Live Loved with Jared Geesey of Angel Studios and the King of Kings Film
When Jared Geesey was a boy, he remembers his Sunday School teacher telling him that faith wouldn’t just happen because he was the son of a pastor. Jared needed to have a personal relationship with Christ.
Jared discovered the meaning of her words when he became a missionary and was forever changed. He now shares about the light of Christ as the Chief Distribution Officer and Executive Producer of King of Kings at Angel Studios.
Most important to Jared, is that his sons know "the greatest story ever told." Jared and his wife have prayed their sons would know the profound love of God and "live loved" since they were small.
In this Easter podcast, embrace the life of Christ in a new way and discover how you, too, can share the greatest story ever told.
See the film The King of Kings in a movie theatre near you now! In The King of Kings "a father tells his son the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice. The King of Kings invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love, and redemption through the eyes of a child."
Transcript
Lindy Wynne (00:01.34)
Welcome to Mamas in Spirit, a podcast pointing you towards God in everything you are and everything you do. I'm Lindy Wynne and it's a blessing to be with you. Hello everyone and happy Easter. It is a delight of my heart to wish you a happy blessed Easter and I just pray that this time is so filled with the supernatural love and joy of the Lord.
And today we are here with Jared Geesey Jared, thank you so much for joining us.
Jared Geesey (00:33.718)
My pleasure.
Lindy Wynne (00:35.339)
And Jared is the chief distribution officer at Angel Studios. And he is here. We are going to be talking about the greatest story ever told, which is one of the taglines for the movie King of Kings. And praise God that we both love Christ so much that we're really gonna dive deep into that. And also talk a little bit about the film that I saw that I am just filled with joy to talk about because Jared, I watched King of Kings with my 10 year old daughter and she was absolutely
Mesmerized.
Jared Geesey (01:06.606)
I'm so glad to hear
Lindy Wynne (01:08.782)
Yes, the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the pudding, Jared.
Jared Geesey (01:12.524)
That's right. Now do you have a cat?
Lindy Wynne (01:15.767)
I do not. I have a dog too.
Jared Geesey (01:16.768)
Okay. Well, there's a cat in the film and so sometimes, and it's actually modeled after the director's actual cat, but a lot of kids love having animals in the movie.
Lindy Wynne (01:31.009)
absolutely, she does. And the moment that I just will always remember is that, so I got to screen the movie. I was very blessed to screen the movie. So it was on my computer and she and I were cuddled up in my bed and I went to write a note about one of the things that I loved most about the movie. And she got really mad at me because I was like taking the screen down to put a note in and she got really angry and she's like, stop.
because she wanted to see the greatest story ever told. So before we get into that and really into your witness Jared, let us begin in prayer in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Dear Lord, what would we be without you? What would we be without the gift of Christ in this world? We thank you and we praise you for the greatest story ever told. And Lord, we pray that this podcast, that film and that everything we all do, all of us here gathered points all souls to you.
to your joy, to your goodness, to your everlasting love. In your name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. So Jared, first I would love for you to share some of your own heart, like your own love of Christ and what brought you to do this work because I will open and I will say that I find it providential and I'm still processing this everybody.
But one of the reasons that I'm here is because of a great witness to me, someone who witnessed Christ to me in my life. I was raised in a non-religious home and I went to a public high school, public school all the way through. And my senior year of high school, Mr. Bontrager witnessed the love of the Lord to me and my heart. He walked with me, journeyed with me, accompanied me in my senior year of high school.
And that started my conversion, my conversion to Christianity. And I found out this morning, I was supposed to leave in two days from the day that we're recording this podcast, I was supposed to leave tomorrow to see Mr. Bontrager for one last time. And sadly, this morning, I heard from his daughter that he passed away last night in the middle of the night. And so while I am so sad and
Lindy Wynne (03:49.643)
sad that I didn't get the chance to revere his life in person with him one last time. I know that he knows the impact that he had on my life and my heart. And I know as my husband said this morning, he took a rocket ship straight to heaven. He is just one of the most beautiful souls, one of the best men I've ever known. So I'd like to dedicate this mini retreat in a podcast to him and his witness to the greatest story and really the greatest love story ever told. So
Jared, I wonder from you and your heart and me just sharing that from the get-go, what you would like to share with us about your own heart and conversion in Christ.
