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JFP Net Casters Newsletter
Stories and Testimonies from Global Partners JESUS Film Teams
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Dear Net Caster,
Wearing many hats might be a phrase which we understand, but I learned some time ago that I only have one head. Since the Net Caster is primarily our communication for the JESUS film ministry of Global Partners, I will make an effort to keep my JESUS film hat on while engaged with the Net Caster. However, having said that, I will not ignore other hats that I happen to wear from time to time, like the Pacific area director.
I have just returned from Indonesia where I met with the executive of the National Board of Administration. One of the persons who came to report was our JESUS film team leader working on a specific island. The team has now planted 17 churches and are continuing to show the film in remote villages on the eastern side of the island where it has never been seen. They are in the process of moving team members to the western side of the island where they will be doing extensive evangelism in partnership with the Campus Crusade for Christ team. This will be a cooperative effort for evangelism with a broader base than just our team. However, our teams have shown themselves to be of such value in doing church planting and follow-up that they will be taking up that task. This whole scenario is very well planned and, I believe, will show some excellent results as the Lord blesses it in the coming year.
I was impressed with The Wesleyan Church in Indonesia. The leadership is well educated and theologically sound. While they are under continual scrutiny and pressure, they seem to take it all in stride. I like going to a place where the national treasurer is a real treasurer and not just a figurehead manipulated by others. It is refreshing to see a budget taken seriously and conscientiously followed, with accountability built in. It is a blessing to see churches doing everything they can to build their own buildings; even if it takes years and years, they just keep plugging away. There are 18 churches that have land and either no building yet or partially constructed buildings. The national church also has a vision that stretches but is not so “pie in the sky” that you know it’s impossible. Some of their projects are out of the norm, but fit well into their overall vision. The Bible college is one of the most important areas of focus for the church, but the government is putting on tremendous pressure, including new regulations for accreditation. Faculty degree upgrades are one of the most difficult to meet because of the costs.
Indonesia is an incongruent mixture of pressure for religious conformity, on the one hand, and a pride of religious tolerance on the other. In the midst of it all the church is growing and seems to be very strong, in both faith and organization.
Our other JESUS film teams also continue to work. Read and be blessed.
Your Fellow Servant,
Dr. John H. Connor
Director of the JESUS Film Partnership of Global Partners
Nepal
A Hindu priest spent a lot of time in the ritual of worship but admits that he had no peace in his heart. After the showing of the JESUS film, we were busy praying for people when he came forward and asked us to pray for him. He told us that this was the first time he felt he had really been touched by God. He told us that when he accepted Christ as his Savior, it was like he had been freed from a great burden. Now he and his family are going to church, and because of his influence, many other people have come to Christ. They have realized that the one true God is the only one who can free us from the rituals of superstitious belief.
The JESUS film has helped us in preaching God’s message in this country. God is doing His wonderful works among the people. We are really grateful and thankful to our God for helping us in our work and to the JESUS film ministry for helping to give us a tool to preach his gospel message. Thank you.
Suriname
Nieuw Nickerie is a Hindu and Muslim district where we have many new converts. They asked our church’s help to organize prayer meetings. They have been meeting every week, and one of our pastors is going every month to have Bible studies with this new group. Follow-up materials will be sent to these people.
Honduras
Due to the crisis in our country there is an interest with people to know more of God, so the film is awakening interest, and there are many communities requesting the showing. This is incredible. Amen.
Indonesia
I am a man who grew up in the faith of Marapu. I live in a village far from the city. There was no Christian living in our village. I have four wives and three children. I used to think that Christianity is a belief that breaks the faith of Marapu and our tradition, so we never permitted a Christian follower to preach the gospel in our village. One day, the Indonesian Wesleyan Church team came and showed the JESUS film. They preached the gospel. Then there was a long discussion, and we came to feel that, as the followers of Marapu, we needed Jesus as our Savior. Now everyone in our village has received Jesus as our Lord and comes to worship every Sunday. I am also so thankful for the Bible we received. We now can read the words of the Bible ourselves. Pray for us so we won’t follow our ancestors. We will soon be baptized.
All people of my village and I have not been Christianized. My village is one of the villages keeping the faith of Marapu. Our village is located about 41 km from the city; 35 km can be reached by road but then we have to walk another 6 km to reach the village. We didn’t want to permit the JESUS film team to make the showing because we were so afraid of Christians, but the Wesleyan team came and showed the film. We are so thankful to know that we have a Savior now. He forgives our sins. We now worship every Sunday and learn the words of God through the Bible given to us by Wesleyan team. May the Lord bless those who have given us the Bible.
