Four local Christians are giving the gift of the reason for the season to the Vicksburg community this Christmas.

Bill Lancaster, Robbie Howard, Bill Flatau and Gary Dykes have chosen to treat the public to the movie “Woodlawn” at B&B Theaters in Vicksburg Mall Saturday, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Even though all four men attend the same church, they wanted to sponsor the event on their own and not have it be backed by a specific place of worship. He said they don’t mean to be offensive to the church, they just didn’t see this event being about one congregation.

“We purposefully didn’t want this to be financed by a church because Jesus Christ is not about church,” Lancaster said.

Lancaster said “Woodlawn” is the true story of a high school football team in Birmingham, Ala. in the 1970s. A young Christian pastor witnessed to a coach about Jesus and eventually the team dedicated their lives to Christ, which helped ease racial tensions in their Deep South community.

“It’s a good evangelistic movie,” Lancaster said.

The movie, he said, has had a profound impact in other parts of the country.

“They did this in LA and 2,100 people showed up, and 1,100 committed themselves to Christ for this movie,” Lancaster said. “It’s a very good movie. It’s based on fact.”

He thinks people should see this movie because they can see how God moves.

“It only takes a spark,” Lancaster said. “The movie is intended for people who don’t know Jesus Christ and people who have committed their life to Christ but need a spark in their life to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

It was important to him and his friends to bring this movie to the public for free because they want to see Christians show the public what they believe.

“It’s time for Christians to stand up and be counted as followers who are committing to Christ and core biblical values,” Lancaster said.

The men were pleased with the new theater company, B&B Theaters, in the mall. They called the headquarters in St. Louis about reserving the tickets and were met with cooperation and a nice discount on the price.

“I just want people to see the movie, and let them decide,” Lancaster said.

Everyone is invited to the free movie, and an adult must accompany children 12 years old and younger.