and accurately reported the essen-
tial elements of Jesus teachings, life,
death, and resurrection. They’re early
enough, they’re rooted into the right
streams that go back to Jesus and
the original people, there’s continuity,
there’s proximity, there’s verification of
certain distinct points with archaeol-
ogy and other documents, and then
there’s the inner logic.” relate to? Have they ever considered
the evidence for Jesus? These conver-
sations will become the most import-
ant part of the evening. And we have
created many resources for churches
to use in creating a campaign built
around the movie -- a perfect topic in
the Easter season. We’re praying for
all kinds of spiritual action to break out
as a result of the film!
Q: As the story translated to screen,
what surprised you most? Q: You have a deeply experienced
cast. Can you tell me about them?
Strobel: I was taken aback by the
power of film to tell our story with such
emotional punch and yet also cre-
atively convey convincing evidence
for the resurrection at the same time.
The movie brings back so many mem-
ories of a tumultuous time in our mar-
riage. My wife Leslie has seen it 10
times already. When I asked why she
keeps watching it, she said: “Because
I want to get ‘cried out’ so that when
I see it in a theater in public I don’t
embarrass myself by weeping.” So
this is very personal for us. But we’re
thrilled with the faithfulness with which
Pure Flix has adapted our story to film.
Even if it’s uncomfortable to see our
lives depicted before we were Chris-
tians, it’s worth it if people respond to
our story by starting their own spiritual
journey toward Christ. Bird: I can’t say enough about our
terrific cast in The Case for Christ. We
have Academy Award-winning and
Academy Award-nominated actors
such as the legendary Faye Dunaway
and the deeply respected Robert
Forster, a Tony-winner in L. Scott Cald-
well, and one of the top character
actors working today in Frankie Fais-
on. But this film is an epic love story as
much as it is an apologetics mystery,
and it’s Mike Vogel as Lee Strobel
and Erika Christensen as Leslie Strobel
who just knocked the whole thing out
of the park. I wrote the words, but
it was Mike and Erika, working with
our amazing director, Jon Gunn, who
brought it all up off the page, put
those characters on their feet and
made the film authentic and real. I
can’t now imagine anybody else
playing those roles.
Q: How do you see churches, groups
or individuals using this movie to start
conversations?
Strobel: I hope Christians will take a
relational risk and invite their spiritual-
ly seeking friends to see the film with
them -- and then go out to coffee af-
terwards and have a discussion about
the movie. What character did they
We encourage you to use this movie
as an outreach tool. Invite friends and
family! Research shows that 35% of all
people who see a faith-based movie
are unchurched,* meaning the mov-
ie theater is a safe place for them to
seek answers about faith.
* pluggedin.focusonthefamily.com/theyll-know-christians-movies/
Solutions 15