For roughly three decades, animator-director John Schafer idly searched for an opportunity to get involved in making a film about the life of Jesus.
Back in the 1990s, Schafer said he felt a divine nudge to spend his filmmaking talents on sharing the story of Jesus’ ministry. He mostly shelved the prompting, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.
Four years ago, the idea for the newly released animated movie “Light Of the World” was presented to Schafer and former Disney animator Tom Bancroft over coffee by Brennan McPherson, the president of the nonprofit ministry Salvation Poem Project.
Schafer took the project as the opportunity he’d been waiting on since the ’90s. He serves as director of the film, alongside Bancroft, with McPherson as a producer.
“Light of the World” — which debuts in theaters this weekend — tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of his youngest apostle, John, which categorizes the animated feature as a “coming-of-age movie,” McPherson explained.
“We wanted to make it really fun, entertaining and engaging for audiences, but also stay true to their key scriptural beats,” Schafer said. “We made this movie for everyone to see, whether you’re a believer or whether you’re not a believer.”
He continued, “It’s fun, and it’s a different take on on Jesus. ... We really went into the human side of Jesus. So you see him joke around, laugh, smile.”
But the animated movie is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a kickoff project Salvation Poem Project hopes will guide a 30-year global ministry.
Salvation Poem Project, a nonprofit media ministry, was founded by Matthew McPherson, who solely funded the $20 million animated movie. Profits made through the theatrical release of “Light of the World” will not go back to McPherson, but toward future ministry projects.
“All of the proceeds from the theatrical launch will be reinvested and go back into ministry. None of it will line private pockets,” Brandon McPherson said.
Leaning on the hopes that “Light of the World” will be a box-office success, the money raised from ticket sales will begin a cycle of funding for Salvation Poem Project’s ongoing mission — to share stories about Jesus with the world.
Salvation Poem Project has ambitious plans for the money earned by “Light of the World.” One goal is to translate the animated movie into 500 languages, so cultures across the globe can access its message.
The nonprofit also aims to create free mini games and free children’s curriculum programs, and to produce a variety of uplifting movies and television shows.
But the primary objective right now is to get “Light of the World” in front of a global audience.
“‘Light of the World’ is really a 20- to 30-year project for us ... it’s an ongoing mission,” Schafer explained. “Making the movie was really hard, but the bigger task of getting it seen by everyone around the world in so many languages. That’s the big task.”
Jesus through John’s perspective
Creating a piece of religious entertainment that’s impactful for both children, adults, religious cultures, nonreligious cultures and everything in between is a daunting objective the Salvation Poem Project took upon itself.
The organization decided telling the story through the eyes of a young John would make the film’s message more accessible.
“We knew we wanted to tell the story from an intimate, personal point of view, because we didn’t want to tell the story from Jesus’ perspective. That’s been done before,” McPherson said. “We wanted to show an actual, intimate point of view of someone who was profoundly changed by Jesus’ ministry.”
“Light of the World” was written primarily for viewers with no concept of Jesus, or hold misconceptions about Jesus, Schafer noted. He added that the film offers a great entry point to Christianity for those who don’t know anything about Jesus.
Since it was also written as the launch of a 30-year ministry plan, Schafer said using 2D, hand-drawn animation would give the film an enduring quality.
“We wanted (’Light of the World’) to stand the test of time,” Schafer said. He believes 2D animation has an “enchanting” and “timeless” feel to it, that won’t expose its age over the next few decades as obviously as some modern animation techniques can.
“What we have with all across cultures is these children’s story books, they have this painterly feel or illustrated feel,” Schafer said. “And so if you find something that’s common with all of us — you make it more familiar. And so we could do that with 2D animation.”
Finding space in the growing faith-based genre
Within the rising flood of faith-based media, such as “The Chosen,” “House of David” and other projects, “Light of the World” will still make an impact, its creators believe.
But making an impact is not about competing with other faith-based projects. There is plenty of space for all the Jesus content, Schafer believes.
“We complement each other. We’re not competition. We’re trying to further the one kingdom,” Schafer explained. “This is God’s timing. This is his orchestration.”
Still, “Light of the World” stands out in the sea of biblical movies. Its being distributed for nonprofit, it’s told in 2D animation and tells the story of Jesus through John’s perspective, which McPherson believes has never been done before.
“We have several different goals, but the main goal is impact. We want to know that this is actually changing people’s lives for the better,” McPherson said.
He continued, “When we set out to make this, we wanted to make a film that clearly showed the beauty of Jesus to people who’d never even heard his name before, in a way that they could understand, grab a hold of and say, ‘I see why you love Jesus.’ And to give those people an opportunity to to learn more about him and to decide to follow him themselves, if they so choose.”
When does ‘Light of the World’ come out?
“Light of the World” debuts in theaters nationwide on Friday, Sept. 5. It is rated PG.