David:     Karen, tell me whether you recognize some of these names. Okay? Clint Eastwood.

Karen:     Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Hollywood star, director.

David:     Yeah. Al Pacino.

Karen:     Oh, again.

David:     Robert De Niro.

Karen:     Yep. Know that one too.

David:     Leonardo DiCaprio.

Karen:     Oh, my goodness. What are you doing?

David:     Richard Geer, Sidney Portier, Russell Crowe.

Karen:     Yep.

David:     These are names that were in a conversation with us just recently.

Karen:     Right.

David:     I’ll put them all together. Okay?

Intro:      Welcome to the Before We Go Podcast featuring Dr. David Mains and his wife, noted author Karen Mains. Here’s David and Karen Mains.

David:     I’m exhausted. This is a recording we’re doing on a Wednesday morning. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we were in a whole different world. The Lord was in it. These names that I’ve given. These are people who everyone recognized.

Karen:     Top notch, Hollywood actors, whose names are known around the world.

David:     Yes. They were used casually, not in a boastful way, in any sense, by a person who was our guest along. They were three people who came from California. We met with them with our family because they were interested in taking the stories from Tales of the Kingdom, which we have written together. They’ve been out for some time.

Karen:     Forty years.

David:     And putting them into a full-length movie and a stage play.

Karen:     Right.

David:     The person with whom we were speaking, at least one of them, was a film star. She’s in her own right. We don’t want to name who she is. We’re just going to leave that for a period of time while things unfold more. But she was talking in terms of people she had starred with in terms of movies. And you know, just kind of sit there and you’re like, “Who in the world is this person?” Go ahead.

Karen:     Well, she was interested in taking details and putting them into a feature-length film. That was her purpose for being here.

David:     Well, actually in writing, she put it in writing and into a stage play.

Karen:     Into a stage play. And she knew the Tales of the Kingdom better than you and I knew them. I mean, she had gone over them. She was convinced they were of God. This is a woman who had later in life, she was in her, I think her 30s or 40s, when she had a conversion. And she was just a rising star in Hollywood at that time. She worked with all those names and has really a friendship with many of them. I mean, they would be very much on a peer level, I think. They would consider her to be that. Brilliant. An extraordinary personality. I mean, she doesn’t just talk with you. She acts it out, being an actress upstage and screen. She used to command in a room, and she certainly did do that with us. I mean, we were enthralled with her storytelling and her method of communication. I mean, you can see everything she’s talking about because she’s acting it out literally.

David:     Not in a repulsive way.

Karen:     It wasn’t showing off. It was herself. Now, she’s unique. There’s no doubt that she’s unique. And in talking about it after she had left and the things that she had said to us about the role she envisions for Tales of the Kingdom in the future, we began to see that there was really, because of her Christian experience, because of the conversion of this unique sort of personality, what you and I defined as a modern-day prophetess. I mean, she’s speaking for the word of the Lord is that has come to her persuading her that this is an art venture, an artistic venture that she really wants to see fulfilled. Now, she also said, “If you’re not interested in this and you hear the spirit saying to you, no, I can walk away. I’m trying to convey to you what I believe the Lord has put on my heart.”

David:     Well, she said “I could walk away because then the Lord relieves me of what I have been called to tell you.”

Karen:     Right.

David:     In terms of her understanding the Tales of the Kingdom, which of course are books that we have written together, and they’ve been out for some time. It was a personal benefit in her own life. She was going through a very difficult divorce.

Karen:      And not a Christian.

David:     No, not a believer. And someone gave her those books and they touched her in a profound way.

Karen:     Touched her deeply and profoundly.

David:     And I’ve never had anyone do this for us. She wanted to know who we were and were we trustworthy people. She’s had disappointments with many people over a period of years, just in terms of their authenticity, I guess.

Karen:     What was their compatibility of vision, I think maybe is one of the ways you might put that. Well, would we be in this for our own personal advancement to become known? The sorts of things that creators often get caught up in. Would we be amenable to her vision in a collaborative sense? But could we work together?

David:     Yes. And she was also able to speak about almost knowing us personally, because by golly, to do her due diligence, she had read our books.

