Focus on the Family Broadcast

DRAMATIC MUSIC INTRO

John Fuller: That dramatic music introduces The Chosen television series written by Dallas Jenkins. Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, we have Dallas’ father here, Jerry Jenkins. He’s written more than 200 books, and the latest is a series of novels based on The Chosen. He’s gonna be talking about the ways The Chosen is impacting people. I’m John Fuller, and welcome to the show.

Jim Daly: I, I don’t know if we’ve had a more prolific author here, but, uh, it’s gonna be exciting and fun. Uh, Jerry’s writings have impacted so many people for the Gospel, both Christian and non-Christian. Uh, he writes meaningful stories that changes lives. Uh, you know, the scriptures are full, especially the New Testament, full of parables ’cause Jesus taught us in storytelling.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And the power of stories continues. Think of those stories. Those are 2,000 years old, and you read ’em today and they still have application to us about the condition of our heart, what we believe about God, about fellow man. Uh, these stories are enduring forever.

John: Yeah. And Jerry is a master storyteller. We’ll hear more in just a moment. He’s the father of Dallas Jenkins, the creator of The Chosen television series which, um, I’m pretty sure most in our audience-

Jim: Yeah.

John: … have heard about or seen.

Jim: It is loved.

John: There’s a lot of fans out there. Jerry and Dallas have a very close relationship and, uh, as I mentioned, Jerry has written novels based on the show. Uh, he’s married to Dianna, and they have three grown sons and eight grandchildren.

Jim: Welcome, Jerry.

Jerry Jenkins: Thanks so much. Great to be here.

Jim: Good to have you back.

Jerry: Oh, it’s good to be here.

Jim: Isn’t that nice, to be introduced as Dallas’ dad?

Jerry: You know-

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: He, he used to be known as Jerry Jenkins’ son, and I’m now known-

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: … as Dallas Jenkins’ father. May it ever be so. You know?

Jim: I mean, it’s just… You gotta be proud of that.

Jerry: Oh, yeah. It’s-

Jim: I mean, you know.

Jerry: Yeah, we’re, and we’re as proud of who he is as, as we are of what he’s done.

Jim: Yeah. And we’re gonna get into that and talk about that dynamic between the two of you. Uh, God’s placed a remarkable calling and blessing on your life as a writer. Um, w-… Here at Focus, man, we love storytelling. Of course, Adventures in Odyssey. We do a lot of storytelling here. Uh, when did you first feel like you were called into writing?

Jerry: You know, it’s interesting. I’m not sure I was ever called to write. I, you know, talked my way into a sports writing job before I was old enough to drive, and my mother had to drive me to ball games and back to the, to the, uh, s-… newspaper office. But when I was about 16, I felt… I fell under conviction at a camp meeting. They were talking about some people are called… We’re all called to be full-time Christians, but some of us are called to be… make our living in full-time Christian work. And I felt that call. And I remember going forward and telling the wife of the speaker, who was the counselor that night, I said, “I guess I’ll have to give up my sports writing and study for… to be a pastor or a missionary.” She said, “Don’t be too quick to do that, because God often equips us before He calls us.”

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: “If He’s equipped you, that may be the vehicle you use to follow this call.” So if I’m called to something, and I know I was, I mean I’m called to full-time Christian work, writing is just the vehicle I used, which changed my whole view of, of writing. I used to dream about bestsellers and big royalty checks and fame and all that stuff. When you’re, you’re called to full-time Christian work, if writing is the vehicle to fulfill the call, I succeed when I obey.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: So when I write the, the, the manuscript, what happens to it after that is not up to me. It’s up to the marketplace and to God. And so it takes all the pressure of I’m not writing bestsellers. I mean, they’ve come and that’s been wonderful, but I’m, I’m just obeying.

Jim: Your career really took off with Left Behind. I mean, I think that series with Tim LaHaye was sensational. I mean, that’s the proper word for that series. It, it sold, I think, 63 million copies. Is that fair?

