At 60, Christian author Karen Kingsbury is a cornerstone of Christian fiction that doesn’t ignore the hard truths of life. More recently, she has begun to dive into the world of film, with her book Someone Like You making its big screen debut this month. The story is about a young architect who goes in search of his best friend’s secret twin sister after his best friend’s death. The project is self-funded by Kingsbury and is the first film to be released by her production company, Karen Kingsbury Productions.
This isn’t the first time one of Kingsbury’s books has had a screen adaptation, with some of her books being adapted into Hallmark movies and shows, but Kingsbury told The Christian Post she was looking for something different. “We’ve seen several films made on my books and Hallmark movies and TV shows, and it’s been great and we feel very blessed and thankful, but it was never quite the movie that God put on my heart when He gave me the story in the first place,” she said. She said she decided to use her own savings because “you can’t take them with you.” “God has given us just one life; it’s not a dress rehearsal. So, could we do this? Can we make a difference? Can we create a film that might truly speak to people and change culture for the good?”
The film’s release, which focuses on the implications of embryo adoption, is timely as the abortion debate rages and Alabama deals with the implications of declaring human embryos as human on IVF. Kingsbury expressed the importance of story as a method of evangelism. “How I feel about a story is that when Jesus wanted to tell you something straight, He just told you straight. And when He wanted to make a point, He might turn over a table. But when He wanted to touch your heart, He told a story,” she said. “And in that story, you had to lean in and figure out what He was saying and understand the parallels and the allegory of what that parable meant. And that’s what I want to do by telling the stories God gives me.”
Andrew Peterson, author of the popular Wingfeather Saga shared similar thoughts as the second season of the books’ TV series debuted last week. Speaking with J.D. Peabody, author of The Inkwell Chronicles, he shared his heart for focusing on story rather than message. “It’s important to me that this story operates as a story and not as a Sunday school lesson,” he said. “Again and again in my notes for the writers on the show, I’ve written in all caps, ‘NO TEACHABLE MOMENTS.’ At the dinner table afterward, you can find out what it has stirred up inside kids’ hearts and minds, what it is that they are learning.” He warned that a moral lesson as an agenda “pours water on the story.” “My hope for The Wingfeather Saga is that it will be taken as a story first and will do this mysterious work that God has given stories to do in our hearts. It’s first and foremost an adventure with characters that kids can really identify with; we get to sit back and watch what the Holy Spirit does with it.”
The “Wingfeather Saga” season one is available on Angel. Season 2 is available now for Guild members. “Someone Like You” is now playing in theaters while “The Baxters,” based on Kingsbury’s popular Baxter family series, is now streaming on Amazon Prime.