The hit series The Chosen is filming season 3 in North Texas. One of the episodes in Season 3 is the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000. Back in August of 2021, The Chosen announced that they would be opening up the opportunity to be an extra in the episode. Over the course of 2 days, over 12,000 people descended on Midlothian, TX to be a part of this episode.

 

As we went behind the scenes, we had the opportunity to chat with some of the people behind the production:

Derral Eves, Executive Producer and The Chosen CEO

Amber Shana Williams, Tamar

Robert Akin, Owner of CRC Construction and Tad Eckerle, COO

View our time on set here: https://youtu.be/hs5c97fE9LY

When we last caught up with Ryan Williams from River Valley Worship in the summer of 2020, River Valley Church was on the front end of a season full of challenges. Between a pandemic, their city being at the center of our news cycles, and division surrounding them, RVC had a lot to navigate. As we chat with Ryan at the release of their album 'Faith in Our Time,' he shares about the journey that RVC has walked through and how their church has grown in the process.

Kevin Olusola was a pre-med student and training in classical music on the cello. Donovan Donnell was a male exotic dancer. Both Kevin and Donovan stepped out onto the path God had for them and found that it led toward reaching their dreams. Donovan is an author, life coach, and speaker, among many other things.

Kevin is now a member of the wildly successful band Pentatonix. They have come together to bring us the Imagine Faith Talk podcast, unpacking biblical principles for optimizing performance and finding success through a partnership with God. Through their respective journeys, each of them brings a unique perspective to the conversation.

In this episode, Kevin shares the journey from his hometown in Kentucky to the spotlight, starting with his parents' immigration from Nigeria and Grenada. He talks about the God moments that happened along the way which opened the doors to be a part of Pentatonix. He wraps this all into sharing the heart behind Imagine Faith Talk and the following the dreams God has placed on your heart–how do you achieve your dreams without having to sell your soul?

We want to hear about how Christian Music has impacted you. Share your story below: https://nrt.cc/fiveminutes

Mark Lowry's career has spanned a few decades and he has cemented his legacy in not only the Southern Gospel community, but also the Christian Comedian community. Or is that the other way around? Maybe it was his song "Mary, Did You Know?" Either way, he has impacted many lives and shared the Gospel all over the world as part of the Gaither Vocal Band and as part of the Gaither Homecoming series. In Episode 108, Jeff Allen shared his story about meeting Mark and his encouragement while Jeff was doing some shows with the Gaither's.

 

In this episode, Mark shares a bit about his story and the power of comedy along with music. He also talks about how he has gone high tech to keep the old hymns alive.

As Josh Holiday from Elevation Rhythm reminds us, so many periods of time are marked by the art and music that emerge from them. You can see and feel what's happening as you listen to music or gaze at a painting from that period. Josh and fellow Elevation Rhythm member Davide Mutendji share about this period in Elevation Church's Youth ministry that has been captured in their latest release, Growing Pains. Davide and Josh also talk about the path that Elevation Rhythm has been on and their relationship with Elevation Worship.

The idea for Honor & Glory was started by conversations in the back of Disciple's tour bus. As they were chatting about their weekends, the realization hit them that worship was important enough that they were all playing in church on their days off. Since they were all worshipping separately at their respective churches, why not do it together... right? As Kevin Young tells us, they're all best friends who are wanting to share the message of Christ through music. Every opportunity to share Christ is important, and the Honor & Glory project opens different doors for them to do so.

Over the last few years, for KING & COUNTRY has become one of the biggest names in Christian music. Despite having their faces featured on billboards and touring semi-trucks, features in major publications and TV programming, and all the accolades... their mission remains the same as it was when they started: connecting to people and connecting people to God. Luke Smallbone shares that while they write songs that mean a lot to them, there is power when those songs become part of people's stories.

Also in this episode, Luke shares stories from their current tour, writing the What Are We Waiting For album, and talks about their first meet and greets of 2022 at bookstore CD signings.

River Valley Worship released Altars in the late spring of 2020 while the world was still trying to figure out what was happening and right before their hometown of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN was thrust into the center of national conversations. Even though all this was swirling around, something was bubbling in the Youth ministry at River Valley Church. Ages leader Wes Schrock shares how AGES was birthed to add fuel to a fire that was burning in student worship leaders as they were bringing in their own songs to the church. Wes also shares what has been happening in their youth ministry and how they have navigated the difficult season their area has been walking through.

We Love Awards nominated artist Abby Robertson joined the ranks of artists like Sarah Reeves, for KING & COUNTRY, Sidewalk Prophets... Not only have all these artists been nominated for We Love Awards, but they have all been Pre-Jam artists on past WinterJam tours. On the last stop of WinterJam 2022, Abby talks about her time on tour and how she has grown. She tells us about her journey as an artist and performing for the We Love Awards show.

It's crazy how conversations we have or songs we write wind up ministering to us just as much as anyone else. When Jordan St. Cyr wrote the hit song Fires a few years ago, he wrote it about a man who was on the verge of losing everything. When Jordan was faced with his own fires when his youngest daughter was diagnosed with health concerns, God used his own song to minister to him.

Jordan shares his journey with this album and Fires. He also shares about sharing tours with some of the artists that have shaped his faith and his path in becoming an artist.