The movie was filmed with one camera, which they received the same week they planned to start filming.
They originally expected the film to be just a local ministry. Their local theater agreed to play it for maybe a week, but it ended up playing for many weeks, and was then taken to a couple other theaters, and eventually released nationwide on video.
Mac George, who plays the banker from Franklin Bank & Trust (George MacDonald) is the real-life owner of the car lot (Mac George Motor Cars) in Albany.
The sermon Jay (Alex Kendrick) briefly watches on TV the night before he gives his life to the Lord was a real sermon from a real service at the Sherwood Baptist Church. It was not staged, and didn't have a written script.
In the final weeks of filming they were beset by crises and lost 30 minutes of edited film that had to be redone; it was completed 6:30 AM the day it premiered.