The global premiere of "Unfiltered: Gen-Z Reacts to The Chosen."

i'm sitting here right now in utah from our utah set well it's not ours but we get a chance to use it it is eight o'clock eastern and it does not look like eight o'clock eastern i'm aware but here in utah the sun stays out forever and then gets up very early and so we actually have limited hours to shoot at night but we have tons of hours to shoot during the day so right now it's a little bit dry a little bit windy if by some chance during this live stream the wind starts blowing things over i apologize in advance please forgive us but this is part of the awesomeness of shooting on this incredible set here in goshen utah um so right now while you're watching if you're watching on youtube or or facebook start typing something like just say your name and where you're from ask a question we'll try to get to some questions later in the live stream but just even just type the number one if you want but we love to get the algorithm going the chat starts going it starts telling facebook and youtube people like this people are talking people want to be here what that does is it gets the live stream in front of more people and some people who even haven't seen the show before and they see it come across their feed and they go what is this and then we've had multiple people tell us that they came across the show because of one of our live streams if you have never been to one of our live streams if this is your first time here welcome we've got so much planned tonight in fact i'm not going to talk quite as much as i normally do because we have a big night ahead for you we've got a few things that i cannot wait to show you i'm going to give you the rundown of that in just a moment but in the meantime thank you for being here and uh just to a reminder if you are watching on youtube please hit that like button please hit that subscribe button that notification bell making comments all of that stuff really helps us it really does help our channel grow helps to get the show in front of more people the same thing on facebook if you're watching in the app welcome the app is a great place to watch the show it's a place to watch the show for free you get extraordinarily good quality and speaking of how to watch the show there are so many new cool ways to watch that if you're new especially you haven't heard about i want to make sure that you know that first of all this has been a phone app the chosen has been a phone app for a couple years now and if you're of course able to connect the app directly free and easy to your roku apple tv fire stick chromecast and you can watch it on the big screen which is great right and it's you don't even need to give your email address if you don't want to i mean it's totally free and easy however angel studios our distribution partner has made it even easier and now when you go on to roku apple tv or firestick you just search for the chosen or you search for angel studios and you can now watch it without having to use your phone and it is still free and easy and still does not require an email address or anything like that we don't force you to do anything to watch this show so if you have not seen it yet on the big screen please make sure you do so one other thing i want to mention quickly you can text me so if you text me i'm going to give you this number i got my friend chris here who's holding up some of my notes i don't forget write this down in fact there's a few things i'm going to be sharing with you that i want you to write down because i'm going to be going i'm going to be talking pretty fast so text me at 214 214-239-1527-214-239-1527 and some of my teammates will be mentioning that in the chat if you missed it but here's what happened when you text me you fill something out real quick again zero cost zero commitment or anything like that all this is is a thank you from the chosen end me to you for being engaged and i give you weekly updates behind the scenes stuff you can't get anywhere else and occasionally i give little discounts on stuff gifts that you're not going to get anywhere else but this is exclusive stuff and it's just a thank you again it doesn't require anything of you other than just to quickly give your name and info like your phone number and whatnot and then it doesn't get sold to anybody you're not going to get spammed or anything like that it's just an opportunity for me to keep you updated and give you behind the scenes on what's to come all right so tonight we've got brand new gift items we're also retiring a couple gift items that came up a couple weeks ago and we've also got noah james coming he's actually sitting how many feet away from me are you three feet three feet away just off camera uh he will be joining me in just a few moments gonna talk about season three gonna talk about the big video we're showing you tonight and talk about a big thing that's happening in his life coming up later this year i'll also take a couple of your questions that you can set you can send in right now if you'd like but i know james who plays andrew he's coming out we're also going to be preparing this is fun we're also going to be premiering the documentary about the nine people from gen z generation z for those of you who haven't heard uh who came from all walks of life all backgrounds including those without any faith background at all didn't tell them what we were doing other than saying you're going to be binge watching a show season one of a show they had no idea what it was no idea what it was gonna be and uh sat them down and said give us your unfiltered reactions talk about it whatever comes to mind and we just captured it for a day of filming and then followed up with them and just told them to be completely honest and they were and it was truly one of the most moving experiences that i've had in my in the entire history of the chosen and it is kind of the launch point for what we're going to be doing over the next several years with the chosen so stick around for that it's gonna be amazing and then when that is done yes i am going to show you a brand new scene from season three of the chosen i am editing this show during while while we're filming i'm also editing our editor john our editor john and adam and la are doing the first run and then they send me the the rough cuts and then i do my give my notes we go back and forth and episode one as of this week is now what we call locked meaning we have picture locked it we we have done all the edits to the picture that we're going to do now it needs audio and music and color correction and all that kind of stuff but it is now locked and i'm going to show you the opening scene of season three at the end of the live stream as a thank you as a bonus for being here so you are not going to want to miss that and then i'll take some of your questions so it's going to be a big one so gifts brand new gifts well first of all i'm going to talk about what we're getting rid of tonight so tonight is the last opportunity to get the red special edition limited edition get used to different shirt we just offered that just to get started for a couple weeks a couple weeks ago just as kind of a summer thing we said we're going to get rid of them as soon as they sell out we are getting to that point now so tonight midnight last opportunity to get the get used to different red shirt and also glory it's one of my favorite shirts i love it this is also the uh the wristbands the five wrist bands they've been in the store for a while but they're only five bucks right now temporarily tonight they will go back to their usual seven hundred and forty dollars uh is the normal cost for these but we just gave a massive discount of five bucks and i'm kidding but tonight last night to get these uh just for five bucks and then these hats are also going away tonight at midnight um check this out i didn't even check to make sure it fit but this is the kind of the kind of really cool got black and teal these are going away tonight at midnight so uh check those out in the store because this is the last opportunity to get them but tonight at thechosengifts.com i hope that colin has put up the chosen gifts dot com as i've been talking about it w www.thechosengifts.com i may or may not have noah do that when he comes on we'll see but the chosen gifts.com is where you get all this and we now have a brand new item so three of them actually including one that is probably our most requested item we've ever had so the first thing is this shirt as you can see it's got the fish you know the three fish but here's the cool thing on the back check it out world tour check out the back muscles too by the way i'm away from oh can you still hear me because i'm on the mic so come and see world tour this is the back of it this is the women's version too if you want to get that style um i'm wearing unisex but uh the come and see world tour bethsaida cana capernaum corazon sea of galilee all that stuff and it's got some relatively handsome men as well on the back one of whom is here tonight uh but yeah this is uh kind of an honor it's a little bit more of a gen z type shirt my kids went nuts for it when they saw it uh my college age kids and younger and so this is like i've been when we got them in and some of our crew and some of our teams started like grabbing them and uh so this is gonna be one of my this is one of my favorites that we've done in a long time so uh that is now available in the gift store and then you saw you may have seen the welcome mat that we did before that said come and see on it that's still there and a few people were like i don't know that i want to have come and see on my welcome mat because it might invite weirdos uh that hasn't happened it's still a really cool welcome mat but this one you might like even more check it out get used to different this welcome mat now look i will tell you this this welcome mat is not like one of those cheap ones you just get and put like this is actually really amazing quality um i sound like a pitch man right now and i don't want to but uh this is like we we make a pact that any any gift item we do has to have some sort of meaning to it some sort of uh conversation starter or whatever but it also has to be really high quality so this is a super high quality welcome mat and i think it's a really cool thing for like i know i think it says something about your family says something about your house and so this is available at thechosengs.com and then finally the item that so many people have been requesting check it out the mug so got this really cool box that comes in and yeah open it up here's what you get with this mug so the first mug that we made we've got more to come down the road um this says look up so what we wanted with this was instead of just being a promotional mug for the chosen actually wanted it to say something and typically you're going to be using your mugs alone or you know when you're at home not not it's not it's not quite as much like a shirt where you're out in public with it so what we wanted was to have it say something that was meaningful to you and so many people were moved by season two when mary magdalene comes back to jesus and she's in shame and uh and she's she can barely look at him and jesus says look up and she says i can't he goes you can look up and so we thought that was a really cool just thing to be reminded of every day and then look what happens when you take a sip says it chosen see perfect just like that so that when you are drinking it around anyone else they can see what show that you love so much so uh here's what uh that so this is a good news this is finally here uh super again super high quality it took us a long time to choose and get like the really high quality stuff but here's the unfortunate news about this the supply chain has been awful and so uh this has taken literally months and months and months to finally get to america it was in