UPDATETh e J E SUS Fi lm Pro j e c t

A Mi n i s t r y o f C a m p u s C r u s a d e f o r C h r i s t In t e r n a t i o n a l

I N S I D E

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Nisha1 was overwhelmed by despair. Abandoned by her family for marrying against theirwishes, Nisha had based all her hope and security in her new husband. But as tensions anddisagreements entered their young marriage, Nisha’s husband treated her with increasinghatred. With nowhere to turn for support, Nisha saw suicide as her only option.

Without hope people perish. Nowhere is this stark reality more evident than in India’ssuicide capital of Tirupur District in Tamil Nadu. In Tirupur,the attempted suicide rate is 20 people every day—with many ofthem succeeding in their death wish. In one of the most bustlingindustrial centers in the state of Tamil Nadu, Tirupur is home to6,000 garment industrial units and the thousands of migrantlaborers who keep them running. Poverty and job loss pressuresforce many residents into grim despair.

In 2011, burdened by Tirupur’s distressed people, about 200Campus Crusade for Christ® staff leaders and volunteers fromnearly 40 local churches joined in a four-day outreach andsuicide prevention campaign throughout Tirupur. The JESUSand Magdalena film showings and personal evangelism reachedapproximately 40,000 people. Several churches continued to useJESUS and Magdalena.

Last October in Tirupur, Campus Crusade, local pastors and300 key student leaders and volunteers organized a four-dayfollow-up suicide prevention campaign offering lasting hopethrough the gospel. During this outreach members of the teammet Nisha and shared the gospel with her. In Jesus—despite her family’s rejection and herhusband’s hatred—Nisha found a reason to live. She prayed to accept Jesus and anchored herhope in Him.

Several other individuals shared how they planned to take their lives the very day of theoutreach, but the good news of Jesus stopped them. Since this campaign, the Tirupuri suiciderate has significantly dropped and the local pastors are leading ever-widening ministriesusing JESUS and Magdalena—reaching 43,000 people in the past six months alone.

As part of a partnership focus for Campus Crusade, the life-saving influence of the JESUSfilm is getting a fresh start throughout Asian cities and villages. In the world’s second-most

“In His name the nations willput their hope.”

(Matthew 12:21, NIV)

1 Name changed for security purposes.

43,000 people reached in 6 monthswith JESUS and Magdalena

8,102 suicide awareness brochures distributed

2,110 people heard the gospel

1,129 indicated decisions for Christ

Fresh Starts

Tirupur Outreach:

credit: Janelle Searles

populous country of 1.2 billion, India has 641,000 villages and most are without a church.More than 80 percent of the Indian people follow Hinduism and only 2.34 percent2 of thenation is Christian.

Realizing that India has more unreached people groups than any other country,Campus Crusade initiated a plan to create models of planting sustainable churches in eachvillage. Partnering with existing churches, other Christian groups and The JESUS FilmProject®, church-planting teams help lead people into a relationship with Christ, disciplenew believers, and train lay leaders to start house churches that start other house churches

throughout a 100-village area.

“We see that almost every day, hundreds of peopleare coming to Christ and going through the buildingprocess and attending the Bible study and joining in thechurches,” a ministry leader explained. “… In ourarea, Christianity [is] growing like anything, and I thinkthe JESUS film or Magdalena movie … has been atremendous influence in building God’s kingdom.”

To keep the trained church planters stablefinancially, the ministry also oversees agriculturalsustainability projects that help generate funds tobenefit these lay leaders and sometimes their non-Christian neighbors too. Farmers cultivate land orreceive an advance on their crops, which they sell atbest market prices.

“The biggest difference we’re seeing now is that we’re not just planting churches with the JESUSfilm, but we’re able to get those churches to a sustainable state, and that’s our real focus,” notedGeorge Mason, the JESUS Film Field Strategy team leader for South and Southeast Asia.“In just over four years of really implementing this strategy, they’ve got about 4,000 churches just inIndia. It’s opened up doors for us, where sometimes the doors were shut earlier, and it’s really helpingthe whole community….”

The efforts of continuing on with villagers after a film showing have proven successfulacross the nation with its more than 400 distinct languages. In Northern India, oneenthusiastic church planter trained three men in his discipleship group. By late 2013,together the three apprentice church planters already had shared the gospel with 1,850people through the JESUS film alone.

