The Chosen & The Failure That Started It All (Ed Young, Dallas Jenkins)

that doesn't mean that God's absent. I instantly realized for the first time, I think, the results and the multiplication and the impact, even in a ministry-minded initiative, is ultimately not my work. My job is to provide five loaves, two fish, make them as good as they can, and when I hand them to God, he deems them worthy of acceptance, the transaction is over. So Dallas, obviously you need no introduction. Tell me how did you get into what you're doing? How did you, obviously, I know God has given us all creativity, and I think it's one of the least talked about and least unleashed things in the Christian world, in my opinion. I think the church, I think believers should be the most creative people out there. We're made in the image of our creative creator. So how did you begin to unleash that? Tell me about your journey. Well, I think when you're growing up in evangelical church, especially like you said, Protestants tend to be very word-focused. A little bit distrustful of, you know, because it's so scared of idolatry, so scared of iconography, the Catholic seems to do that really well. I like the word iconography. Yeah, yeah. Dallas, you're smart. I didn't come up with that. I didn't come up with that. I just rolled off. Chat GPD is doing wonderful things these days. No, but so I'm saying in the culture of the church, it's not encouraging of creativity. I grew up, but my dad, who I think you might have met him, or Jerry Jenkins wrote the left behind books and all that.

Yeah, I think he's actually even been to this church. He's a legend. Yeah, yeah. But he, as a storyteller, loved movies, loved TV. So even though the culture I was in was not very movie TV friendly, he encouraged that. So when I got into middle school, he started introducing me to some of the great movies of all time, and we spent one summer and I was just watching The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde, all these classics, and I'm like, "Where has this been all my life?" Yeah. It was when I saw the movie One Flow of the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson. Oh, yeah. And I was sitting on my couch by myself. I was a freshman in high school, and I just got so moved and so inspired, and I thought, "Whatever that is, I want to do that. I'd love to tell stories like that and inspire the kind of emotion that I'm getting right now." And I'm like, "How come that whenever I see faith-based projects, there never nearly as good as what I'm watching what I normally like?" And so I just thought, back then, I just thought, "Man, I'd love to do this, but try to tell stories of faith." So that was where I got kind of the bug. It was that movie One Flow of the Cuckoo's Nest which kind of got it into my head. And so then over the course of 15, 20 years, just tried to do it, my dad and I started our own company and tried to make some movies varying degrees of success over 15, 20 years, and then that ultimately led to where we are now. So that's its own story, but yeah, that's where it started was back when I was in high school. Okay, the chosen, how did that develop? Yeah, so in 2017, I had finally gotten what I had been seeking for most of my career, which was affirmation and legitimacy. Affirmation was my drug of choice.

I have narcissistic tendencies. I was really hoping that I could make a movie that would get me some attention and box office. And I think I tried to convince myself that it was for the purpose of building the kingdom. That there was certainly, I think, a selfish motivation as well. I might not have known at the time, but I finally got a chance to make this movie with some Hollywood producers. And they were really excited about it and it tested really well. And I was really flying high and in the movie completely bombed at the box office. I remember on a Friday afternoon, I'm home alone with my wife, and we'd just gotten in the numbers. And in Hollywood, numbers are, it's a math equation. You can know on a Friday afternoon, almost with exact precision, what a movie is going to do that day, the rest of the weekend, and sometimes even the life of the movie, and it was just a complete failure. And so in just a couple hours, I went from being a director with a bright future to being a director with practically no future. And I was home alone with my wife just crying and praying and confused. And what I'm thinking is, well, God's not the author of failure, so I must have missed my call. I must have misheard him. I thought I was so convinced that this was my calling and this project was supposed to be great. I felt he had opened so many doors and made it very clear I was supposed to do it. And then it failed, and I'm like, well, I guess I was wrong. And so I'm standing in my kitchen at one point in the afternoon, and my wife walks in, and my wife Amanda, and she says, it's not an audible voice, but God has put on my heart so clearly and so explicit. I know you're asking how the chosen came about, but this is exactly where I came from, was failure. And so, she says, "I don't know why. "I don't know what God's telling us." But he just was so clear. Read the story of the feeding of the 5,000. And I also feel like he's saying, "I do impossible math." She's like, "I don't even know what that means, "but I feel like God's putting that on my heart." And so we're like, "All right."

So we open up the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and we're reading it and looking. I mean, I've heard the story hundreds of times. I'm sure you've preached on it multiple times. And one thing we noticed that we had never really noticed before, even though it seems obvious, is that when the disciples came to Jesus and said, "People are hungry, we need to send them home to get food." Jesus didn't say, "Oh, that's right. "Oh, yeah, they're hungry. "Oh, good, thanks for telling me." His immediate response was, "No, we can't send them home. "They're so hungry, they'll faint along the way." Now, why were they so hungry? Well, it was his fault. He's the one who'd been talking for three days. He's the one who brought them to this place of hunger. And I'm thinking, "Oh, that's interesting." So just because we're hungry and desperate and it seems like things are going poorly, that doesn't mean that God's absent. Now, depending on your theology, and I know it's your podcast, so I'll be careful. - No, no, no. You got either allows it or maybe even sometimes causes and pushes us into these dark places. - Speak freely. - Yeah, yeah. - Hey, thank you. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

And so, I'm like, "Okay, so this doesn't mean God's absent." So that was encouraging. - Yes. - And so then we're thinking, "Okay, so why?" Well, possible math, maybe this means the numbers. The box office numbers of this movie are gonna turn around tonight. So I'm thinking God's about to do a big miracle with these numbers. And that didn't happen. The numbers actually got worse. It was almost like God was saying that's not the point. I want you to hear right now. I want you to be encouraged, but there's more. And I just didn't know what it was. So that night, I'm writing a 15-page memo. And this is something that I do well. I solve problems, I analyze. You're a leader. I'm sure you do the same. You do post-mortems. After a ministry initiative or a project, even if it's successful, you wanna analyze. What can we do differently? What can we learn from? So I'm doing all that. And to be fair, I'm putting some blame on myself. I'm not just blaming everybody else. I'm like, all right, I thought this was gonna work. It didn't work.

What did I do wrong? And in the midst of this wrestling and writing this big memo, this message just pops up on my computer from Facebook. And it's from a guy I've never actually met, just someone who we were Facebook friends. Didn't say hi, didn't say hello, didn't say heard about your movie. You just said, remember, your job is not to feed the 5,000. It's only to provide the loaves and fish. And I honestly had a moment where I was like, was my computer recording what I was saying? Like, I didn't tell anybody that we've spent the whole day trying to figure out what God had for us from the feeding of the 5,000. And my first response was, what are you doing up at four in the morning? Like, I don't know this guy. But I'm like, what do you... And he just says, oh, I'm in Romania, I'm on the other side of the world right now. I was walking home and I saw the results of the movie and I just wanted to reach out. And I said, can I just ask why you said that? I said, I'll explain in a moment. But just first tell me why you said that. He goes, oh, that wasn't me. God told me to tell you that. And I told the story 300 times and it still gets me because he told me later,

he's like, he was looking at the results of the movie and he felt God as clearly as he did to my wife. Just like, tell Dallas it's not his job to feed the 5,000, just like provost and fish. And he's like, no. I barely know the guy. It's a pretty condescending thing to say to somebody when they're going through a failure. And God just kept pounding it on his heart. So he's like, all right, well, it's four in the morning in the States. He won't get this anyway. And I'll just send it off. And of course it gets this immediate response. And in that moment, my life changed. I became a different person. I instantly realized for the first time, I think, that the results and the multiplication and the impact, even in a ministry-minded initiative is ultimately not my work. And as my job is to provide five loaves, two fish, making as good as they can. And when I hand them to God and he deems them worthy of acceptance, the transaction is over. My job is done. And now I get to watch him choose to either feed 5,000 or not, you know, just take my offering and... - Man, that's a great word, Dallas. - Right, well, I need to hear that. I believe every leader, every pastor,

every creative, every worship leader needs to hear that. - Oh, for sure. Because how many times have you been in that spot where you felt led to do something? It's the industry-minded. My movie was at the explicit gospel message. I had no regrets about the movie itself, but then you're going, okay, the people didn't show up or the numbers were lower than I expected, or sometimes even worse. Like look at the planning we all did, look at how great it was. And just as ludicrous as it would be for a little boy to go home to his parents and go, I've had 5,000 people today, that would be crazy for us to take all this credit for whatever success we have, as long as we're faithful to the five loaves and to fit the deeper that he calls us to. And so for someone like me, as someone who really valued the legitimacy and the affirmation that comes from your work being multiplied, that was a tough pill to swallow, but also it was very encouraging when it doesn't get multiplied. But you still do know that along the way you were following God's instructions and you're doing it with integrity, it was just a huge like life altering realization for me, not to mention the fact that when someone across the world is told by God to tell you something and your wife is told to tell you something similar and it's so clearly, like there's nothing anyone could ever say

or offer me that would convince me that God wasn't in that, right? Like that God wasn't clearly working through this. And so that's encouraging too. And so you go, all right, well, I better not screw this up. And so I just became a different person. I just, for the first time in my life, I was genuinely okay. If I never made another movie or TV show, I genuinely was willing to give all that up. I was genuinely just wanting to be in his will. And I truly started this path of, I'm not gonna be hitting the refresh button on the computer anymore to see if the numbers are changing. I just don't care anymore about legitimacy or affirmation as long as I'm in God's will. And I believe, looking back on it, that that's when God was like, right now you're ready for the chosen because over the next few months, when I was trying to figure out what to do next and there's no one, of course, lined up around the block looking to do movies or TV with me. And I remembered that a year and a half ago, I had written this little short film for my church's Christmas Eve service about the birth of Christ from the perspective of the shepherds, Sarvus Bible Chapel in Chicago and Big Church.

And we would do Christmas Eve services or Good Friday services. And I would provide like little vignettes and short films about Christ sometimes. And this one was one that I'd written. And I said, well, it had been put on the shelf because of this movie opportunity. So I took it down. I'm like, you guys interested in us doing this for Christmas Eve? They said, yes, of course. So on my friend's farm in Illinois, 20 minutes from my house, I made this little short film about the birth of Christ. And while I was making it, I came up with the idea for the chosen. I'm like, someone should do a multi-season show about Jesus. There's been movies, there's been many series, but they typically are rushed. You're going from miracle to miracle, Bible verse to Bible verse. We never get to know anything about the people that Jesus encounters. It's just Jesus did this and Jesus did that. - That's right. - Good TV really gets you to experience the characters. You get to go from episode to episode season to season, really dive in. This could really be impactful. But of course, no one's going to make it with me.

I'm coming off of her career failure. So made this short film. This was my, didn't even feel like five loads and two fish, felt like one loaf and half a fish 'cause it was so small and an off the beaten path. But I did it and it felt great. Got in the hands of the small streaming platform through a mutual friend. They heard about my idea for the show and they said, "We'd love to make that show." Like, "Ooh, I got really excited." They're like, "We want to raise the money through crowdfunding." And I got really depressed because I'm like, that doesn't work. It's something you see on like Facebook when someone's on their birthday. They're trying to raise $200 for some local thing. The bar never quite gets to the goal. So my all-time crowdfunding record is like $5.2 million from projects that have big fan bases and big audiences. And I'm like, "Yeah, nothing." So I don't see anything from scratch. But five and two loaves and fish. Now, my job to worry about this anymore. So fine, I'll do it. So we put the short film out on social media. I told people they had an opportunity to invest in this show that I'm thinking about. This first season of the show about Jesus,

we're gonna develop backstories and connective tissue. And about a year later, I'm sitting in front of my computer and $10 million has come in from 16,000 people around the world. Whoa, shattering the all-time crowdfunding record for this little show about Jesus. Crushed it. Based on this little short film I did for my church on a farm in Illinois. And my wife is sitting next to me and she just turns to me and tears are streaming down the face and she just goes, "I do impossible math." As clearly as God had shared it with her a year before he was doing it again saying that's what I meant by this. Now, at the time, when he first said it to my wife, we didn't know what it meant. We're trying to figure it out. But we just said, "You know what? "Let's just receive it and figure it out later." And God will reveal it and he did. And so now as I'm sitting here with you, we just finished filming season seven. It's been seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world, translated into over 125 years. That's what we're that's what we're called to There's no amount of success that chosen could have at this point that would make me real think that I'm responsible for it So I'm I can authentically and plausibly say I Gave five loaves and two fish the impossible math is not up to me and that's why we're that's why we're here talking now