california for a while and now it's headed here and it's going to be delayed unfortunately but i had already that we found this out just uh yesterday so fact is if you order this it's not going to come for another week and a half or so however so don't be alarmed if you order it with anything else so if you get the the get used to different welcome mat if you get the shirt if you get hats whatever you order and you also order this you're gonna get those other items on time they will come within a few days this item will come later but it will be free shipping you will not be charged for the shipping by having it shipped separately so order it now it will get here and take advantage of the fact that it's going to be totally free shipping uh we're gonna we're gonna eat the cost because of the delays so i was really bummed to hear that yesterday but you're still to get it all right so that's covers all the gift stuff and now speaking of gifts let's bring on noah who is a gift to the show isn't that a perfect segue that is a good segue yes let's see my face and look who's on there and then my face so one of the reasons why you're excited for this shirt to sell is because of course because his face is on it he's going to get a little piece of sales yes for my contracts took you three years to demand that but any time this is actually true anytime that that uh any of our gift items have uh you know the face of one of our actors they actually are get get uh some piece financially that a little bit of like the calendars and stuff that is nice it is nice it's a nice little grocery money here yes yeah definitely so i will not argue against purchasing this list yes of all the shirts you get this is the one this is the one to buy but uh this is this is actually a moment from uh season one remember when you guys were walking through the wheat field episode six right seven five no six you're right oh yeah it is episode six you're right episode six but uh the come and see world tour um yeah so uh anyway uh noah season three so one of the questions uh that i just like i've been my team text me questions and stuff and uh one of the one of the first questions was what has been your favorite scene to film this season so far so carefully talk about it so you don't give too big of a spoiler by the way how does he is he on camera like is he like am i okay uh so there's been a few i'm like very very happy with the way that this season is going and even when i read the scripts i was like man i don't think people understand what's um about to happen this season yeah uh there are some definite uh you know the highs are high and the lows are low lows are very low and uh but the highs are very high yeah i love well i think that my mo the most fun i had shooting for the season so far has been uh episode eight the the sort of final moments of the sequences of so when you were at defeating the 5000 yes and there's there's a shot that's one of the most unbelievable shots i've seen in anything because i was standing at the monitor watching where we had 5 000 people out in the crowd and jesus says let's eat and the disciples go out and start handing out loaves and fish is that what you're talking about yeah yeah everything that that whole sort of once um people will see it obviously once episode 8 comes but essentially the whole sort of sequence that you know sends us away this this whole uh the feeding of the 5000 is is just uh really really remarkable and also so hard to shoot like that was by far the most challenging thing we've ever done it was brutally hot so hard but really rewarding i mean when you do something like that uh you know i was flying home going i'm so glad that that's over but i'm so happy that we captured that on film i think that's going to be um truly one of the most special things the show has done so far yeah and it's not a spoiler to say because it's from the bible that andrew is the one who provides from this little boy the loaves and fish so you kind of have the moment the first moment when the disciples realize jesus just did a miracle is through your eyes right of like yeah all we have is five loaves and two fish and it's just this little basket and then there's that really cool moment where you kind of open it and it's like yeah and it's and it's so you know to bring that to life in the midst of 100 degree weather humidity all these people back there but you just were we were all fed by the energy of the people there and so um i just i can't wait to see it i hope it's as special on film as it was being there in person because it was it was um unbelievable to be a part of that yeah and i i will say also the other part that's my favorite filming that we filmed so far was i think episode one this season is i'm i'm really surprised that you i don't know when you're editing this stuff all together but but um episode one i think is going to be really really special sort of kickstarter to the season i'm excited because it's there's a lot of em we we resolve or continue emotional threads from season two and so you get especially a couple of scenes in episode episode one is probably more focused on on andrew than almost anyone right i mean you have a couple of pretty significant emotional scenes uh it's not a spoiler there is one scene where you get to go see john the baptist in prison and have a very powerful exchange with him that was definitely i think in terms of just like a single day that was my favorite day this season um yeah yeah so if that's not a spoiler to say then yeah that that scene uh was really special to shoot just because of the people involved small small amount of cast that day so and kind of the the formal handing off of him to give you permission to stop worrying about him and to focus on on your new rabbi he says you have a new rabbi now and you're like how can i help you and you're like and john says you can help me by like listening to him and following so that's really cool so all right so in just a few moments we're showing the unfiltered gen z reacts to the chosen and you actually got a chance to watch this yes and meet the the the cast the the people involved uh tell us about that like how how did because here's what's interesting about about this is this was outsiders people who aren't traditionally part of the faith and who are seeing it for the first time and that's a little bit your background too when we brought you onto the show you don't have a traditional christian faith background and you are reading a bible story and you're jewish so reading a bible story that of course the bible is almost entirely jewish but the gospels are a unique telling of it and the story of christ and so when you first read the script we've talked about this before it was like this is great doesn't feel like yeah typically like kind of stagnant distant uh bible show and it's someone that's something that even you can connect with and relate to so watching others who were in a similar position to you watch it for the first time and see the show had to be kind of cool because the majority of our audience are believers but we also have a large chunk of the audience who are new to the faith or who don't have a faith background who dislike it as a show so i'm talking too much no what i would say even too is when i came on to the show like i think my first audition i just didn't know you know i didn't know no one knew what the chosen one was so i auditioned and then we spoke and i realized that it was connected to the shepherd the short film that you had made so then i watched the shepherd and when i came back for for one of my callbacks i i said to you i remember i was like listen um i'm you know my my uh religious belief i don't describe the same beliefs and i was so moved by the shepherd and from that moment i was like man i don't think i said this to you but i was like i would be so honored to be a part of the show it's so moving it's so emotionally engaging and so and then it's been a long journey since then that i'm very happy to be on and and seeing first of all we when we got to see it a lot of the cast were able to see the gen z documentary so it was one of the nights like we had been filming the feeding of 5000 so we had been like we were ragged we were like you know it was a saturday or something and a lot of us were like we'll come in and meet meet the you know the cast the the people who are in it um have a little nice little dinner with them and then we may be like okay have a good night yeah a couple of them said i don't want to stick around to watch i think i said i was like i was like i'm like struggling to stay alive at the moment i'm just gonna come eat and then they started it and i was like well i'll stick around and i was enraptured by what i seriously i don't i'm not overstating it i did not understand what i was going to be watching um it doesn't do it justice just just say that they're like watching the show that we all watch unfiltered it's really goes into some pretty amazing moving territory they are so gracious with their themselves and they're just so open that i was i absolutely watched the entire thing and then i i hope it's okay i literally almost could not speak to them because i was really really moved oh yeah i was really um each one i just was yeah they're so heartfelt yeah yeah i had i had a man that i had a chance to have them over at our home and and uh and just are now like feel like family like yeah i feel like they're a part of the chosen i was like we have to stay in touch yes please stay in touch with me um it was honestly one of the most aside from being an actor it was one of the most proud moments i feel like i've had being a part of the chosen family wow watching the documentary i felt like so grateful to be a part of a um a show and just a group of people who would do something like that and create the kind of environment for that to flourish i just thought was really beautiful yeah awesome speaking of beautiful things and beautiful people this shirt no uh you have a special uh event coming up later this year i do in about two months less than two months i'm getting married in less than two months yeah and she's awesome she's she is definitely her name where she's from yes norma she's from orlando florida uh but now we live in l.a but um she's awesome she's i'm i'm very i chose to meet her a couple months ago and just i was like oh she's she's just as cool as you are oh that's great i'm glad even cooler so that's 100 true yeah now unfortunately it's happening during filming yeah i can't be there and you're going to miss a couple we're we're currently trying to forecast we're shooting me out right now you're like do you need to be like a whole wedding because that day is kind of enough i know yes anyway i know uh chosen fans are so like they're so thrilled for the cast anything anytime there's anything like that but uh yeah in september it gets married so really cool um got it got got one question here before uh before we let you go because we do want to get to the dock and by the way we're we're sitting in the hallway this scene is from season one where you and this is where nathaniel and philip were standing like i'm sitting right where nathaniel was standing when jesus said i see you or no i saw you under the fig tree and then you and shahar come running down and interrupt it and then run off and then right around the corner here well this is where jesus gave that sermon uh in the middle of the town square and talked about the shepherd leaves the the 99 to find the one and you and simon were and thaddeus were standing there listening and then we just filmed a couple days ago you and philip uh in this area i won't tell too much about it but you got a chance to actually speak i did share with the people did some preaching yeah okay so from uh says noah we love you your latest tick tock was hilarious listen that tick tock is uh getting some steam going right now yeah the chosen tick tock page if you just