Jerry: Yeah, and the bizarre thing is, uh, it’ll be 29 years this August-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Jerry: … since the first one came out.

Jim: There’s a great, uh, exchange that you talk about with you and, and Tim LaHaye about writing to both Christian and non-Christian. I’ve published a few books. It is blood, sweat, and tears. But publishers will say you really can’t write to both audiences, but you did. Uh, how did you do that? Why did you do that? And what was the outcome?

Jerry: Yeah, I remember, I remember asking Tim, “Who are we trying to reach? Are we trying to reach the, the converted, who are already with us and would just be thrilled by this story, or are we trying to educate the uninitiated?” And he said, “Both.” And I remember saying, “Tim, a double-minded book is unstable in all its ways.”

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: You have to pick-

Jim: That’s a good line.

Jerry: Yeah. You have to pick an audience. And, uh, ironically, just before I was to start, he kept, he kept saying, “I wanna, I wanna reach both.” I remember being very intimidated by that. I’m, I’m telling the greatest story ever told and, and what’s to come and what we believe the scripture, you know, prophesied, and, and how am I gonna reach both audiences?

And basically, what happened was we decided to start with the rapture in the very first chapter, so all the people who agree with us and believe i- in the story are gone now. And so all the evangelical lingo is gone. All the ways they might, you know, preach and teach is gone. And now, we’re left with people who are scared to death. What has happened? Some people are saying, “I thought I was a Christian, but I missed it.” The secular people, the people who are left, are saying, “How can this be a god? Why would He do this?”

And so I think the secret to reaching both audiences was one, we’re telling a story that some knew and loved. And to the uninitiated, we had credible, skeptical characters. And not all of them became Christians and missionaries and their kids grew up to (laughs), you know, do the same. A lot of ’em rejected this tr-, which is true today. And a lot of people who are reading it, the, the general market, saw themselves in that book, and-

Jim: Right.

Jerry: … and thousands came to faith through it too.

Jim: Yeah. I mean, that- that’s real-… And it’s, it’s an art form to be able to write like that. Obviously, not many people can do that, and that’s why publishers, I think, tell you to pick a target audience.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: And that’s who you write to.

Jerry: Mm-hmm.

Jim: ‘Cause it’s so difficult. Uh, mention some of the stories about those unbelievers who, when they read it, were impacted. I’m sure they wrote you letters and-

Jerry: Yeah, we-

Jim: … connected with you.

Jerry: Yeah, we actually have a, a book that my friend, Norm Rohrer, put together based on those letters.

Jim: Uh-huh.

Jerry: We sent ’em all, all that. Uh, Dr. LaHaye and I heard from… Uh, we, we just counted the ones we heard from personally, if it was a phone call or in-person at a signing or an email. Um, we heard from over 3,000 people.

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: Uh, we know that represents many more. But, uh, uh, Norm Rohrer put together a book called, uh, These Will Not Be Left Behind.

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: But the most moving ones, I hope I can tell ’em without, you know, breaking down here, but, um, they were on different ends of the age spectrum. We heard from a family who said their teenage son was a rebel and he was… you know, didn’t wanna go to church. He was runnin’ with the wrong crowd. And so they, they got Left Behind. They wanted him to read it. And, uh, they weren’t gonna push him, but they left it o- out on the table.

Jim: It’s always delicate.

Jerry: Exactly.

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: And, uh, he said, “Yeah, maybe. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” And, uh, one night, they noticed it was gone from the coffee table and-

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: … and the light was on in his room. So they’re praying that he would read it. The next day, he told ’em. He said, “I, I read the book and I- I’ve come back to my faith. And I want-”

Jim: Wow.

Jerry: … “I wanna get a box of these books for the guys I’ve been running with because they need to hear this too.” Well, before he could do that… He ordered the books. Before they came, he was killed in a car wreck.

