Help Send "JESUS" Film Teams Today!

#2571179 - "JESUS" Film Teams

Dear friend in Christ,

What a privilege God has granted to you, His church, to join with Him where He is working.

May I introduce you to a great partner through whom God is powerfully working? The Timothy Initiative is one of more than 1,500 ministry partners whose film teams use JESUS.  Jared Nelms is the executive vice president. I’ve asked Jared to tell how he, as a young man, first watched God work through JESUS, and in a most amazing way.

“I was hardly 20 years old, not walking with the Lord and without much purpose. My cousin was going on a mission trip and the person who was going to help him lead the team bailed out at the last minute. My Dad asked me to go in his place, to Zambia. Being adventurous, I agreed.

“Although I was personally drifting, I was searching. While in Zambia, I remember writing in my personal journal: ‘God, if you are real, show me on this trip.’

“Our team had brought the film JESUS.  I don’t remember where we went, but it was pretty remote. We set up the equipment, an older 16mm projector. About 200 people gathered, sitting on either side of the screen. It was getting dark and it was very cold. They had built several small fires around the showing site.

“We started the projector. But nothing happened. No sound, no picture, no light. People on the team scrambled to fix it, changing the bulb, trying everything, but to no avail. They finally got the audio to work, but still no picture. Everyone was a little upset, but at least the people stayed to listen.

“Someone on the team said, ‘Let’s pray.’ So, we got in a circle, away from the audience. Being young and uncertain in my faith, I was ambivalent. I stood there just watching the screen and projector.

“One by one the team members prayed. I frankly didn’t expect anything to happen. After all, I was a business major just along for the adventure. Then, at the exact moment the last team member said, ‘Amen,’ the projector came alive with sound and image. I was simply shocked. No one was by the projector. No one touched it. The picture just came on! There was no other explanation except that God answered prayer.

“The crowd erupted in wild applause. People on our team began to cry. They gave glory to the Lord. The people watched … all of the film. When JESUS concluded, they gave an altar call. I don’t remember how many prayed to receive Christ, but there were many, and I knew I had been changed, profoundly. God showed me that He was indeed real. From that moment on, I wanted to be a missionary. That was the turning point of my life and today, it’s my joy to help lead The Timothy Initiative, which God has used to plant thousands of churches.”

I’ll tell you more about those new churches in a moment. The number is extraordinary. But next, let me take you to Tanzania where another JESUS film team, also with The Timothy Initiative, was working. They were preparing to show the film. Unknown to them, and miles away, a young man named Charles felt like he was losing his soul.

Standing outside a hospital, he had just been told that another member of his family had died, his fifth loss in the last six months. Why was this happening? Charles had prayed often to Allah…with no answer. The doctors didn’t know either, saying their deaths were a great mystery. Not even the witch doctors could help.

Discouraged and downcast, Charles mounted his motorcycle to go and seek relief from a distant witch doctor. Perhaps he would have the answer. Only a few miles into the journey, his motorcycle broke down—more frustration.

Weary and depressed, Charles dragged his cycle all the way back home. When he arrived, he was exhausted. There he found a team of people setting up to show a film in the square of his village. They invited him to stay and watch. After such a long, difficult day Charles agreed, hoping a film might relieve his stress.

Not only did Charles attend, but so did the remaining, surviving members of his family, 17 people in all. As JESUS played, everyone heard the Word of God in their heart language. They felt the love of Jesus and witnessed the story of His death and resurrection. It all rang true. Charles could not believe that God would send His only Son to die for the sins of the world, including his own. That night, all 17 family members, including Charles, gave their lives to Jesus!

A church was planted. The new believers erected a church building on three acres donated by the family. That church has since won others to Christ, discipled many new believers, and given out audio and print versions of the Bible as a witness. For your partnership that helps make such testimonies possible; thank you!

Lastly, I’d like to take you to Ethiopia where an evangelist/church planter was seeing little fruit for the gospel. I will call him Eyob. It was a tough area, and he was the first Christian in his Muslim area. Twice, radicals had burned his house down. Eyob needed help.

