A Film For The Soul That Comes From The Heart

Local Filmmakers Jimmy and Joshua Jenkins Create Celebrity Loaded ‘Sinners Wanted’

By Raoul Dennis // PHOTOS COURTESY FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF GLENARDEN

Those who remember the wonder and popular success of War Room, the independent film based on spiritual messages, have something new to look to now with the launch of Sinners Wanted.

The new film was screened Mar 16 at First Baptist Church of Glenarden.  It will also be shown Mar.  22 thru 24 at the Magic Johnson Theaters in Largo, Md. /

Filmed entirely in Prince George’s County and in Washington, DC by siblings Jimmy and Joshua Jenkins, the project tells the story of a minister who falls in love with a prostitute. It’s a message taken from the Bible’s Book of Hosea.

Sinners Wanted was screened before some 9,000 at FBCG and was well received by that large audience.

Sinners Wanted will ‘feel’ warmer to audiences because it has so many familiar faces. It has a phenomenal cast of local and national celebrities including Lamman Rucker, Clifton Powell, Traci Braxton, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Anthony Brown and Roland Martin. And for all its star power, the story comes down to a simple message, according to writer, director, producer Jimmy Jenkins: “Don’t judge anyone because you never know what someone has been through.”

“People may not come to church because they don’t feel safe or that they will be judged. This [film] is about love and letting people know that you are loved and you are forgiven and no one should be judged,” Jenkins says. “This was a story that [my brother and I] connected with and a film we could make with a low budget. We felt good about the story and that this was a story that we needed to tell.”

The Jenkins brothers got their grounding honestly: they are the sons of John and Trina Jenkins – the Pastor and First Lady of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, a popular church serving some 20,000 members in Prince George’s.

The film was five years in the making. Jimmy, 28 and Joshua, 34 are both are credited as writer, director and producer on the project. It is not their first film but it is their largest project to date. They shot the entire film in 16 days.

“It felt like getting the world off my shoulders,” Jenkins says of completing the film under tough circumstances and a low budget.

While he wouldn’t discuss the budget, Jenkins said that War Room was completed for $3 million but that Sinners Wanted was done with far less.

But since 19, Jenkins has been making films and working with his brother. They will not let financing challenges deter them and are likely to get larger budgets for projects in the future. The pair will take the film to other churches along the east coast and the nation after the Magic Johnson Theater dates and they will shop it further.  They say that the film will be available digital and on disc next year.

When asked how they were motivated to develop their newest, biggest film from a spiritual source as opposed to the typical Hollywood fare that many young directors aim toward, Jenkins was clear about his parents’ influence:

“You write and produce best with what you know,” he says.  “This subject matter is what I understand and what I can explain and what I’m connected to. Also, the Bible says, train a child in the way he should go. My parents did a great job in raising us.  I hope that I can be as great a parent to my children when I have them.”