Jim: Wow.

Jerry: And at his funeral, his parents used those books to give to his friends. And several of them came to faith. Well, on the other end of the spectrum, I… we heard from a 95-year-old man who said he read Left Behind. He said, “My eyes are so weak, I had to read through a magnifying glass.”

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: And he said, “I, I thought all my life I was spiritual. I believed in God.” But he said, “Now, I’ve got the truth.” And he said, “My life has been changed, and it wasn’t because of what I saw through the glass. It was from what I saw through my heart.”

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: Those are precious stories that never get old. I mean, you know, people talk about “Must be nice to have this bestseller and these royalty checks,” and all this other stuff. That stuff pales to insignificance with the… from these stories that… of people whose lives are literally been changed.

Jim: That is so, so true. And, you know, I’ve never put it in this context, but the theology of creative writing.

Jerry: Mm-hmm.

Jim: You know, it’s an interesting way to look at that, how does God equip you.

Jerry: Well, and, and people oft-… You know, I, uh… Some people will tell me, “Well, I’ve never read Left Behind. I don’t read fiction. I wanna read truth.”

Jim: Right.

Jerry: And-

Jim: I’ve heard that very thing.

Jerry: Yeah. And, and I say, you know, I had a pretty good example of a, a truth-teller through fiction. His stories, as you mentioned, have lasted through thousands of years.

Jim: (laughs) Right.

Jerry: So if Jesus’ stories were valid, why can’t mine be valid?

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: And can’t, why can’t we tell truth with a capital T in, in the form of fiction?

Jim: Let me ask you about this difficult space, because one of the things, you know. And we’d get this with Adventures in the Odyssey. And I appreciate the feedback, but some people struggle with creative expression kind of between the facts of scripture.

Jerry: Mm.

Jim: You know, we have solid information with the scripture, stories that are… God breathed that are right there, a parable of Jesus Christ Himself. And this kinda leads into The Chosen, but you did it with Left Behind. You had the same challenge that your son, Dallas, has, and that is, how do you, how do you put the glue between this? How do you make people more like people and extrapolate from the personalities that you see? And then boy, some people get really offended by that, ’cause they only wanna operate in the truth of what they see, not kind of the wholeness of what these people must’ve been like.

Jerry: Yeah. That’s the issue. And, and a lot of people will say, you know, “Are- aren’t you adding to or taking away from the Gospel?” And, you know, we take that seriously and we spend a lot of time in prayer over that because we’d never wanna be guilty of that. That’s, that’s anathema.

And, uh… But what we believe is, uh, we have literary license to do is believable plausibility and say… You know, you look at some of the miracles or even some of the sermons. They’re only a few verses long and they have such content. And, and scripture is all you need. I mean, if you read the Bible, you can come to faith. There’s no question about that. But don’t you wonder when you read that who else was involved? What other characters might have said something? And what, what led up to this incident? And that’s all Dallas and his co-writers are doing in the scripts of… for The Chosen and all I’m doing in the novels, is saying what might it have been like. And we’re careful. We don’t have Jesus flying in rocket ships to other-

Jim: Right.

Jerry: … continents and that type of thing.

Jim: Well, that’s a good thing.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: But, but, you know. And, and you see some general market writers will do that. Th- they say, you know. They, they just invent crazy stories for Jesus. And we say we, we need stories that will fit the, the biblical narrative. Um, this may not be in scripture, but it could’ve happened this way. And I think people who are familiar with the Bible know what’s biblical and what’s imagined. And we’re hearing from hundreds of thousands of people who say, “It just brings it to life for me.”

And when I read the scripture, and this is true with me, when I read the scripture… Now, I used to see all the disciples as pretty much the same character in my mind. And they’re stained-glass window characters.

Jim: Correct.

Jerry: They’re statues. And now, I’m seeing them as these guys that we see on the screen, and it, it helps bring it to life for me too.

