Dallas Jenkins, the creator and producer of the critically acclaimed series The Chosen, came to Lubbock this fall thanks to the Lubbock Christian University Foundation and title sponsor The Petri Dish Foundation.
Lubbock Christian University (LCU) hosted “An Inspiring Evening with Dallas Jenkins,” the latest in a series of events featuring high-profile speakers, including past appearances by figures such as former president George W. Bush, General Collin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Josh Hamilton. Jenkins, whose impact on the world for Jesus rivals any other in his generation, shared his time with students, faculty and staff, alumni, and friends of the university.
Bill Bundy, President of the LCU Foundation, shared his excitement, “The LCU Foundation is thrilled to have welcomed Dallas Jenkins, the creator and producer of The Chosen, to our campus. Dallas's remarkable passion and creativity in telling the story of Jesus has not only inspired countless individuals, but it has also brought the life of Christ into homes around the world. This event was an incredible experience for the entire LCU community and the South Plains area, offering profound insights and inspiration from a visionary storyteller."
Bundy added, “We are deeply grateful to our sponsors for their generous support in making this event possible. Their commitment ensures that we can provide this type of unique opportunity to Lubbock and the surrounding communities, which also provides support to LCU in their endeavors.”
Jenkins’s time at LCU brought him to a number of events across campus, including addressing students in daily chapel and an appearance in a Film Studies class for a Q&A with Dr. Kenneth Hawley, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor of English, and his students.
Jenkins expressed multiple times during the day his gratitude and appreciation for Christian higher education, of which he himself is a product.
“I do love Christian education—I was raised in it and believe it’s essential,” he shared. “I’m a big believer in going into the world but being not of it… I do believe it’s important to be mixed in with culture as much as possible, so that we can have an impact on politics, media, business, and all aspects of life—but this is the chance to make mistakes and be at a place with professors and leaders others around you… so that when you get out into the ‘real world,’ you’re more prepared because you’ve built up a little grit, and I just don’t believe that happens other places to the extent that it happens at places like LCU.”
Dallas Jenkins, son of celebrated Left Behind author Jerry Jenkins, first produced the independent feature Hometown Legend at 25, distributed by Warner Brothers. Over nearly 20 years, he has directed and produced more than a dozen feature and short films for companies such as Universal, Lionsgate, Pureflix, Hallmark Channel, and Amazon. His most recent film, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, was released in theaters in 2017. He is now the creator of the largest crowd-funded media project of all time, a multi-season series about the life of Christ entitled The Chosen.
The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season show about Christ, and the highest crowd-funded media program of all time. Before reaching tens of millions of people worldwide, Dallas Jenkins experienced significant setbacks in his career—and his presentation, unlike perhaps many other would, focused on the setbacks from which The Chosen came.
“The Chosen was birthed from failure,” Jenkins remarked, explaining that as a rising star in Los Angeles determined to make his mark on Hollywood, in 2017 he felt poised for success with a movie that he, his producers, the studio, and testers were certain was going to be a hit. Instead, however, the film bombed over its opening weekend, stunning Jenkins.
As he and his wife looked for answers, they found God repeatedly pointing them to the story of the feeding of the 5,000, and after some searching, the clear message, “Your job isn’t to feed the 5,000–it’s to bring the two fish and five loaves.” This, in Jenkins’ eyes, was a turning point—where he had previously chased success with the goal of building a larger platform from which to share his faith, he instead focused on bringing his “two fish and five loaves”—making the best films he could, regardless of what the calculations of Hollywood might say. “God does impossible math,” he reminded the audience, adding that even comments from Phil Visher, maker of Veggie Tales and a personal hero, seemed to be speaking directly to him: “Where I’m going to be in 5 years is none of my business.”
In the aftermath of his failed venture, Jenkins decided to make a small film for his church called The Shepherd, a short film sharing the birth of Jesus from the point of view of the Shepherds. The short film began to take off, and the rest, as the audience knew, was history.
Jenkins also shared his passion for the college students in attendance at the evening’s event, speaking several times directly to them with words of advice and imploring them to learn from the lessons that had taken him much longer to learn himself.
“I’m always grateful to talk to students, especially college students, because I’m hopeful that there are things in my life might be able to inspire others to do similar things,” he shared.
Following the feature presentation, Jenkins sat down for a Q&A with Dr. Jesse Long, the Jesse C. Long, Jr. Endowed Chair of Biblical Text and Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Archaeology. Dr. Long and Jenkins discussed the many ways The Chosen is impacting millions around the world, and also explored the complexity of how the filmmaker brings the story of Jesus from the biblical text to the big screen, particularly how he goes about embellishing and bringing historical context to the characters.
“We’re here to point to the Bible and capital-T Truth,” Jenkins explained. “We always ask the question, ‘Is this plausible?’ when we look at adapting the stories,” he added, noting that the show encourages audiences to read the Bible. The overwhelming feedback has shown that mission to be a rousing success—Jenkins shared that he has thousands upon thousands of letters, emails, and stories from people who have opened their Bibles more because of the show.
Jenkins also revealed some of his upcoming projects, including a 3-season show following the biblical story Moses in the stye of The Chosen, and another series taking on Acts after that, which Jenkins says is the “natural succession” of the show.
At the end of the presentation, Dr. Long gifted Jenkins several mezuzahs made by LCU students—scrolls of parchment bearing inscriptions with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews fix to the doorposts of their homes—shown several times throughout the show.
As a final blessing, the LCU Praise Choir led by Dr. Philip Camp sang “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” over Jenkins from the back of the auditorium.
Following the presentation, Jenkins and LCU hosted a special exclusive premier of his upcoming film “the Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” a nativity story that has been a dream project of his for over two decades. The film is set to release November 8, 2024.
Dr. Scott McDowell, President of Lubbock Christian University, expressed his personal connection to the series, “One of my mentors used to say, ‘Pay attention to the things that move you deeply, because God’s Spirit is often in the middle of that.’ I think about that sentiment often when I watch episodes of The Chosen—I can’t tell you how many times a particular scene has moved me to tears. I know that God has used The Chosen to deepen my faith, and I believe that God is using The Chosen to touch the hearts of people on what is, quite literally, a worldwide scale. Lubbock Christian University is grateful to the LCU Foundation and an array of donors for bringing Dallas Jenkins, the creator and executive producer of this amazing series to Lubbock, so that we can hear his story and understand better how this incredible phenomenon came to be.”
The Inspiring Evening with Dallas Jenkins on the LCU campus highlighted his journey and the story of The Chosen, and the audience witnessed a clear and powerful picture of how God continues to work on and through Dallas Jenkins.