So, David Nelms, founder of The Timothy Initiative, came with a local trainer and others to show these people the film JESUS.  David: “It was such a dry, desolate area. And everybody there was a Muslim. We went around inviting people to the showing. Most had not heard the gospel. I remember a 90-year-old woman. She said she had never heard of Jesus and had no idea what we were talking about.

“As we set up the equipment, storm clouds began to gather. You could feel it in the air. The clouds were getting very dark. A huge downpour was coming. Someone on our team said we should pray.

“Even as the rain approached, as the lighting flashed and the thunder rolled, people gathered before the screen. We started the projector. The team began to walk around the showing site, like Joshua marched around Jericho. I don’t know how many times we circled, but we kept praying, asking God to hold back the rain. These unreached people heard Jesus speak, meeting Him for the first time in their lives. They experienced the entire film. And not a single drop of rain fell! Not one. We were amazed.

“At the invitation, a lot of people received Christ—all of them Muslim! With the film showing over, they all made it back to their homes. Then the clouds released. It just poured! God answered our prayers. He held back the storm. From that single showing, a training center was established from which disciplers and film teams conducted more showings of JESUS. As a result, twelve new churches have been planted, all in this once-resistant Muslim area!”  

How wonderful are the works of God! Thank you, Jared and David, for sharing these great testimonies. I share them with you, the friends of JESUS, because The Timothy Initiative is one of more than 1,500 ministry partners who use JESUS. And at last count, this single partner has planted 60,000 churches, many of them through JESUS and the film teams. Furthermore, David tells me they are training 25,000 new church planters this year! Many will be using the film.

This is amazing! Through JESUS film teams, more than 1,000 churches are being planted across the globe every day! This is why we believe that fulfillment of the Great Commission is in sight! But there is still a huge task ahead, people who haven’t even heard of Jesus once, like that 90-year-old woman. Some missiologists estimate that 2 billion in the world are yet to be reached. And that’s why I am writing. For it can be done.

So as the new year is beginning, may I ask you to join where God is working, and play a significant role in fulfilling the Great Commission—by supporting the work of JESUS film teams during 2019—through a monthly gift?

This is how you can be winning people to the gospel throughout the year. For instance, your once-per-month gift of $42 can make one day of a film team’s ministry possible, totaling 12 days of ministry in 2019. You could help hundreds, perhaps thousands of people come to Christ.

You may feel His prompting to support two days of ministry through a monthly gift of $84, or four days by sending $168. If you have the resources to do more, would you consider supporting an entire week of a team’s ministry for $294, or $1,250 to enable all their work for a month? Whatever you can do, you will help make it possible for the teams to show JESUS, follow up with new believers, disciple and train new believers, plant churches, give out DVDs and microSD cards, and train partners to do the same. Teams are ready to work in both rural and urban areas, in free nations and in those where opposition is great. Yet they persist, in service to their Lord.

If a monthly commitment is not an option for you, you can still help reach people with the gospel through a single gift today of $294, $625, $1,250 or more. Together with others, you can be the one to help send hundreds of JESUS teams “into fields white unto harvest.” Be open to seeing Him work through you, by faith.  For He promises to bless each and every time you give to further His kingdom.

In closing, new partner ministries are joining this global effort almost weekly, wanting to raise up their own teams, to partner with JESUS teams. They all need prayer, translations of JESUS, training, equipment, and support. As you come alongside them, you will be with them proclaiming the good news, carrying the gospel to people who have never once heard of the love and forgiveness that Jesus offers … to anyone who will believe.

Now, may 2019 be a great year for you and those you will reach, as you partner with JESUS film teams every month. This is how you can make a great impact, one that will last for eternity. Thank you so much for your prayerful consideration.

Until everyone sees Jesus,

Josh Newell
Executive Director
Jesus Film Project®

PS. Your gift today can help send the teams. You can also setup monthly, or quarterly giving by clicking the button above to donate through bank or credit card transfers. You will always be in complete control, able to change at any time. Or simply call (800) 387-4040. God bless you for however you can help.

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