look up the chosen on tick tock i don't know what it's up to now i think it's probably around two million views or more but uh i got to actually participate uh which i'm not a tic tac guy but uh you and uh yoshi and myself got a chance to do something and within 24 hours it hit over a million views i did not understand what was happening i knew it was like the chosen post of the thing i'm like oh okay had dinner yeah looked at it and it was at like 500 000 yeah we're doing a little a little dance yeah doing a little uh yeah maybe a little bit disturbing at times but uh but no i just blew up so yeah we have social media all over the place uh and uh we love to have fun with it and uh you someone in the comments said like noah james always seems to know the assignment yes understand most of our biggest tick tocks have you involved in some ways so so anyway uh thank you so much yes uh for coming out tonight for this and enjoy the rest of the night and seriously enjoy the rest of the night i i really do do love this stock so i hope you all uh do as well yeah all right so goodbye goodbye there i'll go three feet that way yes all right so um the let's see i want to make sure i don't miss anything oh yes uh one one last thing before we show you the uh you know what i'm going to do that after the doc just i've got something really really cool i want to read you but i know that uh you're waiting to watch this thing so let's i'm i'm gonna get right into it so here's something i wanna that's very very important i really want you to listen um so nine people did us the honor of being vulnerable and raw and following through on our request for them to do so and so we consider this family the chosen family and the chosen universe and the ecosystem our public face you know our youtube channel and app and facebook pages that's our home that's our family this is where so many of you gather and talk and we invited them into our home and asked them to be vulnerable and raw and they were and i know that i can count on you to be hospitable and uh they come from different backgrounds and they say things that you might not necessarily agree with they've had experiences that you might not have necessarily had and uh you know we've said from the beginning that when it comes to us as the show when it comes to me i couldn't care less about criticism uh we've we've had some of the most aggressive and insulting uh comments you know one could see on the internet uh directed towards me directed towards the show and we don't care uh we're gonna treat our guests a little differently um we're not gonna we're not gonna tolerate uh people who say who are going to use social media comment sections as the place to litigate their own views or their own disagreements with people who they don't know that that takes place in the context of relationship we have relationships with folks in our in our personal lives we of course now have relationships with people like the young men and women who joined us for this documentary and that's where we have conversations including conversations where we disagree issues on which we disagree theological doctrinal political whatever uh we as a as a habit save those for uh within the context of relationship and so i'm just going to ask you and i know i probably don't even need to but to to be as generous and as gracious and as appreciative of them as they have been with us and that not go that not only goes for tonight but it goes for the future because once this documentary is out um the nine of them are going to be seen in a whole new light and be much more public than they've been in their lives talking about some things that were very vulnerable and challenging and difficult to talk about and uh we did not this was not a tool for us to kind of bring them in and then try to convince them of something or turn them towards us or anything like that this was a we're just going to capture it we're going to be honest about it and we're going to ask you to do the same and they did so uh please treat them with the same respect and graciousness that we know you will any of the guests to the chosen family so with that i'm so thrilled to give you one of my favorite things we've ever done this is gen z this is unfiltered a gen z reacts to the chosen [Music] [Music] [Music] i have a weird feeling that it might be grey's anatomy i i don't actually know your name i'm jesus i did not expect that and there's a baptismal pool behind the curtain for any converts i just wish she didn't use religion to hurt so many people maybe i'll die and go to hell maybe they're right she literally almost jumped off a cliff and that was like my position i've never seen jesus seem so cool that conversation was so radical deep [Music] that scene right there gave me chills down my spine [Music] hello hello hi chris how are you i'm fantastic how are you can you see me i can't here we go hi hi catherine hi adrian how are you mate so happy it's friday it's been a week so let me break down a bit more information about this project because you know probably basically nothing about the project because we haven't shared anything i guess you can't tell me what the show is yet you i would have to wait okay i can't tell you the name of the studio i can't tell you the name of the show we are a global phenomenon television show we are in every country in the world but we didn't expect it to perform so well in the gen z audience and we're like that's amazing but we haven't really been able to crack the code as to why so we're like okay great let's do a case study a blind case study we bring 10 gen zeros who are just truly being themselves and we ask them to binge the show we don't care if you hate it or if you love it or if you're like me it's okay but it sucks here here and here you guys just talk peer-to-peer like we're out of the equation we just want you guys to really unpack it for us intellectually emotionally psychologically and we can just watch people who have never experienced our content before experience it for the first time like we want to take the journey any questions about that utah time gotta start the day with water chug hello my name is benjamin nowak my name is emma russell josephine i'm jordan adrian jackson gilbert audrey manny chris i often go by stevie i've begun the packing i'm from jakarta indonesia there it is ready for today i'm originally from wisconsin a village taiwan in ohio san francisco california but i currently live in brooklyn new york i just moved there three weeks ago actually i'm in the streets of new york my sister just drove me off at the airport on our way to utah i have no clue where i'm going i'm a little nervous i've basically been asked to meet a group of strangers binge series don't really know what to expect we don't know what the tv show is we are going to want to know our thoughts in the series and just focusing on gen z it's all been kind of secretive my biggest anxiety is that i'm going to get there and this whole thing is going to be an elaborate plan to get me to convert to mormons a fun fact about me is that even though i'm from wisconsin i don't like cheese went skydiving for the first time on a whim about a week ago didn't want to leave this earth whenever i do and not jump out of a plane where are you from man i'm from massachusetts massachusetts massachusetts out here in utah it's actually my first time on a plane and everything so really i swear when we were lifting off i felt like i came out of my seat a little bit i was actually raised on a farm adopted with my little brother and my little sister so it's a blessing right there to be raised with them and really get to know them my entire life and we're still very close now i gotta leave the cult thing for later um i have six siblings i have daily dance parties in my room i just love people i love communicating love talking to people and just kind of getting to know their story so it's a little bit about me oh finally set this set the move set the mood i think we are going to binge ted lasso today i kind of have a feeling that it might be some anime i got to stop guessing veggie tales i have a weird feeling that it might be gray's anatomy i know that it has a lot of impact on a lot of people all over the world the paris hilton cooking show like i said that you know i did grow up in a cult but um veggie tales was like a staple of of my childhood and honestly like i i don't know if i really think it's veggie tales i just thought it would be really funny if it was i would sing along with silly songs with larry something in the genre of drama a drama i hope it's probably a drama that's what i think it is let me tell you a story you think that impossible things can happen miracles i'm so sorry i i don't actually know your name i'm jesus um i feel nervous honestly it was incredible i need to know if we have a problem veggietales might have been more fun but the man claimed to be god false prophecy i don't know if it's something that's going to trigger me or make me feel hurt the so-called miracle worker jesus of nazareth apparently something good can come from nazareth [Music] i was one way and now i am completely different the thing that happened in between with him and so it's time let's go [Music] i did not expect that so what are y'all's first thoughts i've never seen jesus seem so cool he looks like a stud [Laughter] you need to close your eyes for a couple scenes don't take your shirt off jesus that one shot where it was just like jesus and the boys just walking in the squad just the squad just pulled up my religion has kind of gone down as i get older you know like my belief is still there but i don't go to church as much as i used to i was born into a catholic church like very religious and so i think this would be really interesting i feel like i'm more spiritual than religious i feel like i had a really yeah ben and i was talking about this a traumatic experience with the church and i'm like i hope this is i mean it seems cool but i feel like very wary about entering into that domain again it seems joyful though it seems joyful you know but it could get darker i mean the man had a brutal death so you know it's gonna get dark with all the different like portrayals and like different like teachings and stuff of like religio like christianity and religion and like different like versions of jesus i guess that i've just like seen throughout my life i'm just curious to like see how this one is your perspective is going to be very interesting like very very very interesting and there's a baptismal pool behind the curtain for any conversation so have i watched uh christian content no i think i'm always a little wary of christian media i'd say the majority of like christian faith-based stuff is tends to be cheesy and it seems like they don't put a lot of effort it's very white it's been more preachy force-feeding them a religion from what i've seen it's like well this needs to affirm what i already believe i'm not looking for something that is challenging i didn't want to watch that content because i me growing up i was an atheist if i see or come across a christian movie i'll just turn it off because i don't want to be like spoon fed propaganda to be honest and i just can't relate to it at all um i don't like have anything against it like i think jesus christ superstar is like a pretty good like broadway musical i was born in charleston south carolina a month after my parents joined a new church and that ended up being my cult [Music] we were poor we lived in newark new jersey in the hood [Music] when i was 13 i saw my dad pass away right in the living room of our house why can't you sleep i'm scared i experience a lot of stress and [Applause] um anxiety about not fitting in what do we do when we are scared we say the words fear not for i have redeemed you i have called you by name you are mine you are mine that's right [Music] you demons i go to church maybe once a year you know i'm not deeply