Rebecca Lewis
Like most students, Rebecca Lewis began her college education with open options. She had many vocational interests to explore, but she was in the right place. Liberty University offered a wide range of degrees for the undecided shopper who looked to God for guidance.
Initially, Lewis chose fashion as her major field of study, partly in honor of her grandmother who had a talent for stylish presentation. When she heard about Liberty’s new Cinematic Arts department, she inquired about acting but was introduced to the idea of becoming a costume designer. A costume designer! Lewis decided to double-major in Fashion Merchandising and Cinematic Arts with a minor in Business. It was a career shopper’s bag of dreams.
Lewis thrived in her academic endeavors, and she loved the cohort model of the Cinematic Arts program (A cohort is a group of film students who progress through the program under the care of one professor). Lewis liked working in teams, pursuing a shared vision with classmates sympathetic to the Christian worldview. “You become like family,” she told us recently. She also remarked how well the program prepared her for her vocation: “They really do train you for what happens in the real world. . . A big part of that is that they bring in professionals to help us . . . to do the film every year. That was probably the most helpful thing they could have done.”
Lewis’s cohort worked on a film project titled 77 Chances, directed by Tracy Trost (A Christmas Snow, The Gardener). As wardrobe supervisor, Lewis felt the pressure of meeting deadlines and expectations, but Trost mentored her toward success. During that production, Lewis’s grandmother passed away, but she felt support from her film family, including her cohort professor, Scotty Curlee, who continued to guide her even as she transitioned from school to the film industry.
By 2016, Lewis says, she was “going full-throttle with life”: married, living in Los Angeles, and working costume jobs on various productions. That year, she contracted Lyme disease, forcing her out of work. While in recovery, she discovered Johnnie Moore’s book, Defying ISIS, which enlightened her about world suffering. She contacted both Professor Curlee and Johnnie Moore and asked, “How do I get involved with helping these people?” She pondered possibilities for relief work and became selective about film projects: “I wanted to be more impactful with the projects I was doing.”
In 2018, Lewis went to work as set costumer for Unplanned, a movie about a Planned Parenthood director’s decision to leave the abortion industry. In walked Tracy Trost, the director she had worked with in film school. “It was like my beginning and my end all came together,” Trost asked Lewis about her future and encouraged her to follow her calling wherever it led. When the film finally released, Lewis noticed how timely its message was to the political and cultural climate in the U.S. She began to understand that “God’s timing works”: The Lord uses our choices, our communities, our education, and our experience to fit us for our calling.
Today, Lewis is enhancing her education by preparing for medical school. “Film played a huge role in that, and I really believe that God placed me in Unplanned to work with a team that was just so amazing and also really encouraging for my transition.” As she looks to her past, she trusts God for her future, knowing He will use her skills in fashion, film, and health and medicine to benefit people.
That’s a collaboration we highly anticipate!
