JWK: I hear your child in the background. What his name again?

Jenn Gotzon: We call him Baby James. He is 1-1/2 years old as of yesterday. He is what one would call an extraordinarily adventurous little boy. We’re making a sequel to The Farmer and the Belle and it has a bull-riding story to it. So, we went bull-riding watching at the PBR and he has since jumped on a pillow, on a giraffe and he rides the bull! He moves his arm back and forth and he makes the sound like he’s a little bull rider.

JWK: Sounds like fun! So, how’d the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) convention go?

JG: Oh, gosh, John, it was incredible! You know it felt as if there was an anointing from the Lord that fell down upon the entire community at NRB. You know when Moses went up to the mountain and the cloud of God came down? That’s what it felt like. We had such a successful meeting. There were wonderful conversations about a really exciting future for our sequel and our franchise The Farmer and the Belle.

JWK: So, you’re planning on making more than one sequel?

JG: We are. Our sequel is going to be about how to have a fulfilling marriage. We’ll be using biblical and psychological truths focusing on the love and respect aspect.

JWK: Sounds good. Maybe you could even make a TV series out of it.

JG: You never know. I’m a big fan of feature films because you’ve got a beginning, middle and end in one sitting…So, our first movie is about inspiring inner beauty, the second is about how to have a fulfilling marriage and the third will be about parenthood.

JWK: So, like a trilogy.

JG: Exactly. All of it’s inspired (by) our family. We have fun. We (create) a really fun narrative (through) creative choices. Like in our second movie, Jim, who plays the farmer (of the title), tries his hand at roping calves, doing barrels with a horse and, in the finale, riding a bull. That’s just fiction in our life but we thought it be a really fun analogy and allegory for marriage – about the grit and endurance that you need to have in a rodeo and riding a bull, just like in a marriage. So, we’ll have fun and have a good time watching the movie. (It’s) a good story. Bob Sáenz is our writer. He writes regularly for a lot of your network television movies – like on Hallmark and Lifetime. We’re real grateful to have a skilled man…

JWK: Are you there?

JG: I am. Jim just walked into the room. He’s working. He’s in college right now! So, if you have any questions for Jim, he’s here!

JWK: Jim, good to talk with you again! Did I just hear that you’re taking college classes?

Jim E. Chandler: Yeah! I’ve gone back to school and I’m getting an associate’s in psychology.

JWK: Where are you going?

JEC: I’m going to Hudson County Community College in Union City, New Jersey…I already have several credits from a previous university. I didn’t graduate from that university and now I’m getting an associate’s.

JWK: Do you feel that that will make you a better storyteller?

JEC:  Yeah, I believe so. That’s probably the reason why I’m doing it – just to better understand how people think, why people think the way that they think and also to better understand myself so that I approach situations from a more open space to be a better leader and then, in doing so, a better storyteller because so much of what you do behind the scenes ends up making it on the screen whether you think it does or not. It’s very possible that the quality of the lighting can change based on whether or not somebody feels like they’re being honored by their leadership in the production of the film. People are always striving to give their best when they feel honored and appreciated on the set. Part of the way to do that is to understand different perspectives but also to acknowledge people’s input.

JWK: So, beyond the Farmer and the Belle sequels, what else to you folks have in development?

JG: I’m super excited because we just launched a five-part video Bible study that has unique breathing exercises based on my journey as an actor, including visualizations of…how to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I partner it with each chapter of the devotional book Divine Beauty: Becoming Beautiful Based on God’s Truth that I co-wrote with Michelle Cox. You might know her from the devotional books she writes with Brian Bird who is the creator of When Calls the Heart. We’re so thrilled she wrote Divine Beauty with me. That’s one of the most exciting things that we launched this season. Now, I’m going around the country speaking on inspiring inner beauty and helping women and teen girls really find freedom from feeling insecure about how they look…This is targeted to the 90% of women who struggle with their looks – feeling ugly, worthless and…like they really have no purpose in life. We take psychology and biblical truths and we destroy that lie…

…What’s also unique is the bracelet from the movie The Farmer and the Belle…It follows the instructions on the bracelet. So, after someone’s done with the Bible study they can get the bracelet and wrap those biblical truths around their wrists to continue to remind them why they are God’s masterpiece.

