'Faith in Jesus' Is Secret to Dude Perfect's Success, Group Says in YouTube Film
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Published May 13, 2020
A new Dude Perfect documentary that has jumped into YouTube’s Top 10 and amassed millions of views also provides a peak into the group’s faith.
Dude Perfect: Backstage Pass, is a YouTube Original film that landed on the platform May 11 and tells the history of the five friends who went viral a decade ago with basketball trick shots and then expanded their base with comedy routines. The movie is a part of Dude Perfect’s channel, which has 51 million subscribers.
Much of the documentary follows Dude Perfect on its 2019 tour. It also gives fans a look at their family life and faith.
The film includes footage of their families gathering around them and praying before they embarked on the first live tour of their career. It also shows the men praying over a 6-year-old boy during the tour.
Dude Perfect consists of Tyler Toney, twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert and Cody Jones.
“If we lost everything tomorrow, it doesn't matter. We know that the most important thing we have is Jesus,” Hilbert says in the film. “So it's very important to the decisions we make and the content we produce.”
Says Coby Cotton, “I think making content that was family-friendly came initially from our faith in Jesus, and we felt like that was something that we really truly wanted to do.”
Faith, Toney says, is “really the underlying principle and theme behind everything Dude Perfect does.”
The film also shows the men visiting children in the hospital and welcoming Make-A-Wish children on their tour.
“We all love what we do,” Hilbert says. “But we all know that there's something more than just our own happiness, our own satisfaction. And that's to give back.”
Coby Cotton calls it a “huge opportunity” to bring joy to a child who is battling an illness.
Speaking of the group’s fame, he says, “We want to use the opportunity to do something meaningful.”
Photo courtesy: Dude Perfect Facebook Page
Video courtesy: Dude Perfect
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
