As the season of giving is just around the corner, you might feel led to equip a worker, trained and ready to go, with a video tablet set preloaded with Jesus Film content and a Bluetooth speaker, with a gift of $610. You can send a video tablet (without the speaker) for a gift of $425. Smaller gifts will also help, perhaps $50, $75 or $100.

        Ministry partners are also asking for small, fingernail-size microSD cards. These can hold the complete “JESUS” film in up to 10 languages and portions or all of the Bible on a single card.

        Particularly after a showing of “JESUS,” people will place these memory cards in their smartphones and other devices so they can watch again and again. They pass them from person to person. You can equip a worker with six microSD cards for a gift of $66 or 20 cards for a gift of $220.

        You can also cover the cost for a team to reach a village and help plant a church for a gift of $180. You can sponsor a “JESUS” film team for one day with a gift of $42 or equip a team with a small but portable projector set for a gift of $1,205. (Up to 50 people at a time can watch through one of these projection kits.) During a typical day, team members often not only show “JESUS” but also follow up with new believers. The result is thriving, reproducing churches where none existed.

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CHALLENGE GRANT

        Requests for Jesus Film Project tools are coming from all over the world.  The opportunities are so promising to reach millions of people with the gospel that a generous couple has given the first $100,000 as a Challenge Grant to equip teams and partners. They invite you to follow their lead, to join them to reach more people and send His Word into fields “ready to harvest.”

        Thank you again for your prayers and generous support. Your partnership is touching the lives of thousands with the good news and helping to rescue people from spiritual darkness every day. 

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May I tell you how God has worked through you and “JESUS”?

        ► His name is Askar. For security I have not used his real name.  Askar was born into a culture of great spiritual darkness. Living in Central Asia, he was schooled in the obligations of his country’s dominant religion, one that resists Christ and His followers. Askar shared his amazing journey to faith.*

        “As a young boy, my grandmother sent me to a religious school. All I did was memorize our holy book in Arabic. I spoke a dialect of Russian and had no idea what it all meant. I dreamed of someday becoming a leader in one of our houses of prayer. Then my father introduced me to boxing. I loved it and won bout after bout. At age 17 I became the boxing champion of our nation, headed for the Olympics!

        “But our Olympic committee chose another boxer to go to the games. I was devastated, resentful, and determined to ‘show them.’ So, I joined the mafia. I became involved in all kinds of crime. And I kept having bad dreams. I would be in a very dark tunnel, trapped, without hope. Then, while still on probation, I heard about a group of American students who were holding English classes.

        “Perfect, I will rob them! So, my gang and I kicked the door down where they were meeting. Instead of recoiling in fear, they invited us in. They were kind. Very strange. So, we decided to learn some English. They even taught us how to play American football. After some time had passed, they invited us to a party, where they showed a film. The movie was on a VHS tape they played on a TV. For the first time I met Jesus and heard Him speak. It was all new.

        “I was confused and asked the students, ‘Why did He have to die?  This is all so different from what I was taught about Isa’ (their name for Jesus). Still nice and caring, they explained the gospel. In my mind I kept thinking, you don’t know what kind of person I am. Since I did want to go to heaven, I followed their lead and prayed, ‘OK Jesus, if you are real, if you are God, come into my heart and change me, make me the person you want me to be.’

        “It wasn’t long after that I was challenged by a man who wanted to fight me. Being a boxer, I decked him with one easy punch. As he laid on the ground, we heard an audible voice. We both heard it. ‘Askar, do you remember that you invited Me into your heart? You can’t do this anymore.’ I looked around, but there was no one there. In fear, the man got up and ran. It happened again.

        “Later, I heard the voice once more. I cried out, ‘Who are you? What are you doing to me?’ Then I had a vision of an actual verse in Matthew, His call to seek Him. Then it hit me, He is real, He is, He’s in my life! That night, going to sleep, I dreamed of the tunnel again. Now it was larger, and I was moving out to the light at the end. Jesus was delivering me from a deep darkness.

        “I had to tell my family I had become a Christian. But my father was enraged. All night we argued. He forced me to make a choice, ‘Choose me or Jesus.’ I chose Jesus. He got an axe and told me to fall on my knees and put my head on the table. He raised the axe to cut off my head. I began praying aloud: ‘Lord, I know that the robber in the movie asked You to forgive him. If I die like the robber, I will be with You. Please forgive my dad! He doesn’t know who You are.’

        “Somehow, my dad heard me. He lowered the axe and ordered me out. My family ostracized me and threw me out. I spent the next months living on the streets, hungry and in poverty. Not long after, some Christians heard about me—‘a former mafia member has come to Christ.’ They sent me to Bible school with a scholarship! I learned so much. My mother has since become a believer. And I continue praying for my father and family, trusting in His power to win them over like He did me—because someone showed me the film ‘JESUS.’”

        And there is more! All this happened to Askar years ago—starting with a VHS tape of “JESUS.” Today, Askar is a key staff leader with Jesus Film Project! He trains and equips national workers throughout Central Asia, entrusting them with today’s versatile tools to lead others to Christ through “JESUS.”

        Askar says the need and opportunities to send equipment into all of Central Asia, to reach millions of seeking people, are very great. As he describes it, “The most effective evangelists are those from the same cultures. They’ve been delivered from darkness and understand their fears and chains, like me. They just need the equipment to show them ‘JESUS.’ They will do the work.”

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        ► Now, I’m thinking of another person like Askar, this time a thief. He stole a video tablet from one of the workers, but again, God was at work. As he was scrolling through the tablet, the thief saw the film “JESUS” listed. He watched it and gave his life to Christ afterward. Even a stolen “JESUS” film video tablet can change lives!

        I have also heard reports of tablets circulating among soldiers. In one dangerous, and unnamed country of Africa, you cannot approach the military. Somehow, workers with a partner ministry managed to “slip” a tablet to a soldier. A number watched and believed. That opened the door for Jesus Film Project staff to go and actually baptize several members of the military.

        God is using these tools in Central Asia, Africa and around the world. The Jesus Film Project coordinator for all of East Asia recently wrote: “The conditions of one of our countries continues to deteriorate. Yet God is still moving … I am getting more and more requests for ‘JESUS’ film equipment from national church planters because people are so ready for the hope of the gospel.

        “This month I have been working on a request to provide 50 projector sets for this nation. I often hear how they are using the ‘JESUS’ film as a key tool to see churches planted where there currently are none.”

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        Thank you for your partnership! God is moving in powerful ways all around the world as the gospel is going out and churches are being planted. It's my joy to thank you for your vital role in this work.    

* I have edited the reports and testimonies in this letter for space and understanding. You may have read a part of his story in a recent Jesus Film Project^® newsletter