Dear Friend in Christ,

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1*)

There can hardly be a better description of this West African nation than “a dry and weary land” where most of the landscape is lifeless, water-parched desert. Spiritually, it’s the same.

More than 4.5 million people live in this country and follow an aggressive, resistant religion. Sadly, it is still legal here to sell, buy, and own slaves! And large segments of the population have yet to hear the gospel. But among these millions are thousands of hearts who are thirsting for truth.

Three years ago, a man I will call Saleem†, received the Lord. Radically transformed and delivered from spiritual darkness, Saleem became passionate to reach his fellow countrymen—willing to do whatever he could to win them to Christ. His tools of choice? The Word of God and the film JESUS.

But reaching many thousands who live in remote regions would be extremely difficult. The roads are terrible or just not there. But that hasn’t stopped Saleem. This determined evangelist uses a high-axle, 4-wheel drive truck supplied by your partnership, to take the gospel throughout this sprawling nation.

Saleem spends hours on the road, going from outposts to villages to towns to isolated settlements. He purchases fuel from people selling gas alongside the roads. (They sell it from tins and soft drink bottles!) He goes as far as the roads will carry him. His rugged truck wheels may eventually sink into the soft sand. That’s when he detaches a 4-wheel quad bike he carries in the truck bed. The quad bike takes him over the dunes, through the dry washes and rough terrain until he reaches his target village. Incredibly, he is regularly discipling 86 new believers scattered throughout this vast region—training and equipping them to share their faith, to let unreached people around them experience the gospel by hearing the Word of God and watching JESUS. This man is amazing … a great partner.

While on one of his training odysseys, Saleem took a wrong turn and became stuck in the mud (it had just rained). Even his quad bike couldn’t help. So, he left the truck and bike and walked some distance into a small town, looking for assistance. He heard music playing from inside a building, music he instantly recognized.

It was the soundtrack of JESUS. Saleem entered the door. Inside a man was listening to a solar-powered radio. When he saw Saleem, the man immediately turned it off. “I heard that music and …” said Saleem. The man replied, “What music? I don’t have any music here.” (Remember, this is a nation filled with radicals. He was simply afraid.)

Saleem said: “OK. Well, I have a problem; my truck is stuck in the mud.” The man replied: “I have tractor. Let’s go and pull it out.” As they rode the tractor, Saleem took the opportunity: “I think that music I heard is associated with the religion I follow.” They talked more. Arriving at the mud, they hitched up the truck and pulled it out, with the quad bike still in the bed. They returned to the man’s home, where he invited Saleem to spend the night.

Now, with his host feeling more at ease, Saleem asked, “Could I show you a movie tonight about Jesus, the Great Prophet Isa?” In God’s providence, this man turned out to be the village chief! He agreed. Saleem took out his laptop and linked it to one of the Pico projectors you have provided. He didn’t have a screen so Saleem draped his large, white robe over his truck now parked outside. The chief’s family and others gathered for the showing.

The group watched and listened, hearing the Word of God, the basis of the film JESUS, all in their heart language. They were moved by Jesus’ words. They experienced the love of God for the first time, learning that the Son of God died in their place. The chief wanted to know more.

The next day, Saleem answered his questions and shared more stories from the Bible. He and two of his children became followers of Christ! And that radio he was listening to … where did it come from? The chief said a friend 150 miles away had given it to him. But the radio actually came from Saleem!

You see, Saleem purchases radios in a city and inserts a microSD memory card containing JESUS, The Story of Jesus for Children, and the complete Bible. He then superglues the memory cards so they can’t be removed and gives the radios out wherever he goes. Because there are no broadcast radio stations in the desert areas, all a person can listen to is what’s on the memory cards! That’s what the chief was doing when Saleem “just happened” to get stuck in the mud near his home.

Today, Saleem reports that more people are coming to Christ in that small village than any other place he ministers in the entire country. And remember, he is discipling 86 other new believers scattered throughout. Enabled by your partnership, he is travelling, training, discipling, equipping new believers to multiply themselves, to train and equip others to show JESUS, so that everyone, everywhere, will see, hear and understand the gospel. To God be the glory!