So that's a long answer to your question. No, so we're the chosen game about powerful, but yeah Powerful, okay. How many seasons do you think you'll have do you have any no we think yeah? We just said seven is we're done. Okay. This was the series finale. No. No, where do you what do you think you're gonna go from here? Are we not to reveal secrets or anything? I mean, no, I'll tell you some no So just last year because now of course in the first few seasons we were doing this all ourselves Now of course the studios have come and yes, so now it's on prime video the show and right and so we've got got all the support We need and last year prime video financed and produced with us a Joseph of Egypt mini series That's gonna be coming out next year. We're developing another mini series that I can't talk about just yet, right? Um, but I'm gonna be doing a multi-season show about Moses coming up soon And then and then we want to follow up into the book of acts and do the birth of the early church And so we're building a bit of a biblical cinematic universe here that just applies what I think has been clearly resonating which is We we approach these stories with reverence, but also with humanity meaning It's not just stained glass windows. It's not just statues It's not just words on a page in king james english that is spoken by british people with a kind of formality and a distance that people Haven't been able to resonate with I mean you I know you you you love art and entertainment There's been dozens of movies and mini series about Jesus. How many can you think of that truly emotionally engaged you and impacted you? There's probably not more than one or two. They're they're all just kind of reenactments of scripture So you watch them kind of like oh, that's fun to see my Jesus portrayed But there's there's nothing that you can truly kind of connect with on an emotional level And that's what we're really trying to do with bringing the bible To life. I I should I should say that again. The bible is already alive. We're helping people Right realize that and connect to it and realize it's for them. Yes, and that's why I love talking to pastors because I'm not a pastor but to me The chosen can be a tool in the toolbox to help people know and love Jesus more the american bible society Just last year released their annual report bible sales are steady or even going up for the first time in 20 years And in their first paragraph they mentioned the chosen as one of the key Indicator or one of the key causes of that and I go that's awesome The show isn't the end game. We're not going to be watching tv in heaven When the show's done we hand the baton off to people like yourself the discipleship the When people know and love jesus more they want to worship they want to be discipled

And that's what we hope that the show is contributing to the to the body of christ Revisit again, dallas, I love what you said about just christians and creativity god being a god of creativity How we've sort of in the church Stifled it and we almost think wow Yeah, if something Is creative. Yeah, if it's too good If the world loves it, then maybe we're doing something wrong. There's kind of a fear And I think it's I think it's because again, there's this Everything every strength is also weakness. I think there's something good about our passion for scripture. Yeah, and for the word no question And I think there's but that can become so Reverend that sometimes you go well any any portrayals depictions You know, I I've heard this over and over from people where you're not supposed to add to the bible and the chosen has Was scenes in it and and words in it that aren't from scripture And I say that that's true. But here's here's a really piece of good news is that If you go read your bible or go purchase one from barns and noble, you're not actually going to see anything from the chosen Other than the scripture stuff in it like any of the any of the stuff that we've added And our story is is not in the bible. The bible has not changed since the chosen started The bible is the bible. It's unchanging. I'm not adding to it This is a tv show and we say right up front That this is based on the true stories of the gospels Viewers are encouraged to read the gospels, you know, like like we're putting a spotlight on the bible We're not trying to compete with it or add to those words But I but the reason i'm saying that is because that that dialogue that discussion is healthy But it does sometimes lead to a fear of anything that that represents something anything like I said Anything that could potentially become idolatrous We have a fear of that and I think that's a healthy fear But I think it sometimes leads us to avoid doing the kind of art that can really bring people into an intimate relationship with christ By by I mean, we've seen a great song a great book a great piece of art can

And I think scripture, of course, can also do that. But sometimes things can put a spotlight on description, make us go. I want more and drive us to scripture and try to do. - How visual Jesus was. I even brought this up this past week. It's kind of ironic we're having this conversation. Hundreds of times, he even acted out messages. - Oh, sure. - He used the master storyteller visuals. This week, Dallas, you might get a kick out of this. I've been doing a series called RPMs, relationships, passion, and marriage. - Yeah, I've been to all of them. (laughing) - Based on 2nd Corinthians 614. - Yeah. - So I had this idea years ago. I believe God gave it to our team. I say I did, someone else on our team had it. We kind of just took it, you know, ideas. You know, I'm telling you to take the idea and marinate it. - Yeah, yeah. - So we thought, what if we could build this whole thing around a car? - So I drove a Rolls-Royce, not mine. I drove a Rolls-Royce on stage. And we actually used that as a metaphor for the lordship of Christ. You know, I mean, it's just basic stuff,

but how we want a white knuckle, the steering wheel, yet true followers of Christ. If you want to have a great marriage or if you want to know you're dating the right person, you must have a key transferral story. And then how you can have the showroom for mentality. You focus on a few features, missed the entire car. So I just basically posted that. I cannot believe the hate we got. - Oh yeah. - Here I'm telling you. It's just like, what Bible aren't you reading? I mean, it was a simple metaphor. And here we are, we're simply taking pages out of Christ's playbook. And here you're the OG at that. You're the master at that. - Not the OG. - But you know, even though you're gonna get hate and push back, most people, I believe, respond to it. So I would encourage pastors to create, don't be shy to embrace the arts or don't be shy, to do something a little bit out of the ordinary. It may move the mic. - Well, yeah, well, what you do and what all pastors, no one just gets up and reads scripture and then sits down. - That's right. - I mean, I'm saying no pastor does that. You use the scripture as a foundation for your message, but of course, like Jesus did, you're telling stories,

you're making it relatable, but you're always pointing back to the source. - Have to. - But you can't just sit there and just read Bible, and then sit down and go, "Well, Bible is sufficient." So I hope you understood that. I'm not gonna give you any cultural context, any historical context. I mean, the gospels were written at the time to a Jewish audience who understood some of the references they were making. We don't always understand all of those. We need you, we need me, we need others to go, this is what the context was in which this is how you can understand a matter. And so that's what the show is trying to do, is we're trying to be entertaining, we're trying to be good art, but at the same time. - I like it when we're entertaining. Okay, let me stop you with that one, Dallas. - Yeah. - I believe entertainment is a great word. I believe, I would even argue theologically, that Jesus entertained audiences. - Oh, how else would thousands of people have knocked around following him? - Entertainment means to capture and hold someone's attention for an extended period of time. - Right, right. - That's the chosen.

I mean, of course, you're just doing and telling stories that Jesus did, and that's what he did, and that's, yeah. - Yeah, no, it has to be for a TV show, especially for a fleet to compete in popular culture for the hearts and minds of people who are living in a visual age. It has to be entertaining, it has to be high quality. And so when people say, what's your purpose, or what are you doing when you make the chosen? I say, well, I said, look, the first thing I do is I want to be honoring God and honoring the character of the intentions of Jesus and the Gospels, especially when I'm writing scenes that aren't from scripture. I definitely want to never, ever, contradict scripture, never put on a characteristic of Jesus that we don't know exists. I would never show him sinning, of course. I'm not trying to create a new storyline or anything like that. However, I'm honoring God and the character and intentions of Jesus and the Gospels. I have to be entertaining, then, means the TV show. And if it's just reenactment of scripture in a formal, boring way, people might engage with it a little bit, but it's not going to have, it's not going to engage people on the way that television is meant to. And so my first job is to make a good show. And so once we do that, the fact that I'm also committed wholly to the inerrancy of scripture,

and I have a panel of Bible experts who read our scripts and watch our episodes to provide a safety net from these to make sure I don't go outside the bounds of scripture and bounds of the intentions of Jesus and the Father in these stories, then I feel like we're on solid ground. And I'm not going to bat a thousand. The first person to say, I'm not a gospel writer. I'm not receiving new revelation. This is not inspired scripture. And I'm a flawed human being who's not going to bat a thousand. I'm going to assume you know that as a viewer And that's what you're doing, and that's what the church should be doing. We can't be afraid of stories enough, 'cause Jesus certainly is. - Don't be afraid, and I love this. We used to say fellowship church is about entertainment for the heart, and end of ER. - Oh yeah. - We're gonna make that up. - Yeah, that's great. - It is, isn't it? We need to use that again. - Yeah, you should trademark that. - We should entertain that for the heart. - That's really good, actually. But tell us, you are such a, again, great, great Christian guy, but what I admire about you is this creativity,

because again, everybody's made of the image of God. We're all creative geniuses. I think everybody is in their own niche, everyone has an aspect of them that's a creative genius. Okay, obviously God's given it to us. God has an act of worship. I give it back to you. You used me as an instrument, and when that happens in the body of Christ, when that happens in the film industry on stage, or even at the basketball court, great things happen, and we should worship God because of his creativity, and thank him for it, and walk in it. - Yeah, and then create out of that. - Yes. - I mean, think about the power of storytelling. So if I'm sitting with you even now, or at a restaurant, and I go, so I woke up this morning. Instantly, you're like, well, what happened next? And if even for the first 30 seconds, I'm like, I got out of bed. I walked to the bathroom, I started brushing my teeth. You're still going, yeah, I'm saying the most mundane things, but you're like, well, what happened next? That's the power of storytelling, and that's what, of course, our creator understands what Jesus understood. He was constantly, I mean, the Bible is,

the Gospels are full of so many stories, some of them not truthful, meaning they're parables. Like so many stories are, Jesus is telling, didn't actually take place. He's telling a parable about something, and so again, that's what our show is trying to do, and I think that pastors, authors, all of that, and congregants have the ability to tell stories too, and that's how they can engage their friends, even when it comes to church, when it comes to getting an unbeliever to church, and saying, all right, so listen, I was broken, I was sad, I was lonely, I was drunk, I wasn't a bad marriage, but God did this thing, and now, that's 3x structure, that's storytelling techniques that go back to Aristotle. I mean, we're talking about the classic before, middle, and after, and that's what the Bible is full of, is who someone was, the need that they had, God then intervened, and now they are different from where they started, and that's what anyone can tell that story, anyone can do it about their own life, and so that's what we're trying to bring to the table with the chosen and others. - Dallas, help us give us a class on a speech, for example, how important is the introduction, the body, and the conclusion, what would you say to people who speak, who tell stories, because I love your introduction,

I woke up this morning. - Yeah, yeah. - And a lot of times, when I walk out, I don't say, hey everyone, how are you doing? Let me walk them all to campuses. No, I'll walk out, and I'll say, your life is like this Rolls Royce. - Yeah, yeah. - And then, so tell me, tell me about that, like introduction, the body. - So the 3x structure that I use, that I actually got, it was taught to me, I had Harvest Bible Chapel from our pastors there, was I was, but God, and now. - I've never heard that. - Yeah, so that's what I was saying early. I was, I was, lonely, I wasn't a bad marriage, I was broke, I was depressed, I was this. - I was. - But God, and now. - And now. - So that's the story of the, of the gospels, of any salvation story is in that structure naturally. We may not, not all of us are natural born storytellers, some of them have to learn some of the techniques that are more interesting or whatever, but everyone has that story and has experienced that in their life. And so the phrases I was, but God, and now, could be changed to be like, he was, or you are,

or this is, like, you know, when you said, your life is like a Rolls Royce. Instantly, they're going, okay, this is the opening stage. - I should say potentially. - Yeah, yeah, right. - What's we give questions to keep them, let them drive? - Your life might be a beat down, you know, whatever. - The Volkswagen Bug, you know, from the 1970s, but now it's going to be a Rolls Royce, you know. So they'll go over really well in Africa. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah, the third world countries will love that. - But I'm saying, you've got to, is that we are introducing people to the before. Meaning, in the gospel, you don't always necessarily know when it says, and then Jesus went to this blind man and healed him. And then he went to this other person healed them. So you can intuitively know he was blind, but God. And now, but we don't see much in scripture of the expanded, like who he was, what he was like, what his backstory is, and we don't hear too much of what happened after that. But good storytelling and in TV show, we set up the before. This is what this person's life was like. I was. And then so that when the moment happens where Jesus shows up and does something miraculous, that that moment really resonates not only from an entertainment value, but as the viewer, if they have connected to the before, oh, I was broken just like that person was. I had substance abuse just like this person was. The opening of the chosen, the very first episode, we see Mary Magdalene before she was had seven demons cast out of her, like the Bible says. So when the gospels go, women were following Jesus, it was this woman, this woman, and Mary Magdalene who'd been possessed by seven demons. And then it keeps going. It's right. Like, that's interesting. I'd like to know what that might have looked like, right? So we show you cultural context, historical context, our knowledge of demonology and all that. What might have caused this? What might have brought this about? We don't know if it's a fact, but it's certainly plausible and it's capital T truth. So we set we set that up. And so the very

opening of the of the chosen is this kind of stark shocking moment where this woman wakes up and she's got blood on her hands and a man is running from a room going, she tried to kill me. She tried to kill me. And this woman is like unsure of what even happened. And you're like, okay, this is not your grandmother's Jesus show. I'm curious what's going on here. That's the I was part. And throughout the episode, we see her going darker and darker. And we see a little bit of her past and how she was assaulted and how she allowed demons to enter her and how a local Pharisee leader named Nicodemus comes and tries to exercise these demons and it doesn't work. And so he's confused. And she's broken. And then while she's sitting in a bar at her lowest point and asking for more drink to drown her sorrows, a hand that puts put comes on hers and says that's not for you. And she looks up and and this man says tries to talk to her and she tries to escape and he follows her and then turns out it's Jesus, of course, and he casts these demons out. But because we had set up an accurate plausible before there are women all over the world, there are men all over the world in deep struggling situations, halfway houses, women's shelters who have so resonated with that story in a way that they've never before, because they they felt like the storyteller myself in this case meets them where they're at understands what they're going through portrays an accurate version of it. And they go, that's me. So that when the God moment comes, it feels to them like, well, that can happen to me too. And it can. But that sometimes gets missed. If we don't accurately or plausibly set up the the tough part that's for it. And so that's I just think that's a that's a good storytelling lesson. But I think it's also good for all of us, not just pastors congregants to everybody to say, okay, I can share my story with others. And the pain that I went through is not wasted, because I can use it to identify with someone else's going through pain, and then plausibly and relatively share the Jesus part. And they might just see that for themselves as well. You know, and I think that's what I was about. What would you tell the audience to do? How can we get even more involved in the chosen in your in your projects? Obviously, hundreds and hundreds of millions have seen it. And and it's amazing. But I mean, how what would you say? Maybe, okay, maybe there's some people out there that are like, I've never seen this. Yeah. So well, it's right now, you can it's very easy to find. All the seasons are on prime video. But also, if you don't have a subscription to prime video, if you don't have money for for TV and movies and whatnot, there's an app called The Chosen. It's a really good app. It's a really good name for it. We we're really creative.

And so it's called The Chosen app. And the show is completely free and easy to watch. Like, literally, we've we've we decided early on to just give the show away and we'll trust God with the with the financing. And and so, yeah, you just just watch it and spread the word. And if you want to see more, you're like, we've got more more shows coming up. We've got a we've got a chosen adventures season and animated series. So now families and kids are also really loving this animated series about The Chosen Adventures, which is also on prime video and on YouTube. And so we're just trying to make it as easy to watch as possible as easy to find as possible. So you just Google, where do I watch season seven starts? So season six comes out. Six up, right? This this November on prime video November 15th. Right. And then and then season seven will come Jesus dies on the cross. I'm hoping that's not too much of a surprise for you. So that's season six. That's common. And we have a feature film. The season finale is actually a full-length feature film that's going to be in theaters all over the world early next year, released by Amazon MGM. Yeah, over 25 languages translated for this movie that I believe not only captures the crucifixion, but captures the why of the crucifixion and is telling not just the story of Jesus in the cross, but the story of humanity and their need for the crucifixion. And then season seven, again, don't want to spoil it. Jesus comes back. So I'm hoping that your audience knows that. So it's not too big of a spoiler, but that's what we just finished filming. And that's not coming out for a while. But yeah, just and then just keeps spreading the word about it because there really are lives being changed from this. And it's a great opportunity if you've got a friend who you you've tried everything. Sometimes just saying, I love this new TV show. And you go, you'll love this show. And here's the cool thing that's been the most biggest blessing for me is that literally, and we've studied this, 35 to 40% of our audience are non-believers or who weren't when they first started watching. So we've had many people who were like, I'm not a believer, I don't go to church, but I really love this show. So it doesn't feel like homework. It doesn't feel like something that's distant and formal. The show is really reaching people who haven't been to church in decades and are not back in church, haven't read the Bible in decades, or if ever, and are not doing it because they want to know more about this story. Well, Dallas, thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's great to meet you. And I appreciate what your church is doing, what you and your father have been doing and following God's calling.

And I'm sure you can relate to, when you see increase gone, what do I do with all this? How do I manage this? And you realize, okay, I'll let God manage that. I'm just going to keep showing up and being faithful with my gifts and not trying to get ahead of it. Okay, you've got to breeze on something. It's fun to be part of. It has given me the line about the loaves and fishes again. You just said you... It's not your job to feed the 5,000. You don't need to provide the loaves and fish. Drop. Let's give it. That was Alex listening to God, a gentleman by the name of Alex, an ordinary guy who just got led by God. And because of that, as in many ways change the world, because he just listened to God's voice. So, yeah. Thank you, Mommy. Thank you. Thanks for having me.