into the faith i'm not deeply educated my name is quintus i'm the preacher of kapana and i am the great nicodemus i was raised catholic and i still am um i actually have a necklace of the sacred heart i i miss it honestly i in a lot of conversations with friends i'll mention random bible stories or i'll be like i'm being such a martha right now i just want to be more of a mary and people be like what you help me i will help the pharisees continue to thrive me growing up i didn't really believe in god like that i really didn't want to believe in god like that because i felt like you know my skin color alone was already um different that's you it's me that don't want to be seen with you attacks man christian content and christian people in general um you know not all of them but some of them are very very religious in like you know earrings like this like a guy wearing earrings like this you know would a guy be wearing earrings like this um i don't know uh i like them why are our jewish brethren taking their boats to sea on shabbat some of those early nicodemus scenes i just like was getting crisp flashbacks to um to cult moments i'm here about a hebrew woman in a red quarter around 10 years old my mom started going to church really often i just remember the pastor always saying like if you come up and get prayed for you'll get a house you'll get a new car and to me just felt so manipulative and i just could not get jiggy with it [Applause] seriously i can only take maybe two one one more punch he your says is there for delinquent by 40 days as collateral you've listed a fishing vessel what my brother didn't mention was our arrangement with quintus don't speak just walk they don't get the tax because we don't report any shabbat catches so i tell them if he took me straight to quintus i'd let them know who caught more in one night and the guy they were resting catches in a week you offered a ton of fishermen no not fishermen merchants i come from indonesia hello namaste audrey which is like hello my name is audrey coming to the states for the first time i was like wow this is like incredibly new and it was really difficult we are not afraid of you you have no power here and when i was 15 my biological dad was murdered life kept trying to just throw me down like this well by the time i was in third or fourth grade i was having pretty severe mental health issues i was having suicidal ideation and depression and anxiety i didn't want to go to school most days i saw my dad take his last breath as he looked at me [Music] and that kind of really changed things in my life [Music] [Laughter] i've struggled a lot with mental health issues teetering on the brink of thinking what is the point of life why am i even still here do i even want to still be here yesterday november 15 was actually like one of the hardest days of my life like five years ago i think i had a such a struggle with religion because i thought or i believe that i do have to do good things first or be good and then like i'm safe and then i'm loved i just was continuously serving people up to an extent where i just could not serve anymore but i kept on going because i thought that god wanted me to do it so i called two suicide hotlines and i was like i think i'm gonna attempt tonight and somehow their answers were just for me unsatisfactory like they were just like hurt and short which is not what a suicide hotline is supposed to be and then i i texted this um like the national text thing and i told her about it and as i was going to do that the national text hotline basically disconnected because i didn't see my phone for like five minutes she thought that i attempted and then she like sent the cops to my dorm and so i like hear these cops knocking my dorm they were like what's she doing inside and i was like shoot like no i i can't i'm sorry lilith give me that i said leave him that's not for you don't touch me please mary mary of magdala [Music] how do you know my name is the lord who created you i have called you by name you are mine [Music] [Laughter] [Music] i like the game of thrones medieval vibe yeah i think that that makes it interesting the way jesus entered unreal like just was he gonna do less that was and they wrapped it around to her father yeah i really like how it felt relevant like the mental health issues that she was going through like or what could be seen as mental health issues today and just so many people giving up on her and that's why it really like shrunk home for her because someone cared enough to say like i see you you know instead of like the problems that she was going through i deal with mental health issues being somebody who's bipolar which back in the day they used to think bipolar people were possessed but the thing is i thought it was really interesting when he comes in he puts his hands on her head as if he's healing her her brain see i'm liking the side that they're showing that you know the rich side of things and the poor side of things and you can really like you know really feel for both sides and see where they're coming from in that sense like i feel bad for the tax man the tax man he's he's nervous he could quit any day yeah he don't want to go nowhere but then you saw you saw the kind of style where you know he stepped in the dung and then he threw him away real quick like he didn't care like he you know and that's kind of crazy to me i think it was saul the guy who the fisherman i on one hand i'm like yeah you're kind of a snitch like you sold out your own people just to get by but then on the other hand like you're going to lose everything nobody ever ever talks about how desperate you can get when you're trying to to save yourself or someone you care about when you're backed into a corner this is my old high school i was real uncomfortable in my skin because you know this town and being raised on a farm um it was kind of a weird narrative and we didn't have any say in it you know we get told you know you're getting thrown into foster care and the three of you are going to live with this white lady that you don't even know on a farm and you know stay there i was kind of like a a jokester i was always making fun of myself to kind of to kind of make up for being black this is the this is my mom's house right here that's the barn this is where i grew up this it looks completely different these were 200 300 foot tall pine trees like way up there we got horses in here we had horses in there growing up we didn't have a lot of the things that a lot of people in this town had we had you know just the bare minimum it was a big schemer back then and i schemed a lot so things that i just felt like i didn't have or wasn't able to have and i didn't see myself having so let's steal it instead i used to steal a lot of phones um you know and then take them and and jailbreak it and then resell it to somebody else headphones um jewelry um you know i was taking just random stuff people's clothes sweatshirts why should i not kill you both i do not find simon reliable are you saying i made a bad deal around for the table buy drinks for the merchants you fatten your lambs before the slaughter those are our problems it's my fault a dumb kid doesn't know better i'm an emotional person i take things to heart i really relate to what i'm seeing on a screen and so i think that i tend to wear my heart in my sleeve and i will take on whatever's happening in the show and that can be upsetting maybe matthew another unhappy citizen expressing his disapproval i'd be fine my favorite kind of scene dynamic in the show is between matthew and his little roman bodyguard disgusting go home i have a job to do i thought it was incredibly endearing to watch this these like opposites really come together and and find something that they enjoy about each other and almost a protection between each other i found it very um heartwarming how can you not have a relationship with your own father he says he has no son next i lived at that one right there or the one next to it oh my gosh i remember that i would always come from my mom's house and go to my dad's house and i'd be sick and a lot of times i'd have lice or i'd be in dirty clothing or similar clothing to the one that they dropped me off in four two four we had to leave there because there was problems happening there my mother like brought men in that became problematic so we had to kind of go every so often from fifth grade probably to seventh grade i would go outside almost all day every day when i wasn't at school and first off i loved school because it was such a safe place for me but at the same time when i wasn't at school i would go outside and i'd walk down the street to a local tim hortons i'd walk to big lots and i would hang out in big lots all the time and there's big lots yeah still down there it was a safe spot there was nobody that i didn't think was going to hurt me there was nobody there that was mean to me you know they might not have known my home life or what exactly was happening or anything like that but they kind of were like i think she needs a friend or i think something's going on and i think that they did that how long after my visit did you feel the change it wasn't anything you did it was someone else i was one way and now i am completely different and the thing that happened in between with him so man that you were even posting shabbat dinner i don't understand what's happening just be honest bro that's your girl you need to work tonight you need to work on shabbat [Music] and god completed on the seventh day his work that he did for thereon he abstained from all the work that god created to do blessed are you blessed are you lord our god you have lovingly and willingly given us you have lovingly and willingly given us your shabbat in memory of the exodus from egypt [Music] oh what a cool that seemed like a show i loved that episode i was surprised that's why i wasn't expecting it to end yeah me neither am i the only person who almost teared up in that scene with mary and nicodemus oh my gosh get me started deep i was like i could do it yeah he was very humble about it and to see nicodemus this man at such a high level sit there and question himself question what's going on around him question his faith it's so comforting i feel like as a viewer it's so comforting to see because you're like somebody like that can question it so can i i love the um the whole aspect of just bringing in people for you know big meals it kind of brings me back to home it's like in alabama my neighbors are like my family it reminded me personally my family is in taiwan i don't have any close family here um and it reminded me a lot of like thanksgiving time when i'm here over the holidays in the u.s on my own i get really jealous of everybody getting to go back to their families and you know have this big nice fancy dinner and i'm always some family friend usually takes me in but it does kind of feel like i'm like nomadic a little everybody else had this like scrappy put together family seeing that like what was held so preciously and dearly was like the pieced together thanksgiving um was really cool to me yeah and it was a great thematic episode [Music] it was so intense to be dropped into a group where everyone had such a complex relationship with god and with christianity i was really defensive i was really closed off and skeptical um i was going through a lot at the time with my family and there were just parts of myself that i feel like i couldn't um let go of i had to be a little defensive um to like protect a part of myself i was sitting there really questioning everything everybody was saying i felt okay with that because i really felt like it was okay to like save a part of myself for myself and not have to give everything to the people there and to the cameras it's so hard in in the process of finding the truth to be able to share where you are on that journey with anyone because honestly sometimes it's embarrassing