Allow me to pass along another fascinating report from another place where God is also working. Hidden in the mountains of South Sudan there is a school—the only school in this area and attended by 300 children. Because the population adheres to that same aggressive religion, the people mandated a religious curriculum—children memorize every verse of their holy book.

Wanting to reach all the children with the gospel, a JESUS film worker (I will call him Mousad) shared the gospel with two of the school’s teachers. They were moved by the good news and received Christ. They kept their new faith quiet for fear of reprisals. But Mousad continued to ask God for a way to share the gospel in the school. So, he decided to show the film JESUS in the open, in the middle of the town.

This was indeed risky. At first, only a few people came. After all, it was a Christian film. But as the people heard the soundtrack—in their own language—they came. Soon a large crowd formed, likely the entire village! It was so large that the chief came to watch as well. (He was also the religious leader of the community.)

This chief was moved by the words of Jesus, words of love he had never heard—in his heart language. He was overwhelmed with grief as he saw Jesus betrayed, tortured and crucified. And this Jesus forgave His enemies, even from the cross. The chief wept. The next day, he summoned Mousad. He actually asked him to incorporate Bible classes into the school curriculum! Mousad dared to dream and the Lord answered. To God be the glory!

When people recognize their own mother tongue in a film, something most have never experienced, they come and watch. They are captivated by the gospel story and His Word in JESUS, faithful to the Scriptures. It’s then that the Holy Spirit moves in their hearts, testifying that all they are seeing, hearing, and understanding is truth. This is why JESUS has been translated into more than 1,775 different languages. As a partner in India has said, “Ideas travel in the chariot of language.”

Yet, several hundred people groups have yet to receive JESUS in their heart language. It’s why I am writing, why I come to you with an urgent request and a wonderful opportunity. A generous donor who knows well the power of language has offered a $75,000 Challenge Grant. He has asked that this grant be used to invite and inspire your giving, to follow his lead, so that thousands more might hear and understand JESUS.

As you may have heard, a new strategy has been developed that greatly speeds the process of JESUS film script translation. It uses sophisticated software and translation workshops that focus the skills of linguists on related languages.

The strategy is reducing the time to produce a new script for JESUS from years to literally weeks. And as you can imagine, producing the script—faithful and accurate to the Scriptures—this is the first and most essential step. Once in hand, a technical team goes to record the voices, edit, produce and release a whole new translation for JESUS.

The cost to produce a new script of JESUS for a documented language is $7,500. For an unstudied, oral or undocumented language, the process is more complex and requires $32,000. Today you can help unreached people understand JESUS, the gospel and the Word of God, by helping with a share of the costs, or, as God has blessed you by funding all the cost for one translation script. And whatever you send can be effectively doubled by the Challenge Grant.

Would you kindly take a look at the ways you can help send “JESUS” to an entire unreached people group? Perhaps you can provide a portion of the cost for one language. You can send $160 for what we call a share, or $320 for two shares. When combined with the Challenge Grant, your $160 gift will become $320, and your $320 gift will become $640. Should you have the financial ability, would you pray about a larger gift of $1,875 to fund one-fourth of a written language script? You could even fund all the cost of one documented-language script for $7,500 or the researching and producing of a script for an unstudied oral language for $32,000. The written language scripts are for nations like Democratic Republic of Congo and oral language scripts of JESUS will be reaching people in places like Indonesia.

Give as you are able and as He leads. Let the world hear and understand His Word. Help make it possible for people who live in a “dry and weary land” to receive His love, to be called “… out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9b). Thank you!

Until everyone sees Jesus,

Josh Newell
Executive Director
Jesus Film Project®

PS. Please look over the enclosed information sheet. Once a script is created, the voices are recorded, a new translation is edited and approved, the film is then released to be watched by thousands over and over, telling them about the love of God in their heart language. If you can, kindly mail or post your gift by November 30, 2019. You can also give now by clicking the “give a gift” button. Or you can give via credit card by calling (800) 387-4040. Also consider transfers of stocks, securities, real property, or IRAs. For these giving opportunities, please visit: www.jesusfilm.org/planned-giving. You can email stock@jesusfilm.org or ira@jesusfilm.org to promptly begin the process of making a tax-wise gift today.

† For security, I always change names and don’t disclose locations. Lives could be at risk. I know you understand.

* All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.