Karen:     I have 23. She’d read a good half of them. I don’t know how many.

David:     She went to the internet and she’s starting to say, “How do I get these past books that I don’t want to talk to them until I have some kind of a background.” And she knows the books better than we do, which was really fascinating to me. There was a sense of the Lord’s presence that was quite unusual.

Karen:     It was overwhelming.

David:     Yes.

Karen:     Where you began to say, “Oh, what is God doing here?” I mean, we’ve accepted the fact that we’re aged. I am 79. My next birthday, obviously, I’ll be 80. You are 86. And we started thinking, “Well, we’ve done the work of God that he gave us to do. Now what? We’ll just live good lives. We’ll build ourselves into our grandkids.” And you’re a much better prayer warrior than I am. I’ve been convicted after sitting with this woman that I don’t pray enough. But we had no idea he had something else in mind for us for the days ahead.

David:     She says, “I want you. I need you. It was amazing to me. And there was not the grandstanding. It was not in any sense using God’s book to me through these books. And they’re what the country needs. They have the touch of God on them. And I’ve come here.” You know, it’s almost coming like a beggar. But at the same time…

Karen:     A beggar of extraordinary resources and ability and personal gifts. Yeah, let’s put it that way.

David:     Yeah. I said to her at one time, “We shouldn’t just ignore the other two people who came with her.” One of them talked in terms of a series which he had worked on, which people know The Chosen is a series that has come out and has had a really strong kingdom impact.

Karen:     Impact in the country. He was casting director on that. And plus, he’s an ordained minister.

David:     Yeah, and on top of that, he does gigs as an actor. Mostly within the religious world, not the big-name Hollywood type of stuff. Kind of talking and you think, man alive, I’ve never heard us be so quiet for three days. And then the more we would have meals together, we had family members who were there with us. It was in almost a secluded place where nobody could get to. It was a staggering experience. And I don’t even know how to put it all together at this point in time.

Karen:     So, the bottom line in this, let’s get just what we resolve. We believe she’s an extremely credible person. We believe that God’s hand is upon her in power in ways that are kind of remarkable. We asked, “How long does it take for a film concept to go from concept to film on average?”

David:     We were told that the average length of time from, when the whole thing is conceived and when it’s finally you can go to the theater and look at it, is 13 years. So, now I’m sitting there. You said already, when I’m 86, and I got that figured out pretty fast in my head, I’d be 99 years old before I could see the thing, which is part of our feelings and all of this goodness sakes. It was like Abraham waiting to have a son or something. You say this is wild.

Karen:     And then you have to have people who will fund this before it even is put together. And the estimate on just that early funding is $13 million.

David:     I heard her say this has to be a ‘God thing’ because we’re talking in the area of $50 million to do the whole thing. What I’m seeing. And she’s not saying you need to raise $50 million. She’s saying, “I’m telling you I want permission because this is going to consume me for the last part of my life.”

We’ve never even talked in terms of anything that would $50 million. I talked millions of that’s beyond us in terms of where it is. I said to her, “Where in the world are you going to get it?” She says “It’s not your world. God will provide.”

Karen:     Well, and she really believes that that’s not just palaver. I mean, I think that’s the way she has lived her latter years. The other thing, David, that we have totally missed in this conversation is this is a woman of prayer. I was just stunned the more we went on and on with her to know how much of a woman of prayer and an intercession she is. She’s way beyond where I am. And she and her two other people who came along with her are part of this intercessory group. And they have a much larger group of intercessors behind them. So that’s what’s undergirding all of this. We probably should have started with that. That’s the most important thing. But that’s the only way this is going to happen is if that power of God is released in the lives of people who want to be a part of this, who are skilled and gifted, who say, “I’m just dying to get a part of this. I’ve had fame. I’ve had fortune. I’ve had significance. But I want to do this for God.” So that’s kind of where we are. And that’s what we’re sharing with our listeners today.

David:     And she would say, I want to be involved in something that will be for the benefit of the children…

Karen:     …of this nation and of the future. Yeah.

David:     And she said it, “…and around the world.”

Karen:     Yeah.

