New Film ‘Sound of Hope’ Aims to Ignite Adoption Movement Within the Church

Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
Updated Jun 27, 2024

The lead actor in the new Angel Studios/Daily Wire film Sound of Hope says he believes the movie can spark an adoption movement within the body of Christ where families rise up to take in vulnerable children who need homes. Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (PG-13) tells the inspiring true story of families in a small East Texas town who adopt 77 of the most difficult-to-place children in the foster system thanks to the leadership of Rev. W.C. Martin and his wife, Donna Martin.

It will hit theaters on July 4 and will be released by the same studio, Angel, that was behind the blockbuster movie Sound of Freedom exactly one year ago. This month, Angel and Daily Wire announced a partnership to release Sound of Hope.

At the end of the film, viewers learn that there are some 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, with 100,000 waiting to be adopted. Marvel star Letitia Wright (Black Panther, Wakanda Forever) is an executive producer.

Actor Demetrius Grosse, who portrays Rev. Martin, said, “We’re all called as believers” to care for the less fortunate. Grosse cited James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

“It’s not about whether or not you’re Lutheran, Episcopalian, Evangelical, Nondenominational, Baptist, or Pentecostal. If you have a relationship with Christ, and you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, you can do something to help orphans and those less fortunate,” Grosse told Crosswalk Headlines. “And there can be happy endings, there can be positive outcomes.”

Grosse noted that W.C. Martin and Donna Martin are not wealthy and began the adoption process on faith, believing God would provide for their needs.

The Martins intentionally chose to adopt children who others had overlooked. At one point in the film, the reverend tells an adoption worker: “We want the ones that” others don’t want.

“They’re not extraordinarily wealthy,” Grosse said. “... These are humble, salt-of-the-earth people who are trying to hold it together. But they don’t allow what they don’t have to stop them.”

Grosse said the film is a story about the “power of faith.”

“It’s these kinds of stories that just make my heart full,” he said. “And these are the kinds of narratives that I think the world needs more of.”

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is rated PG-13 for thematic material involving child abuse, some violence, language, and brief suggestive material.

WATCH: Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot | Carry You Trailer | Angel Studios

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.