i'll be by the stream do not swim i won't i was born in texas my parents became christians when we lived in texas and then when i was five i moved to taiwan with my family so that was all the way till i was 18 and then i moved to berkeley to attend college does everyone here have like a religious or christian upbringing non-denominational christian a lot of my childhood was being afraid i didn't measure up to what my mom wanted me to be can i play with joshua tomorrow only after you finish your time i know i will get a thought on first in the round i'm sorry for so much of my childhood it felt like i was the parent of the family who had to account for what was going to make her upset and then try to find various ways to avoid like her rage and where will you go just the field and there was one tool i've never seen before i don't know what it's for i think he was building stuff so she's so pretty abigail reminded me so much of my daughter like she just asked so many questions and i try to answer them perfectly and try to give her as much information as i can and there was some food too but even though i was hungry i didn't take any because that would be wrong but maybe we could take a little bit this time i love to see all the kids playing it just took me back like 10 years 15 years like just being from a a large family um you know i miss it it's one of those things where you don't you don't get that time to go outside and run around and you know really enjoy it you know i didn't see a sword or anything like that so i don't think it'll kill us they seem nice it's probably like my first vivid memory of the pastor who founded the church was him coming over to us and going um oh you want to see attitude i'll take you in the woods outside my house after midnight and show you attitude and i was like eight years old i was like what did i do like i'm just sitting here he seems to have it kind of made i mean the church makes all his money for him he's got the nicest car in the church nicest house like they built an entire house for him at no charge and it was like a nice house um that was the one he threatened to beat me outside of i like just developed like a fear for him and like my dad which i didn't realize until like i went started going to therapy like two years ago and i pray that if there are ever two children who come visit my home here and you will give them the courage stay say shalom i really liked the scene where jesus blew raspberries just because i think it's hilarious jesus blowing raspberries hey guys jesus wouldn't do that like in terms of like the whole message of jesus like there's a lot of focus on like you know you must be like children and you have to have faith like a child and stuff like that i started getting sick um i had epilepsy and i went back up to jersey with my mom to figure out like what the problem was and what the solution actually could be and um it was around this time when we started going back to the church that we went to when i was younger in jersey adults in the church and some kids my age who i don't i don't know why but maybe i was too nice um they started like sexually abusing me in the church i was such a quiet kid and um i thought this was like punishment for like me being bad or like me acting out um so that's kind of what i heard like if you were bad then like jesus or like god will punish you and i just remember one in spirit um of one of like the elders in the church walking in in one of the church bathrooms and like seeing it happen and i thought it would like stop after that and it did it um and i think i still have a lot of resentment now because um i trusted them and um i feel like they took a lot of my innocence and my like childhood away so that really hurt and i think that's why i'm like kind of terrified for going back to church because i felt like no one protected me and it hurt it hurt really about me please these are my other friends and joshua again shalom amiga's friends what if many of the things that our people think about how we are to behave and how we are to treat one another are wrong i'm getting emotional um i don't know i feel like um this made me really emotional because i really want to be a parent i really try to lead with kindness and just seeing that like i don't know i got really excited but also i'm sorry [Music] really sad because um [Music] my mom is not a kind person at all and i just saw that and i just wish she didn't use religion to hurt so many people [Music] it might be this no it's the next one oh it's this brown one right here it's where i lived with him um it's just weird to look at i don't know why i'm getting emotional about it it's just weird when i think about this place in particular i don't feel very happy about it i don't i don't i can't think of positive memories really my mother was gone a lot and my older sister was um i think the best way to say it kind of a tormentor she i was scared to be left alone with her she would tell me she was going to kill me and like would would like grab knives and bring him into her room to like mess with me and pretend like she was going to kill me and it would i was just a high schooler i was scared so um and because she wouldn't she would get mad and she would throw me around or like hit me and stuff i couldn't i couldn't really stop it and i am i i believed her because she was so serious in the way that she would hit me and do stuff it would be so intense that i believed her so make good on your promises doc my brother and his friend were out breaking into cars and asked me to come by and pick them up so then i went and picked them up next thing you know they're leaving something in my car that doesn't belong to me and i'm getting pulled over and i'm getting ripped out of the car and thrown to the ground with a gun to my head i owe taxes they were set to take the boat our houses or give up a fleet fishing on shabbat thank you for your honesty son if i may return the favor i'm shocked you'd even show your face here i um [Music] sort of had to fall away from the church when i was in college and discovered my queerness everyone's telling you that who you are is acceptable and you need to be yourself and that's like what we value but in action like the things that people were saying and kind of presenting to me showed me that i had to change like every part of myself to be accepted follow simon i'm not accepted where anywhere it was something for a long time that everyone had told me was a huge sin and these were dirty dirty people and something was wrong with you if you felt this way i would like be on my in my bed and like crying out like tell me what is the truth and am i an awful person and i just couldn't hear god's voice about it and so it was so torturous to have this thing in me that i couldn't figure out i need a miracle maybe god can get your attention now i saw him the lamb of god i related heavily to simon's story because since i had to basically grow up so young i was used to handling my problems by myself used to just not telling anybody trying to figure it out just saying i've got this and ending up getting way over my head simon it's him put that down for a catch oh we've been doing this all night all right [Music] this way [Music] i love you from me i am a sinful man you don't know who i am the things i've done lift up your head fishermen what do you want from anything you ask i will do follow me fish are nothing you have much bigger things ahead of you simon son of jonah that will make you fishers of men and you are to gather as many as possible all kinds i will sort them out later it's amazing it's impossible are you the one they call john the baptizer i have questions for you about miracles i loved how at the end simon was like bro i'm tired i don't want to like hear whatever you have to say and i feel like that happens a lot in my life and i'm sure in y'all's too like when you're at your lowest point and you think nothing can get better sometimes that like you do have a miracle in your own life that's happened to me like multiple times when i was going to my mother's house she would feed me for a month straight with lies about my father and my stepmother she would say that they were abusive they didn't love me they told me they told her that they didn't love me that they had their own family and they didn't want me to be a part of it and i was just a nuisance so i would go over there and i'd be nervous and when i was 12 my mother sat me down on her bed and had me call my father and tell him i'm not coming back i liked this episode in particular because you don't know what lies ahead you don't know what path you're on i'm a very what will be will be kind of person everything happens for a reason yeah that's what they say anyway simon really shows is like really all of us and shows how small brained we are like when andrew had a lot of faith and simon was like no no there's no way i'm busy and that was so relatable and he's even said i'm always like i'm busy where you're at that point where you want to give like i heard everything yeah that scene where he was on the boat and he was like yelling at god yeah like i've had moments like that yeah at that moment when he when he surrendered really is what it was when he surrendered and he and he was able to be vulnerable and and just say you know what i've i've i've had it is that's when that's when people really hear you it is funny though how it still took jesus like speaking his language like giving him fish which was nothing compared to everything jesus could do but that was what finally turned simon you know like something him succeeding in some small thing and it's yeah because it's moves on to the bigger picture of he's going to be a fisherman for men i'm in i'm i'm i'm in this show y'all you're like this is this is not what i thought it was going to be but it it brings you in it really does when i told my mom i i didn't even say i'm gay i said like i know i don't want to date men oh yeah i forget how awful it was um she told me it was like the worst thing to happen to her um and and that she didn't know what i wanted her to do with this with me um i received a lot of texts from both my mom and dad about how i had destroyed the family and i had ruined my mom's life my mom would pray at night that she would rather god take her life then have me be gay [Music] it felt like i was the only one that was so rejected and it brought back a lot of early rejection that i felt from my mom when i was young and [Music] um really like nailed it in the coffin for me that i would never be what she wanted me to be jesus he was teaching when i found him he's too early from this if not now when we need to talk so i hear what have you heard nothing that makes sense he's the messiah i know it sounds impossible but i i saw it with my own eyes he made boat fulls of fish appear out of nowhere and the words he spoke the one john told andrew was the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world it was him perfect day for a wedding huh if he's healing in secret now the public signs cannot before public signs what that scene right there gave me chills down my spine just how so just viewing him and then you know he's he's staring at this jug and he's ready to become who he's becoming you know and he's surrendering um and really embracing the power you know when it came down to it i called my mom i tried to get the bail money um she told me no i sat there and i wrote a letter and i really poured my heart out to my mom and to you know really explain like this was just a mistake and i'm trying to you know make up for it and you know if you just give me the opportunity come bail me out so i can walk with my class you know she never she decided to really do some tough loving and she never even replied she never sent a letter back i sent her two letters she never sent the letter back um so i felt neglected and i felt disowned [Music] so [Applause] there's a group of youngins that