Jared Geesey (04:26.83)
Yeah. Thank you for that question. I will say, one of the things that I love about the King of Kings is that it really is a story of somebody doing that. It's a father telling his son about who Jesus is. And so in my own life, I always grew up in the church. My father is a...
is a minister and so I mean all my childhood memories are going to you know at church all the time and so what I knew a lot of about about who God was in my head but it it it didn't sink into my heart about his grace and his love for who for for me
until after college and I actually was involved in a mission group that used the arts to share the Gospel But when you have to put the truth of who God is and his love on your own lips, there's something about it that causes you to hear it, hear it for yourself in different ways. And so we, I was involved in this music ministry where it was an ecumenical organization where we would do the music for
for the Masses and then we would do concerts in the evening and we lived on a bus and traveled all around the world and got a chance to really see the global body of Christ and just the many different people that love Jesus. And it really opened my eyes to see God's goodness and to see...
to see his transforming power of his love. And every night we would just talk about the power of the cross and God's love and his forgiveness that's available to us. And it seems like it was the same thing we were saying over and over, but every night that would sink more and more into my heart.
Jared Geesey (06:36.062)
And even though I knew it was the, what I think they call it, the 18 inch journey from head to heart, really was that kind of an experience. so that became for me a journey of saying, how do I continue to be involved and use the arts to share goodness and beauty and truth? And so I've been involved in films.
And since then that was music, but but I got involved in the film space which has music and and and beauty and many parts of in that work of art since then and I've been involved with helping build platforms for filmmakers for the last 20 years and so grateful to have joined Angel Studios about four years ago to to help really accelerate and and just
build a platform for these stories. And I think there's a moment happening in culture, and I think worldwide, where these kinds of stories are, they're no longer being secluded to just the Christian subcultures, but they're now available in the public square of our local movie theater. And that's happening worldwide. And I think these are amazing opportunities.
to also witness and to share and invite people who want to know more about the faith that we have and in a very accessible way. And so that's a journey in the nutshell for me, but yeah, it's been being involved in actually witnessing myself to others helped me hear and understand God's grace and love at deeper levels.
Lindy Wynne (08:02.156)
.
Jared Geesey (08:25.942)
So I'm just so grateful for the opportunities to have been able to do that and to be able to do so through the arts.
Lindy Wynne (08:32.724)
Yes, yes, praise God. Thank you so much for sharing all of that, Jared. And for those of you who don't know, King of Kings, it's an animated film that tells the story of Jesus through a father really telling the story to his son. And it's very dynamic and very engaging. And one of the things that I found most beautiful about it, Jared, which I think invites us all into this, is that the little boy
walks through the story of Jesus, through his miracles, through the passion, everything, all parts of it, as if he is in the scene. And in the Catholic tradition, there's a spirituality called Ignatian spirituality, and there's a way of prayer called Ignatian contemplation. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, Jared, or listeners, but it's very simple. And it's that we place ourselves as however the Holy Spirit draws us into the scene.
whatever scene that we're reading or that we're seeing from scripture and especially from the gospels. And so to see the little boy do that and that personal love for him reflects the personal love for each one of us. And at first the little boy is upset with his father and disinterested in the story, but then he can't help because it's the greatest story ever told to not only become so fully engaged that he's like in the story with Christ.
And I just love that because I felt like it reflected so deeply, much like when I talked about Mr. Von Traeger a little bit ago, God's personal love for each one of us. And I think that it reminds us just as the dad is sharing with the little boy, the story and the mom's there too, that our one witness, each one of us choosing to say yes to Christ and intimately telling one human being about the love of God can completely.
change their lives because my life was changed that way. Like if I hadn't have landed in Mr. Bontrager's class his last year of teaching, my senior year of high school, his last year before he was retiring, no one may have ever told me the greatest story or not in the way that he witnessed it to me with such joy and such passion. And that's why I know that I found out about his passing while we're recording this Easter podcast because he was the most joyful.
Lindy Wynne (10:51.697)
most like interiorly free man that I've ever known despite whatever was unfolding in his own life. He's got children and grandchildren and all of our lives have trials and disappointments and things that we wouldn't have wanted to unfold for ourselves and those we love. Yet what always remained in him was his sense of mission to share the love of Christ and his joy, his palpable, palpable joy. And so Jared, in this film, it really
encourages that that sense of in Christ's personal love for each one of us so for you I'm wondering like as You had this experience when you were younger and you really got to see like our worldwide Christianity and love of Christ which that's just profound many people never get to see that in their lifetime and Share that through arts and then also living your own personal life How how has God how has Christ through this film?
through the work that you've done just intimately and personally in your life, continue to reveal this awe of God and to heal time and time again to be in God's joy.