Northeast India
We have not yet reported our progress for August and September because the team has been very busy doing a follow-up program in the villages where the JESUS film has been shown. The harvest was great. We do have home showing from time to time while we are doing follow-up. We are doing follow-up in seven different villages. We have been so busy discipling new believers that we have had to postpone some of the showings we expected to do this year. We had thought that we could do adequate follow-up in a three-week period, but we discovered that it took us two months when we got down to the practical work.
I thank you again for your heart for Northeast India to open a door for the JESUS film ministry. Many lost souls have been saved and people have gotten healed by seeing the JESUS film. What an important device it is! Please continue to pray for the JESUS film team in Northeast India.
Dear Net Caster,
Accountability is often the great black hole of the mission task. In my travels around the world I could recount more stories than I could tell of money thrown into the big black hole of no accountability (never in Wesleyan Missions, of course!). Sometimes well-meaning individuals will get a compassionate idea, do some sketchy investigation, anoint it a “great vision” (and sometimes it is) and then throw money at a project that becomes a black hole, because no accountability is built in. At times accountability seems cruel—cutting off funding to good people just because they can’t get some numbers on a paper. For the JESUS film ministry, if the film is being shown, people are viewing the film, being saved, and churches are being built. We should be able to count them and write the number down. Accountability is not a difficult concept to grasp, and it is important.
At the time of this writing, I have just shut one team down and we have three teams suspended, because of accountability issues. Two of them, I know from independent sources, are working and will get back on track; the third, I’m not so sure. When funds are suspended, it usually takes less than a month to get back on track, if there is a track. The other side of the issue is that I know other people who are making sacrifices to give to this ministry. Someday, as the administrator, I will stand before the Judge of Nations to be asked what I did with the funds that were sacrificed for this ministry. I don’t want to tell Him that I threw it at the wall to see what would stick. That is not accountability.
The Church in scripture is depicted as a body. The parts of the body are accountable to each other. If one part is dysfunctional, the body doesn’t work properly. All are accountable to the head, but all are accountable to each other as well. My stomach holds my mouth accountable; it doesn’t just want the mouth to talk about food. Accountability will continue to be built into the JESUS film ministry of The Wesleyan Church.
Following are some testimonies, which were sent in by teams who have shown they are accountable. Be blessed as you see what God continues to do.
Your Fellow Servant,
John Connor
Director of the JESUS Film Partnership of Global Partners
Northeast India
Team in a Difficult Area: The JESUS film team, at the time of this writing, has entered a very difficult area to minister. The roads are poor to nonexistent, there is no electricity, and it is a sensitive area. Pray for their safety, as well as the harvest.
Old Christian, New Way: The JESUS film is more than an interesting story that imparts knowledge; it enlightens the spirit and brings good news to lost souls. In every showing Patrick, the team leader, says, “My Christian life is growing, and it also makes for me a new way to place my foot.”
Meaning of Salvation: A 40-year-old woman came to watch the film. She testified, “From the JESUS film I come to realize the greatness of salvation. I had heard people say that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save us, but at that time I didn’t understand the real meaning of salvation. After I saw the JESUS film, I accepted Jesus with all my heart and soul.”
Zambia
God Is Not Mocked: On the second evening of the showing in the Habeenzu area, a group of three young men came to make mockery of what was happening. They made loud, coarse comments throughout the showing. On the third evening they came again. Pastor Ntaambo felt led of the Spirit to make a very solemn warning that God was offering somebody a last chance to repent. He went on to say that in that congregation there was someone who would soon be in the grave. It was, therefore, imperative that the opportunity for repentance be seized. That evening two of the mockers left for Lusaka to sell some livestock, some of them stolen. The following morning we learned that the truck they were riding in had overturned enroute to Lusaka, and the two young men had gone into eternity. What a squandered opportunity! The day before they had mocked at the one who had extended to them an invitation for repentantce. They had spurned a lifetime chance to be saved.
Woman Cowed by Misfortune: Lialian was a very depressed woman when the JESUS film team visited Habeenzu. She is a very resourceful woman but has been a constant target of misfortune. She blamed her misfortune on God, because when she joined the church, it appears that is when she began to face incomprehensible challenges. Here is what she has to say about her experiences:
Shortly after we returned to our home village for retirement, my husband and I started working on our property. Because we were near a church, we felt it was worthwhile to be involved. We became very active in the church, and we felt we had family. Then tragedy struck when my husband got ill suddenly. We had to spend a lot of time travelling to and from the hospital, which was far from home and so costly. Eventually, I lost my husband, barely a year after returning home. By the time we were done with the funeral and related issues, we had spent most of our money, and I was emotionally drained.
