A youth pastor in California has made a feature film, released in theaters around the country this past weekend, that is literally saving lives.

Jim Britts of New Song Community Church in Oceanside has worked in youth ministry for more than 10 years, while his wife, Rachel, has been a high school English teacher for the same amount of time. Their experience with youth prompted Jim to write a movie script (which has also been turned into an award-winning novel) based on the real-life struggles many students face – including teen suicide.

"We realized that every day we talk to students who are in pain. It's a huge, huge part of our jobs," Britts told WND. "And so I started wondering if I could write a movie that would bring hope to hurting students as well as empower teenagers to be messengers of that hope to their classmates."

Jim Britts' "To Save a Life" debuted at No. 15 on the box office charts, topping $1.5 million in ticket sales on opening weekend (which already puts it on pace ahead of another church-produced film, "Facing the Giants") in 441 theaters nationwide.

The film's story is about an all-star athlete and his girlfriend, who find their lives spinning out of control when Jake loses a childhood friend to suicide. Breaking out of the patterns of peer pressure and popularity to reach other hurting students, however, proves a life-changing challenge.

"Some people are just dying to be heard," states the film's tag line. "The movie asks, 'How far would you go? How much would you risk? How hard would you fight ... to save a life?'"

Teenagers themselves are raving about the film – it's currently the top viewer-rated picture on the movie website Fandango.com – and leading drives to demand more theaters show it by selling 1,000 advance tickets in a community before the movie even arrives.

It's not the success of the film that Britts finds gratifying, however, but the movie's impact.

"Teens see this film, then they walk out and throw their razor blades away and say, 'I'm never gonna cut again,'" Britts said, referring to the alarming trend among teenagers of "cutting," slashing themselves with razors as a way of externalizing internal pain.

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"We've also gotten several stories of teens that were very suicidal and saw the film and said, 'Okay, I get it now. I've got hope,'" he said.

WND