Actor John Corbett on Playing a Pastor in ‘All Saints’

Hi, Guideposts. I’m John Corbett. And I’m in a new movie. It’s called All Saints, and it’s a true story. It’s based on an Episcopalian pastor named Michael Spurlock, who I play.

He’s married to a wonderful woman named Aimee and they move to this little city—Smyrna, Tennessee—which is right outside of Nashville. His first task is to basically shutter and close down this church that’s losing money, and the name of the church is All Saints. There are 12 or 13 people in the congregation. This is a story about the church being the church, helping the poor in their community. And it’s a beautiful story for today.

So when Michael Spurlock starts to shutter this church, coincidentally, at the same time, some refugees from Thailand—originally from Burma—show up. They’re brand new to this country. They’re refugees, and they want to be part of his Anglican church. So he takes them in. And very quickly, he has 25 or 30 of these refugees in his church. They’ve turned to him for help. They’re hungry; they need jobs. So he takes it upon himself to try to help them in life.

One evening, he’s out contemplating this ordeal that he sort of fell into, and God literally speaks to him and says, “I’ve given you these farmers. You have all this land. Plant some vegetables. Feed them. And you can have enough crops to maybe pay off some of the debt of the church.” And that’s what he proposes to the bishop council. 

They, of course, think he’s lost his mind a little bit. And he convinces them that this might work out. And that’s what our true story is about—these refugees and a congregation of 10 or 12 people going to work and working together. The poor really came to the forefront in this community. And people lent a hand. It’s got a really strong message. 

Towards the end of the movie, Michael’s talking to the bishop, and he says, “I swore an oath to care for the least of these—the least of my brothers.” I just think that’s a great message for today.