JWK: What are some of those inscriptions?

JG: There are five charms. Each charm on the bracelet has several inscriptions that help us provide a pathway to true beauty.

The first one is all about your physical appearance. We take the very famous Psalm 139 verse. We actually use The Message translation where it says “Body and soul, I am marvelously made!” (so) that someone can physically touch their body and visualize their soul and realize that they are marvelously made in Jesus…

…The second one deals with those soul wounds that enter in when we’re a little girl. Maybe someone said something mean about what we looked like or we had a difficult time with our family growing up. That one’s all about – as it tells us in Romans – being tranformed by the renewing of our mind. Be that overcomer!..

…the third charm is all about the joy of Jesus. You have a “joyful countenance in the Lord/a joyful spirit in the Lord!” When we use, as it tells us in First Peter, whatever gift God has given us – and we use that gift to serve others and we do it joyfully – that is the most attractive quality that you can have. So, it doesn’t matter when you look in the mirror what your hair looks like, what your body looks like (or) what skin color you have. It’s the joy if using the gift to serve others (that) is most beautiful.

Then, the fourth charm is about your purpose – being obedient to your calling – and to know that, with God all things are possible and that He has “plans to prosper us and not to harm us.” When we’re walking in the calling, that confidence in Jesus – the confidence of who He created us to be – is absolutely beautiful.

But…the most important out of all of them – the reason why a woman or a girl wants to look attractive and get likes and shares and hearts on their social media and in person – is because we are desiring/thirsting/craving to be loved. So, if we are getting our love from man, man will fail us – but, if we get our love from Jesus, Jesus will never leave us, never abandon us.

So, the fifth charm is a heart that actually adjusts to fall into the palm of your hand. It dangles so you grasp that part and the prayer is “Open my heart. Jesus, help me to grasp how wide, how long and deep is Your love for me.” We (need to) hold onto Jesus’ love that literally lifts us up and out of needing the favor of man. So, that’s what the devotional book goes through and the Bible study goes through and that’s what follows the inscriptions on the bracelet.

JWK: What sort of feedback have you received?

JG: John, it’s been incredible! We have been blown away. We literally had 10% of people who watched The Farmer and the Belle this past November and December find us on the website to actually purchase a bracelet – because we’re not advertising the bracelet….We had about a million people watch the movie and we had about 100,000 people reach out to want to participate. I think those are the accurate numbers. I could be off. That’s incredible!

We’ve heard stories. A grandmother said “I gave (this) to to my granddaughter and she said ‘Grammy, I didn’t know I was beautiful because God made me His masterpiece!'” And then we heard of a woman who was in her thirties and she said – because she was very physically attractive – “When I go to church, the pastor never looks at me in my eyes. I don’t know why – and I always feel less than.” She goes “I just realized, if I could get my love from Jesus, that’s Who will make me whole.” We’ve been hearing countless stories of women explaining how this bracelet (empowers them). They will not take it off.

And then this is one of the neatest things that I saw. A ten-year-old, when we were at Madison Square Garden for the Grit & Grace Girls event at the PBR (Professional Bull Riding), was about to step on out on the dirt in front of the thousands of people there…and we caught her holding onto the bracelet, holding onto the heart and moving it into the palm of her hand. She was asked (about that) later on and she goes “I was holding onto Jesus – because I was scared.” Those are the moments that we realize this ministry has been making (a difference) in people’s lives. We are beyond humbled that God has appointed our team of 400-plus people to help champion and shepherd this message along.

JWK: When you say “400-plus people” who are you talking about?

JG: Those would be from concept – when we started. I designed the jewelry but we had to create prototypes through that whole journey. We came up the concept for the children’s book (and) we came up with the concept for the devotional book but then it takes multiple people to write it, to edit it, to put it in format, to manufacture it (and) to print it – because we’re self-published. And then you have the movie and you have the script development and then you have our consultants like Dick Rolfe (founder of) Dove Foundation, Ted Baehr at Movieguide and just an astronomical group of people – of psychologists like Greg and Erin Smalley of Focus on the Family and Arolyn Burns of California. When you add each part up who’s participated and then you have cast and our crew and then post-production and we had a social-media team that people have garnered behind the film and the message. You have Terri Conn over there at QVC and that team and Anchor Distribution, Mill Creek Entertainment and Vision Films and each (one of those) has a group of ten people or more. So, it’s like each person – we added them all up – and it’s mind-boggling how each one has a fingerprint in the making of (these projects). And Wes Llewellyn, the director (of The Farmer and the Belle), did so much in post that our story wouldn’t look like does or have won awards like it has, I believe, if it wasn’t for Wes behind the helm.