Things did not improve because two months later a neighbor’s cattle broke into our garden, and one of them fell into my well. When the matter came before the elders, I was made to replace the animal. Within six months I had replaced four animals. In spite of the support received from the church during all this, I was so embittered against God because I had not known such misfortune before, until I started attending church.
When the animals that World Vision had given me as a means to help me build economic capacity died, I was convinced God did not welcome me into the church. I decided to stop attending church. But when the JESUS film team came to our area, I was touched by the teachings of Jesus that say “It is difficult for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom” and “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Somehow I was convicted that my reason for coming to church was to use God as a means to gain and not because I had received and appreciated His love manifested through Jesus Christ His Son. That evening when the altar call was made, I went and gave my life to Jesus. Life has now taken a new meaning, and a peace I have not felt in a long time has come into my heart.
Myanmar
Old Woman, New Hope: When our team showed the JESUS film in a village that had never seen it, one older lady cried during the show. The next day, when our team members talked to her about Jesus Christ, she and her family were ready to repent. After she learns more about Jesus and studies for a while, we will baptize them. The village council chairman asked our team to come back and show the film to them again.
Given to Serve: Since the showing of the JESUS film, seven new believers in a village are ready to join the church. More people come to services and fellowship with us. One man told our team that he will send his son to our ministerial training school to study the Bible, and then his son will serve the Lord back in the village when he finishes the studies. We are hoping to have that boy at Union Biblical Seminary next year.
Mozambique
Candida had spent a lot of time in the local hospital and had even traveled out of the country to try to find help. She lived in a constant state of fear, especially of eternal things. She came to watch the JESUS film when it was shown near her home, having no idea the great changes it would bring into her life. As she saw Jesus heal what appeared to be leprosy, she suddenly believed that Christ could heal her. She came forward at the end of the film for that purpose—to pray for her healing—but before she got to the place of prayer she was healed. We could only praise the Lord.
Emilio told us that when he saw Jesus healing people and casting out demons, a great conviction enveloped him. He trusted Jesus and was saved.
A man named Zefanias used to deny Jesus. But when he saw the suffering of Jesus on the cross, he was deeply moved. At the end of the showing, he could no longer deny Him and became a believer. He offered us a part of his land to build a church.
Colombia
We were able to take over 800 New Testaments on our last JESUS film trip. These Bibles opened doors in a hospital, government offices (including the mayor’s), a business office complex, and schools. We were able to do this in three different townships. This distribution of Bibles, as well as the showing of the JESUS film, gave The Wesleyan Church status for impacting the whole society.
Dear Net Caster,
We were stunned this month at the death of our friend, colleague, and JESUS film team leader in Liberia, Rev. Jomah Kollie. Jomah was one of those people with a rare sense of humor, an ability to tell a story so that people wanted to listen, and a dominate gift of evangelism. He was a churchman, a Wesleyan, but he was also known and loved in the wider evangelical community in Liberia. He was trusted as a person to whom you could loan equipment and it would come back in the same shape it was taken. His passion was for the lost of Liberia. Jomah was a church planter, and one of the last things he did this year was to oversee the planting of a church in a predominately Muslim community where today more than 100 people attend every Sunday worship. Liberia was better for his life and surely heaven is booming with his infectious laugh and a story so interesting that even the angels gather round to hear.
Culture is all pervasive and must be taken into account in planting churches. Everyone perceives and understands the gospel message within some cultural context. Planting churches in Africa is not the same as planting churches in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Each must take specific cultural context into account. But in both, if churches are going to be planted purposefully (as opposed to “accidently”) someone has to say “I am (we are) going to plant a church at ____(place)_____ on ___(date)_____.” Having said this, it is still a holy surprise when some of our brothers in developing nations declare as a matter of fact “We are going to plant a new church in Needsachurch Village on Friday.” Especially when there are no known Christians in the village and they follow through and do it! By Sunday they have their first worship service with a new congregation in a place where no church existed the Monday before. I love that! It is so much fun to have holy surprises. It is even more fun to go to that church in six months and find them maturing and growing in the faith. No wonder the angels rejoice when souls are saved. They probably call to each other, “Hey, come and watch this; it’s going to be fun! These guys are going to see a group of people saved and are going to start a church on Friday.” I think “rejoice” means “it’s fun”—doesn’t it?
Hey, come with us, we are going to start a new church every Friday in the coming year, just as we did on every Friday last year and every Friday for the last six years! We want you to be a part of this great and holy task— besides, it’s fun!
Please begin to pray for The Wesleyan Church in Sierra Leone. At the end of the rainy season they will begin a major campaign into the southern part of Sierra Leone where there are very few Wesleyan churches. Both JESUS film teams will be put on the leading edge of this evangelistic thrust and the Church is being mobilized for follow-up. They need a saturation of prayer, both for leadership and the multiple evangelistic and follow-up teams involved.
