Will You Answer the Call?

This article is a part of the GLS19 Faculty Spotlight series where we feature fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership content from this year’s Summit speakers.

We are excited to announce that Hollywood Producer and CEO of Franklin Entertainment, DeVon Franklin, will be joining us for the 2019 GLS. Watch this video to get a taste of his inspirational message.

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Do you hear that sound?

There’s an alarm going off in your spirit and you keep hitting the snooze button.

Right now, are you where you want to be in life? Or are you existing day-by-day, but deep down inside, you are really not happy?

That alarm is your calling trying to get your attention. And no matter how much money you make, no matter what position you have, no matter how much you throw yourself into your church or your family, the alarm never stops going off until you answer it.

It’s the reason you are up late at night with something bothering you. It’s the reason why you get up in the morning saying, “I should be happy but I’m not.”

There’s something you are supposed to do, and it is why you were created. You can try to drown out the noise, but the alarm will stay in your spirit.

What is it going to take for you to have the courage to answer the ringing in your spirit?

It sounds crazy. You don’t have the money to do it. You don’t have the education to do it. You don’t have the background to do it. And all these excuses allow your fear to keep you from saying, “Yes, today is the day I will answer the call.”

Right now, are you where you want to be in life? Or are you existing day-by-day, but deep down inside, you are really not happy?

I’m standing before you as an act of faith, as someone who has answered the call. I was raised in the Church and had a dream of working in Hollywood. People would say to me, “You can’t go to Hollywood. That’s Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s the devil’s playground.” But I said that I had a ringing in my spirit that Hollywood was where I was supposed to be.

So, I had a choice. Was I going to let other people tell me what I was supposed to be? Or was I going to listen what I thought God was telling me, to answer the call and to have the confidence to walk it out?

When I begin to walk out this thing called Hollywood and do it the way God called me to do it, everything began to change.

But something else happened. I used to be an Executive Producer for Columbia pictures, making movies like The Pursuit of Happyness, The Karate Kid and Heaven is For Real. While I was there, the alarm started going off again saying, “DeVon, you are more than just the title on your door.”

But I would rationalize, “No I’m not. I’m making good money. I have good relationships. I believe this is who I am.” I would be in staff meetings and I would not be happy. I would get the check deposited into my bank account and it would not satisfy me. Even though I was working on these great movies, I was not happy. There was something more I was called to be, and I did not want to answer the call.

It got so bad one day that I literally broke down crying in my office. I knew I was supposed to be something different. It seemed illogical to walk away from the good things in my life to do something that might not work.

This thing that you are experiencing—the ring you are hearing—it’s illogical. It’s going to require faith. If you could do it in your own strength, it would not scare you. The very fact that it scares you is evidence that it’s what you are supposed to do.

So, I decided to quit my job. I quit being the Senior Vice President of Production, the guy that people knew around the world as a studio executive and the guy who had faith. I no longer wanted to be defined by my title.

I went into the Chairman’s office and said, “I have to go. There are things I have to do. I have to write books. I have to preach. I have to motivate people. And I can no longer do that in this role because the executive box has gotten too small.”

Maybe the box for your life has gotten too small. This is why you feel this restlessness in your spirit. Every time you stretch into the freedom of you are supposed to be, the box will not let you go any further.

When you are in a box that no longer fits, you must destroy the box. It’s time to step into who you were created to be and what you were created to do.

I started my own company two years ago. What is scary? You better believe it. There was no evidence it was going to work. People said, “Devon, are you crazy?”

Your calling is going to disrupt your life, but God bless the disruption. If the disruption takes you to your destiny, it was well worth it.

And I would say, “Yes I am crazy—but I would much rather have my tombstone read, ‘He was crazy’ than read, ‘He played it safe and never fulfilled his calling.’”

At the end of the day, will you answer the calls on your cell phone but neglect the one call that really matters?

Your calling is going to disrupt your life, but God bless the disruption. If the disruption takes you to your destiny, it was well worth it.

The only show that matters is your show.

Whatever that call is in your spirit, it is ringing. I challenge you to have the courage to answer it.

It’s helped me many times and maybe in some small way can help you,” he says.

“That fire inside is something we all have, but it gets covered over by the fluff of life,” Franklin says. “But it’s there and you’ve got to learn to trust it. And, at the heart of it, it’s about tenacity, never giving up.”

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