Jen Lilley Believes Prayer Moves Heaven and She Has the Story to Prove It
Jen Lilley did not audition for the role of Gloria Stewart in Jimmy. She did not even know the film was being made. She was in a two-year season of pruning so severe she describes going from a full tree to dry wood, and she was in her prayer closet asking God what was happening when a producer called her co-host Billy Hallowell asking if he knew any actresses who felt fancy but were also completely a real mom. Billy gave them Jen's name. She got on a Zoom with director Aaron Burns, told him she had been farming and building woodland trails for her kids between calls, and he said you are so Gloria.
Prophecy, pruning, and the prayer closet that changed everything: Jen shares what it looked like to hear God say you are about to be kicked out of the nest and you have forgotten how to fly, to watch everything in her career get cut back in the same season, and to finally feel like she was reaching the other shore two years later, just as the Jimmy phone call came. She also talks about Wake Up Your Campus, her 501(c)(3) initiative bringing a 30-day devotional challenge to college students for free, why she gives away Starbucks gift cards to get Gen Z to engage with Scripture and keeps weeping reading their takeaways, and what she believes is coming when this generation finds Jesus and gets loud about it on the internet.
Highlights
- How a call from Billy Hallowell about a producer named Angela Sullivan led to a role Jen never auditioned for
- The word she heard in her prayer closet two years before: you are about to be kicked out of the nest and you have forgotten how to fly
- Three separate prophetic words from strangers that all pointed to the same season of free-falling and survival
- Why she believes God cannot move without being invited and why prayer is the system He chose to partner with humanity
- Wake Up Your Campus, a free 30-day devotional challenge for college students with weekly Starbucks giveaways to drive engagement
- The college student who engaged with the devotional 90 times and the girl who decided to forgive her mom because of a one-sentence takeaway
- Why she compares Gen Z to the hippies and believes a Jesus People-style revival is coming, but this time with the internet
- Call to Foster, her co-authored starter guide for anyone curious about foster parenting or supporting foster families
Resources / Links / CTA
- 🌐 Jen Lilley website: https://jenlilley.com
- 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jen_lille
- 🎬 Jimmy: in theaters November 6
- 🌐 Wake Up Your Campus
- 📖 Book: Wake Up Your Faith
- 📖 Book: Call to Foster by Jen Lilley and Dr. John DeGarmo
- 🌐 Follow, share, and explore more of Crosswalk Talk
- 👉 Follow, share, and subscribe for more faith-driven conversations on Lifeaudio
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Michael enjoys popcorn, college football, history, hiking, growing tomatoes, and watching his children play sports. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, husband to his amazing wife, Julie, and the father of four super kids.