In East India, approximately 7,900 people now attend 471 new churches developedthrough the church-planting movement. In Southeast India some 3,750 villagers attend the201 new local churches. During a four-day outreach in a southern city, approximately 350students, leaders and Campus Crusade staff members—working with 57 churches—introduced almost 50,000 people to the Messiah through small group JESUS andMagdalena film screenings.

From India’s teeming industrial cities to its farming villages, The JESUS Film Project’steam members are continually amazed by God’s hand in establishing thousands of life-givinghome churches and providing fresh starts for those who have given up hope on life. n

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“…It’s opened

up doors for us,

where

sometimes the

doors were

shut earlier…”

2 Statistic obtained from Operation World.

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ILight for the Darkness

In an Eastern India village, traditionally ahaven for militant rebels, the villagers live cutoff from the rest of society—no electricity, nosafe running water, no medical facility, and nonews of Jesus. But in 2011 a JESUS Filmchurch-planting team found their way to theisolated village and, through use of the film,ignited the faith of the people to trulyunderstand that the Son of God came to theworld for them, too.

The first Christ-follower in this village was a hardened guerilla fighter. “Now he is notonly a believer in Christ, but God is using him to lead a Bible study group with 10 new believers fromhis village,” an area leader reported. “Through the ministry of these church planters now there arethree Bible study groups with 27 baptized members and many seekers of the Lord.”

With the help of the church planters, this once-anarchist village has extended thegospel to two nearby communities and is praying for opportunities to evangelize,disciple and plant churches in four more neighboring villages. As roads are built to these outlying areas, the Campus Crusade ministry Global Aid Network® in Australia isplanning to install solar panels on every home in the villages, helping bring light fortheir path and the Light of the World for their hearts.

Central African Republic: “Walking With Jesus”

A Campus Crusade staff member in theCentral African Republic attended the baptismsof a group of people who came to faith throughthe Sango JESUS film. The next day he started toshow the French Walking With Jesus as a part of theearly discipleship process for these new believers.For those for whom French was difficult tounderstand, someone translated the dialoguefrom the film into Sango on the spot. The peoplewere so hungry for the teaching found in WalkingWith Jesus that after the fifth episode finished,they asked to watch the series again! Throughthis church’s weekly showings of the SangoJESUS film in conjunction with Walking WithJesus, six churches already have been planted inthis region. n

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credit: Janelle Searles

See how God is using Walking With Jesus in Africa; go to www.jesusfilm.org/wwj or use the QR Code below.

PShort but Sweet

“Pacific islanders are very friendly but are not always forthcoming, especially when speakingto strangers. Having campus evangelism tools such as … a tablet with short films can be a majoradvantage,” shared Maseikula, a Bible study leader at the University of the SouthPacific (USP) in Suva, Fiji. In this fast-paced, technological world, campus workerssometimes find students unwilling to watch the whole JESUS film or engage in a longspiritual conversation. To help overcome these barriers, Student Life, the name ofCampus Crusade’s ministry on university campuses in Fiji, started using short filmsproduced by Global Short Film Network (GSFN), a ministry of JESUS Film, as a partof their outreach.

The films have an underlying biblical theme, such as forgiveness, success or love,and provide a bridge to deep discussions, especially through the included follow-upquestions. Maseikula finds the follow-up questions helpful in guiding people tothink about personal application of the theme. He also uses the films to encouragegroup interaction.

Sione, a Fijian student at USP, understood the power of the gospel after watchingthe film My Last Day, a nine-minute animé film that tells the story of the Crucifixionfrom the perspective of one of the thieves crucified with Jesus. Sione sought out aStudent Life staff member and shared: “The film … shocked me, and although I had heardthe story of … Jesus, it really shook me. Can you please tell me more about Him and what I mustdo?” As a result of that encounter, Sione prayed to receive Christ and joined adiscipleship group.

Some students at USP even hope to produce their own short films to speak directlyto the unique worldview of Pacific Islanders. Biu, one of those students, receivedtraining from GSFN to help them reach their goal. Biu shared his passion for thisproject: “Each culture and society has its own heartbeat that it relates to. … Doing a short filmsolely focused on a theme that will reach the heart of students here could have a great impact!” n

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Joe

DeS

alla

“Pacific

islanders are

very friendly

but are not

always

forthcoming…”

Prayer Impact

Your Invitation to Pray

. Pray for church-planting teams as they

seek to establish a church in every village in

India.

. Pray for the continued success of the

Walking With Jesus follow-up film series for

new believers in Central African Republic.

. Ask that God will continue to engage

university students as they watch short

films on tablets in Fiji.