Jared Geesey (12:01.198)
Mmm.
I love that you said joy. We were working on the trailer for King of Kings and you always have some text in between that helps tell the story you're showing a little bit of the film and then some music. And there's a line in the trailer that says, father's greatest joy and a father's greatest joy. And the next line is raising his son.
And there's, and it's showing Jesus. There's obviously dual meaning because it's showing Jesus, but it's showing the character of Charles Dickens and his own son. And, and I loved that when we came up with that, just, all of a sudden it just resonated. Everyone knew that was the exact wording that needed to be there, especially leading into Good Friday and Easter. And when we're releasing this movie, and so.
I think when I saw that and I saw the film for the first time myself, especially I'm father of three boys and I'm always, I think as parents we're always looking for things to, you know, you wanna share your faith with your own children and you're bringing them to church with you and they're participating. But I had a Sunday school teacher when I was,
growing up who always would tell me it's not a package deal, Jared, just because your father's a minister doesn't mean it's automatic for you. Like you have to form your own faith and your own relationship with Christ. And so I am always looking for things and that's what I love about this film and I hope that people will impact it. I'm excited for my own kids to see it. They're older teenagers now, but this film, I think, it gives us another tool to do that.
Lindy Wynne (13:52.841)
you
Jared Geesey (14:00.11)
And that's something that I think we all have a longing as parents to, is to have our kids understand and to know that God loves them, to know that they are loved and live loved. I think that's such a hard...
You never know how the Holy Spirit's gonna speak to your kids, I think, or to yourself. so listening and creating opportunities for those kinds of witness to happen, I think is really, really important. I'm digressing off your question a little bit, but that word joy just reminded me of the trailer there. I didn't want to dimension that.
Lindy Wynne (14:35.048)
.
Jared Geesey (14:42.678)
Yeah, I think the global body of Christ is such a something that's been seared into my awareness. A lot of what I do now is to help. We're excited this film's gonna be in 50 countries. And so just seeing that the body of Christ is global and that people are...
people are excited and love Jesus all over the world, of course. It sounds simple to say that, but having a chance to see a little bit of that, it really birthed a desire in my heart to continue to support that and to build, to create tools and stories and be a part of helping bring films like this to people all around the world so that they can find ways of again, sharing that same joy.
Lindy Wynne (15:33.288)
Yes, and I really felt like when my daughter was watching it and she experiences all the things of different formation through church, through us at home, and just in general in her life, the people that she's around, she's very blessed. Yet I did feel like the film made a little etching in her heart that was unique and meeting her with that medium and having it be so high quality and so well done. And it's almost like it shows like the
the many parts of one body in Christ, how all of you come together there with different talents and different giftings and whatnot, yet the commonality of a love of Christ and wanting to share that message, how it comes through in this one particular film. And Jared, you said something that I don't know if I heard you right that I wanna ask you about because I thought it was so precious and I'd like you to talk more about it. Did you say that you like your children to live loved?
Jared Geesey (16:31.148)
Yes.
Lindy Wynne (16:32.743)
Can you talk more about that?
Jared Geesey (16:36.522)
something my wife and I would pray over our boys throughout their childhood that they wouldn't know that they are loved and live that way. I think that changes everything. If you know that
Jared Geesey (16:55.79)
If you just, I think it moves it from belief to something that creates, that's the source of that joy. And where if you know that you are unconditionally loved by the creator of the universe, I think that that's something that we know and hope our children experience from us as parents. But I think sometimes religion and faith can be used as a tool of guilt and shame.
And I mean, obviously there are sins we need to repent of and I am not trying to discount all of that, but at its fundamental base to know that you are a dearly loved child of God. That's something that I think is just the foundation for everything I want my kids to walk out and live from.
Lindy Wynne (17:50.225)
I so appreciate you saying that. And Jared, I don't think that's too negative or anything else because it's interesting having been raised not in a religious home and then encountering Christ through others, especially Mr. Bontrager, yet others as well. God was very generous to me. And then being drawn into the Catholic Christian church. And I think that I probably went in idealized, like I'd been found, like this was it. And it is it for me, just in this sense.
