But Purifoy’s stint in Los Angeles didn’t last long. After attending the first class of Act One: Writing for Hollywood, an organization that helps train and mentor Christians for careers in mainstream film and television, he moved to France where he taught high school and eventually served as a director and instructor of Old Testament and Philosophy.

After returning to the States in 2001, Purifoy made his way back to Nashville and four years later, Purifoy and a friend eventually started their own production company, Compass Cinema. Less than a year later, Purifoy put his multitasking skills to the test when he produced, directed and co-wrote Samaritan, the first short film in what’s now the Modern Parables film-based Bible study curriculum series.

Where the Past Meets Today

Given his 15 years of experience teaching Sunday school and background in film, Purifoy wanted to create a universal study that could appeal to “almost anyone” regardless of his/her denominational affiliation, age or religious background. Inspired by Jesus’ parables, he didn’t simply long to put a modern spin on these time-honored stories. Instead, he hoped to provide “different explorations of kingdom theology.”

“In a sense, these really are message films. But they’re also a little different,” Purifoy shares. “Jesus didn’t use storytelling in a way to explain what He was trying to say. They are pieces and parts of His theology. The modern pastor tells a story as a stepping stone of what he’s about to get into in the message. In many ways, Jesus was actually doing theology with His stories because it went part and parcel with what He was saying.”

Instead of simply telling a story with Modern Parables, Purifoy hopes these “sometimes radical” accounts will cause people to investigate the implications of the stories for their lives. “The goal isn’t to get the moral of the story. It’s to discover how does it work out in a day-to-day way. How is the theology transformative?” Purifoy adds. “We hope to open people’s eyes to what the original intent is on a storytelling level. Really, the parables are ready-made pieces of narrative theology. So we tried to stay as accurate as possible in the recontextualization to bring them to a modern audience.”
 
Revisiting The Prodigal Son

In the latest two installments of Modern Parables, which recently released on DVD in Lifeway Christian Bookstores and through Focus on the Family’s website, Purifoy investigates a familiar story with all sorts of modern-day implications in the 20-minute short, The Prodigal Sons. As a tribute to Welles’ work, the film features longer, uncut scenes and non-linear scene structure. And for those of us who won’t notice those little cinematic touches, Purifoy’s hopes that The Prodigal Sons will connect far beyond the typical emotional level