Five Minutes with Mike & Julie Signorelli on Digital Evangelism and 'The Domino Revival'

NEW YORK -- As the founding pastor of V1 Church in New York City, Mike Signorelli has seen his church become the “fastest growing church in America” in just five short years. Growing from one location to three campuses during that time, the church also hosts more than 100 watch parties in homes across the globe each week via the Internet.

Needless to say, the use of video streaming and social media have become a critically vital part of Signorelli’s ministry. Known for his thought provoking, spiritually edifying content, more than 5 million people watch V1 Church’s video offerings on a monthly basis.

Signorelli and his wife Julie have a passion for building healthy, Christ-based relationships with all who they encounter, so it seems like a natural progression for them to find a vehicle to reach out to as many people as they can with the life-saving message of Jesus Christ.

They have seemingly found that in the form of a new Fathom Movie Event called The Domino Revival.  Playing in theaters across the nation for one night only on Tuesday, October 24th, the film documents what the Signorelli’s see as a growing spiritual awakening, not unlike other seismic moves of God from the past such as The Great Awakening, and more recently, the Asbury Revival.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Mike and Julie Signorelli to discuss why they were so convicted to step out and make this film with no previous experience and their unbridled hope for the healing of our nation.

As we all know, revival is a term in the church that gets used in the appropriate manner but unfortunately it sometimes gets misused as a means to generate excitement for a brief period. From your perspective, what does true revival look like? 

Mike Signorelli: True revival is a return back. This version of America is not the one that I want to leave to my children. And so when we were based on Judeo-Christian values, I believe we had a better country. And so, revival is returning back. There was a man that walked in Galilee named Jesus Christ. And this film is trying to show people the true Jesus, not the Jesus of the Republican Party or the Democrats. Not the hipster Jesus, not the philosopher Jesus, or the great moral teacher, Jesus, but the real resurrected Jesus. And when you introduce people to Jesus, addictions are broken, demons are cast out, I believe they can be healed physically in their body. And that is what we are really trying to show in the film.

Julie Signorelli: Revival is just putting Jesus first before everything in your life, before your schedule, before your finances, before your business as usual vacations. It's really just orientating your whole life towards what God is doing in this moment. God moves powerfully in different seasons, and I don't want to miss it. So when He's moving, we're all in, we're all in.

For every person or group that makes a film, there always seems to be a tipping point or a trigger where you say to yourself, “I have to make this film!” For you, what was that moment?

Mike Signorelli: I'll tell you. With Generation Z, the rate of suicide is exponential right now. Not only that, but people are turning to drugs and alcohol. Addiction exponentially increased during the pandemic when people were stuck inside. And when I got out on the ground, I'm a local church pastor, and when I self-funded this tour, I literally cashed out my savings, went across America and said, I will pray for whoever wants to be prayed for. And when I saw people canceling suicides and I saw them surrendering drugs and weeping, I said, I'll do whatever it takes to show this to more people. And that's why I directed this film and I put my whole life on the line to do this. I'm just a normal guy. I am a local church pastor. I don't have any business making movies, but I truly feel that God wants more people to see this. 

A simple but far reaching question … within the context of the title, The Domino Revival, what does domino mean?

Mike Signorelli: I was in prayer and I saw a vision of a big domino being pushed down in New York City, and it hit another domino and another one, and another one all across America. And I believe it was just a symbol of one turning into another. That's what we're really asking people to do in the film. Will you say yes to Jesus? Will you say yes to pray for other people? 

As people will see when they watch it, this film did not just transpire over the last few months. It is several years in the making. Why is right now the right time for The Domino Revival to be released?

Julie Signorelli: Well, it's funny, we were listening to some young people talk when we were in a cafe, and they were talking about some things that are really prevalent in culture right now. These are things that the church is trying to take a stand against. They were sharing their own struggles. Not with us, we were just listening. And they said, it's spiritual. People don't understand it. They can't define it because it's spiritual. And they were talking about gender confusion. And we had an awakening in that moment where we realized everything is spiritual. And so, whether or not they're serving God, or identify as Christian, they're searching for a spiritual experience and we know the truth and we want to give that truth to as many people as we can because He is the only way, truth and the life. And so we just want to get that message out there. And for this generation coming up, using video is the way to speak to them. They may not show up to a church on Sunday, but they will watch a movie, they will watch video content. And if we can get that to them, meet them at their level, then maybe they'll be open to hearing the message of Jesus. 

Final question for you, in your heart of hearts, after people have seen The Domino Revival, what would you like to see them take away from the viewing experience? What is your greatest hope for the film?

Mike Signorelli: Here's my greatest hope. For far too long we have been taught by the church that the responsibility was only the pastors. That's not Biblical. We want to empower every single person. That's the goal. It's not about an eloquent prayer, it's just about obedience, it’s about praying for other people. And so my hope is that people go into their jobs, they go into their schools and they say, “You know what? I might not have it all figured out, but I know for certain that Jesus is the answer. Let me pray for you.” That is the movement, not from the top down, but from the bottom up. We want to motivate and mobilize people. We're not trying to build an audience. We're trying to equip an army.

Julie Signorelli: I really can’t add much more to that other than to say gather up your family and friends to come see the movie. It could change your life.

“The Domino Revival” is a one-night Fathom Movie Event to be shown on Tuesday, October 24th. For more information and to purchase tickets please Click Here.

WATCH A TRAILER FOR THE DOMINO REVIVAL: