Michael sits down with Dallas Jenkins, the creator of the groundbreaking series The Chosen, to discuss the show's remarkable impact on faith and culture. Dallas shares insights into the spiritual awakening he's observed in society, the significance of Jesus in mainstream media, and how The Chosen aims to spread light in today's world.

Key Topics:

• Introduction to Dallas Jenkins and the significance of The Chosen

• The mainstream success of The Chosen and its reach beyond church walls

• Signs of spiritual awakening in popular culture and media

• The relationship between biblical stories and contemporary issues

• Dallas's approach to storytelling through a biblical lens

• The importance of trust and faith amid uncertainty in Season Five

• The role of media in fostering conversations about faith

Featured Resources:

• The Chosen Official Website: thechosen.tv

• Dallas Jenkins on IMDb: IMDb Profile

• Life Audio: lifeaudio.com

Quotes:

"God is doing something, and it's really cool to watch." – Dallas Jenkins
"The evidence of a spiritual awakening is when Jesus is being talked about in popular culture without apology." – Dallas Jenkins
"When people feel permission to discuss Jesus stories, that's an extraordinary thing." – Dallas Jenkins

If you enjoyed today's interview, please subscribe to Crosswalk Talk and share this episode with a friend! For more faith-centered content, visit Lifeaudio.com.

Connect with Dallas Jenkins:

• Official Website: Dallas Jenkins

• Social Media: Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

Join us next time for more inspiring conversations with Christian celebrities.

Full Transcript Below:

Michael: Hey, Dallas, welcome to Crosswalk Talk. Thanks for joining me.

Dallas: It’s a pleasure to be here!

Michael: Faith-based projects rarely receive the kind of mainstream attention that The Chosen is getting. What does it say about the show's impact that it is reaching beyond the walls of the church?

Dallas: Yeah, what's really beautiful for me to see, just as a consumer and as a believer, as someone who's grown up in the church and has grown up as a consumer of media and lover of the arts, every now and then, I'm able to separate myself from this and go, I'm standing in the middle of Times Square right now, and Annie Leibovitz's photography about a Jesus show is dominating Times Square for an hour. Or I'm sitting at home and I'm watching the Tonight Show, and Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, is on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon talking about Jesus and talking about the story—that's really cool to be part of. But it's just cool as a human being, and I think that it speaks to God doing something in the hearts and minds of people. And I think The Chosen has had something to do with that, yes, but I think we've also been the recipient and the benefactor of something that God is stirring in people's hearts.

Michael: Let me do my next question because it does seem that we're seeing signs of the movement of the Spirit in our culture, whether it be college campuses, sports, entertainment world. Do you sense a spiritual awakening in our society? And if not, how would you interpret that?

Dallas: Well, I think that the evidence of a quote, unquote, spiritual awakening is when Jesus and the Bible are being talked about in popular culture without apology, right, without some sort of disclaimer. It's just become a recognized part of the culture. And I think that's the first step that doesn’t mean… and I can't speak to what's happening in the hearts of everybody, and I don't—whatever church they choose to go to, or whatever God is doing in their personal lives is not up to me and not my business. But it's certainly clear that when people feel like they have the permission, even if they're not believers, to talk about and to listen to Jesus stories or gospel messages, and they're treated as though they're just as a legitimate part of the pop culture conversation as anything else, that's an extraordinary thing to witness. And so I don't know necessarily why or how it's happening. I just know God’s doing something, and it's really cool to watch.

Michael: Well, as our culture grows increasingly dark, how do you see The Chosen being used to spread light and hope?

Dallas: Well, I think the answer, in some ways, is in the show itself. When you watch the show, The Chosen captures the darkness that was taking place 2000 years ago. And I think when people see reflected that 2000 years ago, the people and the time were actually similar to today—tribalism, division, pandemics, fear, rejection of the other, rejection of things you don’t understand. That was happening 2000 years ago, and there was an answer for it. It's happening 2000 years later, and there's an answer for it, and it happens to be the same.

Michael: Season five includes the Last Supper, as seen many of us know from this, you know, iconic painting. How did you go about approaching this from a biblical perspective and bringing in that scene to life?

Dallas: Well, it's a biblical perspective in the sense that I'm expanding on what we've seen in the past on a painting by using words from scripture, of course, and there's chapters dedicated just to what Jesus said at the Last Supper. But I think that what I'm doing that I hope puts a spotlight on the truth of what Jesus said in the gospels, and perhaps some understanding that maybe we lack when you just read the words on the page. You don't have the Jewish context. You don't have the historical context. And there's some theological truths that we know the disciples might not have fully understood at the time. So my job when I'm portraying this scene is to make sure that you're there, that you feel like, okay, these words in Scripture that are beautiful, they weren't just a speech he was giving to a crowd. They were words being delivered from a teacher to his students, from a friend to his brothers. That I think adds weight to the scene and understanding to the scene that we don't get necessarily just from looking at a beautiful painting.

Michael: What is the overall theme of season five?

Dallas: Can you trust? Can you follow? Can you have faith even when you don’t understand? Judas didn’t understand, so he rejected, and he took it on himself. The religious leaders didn’t understand, so they eliminated. We still do that today. Can we find a way to still trust, to still follow, to still have faith, to put aside maybe our own expectations, even when we don’t fully understand?

Michael: If you liked today’s episode, please subscribe and leave a five-star review. That’s how we help more people just like you find the show. A big thanks to the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you will find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. See you next time, bye.

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.