Two very different men are brought together and learn a mutually important lesson about the real function of a church in this drama. Ethan Jenkins (Michael W. Smith) is a man in his mid-thirties who after years of scuffling as a musician on the West Coast has decided to move back East and work with his father. As it happens, his father is Jeremiah Jenkins (J. Don Ferguson), a well known and respected minister who leads the flock at "The Rock," a massive "superchurch" where worship often looks
more like a flashy multi-media presentation than a church service. Ethan becomes an associate pastor at The Rock, but it's clear he views his mission more as a business than service to the community, and Jeremiah decides his son needs to learn a bit more about what work at a church is all about. In the early '60s, Jeremiah helped found the Second Chance Community Church during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The inner-city neighborhood Second Chance serves is now a crime-ridden slum, and Jeremiah sends Ethan there to assist pastor Jake Sanders (Jeff Obafemi Carr) as he tries to maintain an oasis of peace and hope in the middle of a gang-dominated war zone. Through Jake, Ethan gains some hard-won wisdom about the true nature of faith and service, and he tries to share his new knowledge with his father, whose new congregation is a far cry from where he started his mission for the Lord. The Second Chance marked the first feature film role for award-winning Christian musician Michael W. Smith. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
As divided as the two very different churches at its center, The Second Chance reps an uneasy marriage of spiritual conviction and dramatic expedience.
[The film is] designed to launch Christian pop singer Michael W. Smith as a movie brand name. It doesn't really succeed at that, but it does manage to send a positive message in a pretty polished movie, a message aimed at regular church-goers.
It is earnest, cliched, often awkward and unlikely to inspire anyone who isn't already thoroughly sold on its message of salvation through community activism.
... a sincerely (if not exactly subtly) performed spiritual drama with a faith-based lesson in humility and the practical charity of offering a helping hand.
I love the arogance of the pastors, the leasson they learned: "love your enemy." The humility when they washed one another's feet. That part brought me to tears. I love how the white pastor was clueless and ignorant, caught up in his own little world, and the black pastor who cared deeply for the drug dealers and
prostitutes.
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