Jim: It does. It, it is so good.

Jerry: Yeah.

John: This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and our guest today is Jerry Jenkins, who has written many, many books, over 200. And, uh, we’re so privileged here at Focus to partner with him on, uh, novels based on The Chosen, uh, television series. Uh, novels one through three are a bundle that we’re offering today, and you can learn more on our website or give us a call. Uh, details are at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast.

Jim: Uh, Jerry, when it comes to that extrapolation, um, I think what I’ve heard from most of the people, including my wife. You always wanna listen to your wife. But she loves the human development of what, uh, you’ve done with the novels, what, uh, your son Dallas has done with the series, The Chosen, by putting… kind of taking ’em from that stained-glass <<Ah, ah>> you know, to bring them down to real life. That Peter was a sinful man like the rest of us, that Mary had, you know, a sinful past and, you know, probably brought a lot of that baggage into her relationship that the Lord dealt with-

Jerry: Right.

Jim: … over time. And I, I don’t know why we, uh, walk on eggshells with that, that somehow these people were different. Uh, God chose them, but He chooses each one of us.

Jerry: Yeah, there are, are many Christians of all different stripes who, who want to so revere the apostles that it, it shakes ’em up a little to see that they, they backslide.

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: That they’re petty, they’re, that they’re annoying. And of course, Jesus is hard to identify with because He was perfect. But He was also a, a man. And I think the genius of Dallas and his co-writers on, on the, uh, scripts of these is that to make Him accessible, they make Him a regular guy who’s got a sense of humor.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: And, uh, and teases His friends and, and, uh… You know, there- there’s one in, in one of the recent, uh, series where, you know, there’s, uh, arm wrestling, you know, between-

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: … the two guys. And, and somebody says to Jesus, “I can’t believe, you know, he lost.” And Jesus says, “I, even I didn’t see that coming.”

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: I mean, that’s just funny. Now, we don’t know that He said that.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: But why not? It- it’s-

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: … not sinful to say something like that and be funny. Um, so He’s accessible. But the, the disciples, we see ourselves in them and in Mary Magdalene and, and the, the women who follow Jesus. Um, they’re real people and, and they suffer and they, they backslide.

Jim: Now, let me ask you this. It’s a, it’s a little off-track, but I think it’s relevant. Um, you know, so much of the church and its construction today, a lot of men I talk to say, “It’s just not built for men.”

Jerry: Mm-hmm.

Jim: It’s interesting in that regard as you talk about making these biblical characters more human. I think both men and women can connect with that, but I think especially men because we feel shame pretty quickly. And if we don’t measure up to King David or Peter or Paul especially in our Christian faith, we kinda shrink back from it. Well, forget it. I’m just gonna go play golf.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: And so I, I think the question I’m asking is the benefit, uh, for all of us, men and women, but I think for us as men particularly to notice that failure is part of the walk with Christ, that we are not perfect people, that we are gonna fall down. And we as men do fall down. Um, speak to that reality.

Jerry: Yeah. I think the, the good news is better when you know the bad news.

Jim: Huh, interesting.

Jerry: And, uh, you know, some of the critics of, of even scripture will say, “That was a period where women were second-class citizens.” And in many ways, they were. When, when they were out walking on the road, women were supposed to walk behind. And, uh, women were supposed to be, you know, silent in certain situations and that type of thing. Um, Jesus, uh, proved otherwise. He, He listened to the women and He ministered to the women.

Jim: The early church.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: A lot of prominent women.

Jerry: Exactly. And, and one of my favorite scenes in The Chosen, I mean I have many, but the one were, where Jesus is talking to, to Peter’s wife. Now, we give her a name and we give them a relationship. The fact is, um, she’s not mentioned in scripture, but we know he’s married because He healed… uh, Jesus healed Peter’s m- mother-in-law. So he had, (laughs) he had to be married.

Jim: Right.