I have had to heal because of my own expectations is that I think I thought because everybody loved the Lord and loved Christ, that somehow we would manage human relationships in a way that was divine, but were human. We need the divine. We need the divine and we need constant reconciliation and return. Even the apostles fell asleep in the garden and we would have all done that too. No one of us, I mean, no.
Those are the apostles. Those were the chosen 12. And yet we would have fallen asleep too. And so for me, I think as you're talking about formation too, and us all being formed, is that we need constant formation in this life because of our humanness. And yeah, God sees us in our completeness. Like you're saying, in the very first podcast of the season, this man, Dr. Bob Schutze came on and said, God sees us first in our completeness.
And that's a lot about what you're talking about, Jared. think too is that that love and working from knowing that we're loved. And I'm just gonna be really honest and say, for me, because I don't know about for you, Jared, or about for everybody listening, yet for me, I cannot say, like, I know that I am loved and I knew that I was loved in some way as a child, yet I also had a poverty of that deep desire of being loved. There's this beautiful quote.
by Saint Mother Teresa that says that there is no greater poverty than the poverty of feeling or being unloved. And so the greatest story ever told is because it is from love itself. And that is the love that it always is and that we have an invitation to return to every day of our lives.
Jared Geesey (20:08.046)
I mean, scripture tells us that God is love. And so that I think that's an important place to begin. I was going to say that the also really resonate with what you're saying about just needing to be reminded. For me and for our family, for our journey during the pandemic, we started just watching a church service online via streaming.
And then we moved and felt very disconnected from the body of Christ. And we moved to the Minnesota area to be near family in Minneapolis, Twin Cities area. And we started attending a Lutheran church near the corner. And it was so important to me to reconnect with the Eucharist every week and that
and to be participating with the physical body of Christ in my neighborhood for that exact reason that I needed to receive and needed to be reminded of who God is and who I am and to receive the reminder of that, of His grace on a weekly.
renewing basis and it was such a contrast, think, after coming out of a pandemic for us and how our family had worked through that time period. It's been such a gift. And so that reminder, I think, is so key. It's not a, well, now I know it and I understand that I'm loved and then now I get to just go about the rest of my life like it is a practice.
Lindy Wynne (21:58.148)
Yes, it is a practice. It is a daily spiritual practice and engagement. It's so true. And what you're saying reminds me of 2 Corinthians 12, 9, that His grace is sufficient. God's grace is sufficient. And Jared, I would love to know from you, since you brought up the pandemic, we see these things in life that are so, so difficult. It's like we just emerged from our basement for the last week.
because we're recording this after like legendary storms came through. And you know, when we were up in the basement multiple nights in the middle of the week and, and it's just a reminder always in a sense of like our smallness and the grandeur of God. And, and yet like real fatalities and difficulties happen from storms. The pandemic was so difficult for us. And there are so many things like I talked about even becoming Catholic and
how there are things that I've seen or experienced that have been really painful and difficult within the church and even my very self. Like we are all sinners, nobody is devoid of that on this earth. And so I'm wondering for you, like thinking about the King of Kings and how we are called to have a childlike faith and that Jesus says, let the children come to me. How do you hopefully by the grace of God go to God?
And engage in life and like even when you think of your boys and I know they're teenagers now and that can get so much more it gets difficult in a difficult way a different way at times but like how how do you engage in your faith to hopefully by the grace of God have your own heart and being purified to not stay in the mind like you talked about and to be in the heart a Purified heart to love with the love of a child
Jared Geesey (23:44.034)
Yeah, that's good. I'm well, I'm no expert at it and and
need God's grace daily, I would say for me it's having a practice of prayer. think that's so key to getting back to that, to remembering it's easy to be distracted.
One of my favorite scenes in the film that I think is most beautiful is when they have Jesus walking on the water and he asks Peter to come to him. Peter gets distracted by the waves and begins to sink and Jesus reaches down and pulls him up. And I think that's life, know, all of the things that are happening and distracting us and to take our eyes and focus off of Jesus and to distract our faith.
And that's when we start to feel lost and feel like we're sinking and and so I think there's a refocusing and a meditation that is so key to just remembering remind it were so forgetful and When I recenter and remind myself of who he is and what he's doing and what he's calling and asking me to do That's where I it restores
that sense of purpose and childlike faith. That's what it is for me.
