Newsmakers

The head of an organization tasked with bringing "The Chosen" to one billion people across the globe has unveiled plans to bring season four of the hit show to prisons and churches, a bold move aimed at sparking Gospel conversations and healing. Stan Jantz, chief executive officer of the Come and See Foundation, recently told CBN News his nonprofit's mission is to "support 'The Chosen,'" implementing a vision to bring "the authentic Jesus" to one billion people. 

"We have three ... pillars, and one is to ensure that all seven seasons get made," Jantz said. "Number two is the translation piece — [to] translate every episode of every season into 600 languages, which is a huge task, never been done before that scale." He said the third effort is strategic partners with global ministries to take "The Chosen" to the "farthest places of the world." Jantz said he has been excited to see the amazing ways the show has impacted hearts and minds across the globe.

"We're excited about ... Bible engagement," he said, noting that many people are so intrigued by what they see in "The Chosen" that they open up their Bibles to read what's in Scripture. "YouVersion is finding a real uptick in their Bible engagement by showing 'The Chosen' on their apps." The show, Jantz said, has become a vehicle to point curious people to God's word.

Despite challenges delaying the streaming release of the latest season, Jantz said "The Chosen" season four will be making its way into prisons through Prison Fellowship and will also head to churches. "We're seeing that this is a tool that they're using to engage these inmates and then, as chaplains, take them through that discipleship journey," he said. "We're thrilled."

Churches can also find out how they can bring season four to their congregations free of charge. "One of our goals too is to keep this show free for all," Jantz said of any church or prison participating in this offer. "People can watch it and not have to pay for it."

Author and speaker Jennie Allen has witnessed some of the most powerful revival moments over the past year. She helped hundreds of young people get spontaneously baptized at Auburn University in Alabama last year — something she recently spoke about with CBN News during a conversation about her new book "Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It."

"It was [a] pretty incredible night and we didn't plan it," she said, noting that she had a "sense of the Spirit...moving" after speaking. "I get off the stage and [a pastor] walked up to me and said ... 'This girl just texted me and said, 'I want to be baptized tonight.'"

Allen said she asked where they could go nearby to find a place to offer that baptism. At first, they considered a pool, but they wanted to "think bigger." "He said, 'There's a lake down the street, but it's like a half a mile away, a mile away,'" she recalled. "I said, 'Do you think they would come?' And he said, 'Well, we can try."

Allen got on the stage again as worship was going and asked the crowd if anyone wanted to be baptized. As dozens of hands went up, Allen told everyone they would head down to the lake to do the baptisms. And that moment sparked a massive response. "Everybody came," she said. "They picked up people on their way. There were 6,000 people on there and I mean, it was just wrapping the entire lake and it's a pretty big lake. It was wild."

Baptisms went on until midnight, with the young people sharing their passion for the Lord. "It was amazing," Allen said. "And hearing the kids ... every single kid said something different, but one of the things they said consistently was ... 'I want to be clean. I want to be clean.'" She continued, "I just think that's their longing." Allen also discussed "Untangle Your Emotions" and the complexities and mistakes people often make when it comes to processing and understanding emotions.

Fans of hit TV show "The Chosen" were likely surprised to see creator Dallas Jenkins release a Facebook video this weekend with a shocking title: "I’ve got bad news about Season 4’s release." That candid proclamation gave a clue into some of what could be expected from Jenkins' more than 16-minute "family chat" as he dubbed it — an honest conversation about why The Chosen season four was released in theaters, the monumental cost of producing the series, why streaming is delayed, and more overarching plans for the future.

“Our previous path wasn’t proving to be sustainable," Jenkins said of the crowdfunding model that launched "The Chosen" into meteoric success. Without going into detail, the famed director also indicated there are current legal challenges holding up the latest season's streaming release. Efrem Graham, host of CBN's "Studio 5," has been covering "The Chosen" since its inception, and explained the ins and outs of the information delivered in Jenkins' video.