David:     The said the power of cinema is great Then she spent a good amount of time and there was no sense of grandiose or whatever. But her burden and what it’s like to be in the Hollywood industry and the heartbreak. “I don’t need to do it again. I don’t want to do it again, but God is calling me to do this. And you wrote the story for me.” Now, obviously that all has to transfer into scripts and all the rest.

Karen:     And it’s a big job.

David:     It’s a huge message. I said that “You came here. You got three people and you’re talking about changing the world, You’re not a young person anymore.” God will do what he wants to do.

Karen:     She believes that. She’s just I mean I’ve never seen a person of that kind of faith and vision. That was the thing that was so extraordinary. So, David and Karen are going away thing. Wow, we just had a hurricane go through our lives and we’re exhausted. I mean, you’re just absolutely exhausted.

David:     I mean, this is three days. Three days of saying it was like a surprise. That’s not totally true because we knew what she wanted to do.

Karen:     Right.

David:     It wasn’t in writing like we had it.

Karen:     But we had not met this person before. This what I’m going to call modern day prophetess.   

David:      Why do you use that term?

Karen:     Well, because I think when she speaks, she speaks forth I think she has heard God speak to her. And I think we have a decaying society. I think our children are being subverted. I think that everything she was talking about the evil of the world, I mean, she’s seen it. She’s seen it up close. But that this is a possibility to do God’s work in a way that will overpower and overcome that enemies work. You and I don’t you generally think that way. She will stand out against the devil, you know. I mean, she’ll verbally say that’s of the enemy because she’s had to fight it so much. And I’m thinking I don’t allow myself to discern like this. So anyway, what will come of it is just an act of God, frankly. Do you agree David? It has to be an act of God.

David:     Yes,

David:     Many people rising up. And yeah,

David:     If we came away with anything, it was that we need to call people to pray for the endeavor. At this point in time, I don’t want to reveal any names. I just want to say we’re walking in areas that we don’t know anything about. And we know we’ll be involved, not in any final production type of thing, but we know that we have to see the Lord open doors along with them in some strange way. Not only those stories. She needs us. She’s a relatively new believer. She needs the stability and the experience and the groundedness. I think I should say of what we have lived in our lives…

Karen:     …and of our family.

David:     That’s the funny part.

Karen:     That was a really important thing to her. And I think that part of that is because she has one child. She actually left acting to raise that child. There’s a wonderful relationship there, but I feel that she needs this loving familial community that the Mains has have had in their ministry. I mean our kids have grown up working with us all through our lives. And there is a love and an acceptance and a joy with one another and no breaches in the family. So, I think that is also a gift to her at this time in her life.

David:     Yeah, I think that’s something we need to say you’re a part of us.

Karen:     Yeah,

David:     We accept you.

Karen:     We are thrilled to have you a part of us.

David:     We’re a safe place.

Karen:     Yeah,

David:     We’re sold.

Karen:     Just sell us anymore which we’re saying, “Oh lord, what are you doing?”

David:     It means that… yeah, we will become your servants for Jesus. Yeah, we don’t have any problem. We’ll sign the papers You know go do what you feel God has called you to do. I don’t have any feelings of “Wow, aren’t we fortunate?” I have this feeling of “Oh my goodness.”

Karen:     Being humbled frankly is how I feel this. Absolutely humbled.

David:     And you know God, Yeah, we can do that. We can be for this person and these three people and the other people who will come into the whole of the process. We will be for them what they have never had which is that safe place.

Karen:     Stability of it.

David:     The place to get away?

Karen:     Yeah.

David:     The place where you call, we will pray for you. We will do whatever you need. Let us be that. Yes.

Karen:     Now that doesn’t mean we won’t have entertainment lawyers to advise us. And they want us to do that so that you have legal representation. So that as you get down the road, not so much with the folk who are the creators and initiators, but as other people come along beside, you have those kinds of protections that keep things from happening that do happen in these industries.

David:     Yeah, well, she says, “Money’s involved, and money can corrupt.” In fact, she said, “When you come into the film industry, you have to come in with the awareness that warfare goes on there.” Massive egos and there is terrible sexual impropriety. And it’s a world you’re not prepared for, and it is evil. It is evil in so many ways. There is massive, massive personality. But I need you to walk with me through it.” That’s what she’s saying.