are here to take a tour of the goshen set in utah what they don't know is i'm going to turn up [Music] let's go amani and josephine can be received as we walk into jerusalem we got this set going oh yeah wow wow so unlike a normal set that they'll put up for the shoot and they'll take down this set was built in such a way that it could withstand the elements wow oh my gosh [Music] over here this is where we have the parties i don't know what's going on we have parties down here how much did this cost oh my gosh you don't even want to know it costs an arm and a leg there's storage all through this wall here there's a pottery closet a rope closet you know a closet for almost everything that we need here on the set wow this set will be used whenever we're shooting kind of the jerusalem part of the story and then in texas we've got the villages and the campsites [Music] so this would be uh our version of the pool bethesda so this fills with water we can also put a platform over the top of it and turn this into a courtyard [Music] [Applause] hi how are you oh that actually scared we're so excited to meet you how's it going good how are you doing can we get a picture this is like this is like your second home right how's it going chris yeah nice to meet you sorry stevie stephen not passing a chance wow [Music] so uh we just thought it'd be fun to maybe have a conversation with me and all of you back in provo and talk about your thoughts and experiences and yeah how do you feel if you guys be up for that of course absolutely yeah no yeah i don't know my all right cool thanks for coming though [Music] i recorded everything i witnessed however impossible it seemed did well i also loved the the growth of matthew throughout the whole episode love matthew questioning himself and questioning his beliefs too you know i was in high school and i started realizing what was happening around me and that i wasn't okay with it and i started going over to my dad's on the weekends and seeing his family and as i started to mature and age i was realizing uh that the truth that i had been living by might not necessarily be the truth maybe he wasn't abusive maybe he what didn't hate me you can make me clean be cleansed i love the miracles so much i think not only are just they're just beautiful to watch but i think they're so metaphoric jesus doesn't leave anybody behind so even when you're in your darkest moment you can be like i'm not left behind i love it it wasn't jail that really changed my life it was knowing i had a daughter on the way so you would place limits on the almighty none that are not written in law and if god did something that you felt contradicted the torah would you question your interpretation i love the conversation about yes um you have all these set ways of looking at things and have you ever questioned that your interpretation of them is just incorrect i don't want to live in some bleak past where god cannot do anything new god gave us his law we must uphold we can do both when he said like to to to follow the path but be open to like the wonder and the mystery and the new things happening let's look to the ancient roads where the good way is and walk in it as jeremiah said and still keep our eyes open to the startling and the unexpected jesus of nazareth i saw what you did to the leopard on the road this morning i have to shout out my girl who brought her friend i literally was like beautiful losing my mind because i cannot tell you how many times i wanted to see someone who looks like me and something as powerful as this just makes my heart so happy that like people of color can see themselves like this and think to themselves like oh maybe i can be like jesus maybe i can be impactful you know what i mean because we do not get that at all my friend has been paralyzed since childhood [Music] [Music] [Applause] very stressful on how much jesus is getting attention because you know what's going to happen yeah it breaks my heart because he's like such a kind man and everything he's saying is trying to help people another one down was my favorite episode yet come to your senses i have never been closer to my senses i definitely am a matthew um first of all when he walked down he was a hypochondriac covering his nose changing his sandals because he stepped in some poop i was like that's me matthew but also i think the scene with his mother really hit home i think growing up i always i knew i was intelligent and talented i know you are ashamed of me but your decision is irrational rome will continue to collect taxes no matter what i'm skilled with numbers did you come here to justify yourself oh no but classic you know asian kid felt like it wasn't seen by my parents or my mom the way i wanted to and it was something that i tried for for many years they thought you would be someone great great at what and then realizing i was queer and then coming into that was like another extremely deep level of rejection are you in trouble do you think that impossible things can happen but in some way that's really liberating like when you grow up your whole life trying to be what someone else wants you to be and continually fall short and continually hear what disappointment you are at some point it feels great to like throw in the towel goodbye and be like this is just never gonna happen and i'm just never ever no matter how hard i try going to be what you want it's like okay that i can stop trying the human eye is drawn to light we can't help it it just happens there are many things we're drawn to without our thinking or our ability to explain why thank you for agreeing to meet thank you for trying to help mary when you did it was no help you were meant to be there me no one can do these signs you do without having god in him follow me and you'll see more for you i was realizing maybe the real problem was my mother i went to see my mother ugh that would put me out too so i started paying attention to that and a couple bad weeks in a row led me in a very a bad christmas eve led me to contact my dad and say i can't do this anymore i need out a mother of a son with talent like yours should be proud she's ashamed that i could use the talent that god gave me against god so we sat down and hatched a plan for me to move out and move back in with him and i changed schools i changed my phone number but what was most important to my dad at that time was that i was the one to tell my mom i was no longer going to be there and i really resented him for that i was like how could he make me do this i don't want to face this woman and i faced her i was strong it was one of the worst nights of my life and i had to face her a couple times after that and i held my ground and there were times she thought my dad was coaching me and he wasn't it was me being strong but she couldn't believe i was that strong and i grown up and i realized why my dad had me stand up to her on my own he wanted me to know i could do it on my own it must be nice to live in a world so simply whether we live in the same world matthew next besides what else are you gonna do with a mind like yours matthew matthew son of alphaeus yes [Music] follow me hey do you have any idea what this guy's done listen i said what are you doing have you lost your mind yes that shows you that much i feel like we've alluded to this a lot and i know the cameras are here but i would love if maybe some of you could share like how you guys like stepped out on faith because i think your stories are like amazing the scene with matthew and his mother was like it spoke to me a lot i've struggled with my mental health my entire life as long as i can remember and often felt like left out and ostracized and like i did have to change and be different and that i was only appreciative for the things that i did and not who i was being able to i think that's that's when my faith came in is when i was so sick and tired of trying to be what i what others expected me to be and that the only thing holding me back was myself a lot of my resentment that i felt was directed towards other people was really on myself and so all this time that i had spent thinking i just could never forgive people for what they had done to me the most powerful thing i did was forgive myself i would have similar situations where it's like after all i've done to other people i would hate myself for that but i think to myself if jesus can love me then i should be able to love me like if he can forgive me why can't i forgive me when i decided that like i had enough of like people pleasing and like doing stuff only for other people that like pushed me to the brink um and realizing that i needed help you know just like accepting help by itself like therapy or like mental health help um that was like like the moment like i felt that moment it sounds like a crazy decision like oh yeah let me not be better but like let me like just try to take life and be grateful and be happy um i feel like was one of my greatest decisions that i consciously made you don't have to go along i guess with what society thinks you should be you can be completely different and actually like be a light in the world do you know given my you know cult background and everything i feel like the biggest like i guess like step of faith or whatever um was ironically like leaving the church that i grew up in um because like hey maybe you know maybe i'll die and go to hell maybe they're right you know but like at the end of the day i i wasn't i don't know it like wasn't i couldn't i don't know i couldn't do it anymore i either would have just like been even more like been even lower and like more broken or whatever um or i just had to leave we had this meeting literally just money pressuring all the guys like we weren't making enough money and like it was constantly a thing every week like as soon as i got to the point where i was like considered old enough to like be a man or whatever so we were having this meeting and it's like the senior you know the pastor who like founded the church and everything he's like look you guys said that we would move here and like you could you would take care of me you would make sure me and my wife were you know protected basically like putting his financial problems on us and i'm like sitting here like torn because like at the same time i'm like maybe like i'm not sure entirely if i know god maybe um and then i'm also like processing this like guilt from like not making enough money for the pastor of the church i feel like that night i could never [Music] go like rejoin the things of the church at least not that church i just i don't know i knew it then so then a couple days later my dad is like based on your decision you've decided to leave so you have two weeks to be out and like i was in an awful like life situation but i just you know somehow made it through and you know i'm here today on this like couch like how weird is that it's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick i love our life has to matthew left to do what to follow a holy man from the eastern ghetto gold a friend of mine left that for us you came so close we need to adjust our course 30 degrees we're not going to the jordan we're going for samaria i am rejected by others i know but not by the messiah i'm going to tell everyone oh he must be the christ you told her and she can tell others what food my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work you told her where you are so does that mean it means we're going to stay here a couple of days it's been a long time of sowing but the fields are ripe for harvest and so it's time let's go on yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] approaching that woman yeah to to who's been rejected by everyone and and that's exactly who he is seeking out the fact that like jesus is in here and he's saying well i came here for you i felt as an audience member like she is a representation of everybody that's sitting out there like he is showing