PureFlix’s A Greater Yes explores some fascinating ideas about mission, prayer, faith… and follow-through. Taglined as “the true story of Amy Newhouse,” the movie account of this sixteen-year-old’s battle to change the world and change herself inspires with its sweetness and its determination. And in a way, the movie reminds of one of my favorites, Pay It Forward, putting it in rare company.
Newhouse (Annie Underwood) knows that she’s supposed to go to Africa, but even as she’s preparing, she discovers the theft of some student council money for which her best friend is blamed. But while she’s determined to save Africa, she can’t bring herself to break through her own Tampa high school social schema and speak up about the theft. When she returns, the problem remains but she finds that few people are willing to jump into the gap with her and make a difference.
Right off the bat, I was intrigued. I often found my youth (and frankly, myself) having an easier time being bold when we traveled to Washington, D.C., or went to feed the homeless downtown, than in our own neighborhoods, communities, and even our church. Why could we all do all this good stuff, and be so excited about it, and then come back and get completely swallowed by the swell of our everyday lives? A Greater Yes certainly has a very Christian slant (and may be too preachy for some) but for Christians, it certainly raises some critical questions.
But of course, they’ve made a movie about her life, so you know she breaks through, right? Newhouse impacts hundreds of people and then struggles valiantly through a battle with cancer. The movie doesn’t exactly get clear cut, and the slow deterioration of Newhouse’s dating relationship shows that sometimes when you’re doing something that seems so right for God, you can end up alienating those that you care about. Newhouse’s boldness in missions carries over into her own battle with cancer, and that spark can’t help but start flames in others.
The last thing, or maybe the first thing, that the movie teaches is that prayer is a wonderful, powerful, and not easily explained thing. While Newhouse prays, and people end up praying for her, the answers are not always what is hoped for or expected. As she points outs out in the voiceover, maybe from her diary, Newhouse acknowledges that sometimes God says “no” so that there can be a greater yes. Newhouse wanted to serve out a life of missions in Africa, but ended up realizing that she could have a tremendous impact on the people in her life in Pampa, Texas: she did end up changing the world, as a stone rippling in a pool, sending waves outward from where she landed.
