This Christian biopic naturally focuses on the life and ministry of Luis Palau, but it also introduces audiences to the man who brought him to America.
Palau: The Movie stars Argentine actor Gaston Pauls as the renowned evangelist Luis Palau, also an Argentine and a man who has shared the Gospel of Christ with tens of millions of people the world over. Starring alongside Pauls, in the role of Ray Stedman, is a veteran of American daytime television, Scott Reeves.
Stedman was an evangelist and long-time pastor in Palo Alto, CA. During a trip to Argentina, he recognized in the young Palau a gift for preaching the Word. As it is depicted in the film, Stedman offered and then arranged to bring him to study at a seminary in Oregon, which is still home for him and his ministry - The Luis Palau Association.
Palau, together with another great American preacher, Charles Swindoll, was Stedman's first intern and he learned much from his mentor. Stedman told him that ego and pride are at the heart of most of people's sins and that the solution to the problem is clear.
"The answers, of course, to the ego are Jesus Christ and Scripture, principle and truth - so lead them there."
Luis Palau, who is now 84 years old and suffering from stage four lung cancer, says that is something he has put into practice over the course of his 60 years in ministry. In a tribute to his late mentor, who died in 1992, Palau says he "loved Ray Stedman" and points out what a unique place he holds for him.
"Ray lived out the resurrected indwelling life of a Christian unlike any man I have known, and he taught us well."
You can get more information about Ray Stedman via this link to his ministry's website or in a biography about him entitled, "Portrait of Integrity: The Life of Ray C. Stedman" from Discovery House publishing. As to Palau: The Movie, that will be in theaters for just two days on April 4th and 6th.