Lindy Wynne (25:15.392)
Yeah, that's so beautiful. Thank you for sharing that Jared and
I think about how Mr. Bontrager just passed away last night from this recording, so not even 24 hours ago. And for those of you who don't know, when I record my podcasts, I have a number of things in front of me which really reflect keeping my gaze on Christ and keeping my gaze on heaven, because our time on earth is finite, and yet heaven is eternal, and that's the hope, and that's the hope of Easter.
And so having lost him, I cannot help but think that I will likely put either something that he gave me, because I do have a Bible and actually he didn't give it to me. This is even more dear and more tender. When I was a senior in high school, my parents' relationship was really falling apart and they ended up separating right after I graduated, right before I went to college. So was a very strange time and not that there's,
I mean, every time's a strange time for a family to fall apart. I don't believe that that's in God's plan or hope for us. And yet it was such a tender time in my development to be leaving home and also losing my family at the same time. And Mr. Bontrager seemingly sent my mom, without marking the envelope, a Bible in the mail to her.
at my childhood home that she was still living in at the time. And I think about that intentionality. And I think about the parable of the last sheep and Jesus going after the one. And basically that's what Mr. Bontrager did throughout his entire life was go after the one. Even when he was living in a manufactured home community, the last time that I saw him in life in person, he saw
Lindy Wynne (27:14.306)
the community that he lived in as like the battleground, know, the ground to go minister to people and love people one by one. So he talked about this man that was like bedridden or couchridden and how he would go visit him and pray with him. I don't think that the man was a believer. I think he, I think the time with Mr. Bontrager, he got to see how he was loved, going back to what you were saying before, Jared. And I see how,
with Mr. Bontrager, maybe I'll end up having that Bible because my mom ended up giving me that Bible just about two years ago. She gave it to me and I wrote a little marking in it that it was from him to my mom in 1995. That's how long ago, he lived a very long life, praise God. That's when he sent it. So I have that Bible. So I will likely put that Bible right here with the things that remind me most of heaven.
because the love that he shared was heavenly. It was a reflection of Christ's love that is heaven itself, eternal love itself. And this is just a beautiful reminder to all of us to go after the one. Like you are saying, Jared, with your sons and what you and your wife hope that your sons know is to go after each of our children. If we have children as the one or our neighbors or...
our friends, our extended family members in the freedom, the interior freedom of peace and joy, love and hope itself in Christ. And so Jared, I don't know why this is coming to heart for me, but it is. So being that this is Mamas in Spirit Jared, is there any way that you would also encourage us? I don't know why, maybe because your wife said that. I keep thinking of your wife. Like, is there any way that you kind of go after her or her heart to...
to help her to know that she's loved or even ways that you witness her love for you or for your boys, her love of Christ, because I love what she said about living love.
Jared Geesey (29:25.358)
my goodness. mean.
Yeah, her heart for our boys is everything. So.
Yeah, one of the things she decorated their room that I love, she put on the wall to love justice and seek mercy. And her heart for them is that they would know and love Jesus. And so we have not...
We try to talk with our kids about their faith at home. We don't expect that to happen, that formation to just happen outside of our home, although we do things like to participate and bring them to church and all of those things. it's something that I'd recognize. They have to have their own very real personal experience. And so her heart is for that. know that
Sometimes I'll wake up at night and I'm thinking about something work-related if she's waking up at night. It's because she's praying for Praying for them and if they're out wondering if they're home all the normal the normal things that moms do So yeah, we are always trying to to ask ourselves
Jared Geesey (30:57.912)
How can we create opportunities for them to pray that God will bring people and relationships and around them that will exemplify his message and his love for them, not so that they're just hearing it at church and not so they're only hearing it from mom and dad. Yeah.
