hours south of Atlanta. They are in “the prayer business” full-time.

Fireproof, starring 80s heartthrob-cum-Christian right icon Kirk Cameron, tells the story of a fireman whose marriage is falling apart. I've not seen it, but I bet the couple stays together. With the help of the Lord, no doubt.