Rapper Ja Rule and Adrienne Bailon, the former member of girl groups Cheetah Girls and 3LW, will star opposite each other in the faith-based drama I’m In Love With A Church Girl.

The film is the debut feature from Reverence Gospel Media (RGM), a new production company founded by music industry executive Galley Molina that aims to produce two to three faith-based films a year budgeted under $20m.

Principal photography is set to begin on May 10 in San Jose, California, before moving to the San Francisco area in May. Steve Race is directing from a screenplay by Galley based heavily on his own life.

Rule will play a wealthy retired drug trafficker gone straight whose faith is called into question when his past life rears its head and challenges his burgeoning love for a church girl. Additional casting announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

“The message of this film is really simple but profound,” Molina said. “Sometimes God needs to use extreme measures to deal with extreme circumstances. I was that extreme circumstance.

“This film is simply about the power of God in a man’s life. The unique part of this story aside from being based and inspired on my real-life experiences is that I wrote it while I was incarcerated in a federal prison on drug trafficking charges.”