Seeking answers through faith

When Eric and Kameron Swithin met in Houston, Texas, he was a business owner, and she had been working as a corporate attorney in oil and gas. Eric soon gave up his business to pursue consulting in big oil with his “eyes on the money,” but would quickly find that corporate success wasn’t all he had hoped it would be.

“I was working in a skyscraper, chasing the American Dream,” Eric said. “From the outside in, you know, it looked like we had everything you could ever want. Fancy house, fancy car, all the stuff, and yet, on the inside, I think we were both really unhappy. We felt unfilled.”

As he and his wife were both dealing with this feeling that they were lacking purpose in their lives, tragedy struck. Nearing Christmas of 2015, Kameron had gone to her mother’s house to help prepare for the holidays, but when she got there, she found her mother unresponsive.

Kameron’s mother had passed away from a stroke.

“That really rocked my world,” she said. “Soon after that, we had a new baby, and over the next year-and-a-half, God revealed to me that life is short. None of us ever know when we’re going to die, and He revealed to me that God had more for me than working in corporate law.”

As she was dealing with grief and searching for answers through her faith, her husband was fighting his own demons. Eric said he remembers turning a year older, and the day after his birthday, he hit his knees to pray.

“I was next to my bed, and I was weeping like a baby,” he said. “I knew this was not what I was meant for. I’m like, ‘God, I realize now that I’ve been chasing money more than you.’ I think because I grew up so poor, to me, money was security. I didn’t want to have to go through what I went through as a kid, so I had made vows with myself that I was going to be really rich.”

Moments after his prayer, Eric said he received a phone call from a stranger, who initially called inquiring about his old business. Before the call ended, Eric said the stranger reminded him of other vows he’d made before finding success in the corporate world.

“She said, ‘Would you please have a seat wherever you’re at,’” Eric recalled the conversation. “She said, ‘I feel like I have a message from God. You made Him a promise many years ago that you would be a minister for him, and you went back on your promise.’ I was like, OK, God, if this is from you, my wife gets home at 5 or 6. You have to convince her.”

Together, the Swithins called the stranger back, and by the time Kameron hung up the phone, she was also convinced Eric needed to resign from his job and enroll in seminary school. By the time they made the move to the Shoals about four years ago, Kameron had also left her career to pursue full-time ministry alongside her husband.

“I haven’t looked back one time,” she said. “I am more fulfilled, and more content now than I have ever been in my entire life. Our purpose is to make God known, and to put His love on display for everyone to see.”

The Swithins said that is their main goal for their upcoming film, “Show Me Your Glory,” a documentary- drama that shares eight stories of people who have experienced a supernatural encounter in their suffering.

“Our heart is to show the world that their pain and suffering is not for nothing,” Kameron added. “God loves them, and when they are suffering, He is with them.”

Though the Swithins first produced their first film, “The Fatherless Epidemic,” in 2023, Eric said their second film has been a long-time coming. Drawing from his time spent in service in Iraq, Eric said he’s put much thought into the question of whether or not “God is still in the business of performing miracles.”

“I’ve seen the destruction of war, and it’s so ugly,” Eric said. “Here I am, a man of faith, but I’ve seen these things and done these things. I just had a real crisis of faith, but when I got home from the war, I kind of buried it deep inside. I spent about 20 years, and now I’m getting my doctorate in apologetics. I just wanted answers, you know. That’s really the genesis of the film is trying to answer that question, which in philosophy is called the “problem of evil.”

The Swithins believe they can prove the miraculous power of God through the eight stories they curated for their film.

Among those stories are people who experienced inexplicable healing from incurable disease; people who experienced radical transformations in their faith after experiencing a “profound vision” or “neardeath experience”; and people who had prayers answered in unexpected ways, the Swithins said.

Eric said he and his wife both brought their past expertise to the project in selecting from dozens of worthwhile stories they felt compelled to share.

“Our goal was to ensure that if presented to a judge, each of these stories would stand up in a court of law. We asked ourselves, would these be convicted as true stories,” Eric said, adding that he and Kameron both believe they would.

With the film’s premiere coming up in May, the Swithins said they hope to challenge viewers who come to see the film regardless of their religion or stance on faith.

“This movie is for Christians who maybe are skeptical. Maybe they’re struggling in their faith like I was for so many years,” Eric said. “It’s a really good film for saints, of course. I think it can recapture some childlike wonder. God’s doing incredible things we can’t even wrap our brains around.

“This film is also for seekers — people who are asking big questions. They’re looking, but they would like to see evidence. I also think this film is a great challenge for skeptics.”