Go Borderless

At IMM, we invited students to come participate in a week of media training, creating videos, and exploring the idea of media missions. We invited them to Go Borderless - as media knows no boundaries in reaching the world. It can go where we cannot.

Much to our surprise and not our own planning, we've ended up with people from 5 countries. God has moved and shown us the desire and need for young people to engage the world using media and their desire to be part of the Kingdom of God.

It's very exciting to see the enthusiasm and intensity of our visitors. We can learn from one another and expand the reach of God's love with media.

We will shoot a scene for the book of Mark which is part of our current project of the Four Gospels. We will shoot a Spanish version of The Path of Jesus and of course try to share the media knowledge we have in house here at IMM.

Pray for us to be clear communicators and to sustain our energy for a really full and busy week. Pray that God speaks to our Go Borderless attendees about what He wants to do with them.

Fall of 2008

On set with Rahab volunteers and producers.





On location in a barley field, doing a scene of Ruth and Boaz.







Buddy Barrel shoot.

Stories from Communism

We went to Romania for a Christian Visual Media conference along with about 90 people from around Europe. I knew that there was persecution under communism but we saw some videos and heard some first hand stories that were amazing.

Several of the media people shared documentaries about persecution under communism that were really severe. They took believers and intellectuals and tortured them in an experiment to turn them into the perfect communists. It was psychological as well as physical. Part way through the experiment they told people if they would administer the torture to fellow prisoners they would be released, so some turned on the others in desperation.

While the videos were shocking, touring a local Timisoara Revolution museum we discovered some information that I found a total surprise. They feel like they have had a 20 year revolution that is still continuing because in 1989 they over thru Chachesku, the brutal communist dictator, but they were not able to get rid of all his croneys and they are still in power in various parties today. In the chaos at the time, the Chacheskus were killed with a perfunctory trial. No one argues they weren't guilty but they weren't allowed to live and point out their cohorts. The corruption continues deeply and the people are hoping that the attempt to join the EU helps. They have more physical freedom but still feel they are taken advantage of by the government authorities. (In a way, aren't we all?)

The most interesting testimony I heard was from a woman who is now a Christian. She was not a believer before the revolution and had no idea of God. She said it was depressing because in the communist system your life was spelled out for you. Where you lived or were born dictated what school you went to. Your marks dictated whether you would go to a trade or to a university. Your job was given to you and that was it until you died. They weren't allowed to travel; they could have no aspirations of a different job or a business of their own. Food was rationed tightly and there was no variation. You had children and they did the same thing.

After the revolution, her husband met a missionary and was saved. For one year she resisted as her children accepted the Lord and her husband kept trying to convince her. She finally said in her heart not outloud, God if you are real and want me to believe all this send someone to me. That night two missionaries who did not know them stopped by because someone from another country had asked them to drop off a package. It was dark and the streets weren't marked and it was a miracle that the men had found their home. The one man spoke French which she knew from school and spoke to her. She just started crying because she knew God had sent this man and that God was real.

Today she and her husband are running a 24 hour television station reaching Romania and southeastern Europe for Christ and (!) using our videos!

Worldview Devo

This is an email devotional I get and this one seemed to really fit for us. Hope you like it too.
D.

http://www.aonotes.com/2008/09/01/world-view/
The Korean man and his wife had studied in America. They were young, bright
and energetic. They could be climbing the ladder of professional advancement
and "the good life".

Instead, they had made the conscious choice to live and work in a developing
country in west-central Asia. Why would they do that?

The man explained to me that they chose that career so they could take the good
news of Christ's love to people who have not had much opportunity to hear it.

Over breakfast that morning we talked about the interrelated traps of busyness
and focus on wealth accumulation that choke spiritual growth. (Note: These
issues face followers of Jesus in both develop_ing_ and develop_ed_
countries.)

I asked him how people -- especially in the west where I live -- could avoid
these temptations. His answer was simple, yet profound:

"Study the Bible to get a Christian world view. Learn what
God's purpose is in the world, and become a part of it."

Coffee/tea thought:
"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who
bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation." Isaiah 52.7 NIV
John

Chinese Version: World View



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Huh?

A couple weeks ago I was going down our front stairs toward our gate and the neighbor's dog went zooming past. Luna is a chocolate lab and every night they let her out of the yard and she shoots like a bullet down the street and out into the wilderness behind our homes. Dogs are always so delighted with things in life and I wanted to express this to my neighbor who was following Luna at a more leisurely pace.

So I open my gate and say, "Oh dogs, they have so much..." here I want to use the word joy and I know this word because we seem to use it most weeks at church but there's a glitch in my mental chip as I search for the word.... "they have so much jewelry!" The buy gets a really odd look on his face and I say, "no, not jewelry, what's the word?" Awkward pause as I do my usual sounding out a syllable I can't find in my head. That's it, maybe. "They have so much Goya." The guy smiles. I think he gets what I"m saying and we go our separate ways on our separate walks.

About a half block later, I realize I've said the name of a famous Spanish artist - Goya. Nice. Dogs have so much Goya. What art? Paintings?

What I meant to say...was gozo -- joy! Sigh. I just keep sowing seeds of the strange American neighbors but I keep trying.

20 years

Yesterday we celebrated 20 years of marriage - zoink! How is that possible? Now I have been married half my life! We have a big trip planned that we leave for next week. We tried to go this week but the office didn't want us to be gone before the dedication of the new building which is next Tuesday.

So on our anniversary - we went to work where they prayed over us since it was our anniversary. We came home and took our traditional photos on our day - we do that every year and have 20 now - except for the 13th year when the lab lost our film. It was quite chilly here yesterday. In fact this may be the first anniversary that I wore slacks for our photos usually I dress up more.

We went to a restaurant with a wood oven and a charcoal type grill. We arrived at the very Spanish time of 8:30pm. It was VERY Spanish but good quality of what we are used to here. We ordered artichokes with ham (more like prosciutto) roasted together, a salad, and cod stuffed red peppers to share. This was the appetizer and veggie courses and then Kerry got lamb chops and I got a steak both grilled. We shared a sort of cheese cake with carmel sauce. We were stuffed.

Here's what we look like after 20 years. I'm too lazy to go upstairs and scan our one year anniversary picture for you to compare!

Resurfacing

Wow - the holidays passed and things are settling back to normal. November-December passed with 10 flights for me from Madrid, to KC and Arizona, Florida. It was good to see the grandparents after so long - 3 years. It took all my "birthday" money to do the flights but it was a good decision. Then finally back in KC with snow every 3 or 4 days and lots of fun and food with friends adn family. We felt like we had a real winter with all the winter weather. Thanks to many of you for feeding us or hanging out with us. And to family and the tax returns for funds to visit at home.

The moment I got to Spain I got sick with the flu/cold thing and only went back to work finally two weeks ago. I guess I just needed a rest and there wasn't anything pressing at work so I took the sick days without remorse. Hit the ground running with a new project, well two actually. 1. promote the Bible School here. 2. Revisit their 40 years of history. We have until the 15th to get it done so it will be really, really hectic. It's my first go as a director as well as producer for IMM, I've done it on my own but it is a good project to sink my teeth into. Kerry is doing camera and learning a new special effects program for this project and those coming down the pipe. Last week it required a quick trip (4.5 hours away) to Cordoba and Bible School.

Last week I also saw a motorcycle wreck into a car in Spanish traffic. A little scary as people were trying to put the guy in their car and drive off, but ultimately an ambulance came and the police which I was glad to see. The same night I double parked which people do here all the time but I found it nerve wracking to listen for honking in case I needed to move my car. Life is interesting -- even when you don't expect it!
D