Divine hosts, generous guests

Date: December 13, 1996
By Peggy McGlone, Staff

From The Newark Star-Ledger
Submitted by: Larry A.


The making of "The Preacher's Wife" was a real-life example of divine intervention, for the movie about an angel who helps an urban church became the benefactor of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Newark.

Trinity hosted Penny Marshall's production for two months last spring, serving as the principal location for the movie's church scenes. As a result, the church received a much-needed facelift and enough money to repair the building's heating system.

According to the Rev. Sherri Boyen Dobbs, who served as pastor of the congregation during the filming, the design crew began work last February. Whitney Houston, Denzel Washington, Courtney Vance and the rest of the cast actually filmed inside the Clinton Avenue church between March 11 and April 3. Among the scenes shot were Houston's musical performances with a gospel choir.The filmmakers also hired 28 of the church's 115 members as extras, said Dobbs, who left her position at Trinity a week ago to take a job with the Northern New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Churches.

Dobbs said the film left a lasting impression on her former church. The building's interior was spruced up with new carpeting and paint, and the main doors were repaired. The pulpit area also was changed to suit the movie's Baptist church tradition.

"The deal was we could keep what they built or they would restore it to the original," explained Dobbs. "Well, we liked what they had, but we wanted to modify it to meet the United Methodist Church requirements. Their designer worked with the national church architect to design a communion rail that would accommodate the new (pulpit) design, and they were able to match it to part of the woodwork."

Dobbs added that the church's boiler and heating system were completely replaced, using money from the lease.

"They were just great," Dobbs said about the filmmakers, who invited her and trustee president Olden Parks to a screening Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, she loved the final print. "We saw the pieces filmed in our church, but it was good to see the whole thing," she said. "It was magnificent."