Jerry: But Jesus says to Eden, “I see you. I understand what you’re going through. And you’re, you know, you- you’re giving up a lot with having Simon” at that time, “walk with me.” So He honors men and women. But yeah, I think The, The Chosen has come a long way, too, in just showing men what men should be.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: In relation to Jesus.

Jim: A- and it makes it more tangible for us, and we lean in rather than lean back. I know that’s something my wife does, for example, that is said to me pretty regularly by guys.

Let me ask you this more of a general question about your relationship with Dallas. But, you know, being that writer, being prominent, obviously the Lord blessing your efforts with Tim LaHaye and all the other books that you’ve done, um, how did you shut off the writing side of you when you got home, uh, with the kids? Obviously, you were able to pass that along to Dallas. I mean, you know, the creativity.

Jerry: Yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. Um, before we had kids, I was working at Scripture Press and I was doing articles for Sunday school papers. And I interviewed five men on five different stories-

Jim: Uh-huh

Jerry: … for, for these papers, and they were all about twice my age. I was early 20s. They were mid-40s. And at one point in all the interviews, I asked them the same question. I said, “Uh, what regrets do you have at this stage of your life?” And every one of ’em said the same thing.

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: I wish I had spent more time with my kids when they were growing up.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Jerry: And I remember going home and saying to Dianna, “Somebody’s trying to tell me something. Because if I get to be that age and have that same regret, I’m gonna be without excuse.” And so we just decided when kids came along, I would do no writing and no work from the office from the time I got home from work until the time the kids went to bed. And that wasn’t easy.

I mean, you, you know, you’re writing on the side. You’re writing books. You got busy stuff to do. I’m a morning person. I’d rather write in the morning. Well, I was working full-time, so I’m driving to Chicago and driving back. I lived in the suburbs at that time. So when Dallas came along, I just followed that religiously. And, you know, sometimes I put him to bed at 4:30.

John: Yeah. (laughs)

Jerry: Put somethin’ in his milk.

Jim: That was date night. (laughs)

Jerry: Yeah, exactly. But basically, that left me with only about 9:00 to midnight every night-

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: … to write, which is not my time of the day. But I was more productive then than ever because I wrote without guilt. I wasn’t shutting the door on my kids. And, uh, some great stories of, uh, especially Dallas when he was a kid. And with all, all three boys. But, uh, I can remember when he was about six, he’s playing under the kitchen table and he didn’t realize Dianna and I could hear him from the other room. And he’s lecturing a Star Wars action figure.

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: And he says, “You may die in this mission.” He said, “If you go to hell, you can’t ask Satan for anything because he’s mean and he won’t give it to you.” He said, “But if you go to Heaven, you can ask Jesus for anything you want. And if it’s all right with your mom, He’ll give it to you.” (laughs)

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: So Dianna really liked that theology.

Jim: I bet she did, man. That puts mom in the right place.

Jerry: Yeah. But I think what… with, with the kids, I tell them they’re my top priority. But kids spell love T-I-M-E.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: And it’s not just quality time.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: It’s time.

Jim: Just time.

Jerry: It’s quantity time.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Jerry: And we didn’t have any rebels. I mean, I’m not saying that that’s a guarantee, but the kids, you know, they’re our best friends to this day because we didn’t just tell ’em they were our priority. We made it.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: We, we proved it.

Jim: Uh, your favorite scene of The Chosen series that y- you’ve written, uh, in the novels, that was Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night. Why does that stand out to you? I wish there was more about Nicodemus ’cause he, he makes an, an appearance, but there… I’d like to see more in scripture about him.

Jerry: Yeah. When I was eight years old, I got rheumatic fever and I had to spend, uh, almost three weeks in a hospital. And my mother took that time to help me memorize John 3.

Jim: Uh-huh.

Jerry: The whole chapter.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Jerry: And of course, it was in the King James Version, so, uh, all those thees and thous and things like that. But, you know, can you imagine the thrill 60+ years later to see my son bring that to life on the screen?

