A Christian movie director on a quest to create an innovative, Bible-based TV show about the life of Jesus has already raised a stunning $5 million in pledged support to make that project — titled, “The Chosen” — a reality.
Dallas Jenkins teamed up with VidAngel, an entertainment app that allows families to cut violence, sex and other unpalatable elements from film and TV shows, to encourage the public to invest in his innovative Christian project.
Over the past few weeks, alone, millions have already committed. Jenkins and VidAngel are dubbing “The Chosen” as the “first-ever, multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus.”
As Faithwire previously reported, the team has already released a pilot episode titled, “The Shepherd” — a film about the nativity story that has gone viral in recent days.
Watch “The Shepherd” below:
The goal of the fundraising effort behind “The Chosen” is to change the way that entertainment is both funded and created, putting the power in the hands of the audience by allowing people to be part of the process via investment.
So far, that effort to raise funds has been monumentally successful.
“Jenkins released the Christmas-themed pilot episode of ‘The Chosen’—the first-ever scripted TV show about the life of Jesus—for free both on VidAngel and in social media to see if fans would be interested in potentially backing the project,” a VidAngel press release reads. “‘The Chosen’ has amassed interest in the project with indications of interest of more than $5 million.”
Jenkins said in a statement that it has been “gratifying to see the impact the project is having.”
Neal Harmon, CEO of VidAngel, told Faithwire earlier this month that he believes the series will have an emotional impact on viewers, as the stories about Jesus’ life will be told, in part, through the regular people who interacted with him during his life.
The effort has already been endorsed by Phil and Kay Robertson of “Duck Dynasty,” Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, Dr. Jerry Johnson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, and plenty of others.
Find out how you can back the project here.