This is part 2 of our interview with actor Bruce Marchiano who is known for playing the role of Jesus or ‘The Man’ in The Encounter movies and returns to play the role in Pure Flix’s new The Encounter Series.
The interview with Bruce is split into two parts, Part 1 Bruce talks about becoming a Christian, acting, playing the role of Jesus and how that has impacted his faith.
In Part 2 we talk with Bruce about the Encounter Series and what we can expect from the episodes.
Part 2:
In The Encounter Series we see people who previously knew about Jesus having this encounter with Him, in a way similar to your story and how you encountered Jesus.
It’s one of the neat little nuances of the series that it’s not just dealing with people living without Him, it’s dealing with people who either where walking closely with Him or thinks are walking closely with Him and thats really a unique little nuance, I was really excited to see that kind of thing written into the script because as we were talking earlier I think it describes a lot of people.
We hope a lot of people will watch the series and have that realisation too
In fact testimonies, every day I get emails from folks, Facebook comments – like I’ve walked with Jesus my whole life but I never knew He loved me that much till now or I was born again 10 years ago, 20 years ago but I walked away but now through what I saw on my TV last night I’ve come back to Him. Those would be the lions share of testimonies that I receive.
Could you tell us a bit about this new series?
I remember years ago we did the first movie The Encounter and I had that concept in my head for years and years of Jesus meeting people in the contemporary world and trying to send the message He’s there, not some remote figure, He’s present in your life today.
So it was really a blessing when Pure Flix approached me with the original movie, and then the reaction to the movie, just a constant flood of emails saying when are we going to get a sequel and then after the sequel when are we going to get another sequel, so the series was born out of that demand. The message is clear, it’s such a vital message, He’s ever present, ever real, ever hands on in your life right now today, nothing is too small for Him to be involved in, nothing is too big He can’t handle and its such a vital message today.
I run into many folks, especially young people and there is this sense of Jesus being this remote archaic figure, they watch the Bible movies and read the stories and they feel it’s something that happened a long time ago but has nothing to do with their life today. So the series brings Jesus into all the aspects of modern life, technology, there is one episode upcoming, I’m spilling some beans here, that has to do with a family that is so inundated with social media and technology that they lost touch with each other. The shows are very relevant and brings Jesus into our lives today.
do you have a favourite episode?
Thats a tough one, because there’s different reasons, such as one I really enjoyed working with those actors or another one we were out on location in the desert at night, so you have different favourites for different reasons, but I will tell you there is an upcoming episode, I think called Just Believe and there is a young teenage girl who got in a drunk driving accident and there in the hospital there is a scene where I sit on the edge of her bed and I just talk to her so gently and that scene is just so precious. I tend to be a fan of these very intimate, precious, loving, caring moments and that one for me tops them all.
What do you hope people will take away from watching this new series?
I hope that they will seek their own encounter with Jesus. I hope that they walk away and say wow I’ve been running my engine on my own steam and trying so hard and trying to make this and that happen and I hope they walk away and just say I need Jesus, I need Jesus to help me with these things, I need Jesus to sift away all of the stuff I’ve crowded my life with, all the meaningless stuff and chatter and nonsense.
I hope it will drive people to their knees in hunger for their own Encounter with Jesus.
Click here to read part 1 of our interview with Bruce Marchiano
2 Comments
I decided to become a Christia, and one of the tools God used was The Book of Matthew by the Visual Bible. I won the movie by going to a Bible Seminar at a local Seventh-day Adventist church. I watched the whole movie, it took me a week. I grew up learning about Jesus, but then as many do I fell away from the church. But, once I watched that movie and read the book of Matthew along with it…what can I say. I fell in love with Jesus and gave my life to Him! I was baptised soon after finishing the movie. As a result of deciding to follow Christ, I lost all my friends and it drove a wedge between me and my recently widowed mother. It was hard to keep the faith after those trials, but then I came across The Encounter, starring Bruce as Jesus again! This was a blessing because it really solidified the fact that there is a real spritual battle going on…daily and that I wasn’t the only one, I wasn’t alone!
If there was any way that this Thank You not could reach Bruce I would be very thankful. His ministry to reach people through drama has and does have a lasting effect! I am so happy to see Bruce continue his ministry by playing the role of The Man in this Pureflix series, I pray that many more can be reached and submit thier lives to Jesus. Bruce, keep up the good fight for the Lord and being a part of the body of Christian soul winners! You will truly be rewarded in Heaven, for by my seeing you play the extrodinary role of Jesus, I gave my live to Him, lost all of my close friends, except one…my best friend Rick, who on the day of my baptism made the decision to give his life to Christ!
Ricks got baptised 3 months after me. A year later Rick asked me to be his girlfriend, two years later he asked me to be his wife. A year later we were married and 7 months later was blessed with a pregnacy. The Lord had a plan for me, I see how He ordered my steps and the gifts He has given me all because of my choice to follow. I thank God for every little encounter He has used in my life, therefore I have to thank you, Bruce!
Wow what a wonderful story, thank you for sharing with us, we will be sure to pass your comments along to Bruce. We thank God for your story, may you continue to follow His will. Godbless