Issues
- Doctrinal Accuracy: May contain illusions to salvation by grace, etc.
First released in theaters, The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry is the story of best buddies Dustin (Jansen Panettiere), Albert (Frankie Ryan Manriquez), and Mark (Allen Isaacson), twelve-year-old boys who are looking forward to a summer of fun in 1970. When Dustin mows the lawn of seventy-five year old Jonathan Sperry (Gavin MacLeod), a man he has seen at church, a unique friendship develops. What happens the rest of this summer is something Dustin and his friends will never forget! A heartwarming story for the entire family.
4 thoughts to “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2008)”
This is one of the best family movies I have seen. Every young man should watch this. What a great man Mr. Sperry was. I love how he taught these boys the gospel and then to see what they did with their lives is wonderful. What a great example he was to them of making the gospel of Christ important in their lives and of love, kindness, and forgiveness.
Everyone needs a neighbor like Jonathan Sperry. He loves his bible and he teaches from his bible. Everyone needs to learn at the knees of someone so versed in the scriptures. Dustin was lucky to be able to learn from him as a youth This is a movie that shows you how to live the scriptures that you read every day. The practical application of reading the scriptures. He taught those boys a lot of good lessons, but the one that stands out to me the most is Love your Neighbor. He loved his neighbor and he forgave his neighbor, in his words and also in his actions. He taught Dustin how to love his “enemy” as well. I love how bible study grew as Dustin grew, there were more and more friends invited to listen to Mr. Sperry talk about the bible. I realized there were things that I need to work on in myself. This is a good movie for everyone.
Our family loves this movie! It is so adorable. This movie teaches so many good things. The older man taking all the young boys under his wing and teaching them the bible, is a great visual for a man taking responsibility in teaching the gospel. I loved watching the gospel actually changing hearts and changing people’s lives. This was a very impactful concept to me. I have always felt that Christian movies are not real life, because I have been surrounded by hypocritical examples of people who know the truth in their heads but not in their hearts and lives. This movie showed people who really believed God’s word and His love changed them in tangible ways. It is easy enough for kids to see it really work. My son keeps saying “remember Nick from that movie and how he changed from being mean to being their friend because of the bible? That was cool.” I also liked all the teaching demonstrations that Mr. Sperry did for the boys to really help them understand the principles.
This film was a powerful demonstration of how Christ can change hearts, in the young and the old. Mr. Sperry has the courage to speak of Christ and changes the lives of many around him. It convicted us that we don’t share the gospel enough and we miss out on the opportunity to allow Christ to work through us.