. George and Lucinda Mason would

appreciate your prayers as they minister in

South Asia and Southeast Asia.

. Praise the Lord for the life and ministry

of Dr. Billy Graham.

We thank you for your prayers.

For more prayer information:

Call (800) 988-7729

Email pray4@jesusfilm.org

Log on to www.jesusfilm.org/prayer

Behind the Scenes

George and Lucinda’s ministry, like that of a number of JESUS Film staff members,

is made possible by the prayer and financial support of individuals and churches.

To learn how you can personalize your giving, please call (407) 826-2087.

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George and Lucinda MasonExecuting water jumps and springing over hurdles as an All-American 3,000-

meter Steeplechase athlete prepared George Mason for the varied hurdles he facesas the Field Strategy team leader for the JESUS Film™ in South Asia and SoutheastAsia. India, in particular, brings a personal connection for his family.

Introduced to Campus Crusade during their college days, George and Lucindaboth joined the full-time staff of Athletes in Action right out of college—George in1978 and collegiate runner Lucinda in 1981. When Lucinda joined, they worked outof the same AIA office in Southern California. They married in 1992 and in 1994 livedeight months in India as part of a JESUS Film short-term project.

“I designed a database to keep track of all the JESUS Film statistics for Indiaat that time,” Lucinda explained. “This helped the teams with strategy showingwhere they had been with the film and determining where they needed to go.”

Upon their return, the Masons transferred to The JESUS Film Project. Bothgifted as problem solvers and managers of details, George and Lucinda lookforward to continued new roads in the ministry and in parenting teen daughters,Allison and Emily. Lucinda now is using her photography skills, coveringconferences for the ministry. George travels several times a year to Asia to meetwith staff leaders and is joining Allison this summer in India on her first mission trip.

“A really big part of why I like working with the JESUS Film is that our field staff are so committed to the Lord,” George added, “and they really have big plansthat are God-sized, plans and visions only God can do.”

These types of herculean plans, George and Lucinda know, can be reachedwith the right training, discipline and coaching from the Lord. Mile after mile, hurdleafter hurdle. n

credit: Lucinda Mason

FFrom the son of a Southern dairy farmer to the world’s most recognized evangelist, Dr. BillyGraham is also regarded as a world pioneer in producing Christian films. Billy Graham washonored March 15 in an Ashville, North Carolina, movie theater with the Hope Medallion awardpresented by The JESUS Film Project. The award honors individuals dedicated to sharing thesalvation message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. The 2014 Hope Medallion ceremonyincluded a special showing of the re-mastered, high-definition 35th anniversary edition of JESUS.

Gigi Graham, firstborn of the 95-year-old Billy Graham’s five children, accepted the award onbehalf of her father, whose World Wide Pictures filmshave been viewed around the globe since 1953.

“Dr. Graham’s work in film … paved the way for thecreation of JESUS,” Eric Schenkel, executive director ofThe JESUS Film Project said. “We are grateful for Dr.Graham’s faithful work for the Lord and his willingness toanswer the call to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

By the time Billy Graham retired in 2005, he hadpreached the gospel before live audiences to nearly215 million people in more than 185 countries andterritories—more than anyone else in history.Hundreds of millions more have listened to Dr. Graham via television, video, film and webcasts.

Also in attendance at the award ceremony, Vonette Bright, widow of Dr. Bill Bright and co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, expressed her appreciation of Dr. Graham’s life-changingmedia. “I am thankful for the creative ways Billy Graham has worked through film and that millions havecome to know Christ through this,” Vonette shared. “The legacy he leaves behind is very meaningful, andinspirational for the future.”

The night after the Hope Medallion ceremony, Billy Graham’s evangelist grandson Will Grahamshowed clips of the JESUS film during his message to people gathered at an event in Fukuoka, Japan.The legacy continues. n

Blockbuster Christian Film Pioneer

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Pre sident ofPre sident ofCampus Crusade for ChristCampus Crusade for Christ

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Executive Director ofExecutive Director ofThe JESUS Film ProjectThe JESUS Film Project

Erick Schenkel

EditorEditor

Judy Kirk

As sistant EditorAs sistant Editor

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Art DirectorArt Director

Kevin Lin

De signerDe signer

Kevin Lin

ContributorContributor

Beth Leuders

UPDATE

Photo courtesy of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Billy Graham visits the set of World Wide Pictures film, Man in the 5th Dimension, released in 1964.

credit: Janelle Searles