'War Room' actress Karen Abercrombie returns with powerful series shedding light on foster care crisis
ORLANDO — “War Room” actress Karen Abercrombie is on a mission to make projects that matter and honor God — and her latest series, “Eleanor’s Bench,” is no exception.
The series follows the journey of Eleanor, a successful lawyer who returns to her inner-city neighborhood after many years away. Troubled by the deteriorating conditions and the struggles faced by the children in the system, Eleanor embarks on a transformative path, leaving her prestigious law firm to preside over the juvie bench. As Eleanor makes these changes, her relationship with God evolves, offering a powerful narrative that addresses faith, hope and the challenges of life.
“Eleanor’s Bench” began streaming only on Pure Flix on June 30, with new episodes dropping every Friday.
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In a sit-down interview with The Christian Post, Abercrombie revealed that the series touches on pressing issues faced by many individuals today, including a crisis of faith and a sense of God's distance during difficult times.
“There are people who have walked away from their faith; things are getting hard, they have been hard and they're getting harder, and people are just feeling like God is distant or that He doesn't care anymore when indeed He does,” Abercrombie said.
“But we live on the Earth, it's a fallen place, and we are going to have our struggles. As they watch Eleanor start to soften and open back up to that love and that direction, that relationship with God, I think it's going to take many people with them and pull them right in.”
Drawing from her own experiences, Abercrombie opened up about having her own moments of doubt and questioning God's goodness, but reassured that she learned God's love remains constant despite human frailty.
“I say this from experience: God is an unchanging God,” she said. “He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. There is no shadow of turning with Him, and He always looks upon us with a love that never changes. He could not love any of us one ounce more, one drop more. So that is why He could freely give His one and only Son, the pure, imperfect Lamb, for us.”
“We're up and down, we're back and forth. We're fallible, we're all of that. But He is always constant,” she said.
A mother and former foster parent herself, Abercombie, who also executive produced "Eleanor's Bench," shared how opening up her home to foster children taught her “more about Jesus.”
“There will be ups and downs, and you have to have patience that only God can give you," she reflected. "Especially when it's someone outside of your unit, you want God to help pierce your heart so that you love … and go the extra mile. We learned these things that we would not have had we not opened up our door to being a foster family.”
She expressed hope that viewers, too, will open their hearts to foster children. The actress highlighted the prevalence of children in the foster care system, brought about by factors such as substance abuse, parental abandonment and financial instability.
“There was a time when many of these issues used to be on one side of the track, but it's rampant,” she said. “It’s something that's touching everybody. I personally know some grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, they were ready to go off and travel the world. But now they can't because they've got a new set of kids … this [show is] very current and will be interesting to a wide demographic.”
“[The show is] really real,” she said. “It's gritty. It's funny, it's warm and touching. It’s an important piece for such a time as right now.”
Abercrombie has a wide-ranging career; she starred as Miss Clara in the 2015 faith-based film “War Room” and recently appeared in the film “Guardians of the Galaxy” alongside Chris Pratt. She’s also behind the production company Earth Mother Entertainment which seeks to highlight stories that not only teach life lessons but also bring people of all backgrounds together and highlight their common humanity.
Whatever role she tackles, Abercrombie said she strives to honor God with her gifts. She expressed her commitment to avoiding roles that compromise her faith, revealing she “prayerfully” considers every project.
“A lot of subject matter I won't touch,” she said. “Life is real, life is gritty, it's dirty, it's messy, but I'm not going to promote anything that is not God-honoring. So, it’s prayerfully sifting through the project as much as I can, because sometimes you audition, they tell you a little bit about it, and you're like, ‘This is great, I want to be a part of this,’ and then you find out that they've tacked something else on that they didn’t disclose.”
Abercombie encouraged others struggling with questions of faith and doubt to immerse themselves in Scripture and prayer, offering the reminder that a deeper relationship with God will lead to a deeper understanding of their purpose and identity.
“He loves us so much that He would give his perfect Son for us,” she said. “If we just open up and allow Him to work through us, if we give Him the mantle of our hearts, we will come to better understand who we are because our true identity is in Him.”
“Eleanor’s Bench” also features Demond Wilson, Cameron Arnett, T.C. Stallings, Lori Schultze, Wesley Williams, Rebecca Rogers, Durrel Nelson, Kamillah Matthews and Caleb J. Avery. The series is now streaming on Pure Flix.