Karen:     So, what we’re asking our listener today is just to feel our sense of being overwhelmed and then to really covenant to pray. If you put a card up somewhere to remember to pray for David and Karen and for the creation of this Tales of the Kingdom, she’s talking about all three books. So, it would be a multi-project that would go on in whatever form it takes. Because we really do feel the need for their prayer. This is as David said time when we’re walking on holy ground. And it’s a time when the enemy, that if it is a dream of the Lord, he wants to defer you from doing the work that God wants you to do. Because he also knows that this could be extraordinary in its impact in the lives of families and children. And the tales were written for children of all ages. Every adult still has a child somewhere on the inside of him or her. So, for the children of all ages that they would begin to intercede for that.

David:     Those books were written 40 years ago, and they had this long shelf life. Somebody could have said a long time ago, those have real value as far as a film is concerned. That didn’t happen. It’s just a surprise.

Karen:     And the interesting thing is that she would, I mean, she brought a book and was underlined all the way through as far as there needs to be music here. You know whatever she was doing with it. But when she would read it back to us with her gift of drama and interpretation, I was in tears. And I have often said this that the books were beyond my human ability. That God just used me as a trusted resource to get these messages across. But I was even more convinced of it as I heard her interpret them dramatically. I just thought, “Oh Lord what have you done?” And so, we do want to walk on holy ground ourselves and not get caught up in things that we should not be doing at a time when God has another effort. He’s trying to bring into fruition because of what he has laid in our hearts in previous years.

David:     So anyway, I guess maybe our practice kind of struggle for words. What do we say? What do we not say? This morning, which is the day. They left yesterday evening, they took off to go the airport to go back to California. We’re in the place where we’ve not been before. We weren’t prepared for it. She said whenever you collaborate on anything, there are so many problems you can come to it. I think that again purposely didn’t say who we’re talking about because that somehow is wrong. We’re talking about a project of the Lord.

Karen:     Yeah.

David:     Something the Lord wants to do.

Karen:     Yeah, I agree.

David:     Do you want to be a part of it? And her challenges? Yeah, we do. I wish you’d come 20 years ago.

Karen:     Well, we knew everything then.

David:     Maybe that’s it. Maybe we haven’t been pounded enough.

Karen:     Yeah.

David:     She talks about, you know, the Lord will prepare you and humiliate you. And you’ll say “I don’t have enough to do that.” Yeah, but yeah, that’s where he wants to go with it.

Karen:     A very raw…

David:     Raw is a good word.

Karen:     Raw representation.

David:     A good year. And if you think, well the Mains are pretty stable people. Normally we just got whacked.

Karen:     Not in a bad way.

David:     Not in a bad way, but in a way…

Karen:     Surprised.

David:     I almost felt like the Lord says, “You mighty warrior coming,” you know, “Who me? I’m not a mighty warrior. Where you got the wrong guy? Don’t you have a GPS you got the wrong address?”

Anyway, I think that what we’re trying to say is…

Karen:     Please pray for us.

David:     Thank you for all the dear people You’ve given us over the year who together have said let’s love the Lord. We’re so fortunate. Something bigger than what we’ve ever known is starting to happen. And the Lord has said, “I want you to be a part of it.” Not because your hot shots. Or not because you’re holy people.

Karen:     No, we’re not.

David:     Just because I kind of prepared you for this time. “You prepared us? I don’t know about that.” So, we love you people. In fact, we came back, and I got a call from a dear guy who’s been a part of my prayer routine for literally years and he’s dying. And I thought, “Oh man, so it begins.” It’s the last thing I would have expected to come at the end of that day when you’re trying to process several days together in a world, you know, very little about and my dear friend. So yeah, I think that’s all part of what goes on. I’m all down. How about you?

Karen:     I’m done too.

David:     No dangling thoughts.

Karen:     Nope.

David:     Okay for now. That’s all we have to say.

Outro:     You’ve been listening to the Before We Go podcast. And if you would like to write to us, please send us an email at the following address, hosts@beforewego.show. That’s all-lower-case letters. hosts@beforewego.show.

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