While Graham assumed "something was going on" involving the streaming release of season four, he "did not realize the seriousness of it or the legal issues [and] financial issues" at play. The TV host did credit Jenkins' honesty — something that's often rare when it comes to the teams behind TV shows and movies. "Dallas has been very good about being forthcoming whenever possible about any questions," Graham said. "And anytime I've interviewed him, he'd always said, 'Ask me anything,' so I appreciate that from him."

And that candidness was on full display in Jenkins' video, with the director acknowledging some fans' frustrations over not being able to stream the latest season. Considering "The Chosen" has traditionally been free to stream relatively quickly, Jenkins explained the financial reasons his team chose a theatrical run. Many fans had become accustomed to the crowdfunding model and the simple release that didn't involve ticket sales or other financial or logistical barriers. A theater release has conplicated that reality.  

"This is the single biggest, successful crowdfunded project in media history," Graham said. "It started with a partnership between Dallas and Angel Studios; they helped them to raise funds, and then, as the series grew, roles shifted because they needed more support ... financially; they needed more support in terms of distribution." Today, Angel Studios, whom Jenkins described in the video as a former partner of "The Chosen," has gone on to crowdfund other films like "Sound of Freedom" and "Cabrini," adding a new model into the mix for faith and family-friendly projects.

Graham further explained some of the barriers Jenkins faces, including the need to use any incoming funds for the next season of the show; "The Chosen" has always had a seven-season run, leaving Jenkins and his team with the important task of ensuring monies are poured back into production after each new season. Listen for more.

A Texas college professor who said he was fired after university leaders reportedly found his teachings too "religious" has been reinstated to his position more than a year after being terminated. Dr. Johnson Varkey and his attorneys at First Liberty Institute recently announced Varkey has won his adjunct professorial job back at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, after being fired in 2023 "for teaching standard principles about human biology and reproduction."

The announcement comes after a "favorable settlement" was reached with the Alamo Community College District; the school system voluntarily reinstated Varkey. "I was so excited," the professor told CBN News after the announcement. "And thank the Lord for that outcome." Varkey said he's grateful to First Liberty and to God for helping him get back his position. "I am excited to go back and teach," he said.

As CBN News previously reported, a biology professor for the past 20 years, Varkey consistently taught the same facts about the human reproductive system without any problems. But that changed last year when he received a notice of dismissal. "I was surprised and I was shocked, because, you know, never expected for such a letter from, or such an email from, the school because I've been teaching that for that school for the last 20 years and without any complaints," he said.

Varkey believes his lessons on human biology and sex being determined by chromosomes X and Y sparked complaints leading to his dismissal. But, after pushing back and filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that is still under review, he could return to the classroom as soon as this spring. The professor said he hopes his successful quest to fight for his job will inspire other Christians who might face similar issues and barriers. "I would say, don't quit, because there are people very supportive just like First Liberty," he said, urging people to be brave and take a stand. "Stand for the truth."

The brother-in-law of a Hamas hostage is speaking out about his relative's plight, imploring the international community to keep fighting for the hostages' safe return. Moshe Lavi said his brother-in-law, Omri Miran, 46, was taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 by Hamas terrorists who invaded the country and slaughtered around 1,200 Israelis.

Omri is married to Lishay Miran and is father to daughters Roni, 2, and 9-month-old Alma. "He's an incredible father to my two nieces, Roni and Alma [and] amazing husband to my sister, Lishay," Lavi said, describing Miran as a man with a "gentle heart." "He's a family man." Months after the children's father was ripped from their lives, Lavi said the children not only scream and cry for their dad, but that the older child verbally recounts the "violence she witnessed on October 7th."

"How horrible it is that children at the age of 2 and 3 [are] hearing this?" he said. "She draws it in paintings. ... We take her to therapy, because we have to do that to ensure that she gets every support she [needs]." He continued, "[The kids] cry for him."