up for you and i don't know sorry it makes me it was it was big i really liked that i feel like the message it gives out is like you don't have to like look or be or do you know certain things in order to be like valuable yeah and just like have worth as like a person like yeah i love it i'm serious i want to be his friend like he's my homie i've been hearing about the series from almost all my friends right i see their instagram stories i see whatever they post and they're always like the chosen the children's chosen and i'm like okay this is probably gonna be another cheesy christian series okay so don't don't try to push it on me because i am not i'm not gonna do it okay yep yes i'm here [Applause] wow i love you guys i think i've always had a good view of jesus i always thought he was the man i love that he came down to earth and was one of us but with my own experience with christianity having to wrestle a lot with it i think [Music] i have a lot of uh figuring out to do i feel like all this conversation is making me feel like i've known you guys for i know [Music] gen z group talk scene take one mark so we just talk um yeah i figured i'd just tell you a little bit about me and my journey and how i got here uh when i moved out to los angeles it was essentially to take acting full-time and so um i now no longer had a support system for my my income the bills kept coming and the breaks didn't it was actually i was my checking account was overdraft like 100 bucks and i had 20 in my pocket the only thing i could think to do in that moment was to get on my knees and pray i was silenced there's nothing so you know what i'm gonna use your words from the bible the words that you said come to me all who are weary and heavy laden burdened and i shall give you rest for my yoke is easy and my burden is light so you know what jesus take some of mine i'm out man i surrender and i open my mailbox and in the mailbox were four checks i covered all my bills that were coming due [Music] at that point i realized that the moment i surrendered and let go of what i thought my life and my career should look like and give it to god he's like now you're ready for me to do what i'm going to do with you three months later dallas jenkins called me and said you want to do this series i said i think so for me seeing people profoundly and deeply impacted and in many ways healed to me it's like okay man this is where i'm at this is what i'm supposed to do so that's a little bit about me i imagine you guys must have some questions for such a long time like religion in jesus was something that was used to like make me hate myself or like to harm me um so i really appreciate how like kind you portrayed jesus it's gotten me to to seek um christ at an even deeper level being able to accept people at their lowest and when they've done things that that seem unforgivable like those are the things that i think regardless of your faith can really help people i thought it was like a well-made show you did you did good i liked it i really feel like it restored my belief that god is good i found a deep relationship sorry okay with the lord i never had before and i was i think it's silly because it's like oh a tv show did that right but it gave me the nudge growing up i didn't really have much faith um i did a lot of research on buddhism egyptian culture so i ended up choosing to believe in many gods i refuse to believe that there's just one higher power out there i like to believe that everybody deserves a chance to believe in anything that they want to um that being said you know it took a while um and i'm constantly saying you know god is good you know god bless blessings then why don't you can i ask you a question why don't you say the gods are good i'm back and forth with it um back and forth meaning the the phrase or the idea of one versus many i would say back and forth with one versus many if i am to be honest and you know watching the chosen helped me you know open up a little bit more and and get a better understanding of who jesus was god is calling you [Music] yeah he wants to know you on a deeper level [Music] and so that hug that you're feeling that's christ trying to get to know you that's what that is [Music] so you've got nothing to lose to explore and as you get closer and closer you'll know what's true [Music] but i think he's calling you i just felt i should share that with you thank you i'll pray for you you guys have been so awesome so open and um vulnerable and so uh the interaction between me and jonathan definitely felt like jesus or god or gods was speaking to me through him come here brother [Music] yes he plays a character but he does it in a sense where you can tell that that character is part of him and so for to have him acknowledge me for you know my efforts and he doesn't even know me like that that was a surreal moment and that's why you know i couldn't hold back the tears i couldn't i let them flow and it was one of those moments that i will truthfully cherish for the rest of my life [Music] i would say my opinion of jesus has definitely swayed to the positive side uh truthfully i want to say um i've i it's changed my perspective on the whole situation with christianity this experience was what i needed right now this show like really like like hit me at home it was a good show like i enjoyed watching it a lot of people when i went back home and told and told them oh yeah i'm watching the show about jesus they were like armani like are you okay knowing about my background but i really try to put them onto the show and taking things that jesus would say from the chosen and kind of applying that to my own life so i'll be in traffic and i want to honk at someone but i'm like oh what would jesus do i think the chosen is really created for everyone in mind where you know i'm young and i relate to it and i'm connecting to it so intensely and i think it opens up a door i still think christian content is for the most part like usually cheesy crap or like trying to force something force a message so while i do not think that this was that i i still maintain that over overarching belief i'm so sorry for all my friends who's watching i didn't i didn't want to do this i mean i didn't like me to do this i promise um but it's just like because they've been hyping it up so much i i said before that i wouldn't be interested in shows like this just because i feel like they would be so slow and and really not um hit at home but this show like really like like hit me at home and like there was a lot of um moments where i could really relate to with a bunch of the characters and like just chop me back in time 10 15 years like with my brothers and sisters and just just really like enjoying life huh so i'm out here enjoying life i'm so so happy about it it's so interesting to think about if christianity added to the pressure of perfection that my mom put on me because so many expectations so many more rules about how to live correctly but honestly when i think back to when i was a kid i don't think that is what i was really concerned about if anything i think the reason i'm so sure that i want to believe in this god is because i think it's what got me through a lot of that i have to do so much of the homework about maybe like apologetics or um reading more into scripture or whatever it is um like intellectually i need to do to make sure that this is the truth but at the same time like so much of um so much of believing in god is faith and i feel okay right now sitting here and being like i have faith that maybe i can't connect all the dots and i can't you know draw a to b to c in the bible um but i have faith that god is watching out for me hello good morning good morning how are you thank you [Music] [Music] they had you know people go up and they said if you need prayer right now you know go up and and we'll pray with you and i saw this woman go up and she was crying and i don't know what she was going through but it made me um made me emotional because i'm in a really good place now with my life and to see someone that's going through so much struggle and really needing that prayer it just got me it's just that like i've been there i get that it's going to be the big reveal of my involvement with this series and i am like beyond excited to see their faces this is my apartment right here you guys come right in you know i got a couch in the kitchen who got a couch in their kitchen she's popping popcorn she's a special way of doing it she just gets the corn kernels and puts them in a brown paper bag and microwaves it and it's actually amazing [Music] hi everybody okay i own literally everything in this room i've worked really like all the spices i got all those spices i bought all these pans you know i feel like an adult or something [Music] so i think most of you know uh either from my stories or from what i've told you is that i've been going to utah um for this documentary we brought together nine gen z strangers from around the country we said please come binge our multi-season show [Music] okay it was a show about jesus's life okay i'm actually like nervous that but really excited right now three two one let me tell you a story oh my god shut up [Music] what would you guys think about if we watched the first episode of the chosen tonight i would love it i love it i think what was really interesting is it really like really centered around his disciples you know who they are name a descent peter john adam that's pretty [Music] so am i worried that my daughter thinks i'm a bad person i don't think so i just want her to take something good from it because of what i'm doing right now this the legacy that i'm building right now so this individual we could not keep away they moved heaven and earth to be here but we get them for like 10 minutes oh dallas wow it sounds like they've been trying to get you to watch the show and it required us to fly you out to utah to watch this show i hope you give it like a really big you know i told you so audrey watching your response to the show has been one of the most moving things in the whole my whole experience with the chosen i don't want to be the bad guy i don't want to be my father that's non-existent i want to be the father the number one father in my daughter's life back when i was this legitimate monster i didn't think that i had the chance to be forgiven once i forgave myself for my past mistakes slowly but surely other people are forgiving me as well fear not for i have redeemed you i have called you by name you are mine i just love it i just love it so much and again i want to invite you to be not only gracious and grateful for their vulnerability for their willingness to be raw and authentic in a in an arena and in an ecosystem and in a family that they aren't used to and didn't know all of what they were getting into when they got into this but but you're not only going to be grateful but you're going to express that and i want them to know just how great of a family they are now part of and as i said before the doc you know there are some mature topics covered in this documentary some things that might reflect an experience or a perspective or a belief that you may not share but the public comment sections on social media we are going to set an example for how these conversations should go we're going to avoid the toxicity that you so often see we're going to avoid the need to feel like you have to make a point or prove something or convert somebody uh in a comment section on youtube or facebook someone you don't even know so we are going to model love and graciousness and self-control and hospitality and i know that i can count on you for that so uh but man i am i'm so grateful for them and their willingness to to share their stories and there's more of course there's more that will come down the road as as uh as we continue this relationship with them and uh they they actually just uh recently from what i understand watch