All Saints (movie)

All Saints, a new movie, was released on August 25th. The movie is wonderful. It tells the true story of All Saints Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Tennessee, a church with just a few members left when the Rev. Michael Spurlock was assigned there after he finished seminary in 2007. He and his wife and their son were supposed to shut the church down and sell it along with the adjoining few acres that had been used for a baseball diamond.

The church had evidently been divided over various things and only about 25 people remained. Rev. Spurlock, who had been a salesman, decided to pass out a few flyers about the church. Some Burmese people, who had been part of the Anglican community in Burma, saw the flyer and decided to attend. As refugees, they needed everything. They were unemployed, needed medical help, needed schooling for their children, needed food, needed housing, and so on. And they were farmers.

One thing led to another and with an overwhelming mortgage debt on the church, Rev. Spurlock persuaded everyone to allow the Burmese to begin truck farming on the church land.

All Saints is a low-key movie. It is cheerful and happy but the struggle to provide for the spiritual and physical needs of the congregation is very difficult. When large numbers of Burmese join All Saints Episcopal Church, the Bishop declares it a mission church. Rev. Spurlock was transferred to New York City to St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue in 2010. I myself would say that he is high church.


The Reverend Michael D. Spurlock, M.Div.

Rev. Spurlock's official biography from St Thomas:
Who's Who | About | Saint Thomas Church

The movie trailer