After losing touch with his sister and family in the middle of the night, Lavi, who lives in New York, later learned about the horrific situation his loved ones faced at the hands of Hamas. "My mom received a message that Lishay, my sister, survived, that the two babies survived, but that [Omri] was taken hostage," he said. "I'm grateful my parents were rescued and survived."

Hamas terrorists had barged into Omri's home, using a teenage boy from the kibbutz to lure them to open the door in a faux effort to save the 15-year-old boy's life. "Later on that day, Hamas murdered [the teen] and most of his family," Lavi said. "For hours, they were abused at their home, held at gunpoint, their house was ransacked, ravaged." That was just one of the many horrors to be inflicted on innocents that day, with some of the atrocities being live-streamed on Facebook.

A Virginia pastor believes a miraculous provision from God led his family to adopt, and he's now sharing his insight and inspiration with others. Dr. Bob Griffith, lead pastor of Christ Chapel in Woodbridge, Virginia, tells his family's incredible story in the book "Fostering Jesus: Answering the Call to Foster Care in the Home and Church."

Like many, at one point Griffith didn't know a great deal about foster care and learned quite a bit as he went into it. And after he and his family started, they were asked if they'd consider going further and adopting. "The county representatives called and they said. 'We need to know now, 'Would you like to be an adoptive parent to these children?'" he recalled. "And I will be honest with you; my answer was, 'No.'"

Griffith continued, "I used my brain that God gave me and I did an assessment of how big of a home we had, and how many seats in our car, and just very practical things. And I could not see how we could do this." With three children already in their home, the family would immediately swell to eight members, expanding well beyond their resources and means.

But, while Griffith couldn't see a path forward, God had a powerful plan. And a simple prayer on the pastor's part opened the floodgates for it to all come together. "I prayed and I told God, 'My answer is 'No,' unless you really want this to happen. If this is Your plan for my life, then of course I will do it,'" Griffith said, continuing his invocation: "But if that's the case, you're going to have to do something about it.'" And that's when an incredible miracle happened. Hear Griffith tell his story.

Adele Raemer loved living in her small Israeli kibbutz, calling it "95% heaven" there before the horror of Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack shattered that reality. Raemer told CBN News she started hearing rockets around 6:30 a.m. that morning. She said it didn't take long to realize the assault was "something different" from the normal incursions that unfold, especially considering its widespread and intense nature.  

Soon, messages started coming in on Raemer's internal kibbutz messaging system letting residents know Israel had been invaded. She and others in the community locked their doors and windows and went into their safe rooms. Raemer and her son spent hours inside, fearing what was happening outside, until she exited due to physical pain and the need to use her restroom. That's when she noticed the terrorists had broken the slats on her window yet no one was inside; somehow, they had skipped her home. 

Raemer is still struggling to process all that unfolded, noting the realities of what her community endured remind her of the horrors the Jewish people faced before and during World War II. "These are stories that I heard when I was a child about the Holocaust," Raemer said. "I'm living in my own country, in the land of Israel. We have an army. We're 2023. How is it that I'm hiding in my safe room from the Nazis of 2023 who are coming to kill me because I'm a Jew — just because I'm a Jew?" She continued, "They don't have any national aspirations. If they did, they could have had a country long ago, numerous times. They're just there to kill us. They want us gone. When they say, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.' That's a genocidal war cry and I take them at their word." 

Raemer said she's now a refugee in her own country, as she still can't live in her home or community. She's currently helping raise money to rebuild and make the community "bigger, and better, and stronger, and safer." Listen to her tell her harrowing story.

Jackie Darby is a wife, mother, and author with a robust life and passion for the Lord. But she was once an abandoned baby left alone to die in a garbage dump in Seoul, South Korea. "Rats were eating on my ... little body," Darby, who has a new book titled "Whose Am I? The Truth About Your Worth and Identity in Christ," told CBN News. "But the Lord God sent a missionary nurse who found me, and rescued me, and took me to a local orphanage that was also run by missionaries."