season two and uh are apparently from what i hear loving that uh man and i are now uh consider ourselves friends with with uh several of them and are continuing that relationship it's just such a wonderful thing and uh we really do consider them part of the chosen family and so there's more to come with that um but yeah the updates since this was filmed are just there's nothing of import other than just that we have just continued this relationship and the friendship and the bond and it will continue forever and i can't wait for for you to see more in the future of how these stories unfold but this is why do i say that this is important why do i say this gen z doc is so important because over the next few years the focus of our initiatives of getting this show out to a billion people getting this show out to more people is going to be centered around no i shouldn't say centered around but a big focus a big initiative is going to be gen z it's going to be groups of people who otherwise wouldn't normally watch a show like this uh those nine folks in that documentary if they heard of the chosen uh they they still probably wouldn't watch it because they probably wouldn't know why they should or it's not on the traditional channels where they would typically watch stuff and so our efforts are going to be doubled and tripled and quadrupled and making sure that the chosen gets in front of more people that the gets in front of more eyeballs and this even if it's a slow growth and even if it's in a financial investment that doesn't have immediate payoff we're not doing this primarily for the financial payoff and i know you aren't either when you when you choose to pay for this show as you know we don't have a big studio uh supporting the show we don't have uh you know with with most shows uh they're run or owned or produced by massive corporations massive studios television networks streaming platforms that have massive amount of capital and so they can invest in the show even when it's not immediately bringing back income well we don't have that and so uh we don't we're not a non-profit we're not a we're not a ministry uh we just simply say you can choose to pay for this show or not and less than five percent of the people who watch the show pay for it and that's perfectly fine we don't demand it we don't beg you for it or anything like that but when you do pay it forward when you do choose to pay for the show it's not only to finance future episodes and seasons it's not only to give us the ability to do this show and to to to make to even do videos like this but it's to spread the show it's to market the show and our efforts and are going to be increased in reaching this demographic and people groups that motherwise would not have known about the show and that takes time it takes money it takes resources and efforts that are go above and beyond what we normally do and uh but we think it's important and i think this documentary is proof of why it's so important we want these conversations to start we want this engagement to take place this is stuff that must happen not only in order for the show to expand but also for the issues raised and the topics discussed they're so vital and we've said it all along that our our gifts that that we produce like this shirt that i'm wearing um are designed to start a conversation and we don't always know where the conversation is going to end up but that's part of the beauty of it and so uh thank you for helping in fact um you know we got some questions have been coming in and i'll get to some of these um after i'm going to show you the new scene from season three but one of the questions came from bradley said did my pay it forward money go towards making this documentary instead of season three now so the answer is yes uh the this documentary was paid for from pay it forward uh money out of our marketing budget but it's not ins i wouldn't say instead of season three it's in addition to season three so as you know pay it forward money goes not only to the financing of the seasons but to the marketing efforts as well now that said our company uh the chosen llc the company that does all this and that puts on this live stream that has you know now coming up over 35 employees and kind of helps just year-round put all our social media together that's not none of that is financed out of the pay it forward money that only comes from gifts so i'm going to do this real quick and then i'm going to show you uh the new scene from season three tonight is the very last night tonight at midnight if you're watching this after sunday night unfortunately you won't have the opportunity to get this shirt one of my favorites to get used to different red limited edition it's the last night to get the the wristbands says the chosen army says get used to different says the chosen says come and see says ben jesus these wristbands for only five bucks after tonight they go back to regular price and then the hats these hats were limited edition there's the teal version there's the black version noah james is still around you got one of these right which one you you you don't have this one yeah come on come on and show them how good you look look how good i look yeah see i do like this hat yeah it does look cool yeah all right we'll see you thank you and uh and then so this is the last night for those gifts are going away but then we've got finally it's finally here the first chosen mug you've been asking for it in this really cool box you've been asking for it for so long this unfortunately will not ship right away it will ship separately but the shipping will be free separate from whatever you buy if you buy only this then you will pay for shipping but if you buy this with other stuff it'll come separately and we won't charge you for the shipping it says look up a nice reminder every morning of what jesus said to mary magdalene and when you do take a sip it says the chosen and the new come and see this is the women's version i'm going to show you the dudes version um come and see world tour shirt with jesus and some of the disciples on the back it's got all the different locations that they're hitting so i love this shirt and then what i think is pretty cool welcome matt really high quality welcome mat get used to different really cool so anyway enough of that chosengifts.com so we got a note and i really want to i want to close with this i want to read this to you this has really really really moved me and i think it'll move you as well and show you again why your and how your pay it forward efforts go to reach people who otherwise would not be able to see the chosen so this is um i'll just keep it anonymous for now but she's in uh wrote this in the chosen fan club i've been in this group from its start i was an investor before a single episode was ever filmed as you may know season one of the chosen was financed entirely by 19 000 people who invested in the show they actually have an ownership stake in this series before a single episode was ever filmed i've been excited about the chosen since i originally saw the shepherd which is the short film that i made for my church that ended up being the pilot episode of the chosen i heard the story and bought it immediately to the loaves and fish so she provided her also she says so i gave a loaf oh because i had shared my story of the of loaves and fish so i gave a loaf because our ideas we provide the loaves and fish and god feeds the five thousand when season one came out i excitedly told my kids about it and tried to get them to watch as this group became a community i asked for prayers for my son josh who experienced a brain injury 11 years ago and was cycling through depression and alcohol addiction literally thousands of you have prayed for him that was three years ago he never got better he would have moments but he would get a dui and go to jail get out promise to try harder then go down the bad path again we tried medication therapy counseling classes everything only for him to end up with a probation violation or another dui and find himself in jail again dear lord the tears i've cried i'm a parent i have four kids and i haven't gone through this but i can only imagine he's in jail now and he called me a few days ago with an quote only god could do this unquote story back during covet i guess they got a grant for generic ipad tablets because inmates were confined to their rooms now they just assigned those tablets to the inmates the chosen was included in an app on the tablet well and i'll i won't give his name jay the letter j with time to kill decided to finally watch it night one episode one he watched several times he got his cellmate to watch with him first one cellmate then they set up the tablet and watched it all three of them together they called me to ask about mary and being healed of demons from episode one i answered their questions they started planning to have evenings after free time they'd go back to their cell and watch the next episode as a group in their cell he started telling everyone in jail about it he loved it so so much he knew of it because i've mentioned it for years so he got literally every single inmate all caps to watch the chosen on their tablets they're all asking him questions about jesus and several times a day he calls me to ask about a scene or the bible verse or whatever he is literally being the teacher in jail he said the chosen is going viral in there i'm stunned and shocked and amazed he said he wants that bad and then i'll a and she i love how she used uh money symbols instead of the s to hide what uh that word is but because there's children watching i won't say it that bad a binge jesus shirt that the director wears not wearing it tonight unfortunately but i we have obviously several shirts at thechosengifts.com to say binge jesus and of course we uh we're sending him some uh he also said he'd love to do the devotional we have devotional books as well that my wife was the primary writer on her writing partner so we're sending of course them a bunch of devotional books he's excited for season two as luck would have it i have every single item here i buy things as they come out just to support the show and so i have both seasons devotionals tons of shirts and season two on dvd blu-ray jay said to me quote i actually believe that this trip to jail is god's way of slapping me and telling me to get it together so we can get on with seeing god's purpose for my i life wait to see what it is this might be it y'all our prayers may finally be answered we aren't sure when he will get out but his head is in a good place and he's being the jail chaplain right now and is actually finding purpose in jail because the chosen led him there not to jail chosen in lieberman jail maybe it did who would have thought that three years ago when a little video short came out and i decided to invest a small amount that i would be investing in the thing that would one day inspire my son to be free from addiction and find god's purpose for his life i brought my little loaf and here he is using it to save my son and the whole jail incredible absolutely credible incredible i have no words to describe any of this you want to keep that up that's why you pay it forward that's why we'd make the show is we want to reach people and look we don't know what the outcome is going to be that's not up to us we just want people to see the authentic story that took place in 1st century and god will do the rest if he chooses thank you for that and as she just reminded us remember it is not your job to feed the 5 000 it is only to provide loaves and fish have a good night

Channel: The Chosen

Views: 700,684

Keywords: the chosen, the chosen tv series, bingeJesus, GetUsedtoDifferent, Faith-based, Bible show, Bible study, Christianity, church, Jesus show, what to watch, tv show, filmmaking

Id: f7_73W0gJuQ

Length: 120min 28sec (7228 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 17 2022