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: That very scene.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: And I- I’ve got it memorized, so I’m, w- walking through it. And the interesting thing is, uh, the actor who plays Nicodemus was born in India, but he’s not Hindu. He’s a-, he was actually Buddhist. And he was weeping through the entire… It was two days to shoot that scene, and he kept breaking down and weeping and, and he’s… He kept apologizing to Dallas. He’s a character actor, Erick Avari.

Jim: Yeah.

Jerry: And, uh, he said, “I’m so sorry. I can’t get through this.” And Dallas said, “You know, Nicodemus may have been emotional, too, so run with that. Don’t, don’t hide from it.” And, uh, and at the end, when they finally wrapped that scene, he said to Dallas, “Do you think somebody’s trying to tell me something?” And Dallas goes, “Well, yeah I do.”

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: You know. And, uh, he’s such a great, great actor and, and, uh, we’ll see him again in later scenes.

Jim: Yeah, that’s so good. And again, that humanization, in the most positive sense of that word, is critical for people connecting to that. Um, one issue that, uh, seems to be true when I talk to non-believing friends of mine. They, they have an image or a characterization of Christ as being this judgmental, uh, hard truth-teller that really doesn’t understand us. It’s so different than what we know as believers in Jesus, what Jesus’ heart is about. Uh, but how does the portrayal of Jesus in The Chosen, uh, show both Jesus’ love and those uncomfortable teachings about truth, which is… This is the millennial issue of the church, right? How to be both truth and grace and love. I mean, h- how to do that.

Jerry: Yeah, that’s the challenge of the ages, is to make that work. And I think what people appreciate about the Jesus on the screen is that, you know, there’s, there’s no detracting from His godhood and there’s no de- detracting from His humanness too. And, uh, I think in, in our lives, when we think about the people we really admire, it’s not the ones who always flatter us. It’s ones who, you know, like us and a-, yes, and appreciate us, but who also tell us the truth.

And so when Jesus is loving on the disciples, they’re, they’re enjoying that. And sometimes He ca- calls ’em out and, and He’s short with them and says, “How, how long am I gonna have to be with you? And ho-, and how long will it take till you get this? Listen to me.” And when He chastises them because He loves them and they know it, they take that, that counsel from Him and they take that h-, that hard truth. And, uh, and I think that’s what we appreciate about Jesus and, you know, His believers, uh, and, and other people too. So it- it’s bringing Him down to the place where He’s fully human and still fully God.

Jim: It’s so interesting for us. In our human experience, we tend to be on a light switch. It’s either grace or it’s all truth.

Jerry: Right.

Jim: And, you know, God was able to do both simultaneously. And so often when you look at scripture itself, I… there’s such a strong sense that Jesus’ greatest struggles were with the religious people.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: I mean, the Pharisees and the scribes because He would take about them being the teachers, but not knowing what they’re doing.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: Being blind, being, uh, vipers, uh, you know, stonewashed walls.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: Empty, are all terms that He used. And then He would meet the woman at the well, who was deep in sin or, uh, the, the woman caught in adultery.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: Um, and so, like, His heart melted for the crushed, for the broken person who knew they were broken.

Jerry: Mm-hmm.

Jim: How does that apply to us today?

Jerry: You know, I… That’s one of the thing I find interesting, too, about The Chosen’s set. Um, you know, Dallas does not hire people based on their faith or their stripe or their denomination. He- he’s looking for quality. And, uh, he says the set is as much of a mission field as the screen.

Jim: Mm.

Jerry: And there are actors in The Chosen, uh, who have come to faith since being on The Chosen because they’ve seen what happens on the set. They see that Dallas and his wife especially believe this and they’re consistent in it. So, uh, one of the problems today is that people will say, “I like the Jesus of the Bible that’s, that’s loving. I don’t like the judgmental God of the Old Testament,” or whatever. The fact is they’re both there and that, and that’s truth.