That miracle rescue led her to be adopted by missionaries in America who already had five biological children of their own, but felt called by God to bring her into their home. "After they read an article about post-war babies in the local newspaper, that's how the Lord touched their hearts for adoption," she said. Over the years, Darby said it was often perplexing and difficult to recall how she was discarded. 

"It was very overwhelming thinking that that's how my life began," she said. "And I often wondered why — why was I thrown in the garbage?" Darby recently teamed up with fellow author Aixa de López to pen "Whose Am I?," a book that grapples with the issue and "shares true life experiences about adoption, redemption, and finding our true identity in Christ, while providing opportunities to ask questions and engage in conversations that are often difficult for families to address."

 De López told CBN News she and Darby first connected years ago at a local church. When de López was eventually called by God to foster care and adoption, she began relying on Darby to help her navigate the situation. "[Darby] and her daughter would come over, take [my] kids to McDonald's, and then do some crafts at her place," de López said. "And then my kids started to relax around her, and especially my younger little who's pictured in the book started to have these deeper conversations with Jackie." Here is Darby's incredible story.

A professor who's out with a book about fascinating archaeological finds that help bring the Bible to life said such discoveries keep corroborating what Christians know to be true about the Scriptures. Tom Meyer, known as "The Bible Memory Man" for his ability to memorize entire books of the Bible, is a professor at Shasta Bible College. And his latest book "Archaeology and the Bible: 50 Fascinating Finds That Bring the Bible to Life" offers key insights into biblical truth.

"We don't need archaeology to prove the Bible's true," Meyer recently told CBN News. "The Bible stands on its own. It's totally authoritative in all manners." But the author said he knows Christians face challenges when evangelizing and sharing their faith, particularly among those who don't believe the Scriptures hold any authority. "You know how it is if you're sharing your faith, or you're evangelizing," Meyer said. "If you tell someone, 'You need to believe the Bible because the Bible says it's true,' you're going to get some pushback."

That's why Meyer said it's helpful to have "different apologetics" that can be used to point to the Gospel, noting that archaeology keeps "revealing new information from the pages of the Bible." This study of the ancient past helps validate Scripture. "Bible archaeology has given us a tsunami of evidence that we already know — that all these people existed," he said. "I think 50 to 100 people [who are] mentioned in the Bible, that person's exact name — King David, Isaiah, the prophet, King Hezekiah, et cetera — we found their names and archaeological objects, which ... demonstrates the reliability and the accuracy of Scripture." Hear Meyer explain.

"I was very involved in the occult, channeling spirits, casting spells, playing with Ouija board six to eight hours a day — all of those things." That's how military veteran and artist Timothy Gagnon described his early years, explaining how he descended into evil practices while he was a young man.

Gagnon, artist and author of the "Illuminated Messiah Bible," an artistic look at the Scriptures that depicts Jesus from Genesis to Revelation, told CBN News about how he fell into the occult — and later escaped. "I was raised in a kind of, for lack of a better word, Christmas and Easter Catholic family," he said. "We didn't really attend that much." Gagnon said he lived at the time as though God wasn't an important facet or priority in his life. When he hit the sixth grade, he recalled an oral report assignment he was given that opened the floodgates to spiritual chaos. 

Unsure of what to do, he went to the school library and stumbled upon books on the occult. That introduction to the topic led him into spell casting, playing with Ouija boards, and channeling spirits, among other similar activities — things he did "all day long" and "all night long" with two of his friends who also descended into the same practices. Gagnon said these spells weren't empty practices — that something happened when he would engage with the occult. He said he and his friends interacted with three entities that claimed to be an angel, a demon, and a "lost spirit in purgatory." In the end, it was a true encounter with the demonic.

"When I would cast spells, when we would channel spirits, we would experience supernatural events and things that we couldn't explain," he said. "It's like a drug." One day, though, something happened that stopped him in his tracks. "I was casting spells in my room and channeling spirits and I felt a presence that was greater than anything I had encountered before," Gagnon said. "And I instinctively knew it was God approaching." He continued, "It was the spirit of God that was approaching me, and I was terrified." Hear him tell his story.