In the mid-90s, the first installment of the series Left Behind, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins, hit the shelves. It was a massive hit, selling millions of copies and inspiring several film adaptations. Now, Jenkins gets to watch that same kind of mania surround The Chosen, which is son, Dallas Jenkins, created and directs. The Chosen just wrapped up its fifth season, with the high drama of Jesus’s crucifixion to be on display for season 6. Sitting with The Christian Post, Jenkins discussed how his own success prepared him to advise his son and how he is collaborating with the hit show.

Jenkins has authored a novelization of every season of the series, remembering how he asked his son to partake in the series. “I said, ‘Can I play too?’ And [Dallas] was happy to let me write a novel for each season,” he said. Season 5 focuses on the events of the last supper and the Garden of Gethsemane. For Jenkins, who got to watch scenes filmed in the Garden, it was especially emotional. Jenkins recalled it being his son’s birthday, and the memories that day brought him. “And so I was kind of doing that as I’m watching him work, and then he asked me if I wanted to stand behind him while he’s directing a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I jumped at the chance. And ironically…there’s a father-son scene in the garden,” he said, admitting that he is a “blubberer.”

Jenkins reflected on the success both he and his son have had, oddly enough at around the same age in the mid-40s. He offered his son some fatherly advice and warned him, “you need to not get distracted by the success of this thing.” He also added, “Who knows, maybe in our 20s, we would’ve been pretty proud of ourselves, or thought we had something to do with it. But by that age, you realize this is such a God thing that you just sort of get out of the way and hang on for dear life.”

Both Jenkins men have used their creative energies to share their faith. In on-ed for Fox News, the elder Jenkins recalled the sense of urgency he had for writing about his faith when his son told him about how he wanted a new dad. The father Dallas requested was a neighbor who was an alcoholic, whose unreliable appearances and disappearances meant his family was always thrilled to see him when he returned. Jenkins and his wife resolved that they would get to know the family better and hopefully tell them more about Jesus. The plans, however, were foiled when the man committed suicide that very evening. “All I could think was, why do we always wait?” Jenkins recalled of the experience. “Despite that this happened more than 40 years ago, the stunning impact of it has never left me. I decided I would no longer wait. I doubled down on my urgency to share my faith, both orally and on the page,” he decided. “I’m not going to wait anymore.”