Dallas Jenkins on bringing the Gospel to mainstream audiences through ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’
It’s a classic tale familiar to generations: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson's story of the ragtag Herdman children whose disruptive antics somehow evolve into the most memorable Christmas pageant the town has ever seen.
Known for its humor, charm and overt Gospel message, the book, written in 1972, has been read aloud in classrooms and adapted for the stage in theaters worldwide. But for Dallas Jenkins, creator of “The Chosen,” this wasn’t just a family favorite. It was a story he felt compelled to bring to the big screen — one he waited 20 years to make.
After reading the story with his children, Jenkins was struck by the book’s portrayal of the Nativity story as “a clear Jesus message” — yet with such mainstream charm and subtlety that it reached into hearts without overt preaching.
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“When I got to the end,” Jenkins said, “I was weeping. [My wife] Amanda had to take over reading to the kids because we were both getting so emotional.”
After that reading, Jenkins felt an unshakeable calling to turn The Best Christmas Pageant Ever into a film. Yet, for years, his requests to acquire the rights were repeatedly denied as studios lined up their own productions. But Jenkins persisted, contacting the rights holder periodically.
Finally, a stroke of fate brought an unexpected twist: the rights became available just as Jenkins was making waves with “The Chosen,” his hit series chronicling the life of Jesus and His followers. “The producer’s mother had recently watched 'The Chosen' and told him, ‘You better let him do this book.’” At that moment, Jenkins' 20-year vision was set in motion.
Hitting theaters Nov. 8, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” stars Judy Greer, Pete Holmes, Lauren Graham and several of “The Chosen” cast members and follows six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town's Sunday school Christmas pageant and end up teaching the town the true meaning of Christmas.
Transitioning from the historical narrative of “The Chosen” to a comedy like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was, as Jenkins acknowledges, a tonal shift, but one rooted in similar themes.
While “The Chosen” brings a reverent and often intense approach to the Gospels, Jenkins found ways to inject humor into even its most serious scenes. In The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the dynamic flips: comedy takes center stage, but with poignant moments that ground the story in humanity and faith.
Jenkins told CP that both cinematic endeavors work as vehicles for a deeper message: connecting with the life of Jesus in ways that feel “real, breathing and authentic.”
The comedic surface of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever allows audiences to relax, but then, as Jenkins said, “the emotions hit hard,” mirroring the simple, yet powerful impact of the original book.
One memorable scene in the film highlights Grace Bradley, played by Greer, who observes, “Jesus was born for the Herdmans as much as he was for us.” Jenkins told CP this line represented the Gospel distilled — a universal message that didn’t require forceful delivery to resonate.
“It doesn't feel like some cheesy Christian message that we crowbarred into a normal movie, and it just stands out, and you're like, ‘oh, great, here's the part where you preach at me,’” he said. “I mean, it's Judy Greer, who's a great actress, delivering this line in a movie where it feels like a natural extension of the story. And I think that's why so many people who've seen it already, who aren't traditional churchgoers or believers … the message of the movie, the message of the Gospel, feels natural and normal in this mainstream Christmas comedy.”
The Herdmans — the infamous gang of unruly, underprivileged children — bring unexpected depth to the film's portrayal of the Christmas story. By casting these rough-around-the-edges children as Mary, Joseph, the wise men and the angel, Jenkins hopes audiences reconsider the traditional narratives they might have taken for granted.
“These poverty-stricken, outsider-status kids are playing the parts of Mary and Joseph and the wise men and the angel of the Lord seem like the unlikeliest people who could play these roles,” he said. “They seem the most underqualified. Well, you remember that throughout the Bible, the people who were chosen to do God's work were often also underqualified […] and that includes Mary and Joseph […] They were outsiders, they were in poverty, and they were unlikely choices for delivering the greatest story ever told and the greatest delivery ever given to the world.
“Not only are the Herdmans the unlikely choice, but they're actually, at the end of the story, I think, the obvious choice, the best choice, and they bring something to the story that we, as Americans in our suburban environment, might not always understand or might take for granted.”
Jenkins also sees the Herdmans’ journey as an important lesson for the Church today: “Maybe we are to look beneath the surface of these kids, or even adults that we sometimes judge or we assume we understand, or we can reject because they're mean, maybe we need to just look under the surface, understand the why of how they got here, and that they need Jesus as much as we do. And that also, we need the story of Jesus as much as they do as well, even though we've heard it.”
The film’s release marks a redemptive chapter for Jenkins after the disappointment of his 2017 film “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.” The film’s lack of commercial success brought Jenkins to a point of surrender, willing to give up his filmmaking ambitions in exchange for a spiritual purpose.
“I was truly willing to give everything up,” Jenkins shared, noting that since that experience, his focus has shifted from personal success to a deep commitment to his faith and craft.
His dedication has paid off, yet Jenkins remains steadfast in his priorities. “The multiplication of the loaves and fish is not up to me. I’m only responsible for the five loaves and two fish that I can provide. What happens after that is in God’s hands.”
As the holiday season approaches, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is set to hit theaters, promising a Christmas tale as accessible to families as it is meaningful to believers.
“I hope audiences laugh, cry and leave with a renewed sense of the Christmas story’s simplicity and depth,” Jenkins said. “When God calls you or rebukes you or heals you, just like in the in the show ‘The Chosen,’ He does it specific to you. He wants a relationship with you specifically. He is an intimate God. And so you, I think you see that in 'The Chosen.' I think you're going to see that in ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.’ He is a God of intimacy, and He knows the specific hearts of everyone that He is trying to reach.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
