It all started in 2013 when Adalis Shuttlesworth was on the hunt to buy children’s bible stories for her daughter Camilla. Every book she read to her daughter diluted the Word of God and lacked principles that she desired to instill in her. In her moments of frustration, she heard a clear instruction from God to start her own book series for children. Even though Adalis knew nothing about writing books or illustrations, she gave it her best shot and started sketching out drawings for these books. However, Adalis was not satisfied with her drawings and decided to recruit an illustrator in her quest to create impressive graphics for the series. So in 2014, Adalis reached out to the only artist she knew on FaceBook, yet never heard back.
Not having an artist stalled the vision two years until Adalis felt a strong conviction to start looking again for an illustrator. Where did she re-engage the search? Instagram. At the time, Instagram did not utilize any complicated algorithm and would show posts from people relevant in your network. Little did she know, a professional artist was in her circle. She came across @Justifii on Instagram. A drawing of Moses struck her eye and she reached out to Justin Stewart. She assumed he worked for Pixar and lived in LA and doubted that he would respond, but within 24 hours he responded! Apparently, Justin lived in the same State and was a huge fan of Jonathan Shuttlesworth, Adalis’ husband. Justin had volunteered at their crusades and listened to Revival Today actively on YouTube. After Adalis shared the vision for the book series, Justin was on board, in fact, he had a similar vision to create a book series for kids and told his wife that he had a desire to give strength to their ministry. Justin had already started some concepts on his own for a children’s book in his spare time.
Now here’s the fun part of the story. When Justin asked which story should kick off the series, Adalis said “Fierce, the story of David and Goliath”. Justin had already begun sketching a drawing of David on his own prior to meeting Adalis.
Together, with the help of the Mighty Series team, they launched Fierce in 2017, Chosen in 2018, and Confident in 2019. Their vision is to continue to grow the series and to arm this generation with engaging stories to promote the Gospel. We pray our story inspires you to follow through with the vision God gives you. He will answer and give you the people and provisions to see it through – as the word says “Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.” [Habakkuk 2:2]. So go forth and may you be blessed in heeding to your instructions [Proverbs 29:18]