Meet Lee Allen:  The story’s creator and how he came to write Barabbas: The First Witness.

I grew up in Virginia and North Carolina. After attending Campbell University on an ROTC scholarship, I was commissioned in 1977 and went active duty, serving as an infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault Divisions. After finishing my commitment, I returned to Virginia and entered the business world as an entrepreneur.

Over the years, I have had a variety of ventures. That included joining the "Green Rush" where I went West to California to launch a startup CBD company. Then an opportunity opened to finance multi-million-dollar real estate projects using foreign investor monies under the U.S. Immigration Department’sspecial EB5 "Green Card" program. That opportunity took me to Florida. 

I have to say, my proudest accomplishment is raising my five now grown children---all married with amazing careers---plus currently giving me eight grandchildren, with one more soon to arrive this September!

All along, storytelling has always been my passion.

My first book, The Special Guest, a Christmas Story, went on to national publication in 1996, became a bestseller with several hundred thousand copies in print. It was later optioned by CBS for a holiday movie made for television.

After my first book, I began thinking about another story—a Christmas sequel--this time a storyconnecting Christmas with Easter. Spanning the beginning and end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, perhaps seen thru the eyes of one character who witnessed both.

That raised a fascinating question:

Who possibly could have been there to witness both?

We know the shepherds were there the night Jesus was born. More than thirty years later, on the day Jesus was condemned to the cross, we meet another pivotal character: Barabbas—a man we know virtually nothing about--except that he was freed that day instead of Jesus.

The Gospels do tell us he was a notorious prisoner and insurrectionist. Yet when Pilate offered the crowd a choice, they called for Barabbas to be freed instead of the popular prophet.

Why, I wondered, would the crowd make that choice?

I began seeing Barabbas not simply as a criminal, but as a Jewish rebel—a folk hero striking back against Roman oppression. Could that explain why the crowd called for his release?

Then the idea came to me:

What if Barabbas had been one of the shepherds

there that first Christmas night?

Was there anything in Scripture that ruled out the possibility? I couldn't find any.

It was when I knew I had the character who could connect both.

I named the shepherd boy Micah and began telling his story, adding a special thread that would connect the beginning with the end.

It starts with Micah observing an unusual star that appeared to shine down over Bethlehem. Sitting around the campfire with his shepherd family, he carves its likeness from a piece of olive wood—creating a four-pointed star, its long point extending downward like the star overhead.

He works on it for several nights. Then, on the night he finishes the carving, the angels appear to tell the shepherds how they can find the long-awaited Messiah just born.

Micah goes with his family to find the manger where he offers the little wooden star as a gift to baby Jesus.

Then Micah’s life takes a tragic turn.

Months later, after the Magi arrive and leave, Herod orders the massacre of Bethlehem’s boys up to twoyears age. Micah, meantime, will help Mary, Joseph, and Jesus's escape. But when he returns home, he discovers that his own two-year-old brother is a victim of Herod's wicked decree.

That moment changes everything.

The shepherd boy who witnessed the birth of the Messiah grows into a rebel, sworn to fight the tyranny that destroyed his family.

The name Barabbas—meaning “son of the father”—becomes legendary throughout Judea as he wages war against Rome.

Then, more than thirty years after that first night in Bethlehem, Pilate presents two men before the people.

One, Barabbas—a messiah figure fighting Roman oppression with the sword.

The other, Jesus—the Son of God proclaiming a quite different kingdom---one of Peace.

The crowd chooses the worldly messiah: Barabbas.

Next, the events following his release complete the story.

The shepherd boy who once stood beside the manger now comes face to face with the grown Jesus.Except this time, it is not Micah who saves Jesus from Herod.

It will be Jesus who saves Barabbas—going to the cross in his stead.

While standing at Calvary, witnessing the horror of the crucifixion, Barabbas---who again has become Micah---will encounter Mother Mary. They recognize each other. Mary still carries the little wooden star around her neck.

She returns it to Micah.

When he holds up the four-pointed star he carved as a shepherd boy he realizes it represents something else:

The Bethlehem star becomes the Cross.

That was when I knew I had the story that answered my original question:

What if one man who witnessed the beginning, was also there at the end?

A shepherd boy who witnessed the Messiah’s birth... who then experienced loss and anger... turning him into the notorious criminal Barabbas... and finally, redemption, when he once again comes face-to-face with Jesus. 

This time, not the child he once helped save---but the Messiah who becomes his Savior.