LIFE Today will feature Lee and Leslie Strobel on February 1, 2018, to discuss The Case For Christ. The movie is based on Lee Strobel’s book with the same title that details his incredible journey from atheism to Christianity. A legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, Lee’s investigation into Christianity led him to become a Christian. The Stream’s Nancy Flory recently spoke with Lee about the movie and what viewers can expect.

How did the idea for the movie come about? Why now?

The book originally came out in 1998. About a year ago or so we did an update and an expanded version. A lot of time has passed since the book came out. Interestingly, I got phone calls the same week from two studios inquiring about doing a movie. So it wasn’t something that we went out and sought, it was something we were approached with.

We decided to go with PureFlix because I’d worked with them on the film on God’s Not Dead 2, where I have a scene in there playing myself, so I’d gotten to  know them a bit and trusted them. So, it was not something we sought but we saw the  importance of it right away because a lot of people won’t go to church, they won’t read a book, but they’ll go to a movie. Cinema is really the language of a lot of people so we immediately saw how significant this could be to translate the story into film for a whole new generation of viewers.

What separates it from the usual Christian movie?

Well, over time Christian movies have gotten better and better and better. Of course, we benefit from all of the experience producers have gained over the years in producing Christian films, so that today I think we’re able to produce a movie that is high quality, has good production values, strong acting and strong script. One that nonbelievers can access every bit as much as believers. We did a lot of testing of the movie, showed it to audiences made up of people who are not Christians, got their feedback and made a lot of adjustments to the film.

We wanted to create a movie that Christians can feel good about and that they feel enthused about inviting their spiritually curious friends, neighbors, colleagues and family members. So we were excited when Cinema Score, which is a secular rating service, gave us an A+ rating that only about two movies per year receive. To me it was a real validation that Pureflix succeeded in making a movie without cringe factors that a lot of Christian films in the past have had, one that is high-quality and something we can be proud of.

What are your thoughts on following Christ in a “post-Christian” America? How does the movie address this?

I think a couple of things. I think Evangelism in the 21^st century is spelled “apologetics.” In other words, apologetics meaning evidence for the faith. I think a lot of people are searching in a post-modern world for something they can plant their feet on firmly that has solid ground. Fortunately Christianity does. I think it’s important that apologetics or evidence for the faith be presented in creative and new ways to help people understand that Christianity is not legend, mythology, make believe or wishful thinking, but it’s really grounded in a solid foundation of historical truth.

So we wanted to do that in a creative way through the movie. The challenge in this era is to create vehicles for communicating the truth of Christianity that are fresh and that young people especially will respond to. I think film is one of those genres that is amenable to being used to present the evidence in creative ways. Not just through documentaries but through films like ours, which are true stories with a creative script. I think whether it’s through internet, whether it’s through novels, whether it’s through film, documentaries, et cetera, I think the challenge of Christians these days is ‘How do we present our case in a creative and winsome and an accurate way to connect with people who are looking for something solid on which to build their lives?’

Tell me about the box office and audience response?

It’s been very strong. It’s the 20^th most successful Christian film of all time. It’s in the top 20 ever produced in terms of box office success. Our international reception has been extremely strong, especially in South Korea and South Africa. We’ve had a surprisingly robust response from viewers — exceeding all expectations, which has been very gratifying. It opens in Poland this week, it’s been in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and all over the world. We’re encouraged that the response has been stronger than we anticipated when we did the film. Especially in terms of the spiritual impact. There was a church in Australia that rented a movie theater and showed the film. Twenty-two people came to faith at the movie. We’ve had that kind of response, which to me is the most significant.

Leslie and I showed it at a church in Memphis and 4,000 people showed up. So it’s really had a wave of interest. I think the word of mouth on it has been very strong because people go to it and say ‘Wow this is not the old-time Christian movie that might be a little cringeworthy or a little out of step with current filmmaking.’ It’s really a well-done motion picture.

Have you had any backlash from atheists after the movie?

I really haven’t, which surprises me a little. But for some reason, we never really had much pushback from skeptics on the movie. Now on the book, we interact from time to time with people who want to challenge things in it. The book has stayed strong. In fact, in the recent update of it, we addressed some things that were ambiguous and made them sharper and clearer. We added a chapter answering some questions that people have raised. One of the gratifying things is the lack of substantive arguments against the book. That has been encouraging. Atheists don’t like it because they don’t like the conclusion — many of them. But we’ve seen a lot of people who are skeptics come to faith through the book through the years, countless numbers of them. Now the movie, we’ve seen evidence of quite a few people actually coming to faith at the film. We haven’t had the kind of pushback that I had anticipated.

Have people said the book or movie changed their lives?

I get tweets all the time, virtually every day, from people who have just watched the movie and said it’s just changed their life. There was one guy who I heard from who has a friend who’s a college professor at a major university. The guy said to him, ‘Hey my wife and I watched a movie last night and we didn’t like it. Then the next day when we were sober watched it again and we really did like it that time.’ The guy said what movie was it? He said, The Case for Christ. He said ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ He said, ‘I’m going to read the book.’ He was going to take the next step toward investigating it. So that’s encouraging. So everyday I get tweets and emails from people who’ve said they watched it and it’s strengthened their faith, or it’s been a step in the direction for them toward Christ. That’s been very encouraging. People respond, I think, to the evidence when they see it presented in a systematic way, whether in a book or a movie, it’s hard to resist if they’re open minded.

The Case For Christ movie will be released on Netflix this month. It is currently available on DVD, Blu-Ray, On Demand and Amazon Video.