"Studios have been well aware of the size and strength of the faith market," Bock said. "On particular films, it really helps move the needle."

For a film of this size, Bock said, it isn't uncommon for studios to spend anywhere from $30 million to $130 million on a worldwide marketing campaign.

Though he was unwilling to get into specifics on what his company earned for this job, he said that for a job like this one, it would not be uncommon for a studio to spend upward of seven figures for a marketing campaign targeting the faith community, including ad buys in traditional and digital media.

At the end of the day, most marketers won't say what specifically got viewers to get off their couches and buy tickets to the movie. Christians see the same ads in mainstream newspapers and same trailers at movie theaters as everyone else. Bock says it's more of an art and less of a science.

Bock is himself an elder at his Presbyterian church in Los Angeles. While that gives him an edge in marketing to the faith community for certain, he said, the best tool any marketer can have is a great product.

"You can put a turd in a Tiffany box, but in the case of this film, there was a Tiffany ring in the Tiffany box," he said with a chuckle.