JWK: I think it’s nice that you take time to consider all the people who work along the way to make your projects happen. Not everyone does that.

JG: And then we have a prayer team of I think 54 people. One of the things that I love is that when we are filming (we have a) call sheet. There’s a piece of paper that gets given out to everybody on set with everyone’s contact and positions and scene order of what’s being filmed. At the top of the call sheet, next to where the hospital is if someone gets injured, we have prayer our leader Susan…If somebody was struggling on set, they would text her a prayer (request). She would text that prayer (request) out to our 50-plus prayer group and…everyone then would begin praying. We saw catalytic change of atmosphere in many people’s lives for that. And we would do worship every morning for about 20 minutes in a time of devotion and prayer and also praise reflecting on what God has done. Michelle Cox encouraged me to write it all down on a note card. It’s incredible! All these wonderful friends are why Farmer and the Belle has been impacted like it has.

JWK: You and Jim actually met on the set of a movie, correct?

JG: We certainly did! We met on the set of Sinking Sand directed by Brian Yarbrough in Savannah, Georgia. Jim and I personally fell in love on Tybee Island which is right next to Savannah, Georgia.

JWK: And, as I recall, video from your wedding actually ended up in The Farmer and the Belle.

JG: It’s the end credits. We had I think it was seven or eight cameras filming our wedding. We had our DP (Director of Photographer) circling us when we had our wedding kiss. It was really funny because Jim said “We will not retake anything! The cameras are just going to be a fly on the haystacks!” because we had a farm wedding at his family’s property. Twenty or thirty minutes after we said our I do’s our DP realized that there was a malfunction in the Steadicam and he did not get (a lot of the) footage. He was like “What do I do?! Do I tell them?!” And he remembered Jim saying, you know, our focus – and so he goes “I’m not going to tell them.” We didn’t learn until like three or four months later when I was finally getting around to that footage. I was like “Oh, where’s that shot? Then he told me and I’m like “Well, praise God that the footage we have captures the special moments of our wedding. My dear friend Lisa Miosi Martin does of a lot of documentary filming in London and for the Graham Ministries. So, she did filming sneakily – because she was one of my bridesmaids – in her coat pocket and that’s the majority of the footage that’s used in our end credits and it’s just so magical! We (also) had drones! It was so cool!

JWK: Do you ever think if you and Jim as sort of a modern-day faith-based Lucy and Desi?

JG: I never heard it (put) like that but I’ve been recently on a journey saying “Lord, what am I?” and He says “You are a servant of Me.” So, each day I read The Bible and now with my baby I listen to Abide. It’s an app that walks you through scriptural prayer and meditation. We praise and worship with the songs Shout for the Lord and Way Maker. Then I read The Bible and then I prayer journal. During that process, God gives a vision for that day. Then I go forth and I do those tasks – one step in front of the other from acting, to jewelry creating, to being a public speaker and producer and a mommy and a wife. It’s just been an incredible journey to work with my husband. He is the best (creative) partner but he is also the best husband and the best daddy! I am just every day so grateful for him.

JWK: Anything you’d like to add as we wrap this up?

JG: Baby James is going to be in the sequel. Just like the first movie was about our marriage, the second movie will show little Baby James and have some special moments with him that will be really fun for the audience. He’ll be in the movie.

JWK: So, he’ll play you baby?

JG: Baby James will be playing himself! It’s inspired by true events!

JWK: A bit of typecasting there.

JG: It is typecasting!

JWK: Would you and Jim like to see him actually follow in your footsteps into show business?

JG: That’s a great question! Jim, John is asking would we want to see James follow in our footsteps as an actor?

JEC: I would love to see that but I would also love follow his passion. That would be great. If (acting) was his passion and he wanted to do it, I’m certainly not going to discourage it. I probably would encourage it but if he says “Nah, I want to do this” I’d (encourage that too).

JG: Amen!

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11