Actor Nick Shakoour credited the hit Faith-based series āThe Chosenā for his conversion to Christianity.
In an interview with Christian Headlines, Shakoour, who portrays Zebedee, the father of James and John, in āThe Chosenā, spoke about the āmajor changeā the show has had on his life.
Although he grew up in a Christian home, he wasnāt a Christian himself. However, Shakoour said that changed after meeting ābehind-the-scenes people who are Believersā and ātheir friends and in running in their circles and starting to seek out God through them.ā
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āAnd it all accumulated to last September, where I was invited to a church conference where the next thing I knew a bunch of people surrounded me ⦠and laid their hands over me and started praying,ā Shakoour explained. āAnd I was able to experience what it was like to experience the Holy Spirit going from outside to in and it set my body into flames.ā
He added, āIt felt like my organs were all being burned away and I was being vibrated and microwaved at the same time. Thatās the best way I can describe it.ā
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, āTherefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.ā
Shakoour proceeded to get emotional as he recalled the life-changing experience, per Christian Headlines.
āI literally felt like I was given a brand new body ā brand new everything,ā he said.
He continued:
āBut since thatās happened, I donāt have the sensation of hunger, and I donāt get thirsty. So now Iāve got to go out of my way to remind myself to drink water and eat ā and I was someone that would six meals a day ⦠for the workouts. And itās like God came and went, āNo, you donāt need all those six meals.ā
āMy mind is blown by whatās happened. So the showās been a blessing and Iāve loved acting in it. But itās definitely been the conduit that I canāt help but talk about,ā he expressed.
Miraculously, Shakoour revealed that the lead construction worker on the setĀ prayed for one of the actorās salvation. He also discovered that the construction team wrote Bible verses on the wall of the sets before they were painted over ā and the first Bible verse was painted in the set of Zebedeeās home.
āHe said, āWe got together as a construction crew, and we prayed for one of the actors to receive the Holy Spirit, and would become the seed that would spread the gospel,'ā he reminisced. āItās been one mind-blowing thing after the next with whatās been happening in and outside of the show.ā
In an interview with The Christian Post in June 2023, Dallas Jenkins, the showās creator, revealed why he hires unbelievers.
āWe are not a church in which all of our employees are going to fit under one particular mission statement, one particular belief system,ā he explained. āWe are a for-profit company; weāre a media company; weāre a public company. We have investors and all of that.ā
Jenkins later added, āWhen we hire someone to work for us, our No. 1 objective is who is the best person for this job? We made a decision from the beginning that our standards is going to be āwill you work hard?'ā