Lindy Wynne (31:20.286)
Yes, that's so beautiful. And that verse might be from Micah 6.8. I'm not totally sure, but to think about the fact that
She intentionally and mindfully put that on the walls of her boys rooms and hoping that it would resonate and be etched forever in their hearts is so beautiful. And I think what you're pointing to too, Jared, is that we cannot force our children to return fully to the Lord. We cannot force conversion. And Mr. Bontraker,
He shared something with me and then with our oldest children who had the blessing of meeting him in person that showed about this invitational love of the Lord. And that is that he would always carry quarters and he would put a quarter in the palm of his hand. Maybe you've seen this before Jared and he'd hold the palm of his hand out with a quarter in it and he'd say, this quarter symbolizes the love of the Lord and it's always here for you.
this quarter, this love of the Lord is always here for you. And there it was in his outstretched palm. And yet you don't have to take it. Like you can take it if and when you ever choose. And I remember really trying to share that with my younger brother and giving him a Bible. He's in a podcast from a couple years ago, baptized at 42. And I remember wanting to share
This is the way often that living witness works is wanting to share in a sense what Jesus shared with me through Mr. Bontrager with my brother. And so I gave my brother a Bible and I taped in the Bible a little coin. It actually had an angel on it. And I shared with him the same message. And I think that Bible landed in the rafters of the home he lived in at the time for like 12 years until he took it down.
Lindy Wynne (33:24.574)
and he took the coin out and became baptized. He was baptized at 42. And so it's providing opportunities for our children. And this is one, this film is an opportunity to share with them the greatest story ever told.
Jared Geesey (33:45.806)
That's right. That's the... And you just, have no idea how, I mean, the Holy Spirit is speaking to people all the time in all kinds of ways. And you never know how He's going to use you and use a Bible or use a quarter example. We had a film earlier this year where a teacher gave his student a Hershey's bar and...
But that student hadn't eaten in like three days and that was like, it was a gift to him and he thought there was strings attached to it, but there wasn't, but it was the beginning of an amazing transformation in his life, just the simple act of a candy bar. And so there are so many things we don't know. That's why I think we just have to always be asking God to open our eyes to see.
and what he's asking us to do around us. And it can be a movie too, you know? I don't think you can abdicate to a movie. You just go watch a movie and then it's gonna happen. But I think it can be a tool if there are conversation points afterwards. And I think what I love about King of Kings is I think it gives, it makes the story of Jesus accessible. And it's such a well done way that you can have.
great conversations with really kids of all ages about it. So we hope families will go and enjoy this film. mean, we think this can be, so far it looks like this might be the, I mean, we'll see what happens here, but it has the potential to be the biggest animated theatrical release since Prince of Egypt, which was like 1998. So it's, you know, there's a whole generation of kids who've grown up and sent stories like that.
And that was an Old Testament story and wasn't certainly about Christ overtly or specifically. So I just think it's such a great opportunity. And I also think we need to celebrate the artists who who dare to tell stories that are in the public square of our culture. Yes, we can talk about these things in our homes and we should.
Jared Geesey (36:09.418)
and in our churches. But one of the things I'm so grateful to be a part of at Angel is that we are bringing these stories that amplify light into the public square of the movie theater and to where they're available for everyone. And I think that's how the arts used to be. And I think people of faith, and I think Catholics have a track record than the Protestants of
using art as an expression of faith, which has been fascinating to me as I get to work with filmmakers of lots of different denominations and backgrounds. But what I so admire is that there's a chance and these artists are putting these stories into the public square. And I think we need to...
Recognize that that is a rare and hard thing and we have to celebrate those kinds of moments If we want more of them if we want if we are if we feel frustrated with how culture it is And that the stories are full of nihilism and darkness. Well, now's the time the chance to celebrate the stories that are good and true and beautiful and That kind of when we do that when we engage in these kinds of
stories that are in the public. That's what helps cultivate the kind of culture that we're hoping to create change for.
I think that's the exciting opportunity for what's happening here with King of Kings, especially coming up on opening weekend. And my encouragement to people is to please come opening weekend. makes a difference. It's the way movies work. Everything is about opening weekend in terms of how long it will be available. So if you think you're going to go, don't wait.
Jared Geesey (38:00.31)
how on April 11th or that weekend it makes a big difference to helping other people see it, gives a message to the theaters that this is a movie that should stick around and be available. there's a unique time I think happening in the film and art space right now in our culture and we're just really excited to be a part of it.
Lindy Wynne (38:22.446)
Yes, I love that you share that and that is so hope-filled to see a shift and this great shift that's been happening in these last years with films like this that are making it to the public arena. And you also said a couple other things, Jared, that you probably didn't even realize that I just love because when we talk about our gaze being fixed on Christ, I really love how you say,
that you work with all of these different filmmakers of all these different denominations and that you come together to glorify Christ because that is what unifies us, Christ. And I see here so many things at times that I have to reshift my gaze right to Christ because sometimes we say things that divide or separate, but we are called to be one body in Christ and we are called to be unified in that. And so I just appreciate that so deeply.
