Dr. Tony Evans, Priscilla Shirer Follow Jesus’ Footsteps in JOURNEY WITH JESUS
By Jessilyn Lancaster, Managing Editor
Popular speaker and teacher Dr. Tony Evans brings his family along in his faith-filled directorial debut, JOURNEY WITH JESUS.
“The movie was designed to give people a visual experience of Jesus’s life and ministry in the land where it took place,” Evans tells Movieguide® of the documentary.
“When you when you are there, the Bible becomes alive, it becomes a living experience,” he continued. “It is already alive, but it becomes alive in terms of it touching your mind, your heart, your soul, because you’re walking with Jesus. We walk on the Sea of Galilee, where He did all so many miracles. It’s alive in a unique sense when you can use technology and the visual to bring that picture in people’s hearts and minds. It just helps to solidify an existing faith and strengthen a weaker one.”
According to the Movieguide® review:
JOURNEY WITH JESUS is an inspiring, informative documentary that takes viewers through the real locations of Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. The movie is hosted by the Rev. Dr. Tony Evans and his two daughters. They ask pulsing questions and give good answers. They also preach the truth of Jesus Christ through worship, commenting on the Bible and offering their own personal testimonies.The power of JOURNEY WITH JESUS lies in conversations about faith and how Christians should look to the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming of Christ for answers. In doing this, JOURNEY WITH JESUS has a very strong Christian, biblical worldview. The Gospel is preached on more than one occasion. Readings of Scripture back up the authority of God’s word. Testimonies of faith and moments of worship encourage viewers to look inward and call upon them to address their own connection to the Lord. Finally, the Evans family has great conversations that help connect the dots between the locations they visit and practical applications of faith. JOURNEY WITH JESUS is utterly inspiring and acceptable.
Evans’ daughters, Chrystal Evans Hurst and actress Priscilla Shirer, as well as other members of the Evans family, also walked where Jesus walked in the documentary.
‘The the reality of being there really does put flesh on many things that you’ve only read about [in the Bible],” Shirer tells Movieguide®. “To be on the Sea of Galilee and then see that the other side is within views, so when Jesus said, ‘Let us go over to the other side,’ they could see where He was pointing to, they could see the the end result of this direction that He was giving them, so to speak.
“The experience to stand where they believe He fed 5000 with the loaves and fish, or to see the Garden Tomb area and walk through the area where Jesus was not only buried, but was raised from the dead, all of those things caused the Bible, for me, to have even more flesh even more life to it,” the WAR ROOM and OVERCOMER actress continues. “As I read those stories now, I’m able to just sort of see it in my mind’s eye. I think that’s what this film is going to do for [the audience] that the trip did for me, allowing us to have just a more three-dimensional view of the stories that we’re reading in the scriptures.”
JOURNEY WITH JESUS also emphasizes the importance of understanding and cultivating a biblical worldview, especially in children.
“We want this to be a family experience,” Evans says. “Culture is getting to [our children] earlier and earlier, so if we can get to them early, then we can begin to establish a foundation, because you can’t build a skyscraper on the foundation of a chicken coop, you’ve got to have something solid to hold on. It’s easy to replace the glass, the windows and the roof. It is hard to fix the foundation, so why don’t we establish a foundation of faith in our children? Perhaps something like this can help solidify that in the minds and hearts of those who see it.”
JOURNEY WITH JESUS is available in theaters exclusively November 15-17. Find out more at journeywithjesusmovie.com.