Amanda Jenkins, wife of “The Chosen” creator and director Dallas Jenkins, recently spoke with ChurchLeaders about the new Bible study that covers the events depicted in Season 5 of the show.
Written by the Jenkinses and New Testament scholar Dr. Douglas Huffman, the study is titled “The Stronghold of the Chosen,” and it explores the paradox of Jesus as both stronghold and hope, even in the face of suffering and death.
Amanda, as she has done in previous conversations with ChurchLeaders, reiterated that the study isn’t about the show but rather about the Bible.
RELATED: ‘The Chosen’ Season 5 Sets Guinness World Record
“So as we were looking at some of the Old Testament prophecy, particularly Zechariah 9, [that] talks about how the Messiah is going to enter the city on a donkey—and of course, that’s what Jesus did—it calls him, in that passage, our stronghold and our hope,” she explained.
Amanda shared that the Bible study was “content for me before it was content for readers, because it was something I really needed to understand more and to go through.” Amanda said the study helped her dig deeper into Jesus’ “qualities, character, promises, and goodness.”
“I’m so thankful I was a student before we passed it on to others,” she added.
Amanda spoke about the topic of spiritual warfare and acknowledged some of the real and escalating challenges faced by the cast and crew of “The Chosen,” as well as her own family. She described what she referred to as a “running joke” regarding a “‘Chosen’ curse,” where new team members often encounter unexpected difficulties.
She explained:
We actually have a joke as we’re hiring people. It’s not totally a joke, but it’s like, okay, here there’s a “Chosen” curse. So do consider all your options before joining. People find that, when they come to work on the show, they start to have marital strife that they didn’t have before, or they start to have health issues, or they have every appliance in their house [break]. It’s the weirdest stuff.