And also to what you're saying is that the more we all encourage and come together to support Christ in the public arena, the more Christ will be in the public arena. The more lives like my own that hopefully can be touched and moved and shared. And I think we always have to ask ourselves is whatever I'm about to do or is whatever I'm about to say, is that in the light or is that in darkness? Because we are called to be children of the light. And last thing about the film.
is that my favorite moment in the entire film was the teeniest, tiniest moment. And it's when the little boy in the movie is standing there and Christ enters the scene as the same age. So it's like these two little boys come face to face for just a moment. it literally, you could blink and miss it.
but it was so tender and so precious because that is what I believe that we can lovingly encourage with our children is that Christ child meets them children right where they are. And that's the beauty too of things like this film is like it meets them right where they are like Christ loves them right where they are just as they are and in the beautiful purity of their hearts that
Lindy Wynne (40:38.895)
that is so childlike and so beautiful that we're all called to. And so I just, hope and I pray that we all, myself included, just slow down and take moments with our children to just be with them right where they're at because that's what Christ does. And that's how they'll know the love of Christ. Like me as an adolescent in high school with Mr. Bontrager, he saw me exactly as I was in that very moment.
He met me where I was. I didn't need to fix a thing. I was kind of a hot mess. My family was falling apart. I was dramatic. I was emotional. I was longing. I was thirsty and I was hungry and he showed me Christ. And so I pray that for all of us that we bring the good news. And I just realized that the Bible, the Bible that he gave me is actually right in front of me, which I did not notice right before that.
And the Bible that he gave is really only the New Testament that he gave my mom and it's good news for modern man. And I believe he picked it up at a thrift store, so beautiful and sent it to my mother. So good news for modern man. And that's what we're trying to do here. We are trying to bring the good news, the good news of Christ, the good news of the Lord to each and every person we meet.
especially those in the intimacy because that's where God meets us. God meets us in the intimacy, just like that little moment shared between Christ child and the little boy in the movie. So Jared, thank you so much. Is there anything else you'd like to share other than obviously we encourage everyone to go bring your children, bring grandchildren, encourage your friends to bring their children or grandchildren. And I would not share this if I didn't already see the film and just feel like it was just very, very beautiful.
Jared Geesey (42:59.148)
You have, if this movie is something that someone for whatever reason felt like they couldn't afford to go see it, we've had people pay it forward so that you can go see this movie and take kids to see it. And so that, I thank you for the chance to just talk about this film and I hope it creates a lot of amazing stories for parents and kids around the story of Jesus.
Lindy Wynne (43:25.399)
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Jared. And could you please close us in prayer?
Jared Geesey (43:29.43)
Yeah, my pleasure. pleasure. Heavenly Father, thank you for for Lindy and her podcast and all these listeners. And I just asked that that you would help us to be like Mr. Bontreger was in her life that you would give us. You would just open our eyes to see kids around us, friends around us that need to know that they are loved.
I pray that you would just open our hearts to have the courage and the boldness to speak truth, to share who you are and what you've done in our own hearts and our own lives, and that we would live loved. And as we do that, others would know that you love them as well. And we thank you for that today, in Jesus' name.
Lindy Wynne (44:21.076)
Amen. Jared, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. And I just wish God's abundant blessings on you and everyone that you work with and your precious family and everyone gathered. So with Mr. Bontraker, I was messaging with his daughter, his precious daughter Janell today, because she had to tell me because I was supposed to jump on a plane tomorrow to go see him. And at the very end of her note,
that her last note she said, the last thing she said was, he loved you very much. He loved you very much. And as we're talking about living loved, living loved, I just pray that whatever you've experienced in your life, whatever it is, whatever your home of origin was like or wasn't like, whatever your school age years were like,
whatever all the years like have been since, that you are profoundly loved. You are loved by God beyond your imagination. And I pray that you know that in your head and that over time it seeps into the depths of your heart. And I pray that you too live loved. Can't wait to be together again next time. This is Lindy Wynne with Mamas in Spirit. May God bless you and yours.
always.