desire to capture the humanness of Christ
was primary in capturing the importance of
the work.”
When Underwood felt the performance
was becoming too preachy, he would stop and
gather his thoughts about Jesus, the man. “That
was the stuff that made Blair so incredible—
that there would be laughter in Jesus’ voice,”
says Hurd.
The soundtrack features Oscar-, Emmy-and Grammy-winning talent, including ministers, musical performers such as Take Six and
actors such as Underwood and Denzel
Washington and his wife, Pauletta—who performed The Song of Solomon as a love story.
To help each celebrity understand how far
beyond reading their contributions would be,
Hurd sat each one in a room, turned out the
lights and let them hear early cuts by Gibson,
Denzel and Pauletta Washington, Underwood
and Angela Bassett, who played Esther. Many
had come to the project because they learned
those illustrious actors were involved. There
was so much emotion in their portrayals that,
Hurd says, “99 percent of the time when the
lights came up the [waiting] artist was in tears.
Some wept, ‘I had no idea.’”
Hurd could not forget one particular reaction from actress Tisha Campbell, who
played Mary Magdalene. “[Tisha] held my
hand so tight while we watched. We looked at
each other and she wept openly, ‘I’m not worthy, Chip. I’m not worthy.’”
The Coach emerged at those moments to
replace the stars’ insecurities and tears with an
infusion of living empathy for the biblical
scene. Hurd pointed out to Campbell, “You
know the reason you’re playing Mary
Magdalene is because God chose you, Tisha,
out of all the actresses, to be the one that stayed
in it and always had really excellent jobs.… He
always chose you because He could trust you,
and that’s the way we see Mary Magdalene.”
The New Testament volume of Inspired By
… The Bible Experience, available now, features an incredible soundtrack embellished
by renowned gospel singers and an orchestra from Prague. The Old Testament volume
will be available next year.
Hurd believes it should be used by being
shared with family and friends. It is, after all, the
greatest story ever told. C
Gloria Blakely is a freelance writer/journalist
living in Philadelphia. She has authored or
contributed to seven published books.
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