Though the show is about the Gospel story and is widely beloved in Christian circles, “The Chosen,” the hit show about the lives of Jesus and his disciples, has many actors who are non-Christian, a choice made by the show’s director so that those actors are exposed to the story of Jesus. Now, an Austin, Texas-based church is preaching the Gospel to them.
As background about the actors on the show, the director, Dallas Jenkins, when speaking to the Christian Post about his decision to have both Christian and non-Christian actors on the show, said that he hopes that decision will help the non-Christian actors “get this kind of exposure to a story like this and to someone who is leading the team who has the beliefs that I do and the passion that I do for Christ.”
Now, Greg Van Court, pastor at a reformed Baptist Church in Austin, is sharing the Gospel with those actors. Speaking to Movieguide about that preaching, he said, “It was definitely God at work, providentially bringing me into that situation.”
Continuing, he explained how he met one of the actors in the show, Yoshi Barrigas, who plays Phillip, saying, “I found out — once we got back to Austin and connected — he told me that he was an actor, and he played one of the disciples on this show called THE CHOSEN.” He continued, “I had never watched the show. I’d heard a little bit about it, but I’ve never seen it.” He added, “I said, ‘how, you know, coincidental that you play a disciple of Jesus. I am a disciple of Jesus.’”
Continuing, Van Court described watching the show, which initially he was leery of because of how “cheesy” most Christian entertainment tends to be. Describing his favorable impression, he said, “I did go, and I watched it, and I was very impressed. It was the artistry, the acting, the writing — very smart. I enjoyed it.”
Then, after watching the show, he spoke more to Barrigas about the show and the Gospel, saying, “He played the apostle Philip, and as he received the script for Season 3, he was confused about what was going on with his character. [He] began running some things by me, and I had some insights for him, just knowing Scripture.”
He then described having dinner with some of the actors, saying, “It was just fascinating to me. You know, the Christian worldview, which was once so ubiquitous, it seems to be vanishing from a lot of our country and our culture. And these guys, they’re not believers. They weren’t raised in Christian homes, and they have very little understanding or exposure to the gospel. And so in all of our conversations, I was able to…really go to the heart of what the gospel really is.”
He added, describing a theological discussion he had, “The guy who plays Nathaniel — Austin — had heard Jonathan Roumie practicing some lines, and one of them was talking about unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit. And he said, he’s just been puzzling over that and what does that mean and wanted to know, and so I was able to really explain what that parable means and get to the heart of the gospel.”
Then, speaking about sharing the Gospel, he said, “I would tell other believers out there don’t assume that the person next to you knows what the gospel is and even knows about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Some very basic things are just not known anymore.” He added, “I’m constantly surprised even when I was talking to some of the actors on THE CHOSEN. They didn’t know where the story was going,” Van Court revealed. “And when I began to, you know, talk to them about their characters and how they’re going to scatter and abandon…Jesus in his darkest day — they didn’t understand that there was going to be a betrayal and a crucifixion — one of them said…this show is going to get pretty dark.”
Featured image credit: By The Chosen press photos (press.thechosen.tv) – https://www.press.thechosen.tv/?pgid=judjmpl7-1dfbaacb-b8fe-49f8-a65c-a433cf4028af, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93752473