Jim: Yeah. It’s so, so true. Let me, uh, wrap up with this. I’ve heard it said about Dallas that o- one of the things as a young boy, he used to listen to Adventures in Odyssey.

Jerry: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And, uh, I don’t know if it’s fair to say that helped spark him, hi- his imagination. But describe how Adventures in Odyssey helped him along.

Jerry: Yeah, he, he says this quite frankly that, uh, he, he always loved the, the creativity. He, he credits an awful lot of, of his creativity now to that shaping influence of those, those shows. And, uh, one of the great thrills of his life was to meet Paul McCusker. And they, they keep in touch and-

Jim: Oh, yeah. Paul’s great.

Jerry: Yeah, see him once in a while.

Jim: Good friend.

Jerry: And, and, uh, and he tells Paul, you know, uh, “I, I owe an awful lot of what I do today to what you, you know, put on the radio.” And, uh, yeah, it was a huge influence on his life.

Jim: And the voice actors are so generous with these children.

Jerry: That’s right.

Jim: And it’s beautiful to see that impact. But all in all, uh, Jerry, it’s so fun to watch the creativity that you’ve had with, uh, Left Behind and all the other books that you’ve done. But to see your son Dallas now, uh, take that, uh, in a new direction with screenplay and what he’s doing with The Chosen and then you writing the, uh, the novels based on The Chosen, uh, one through three are out. You, do you have how many more coming?

Jerry: There will be a total of seven. There’s one for each, uh, each season.

Jim: Okay.

Jerry: And I’m working on the fifth one now. The fourth one’s gonna come out just in a, in a few weeks.

Yeah. You know, I helped Dallas get started in his career years ago. I, I used to finance his movies myself. Uh, but this is all his own and so I feel like I’m sort of pressing my nose up against the glass saying, “Can I play too?”

Jim: (laughs)

Jerry: And, uh, he’s lettin’ me-

Jim: Well, that’s kind of fun, actually.

Jerry: Oh, yeah.

Jim: I mean, it’s gotta be a great experience as a dad to see your son, uh, you know, arrive.

Jerry: Yeah.

Jim: So to speak.

Jerry: There’s nothing like it.

Jim: Especially at a high level like that. It’s really good. Jerry, thanks so much for bein’ with us and talkin’ to us about these things of the heart. Yeah.

Jerry: Uh, always a privilege. I appreciate you having me on.

Jim: Yeah. And just, uh, you know, those wonderful things that you’ve gone through, it’s been an amazing life that you had, at least from where I sit and see it.

Jerry: I feel blessed. I definitely do.

Jim: God has really honored you and honored your, your gifts that He’s given. And you’ve honored Him by doing so well with them. Thank you.

Jerry: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Jim: And, uh, we’d like to get this into your hands, The Chosen. Uh, this is, again, the novels one through three that are based on, uh, that aspect of the the series. And, uh, make a gift of any amount and we’ll get this out to you as our way of sayin’ thank you for being part of the ministry.

That’s the blessing here. You know, we’re concentrating on marriage and parenting and saving babies and helping women with the, you know, touch decision should they have that child or, uh, offer it for adoption. There’s so many great ways we can partner together to, uh, help the people that are hurting, just like those in The Chosen, and, uh, do it very practically.

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah, we welcome your partnership. Donate today generously as you can either a monthly gift of any amount or a one-time donation. Uh, contact us by calling 800 the letter A and the word FAMILY, or click the links at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. And coming up next time, understanding the risks of teasing in your family.

Preview:

Ginger Hubbard: But teasing children in particular is especially harmful because their social and interpretation skills are not fully developed. So they aren’t able to distinguish the difference between sarcasm and truth.

End of Preview

John: That’s next time on Focus on the Family. When you get in touch, please let us know you listen on AM 910 KPOF. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.