Thank you for being a partner of the JESUS film ministry. Read on and hear firsthand how God is working through our JESUS film teams.
Your Fellow Servant,
John Connor
Director of the JESUS Film Partnership for Global Partners
Mozambique
Worship in Spirit: Matias had been an attendee at a cultic “church” in Mozambique, which mixes African traditional religion with various “Christian” forms. He was especially convicted when the JF team leader told the story of Jesus talking to the Samaritan women about worship. She wanted to know which religion was right and what mountain to worship on. But Jesus ignored that and recommended worship in spirit because God is Spirit. Matias realized that he did not worship in Spirit; he only went through forms of ritual and rules. He worshipped in the flesh only. This was a new concept to Matias. Immediately the Holy Spirit broke through his fleshly thinking and he realized what it meant to worship in Spirit and truth.
Jesus the Savior: A Muslim man came to see the JESUS film. He was greatly affected by what he saw and heard about Jesus being the Savior. If it was true that Jesus was the Savior, then there wasn’t any other Savior. He heard that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He heard that Jesus is the Bread of Life and that no one could go to the Father but by Him. This man knew the Quran and that Jesus is mentioned there as the Messiah and as Lord, but he had not heard that He was the Savior. This was a profound idea to him and it took him some time to think it through. His conclusion was that if Jesus is the Savior, he did not know Him as his Savior. He had never tasted the bread of life, was not on the way, was not in the truth, and could not go to the Father. His life has been profoundly changed in both the spiritual and physical. He has come to know what it means to be a Christian. Now Jesus is not just the Savior, Jesus is his Savior.
Tina’s Part: Tina stood in the darkness with tears making little roads down the fine dust on her face as she watched the crucifixion of Christ. How could this good, gentle man endure such a death when He had the power to escape. He didn’t do it for Himself; He did it for a sinful, rejecting world, of which Tina was a part. He was doing it because, as the angel said, it was written in the book. It was God’s plan for the salvation of that sinful, rejecting world, of which Tina was a part. But she stepped out of that sinful, rejecting world when the call to pray was given. Now she can say with confidence that Christ died for her. Tina is no longer a part of that sinful, rejecting world.
Finding the One: The 22-year-old young man was a Jehovah Witness and had come to watch the JESUS film. He watched in fascination as John the Baptist was imprisoned and his disciples scurried off to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah. Somehow, in the teaching he had received, he could not imagine Jesus being called “the one we are waiting for.” This troubled his mind and spirit. Then, when he saw Christ on the cross, there was a connection that he had never understood before. Here is the One we are waiting for Who brought salvation by His death on the cross. In that instance he believed and found the One he had been waiting for.
Northeast India
Driven to Distraction: The JF team had hired a vehicle and a driver to go to a remote village. The team arrived safely and in time to show the film, but as they were setting up the equipment the driver, without warning, suddenly bolted off in the car toward a remote jungle area where there were no proper roads for the vehicle. Some of the Wesleyan youth recognized the abnormal behavior of the driver and ran after the vehicle. Fortunately a large boulder blocked his path and he was stopped before plunging down a 20-foot cliff. The hired driver was stunned and his mind was out of control. We believed he had become possessed as the devil tried to exploit a weakness in our team. We prayed for him and he came back to a normal state. Satan tries to stop this ministry in any way possible, because God is using it in such a mighty way to win the lost. We have a strong faith in God, the winner; Satan will always be the loser.
Indonesia
Village Chief and SS: I was born and grew up in a Marapu* family. I work as sub-district chief and I am 76 years old. I have children and grandchildren. Before I followed Jesus, my family and I were loyal Marapu followers. I kicked out every Christian pastor who came to my village because I felt that my faith was the best one (Marapu), which I had been holding all my life. But one day I saw and heard that there was a Sunday school in one of my brother’s house. I felt this was right, and there came a willingness that my children would be as smart as the children in the Sunday school. So I decided to invite the JESUS film team from the Wesleyans to show the film and spread the words of God, teaching all children in my village as they had in my brother’s village. I then started listening to the words and I realized that this life of a loyal Marapu follower was not enough—I needed Jesus.
*a form of ancestral religion
Home Church: I was born and grew up in a fanatic Marapu tradition. I live in a solitary, isolated village which can only be reached on foot or by riding a horse. There is a church in the middle of our sub-district but they never come to our village. One day I got news that there would be a JESUS film showing in my village. I, as one of the village’s elders, permitted it. After having watched the film, I was attracted to the message, so I invited the leader of the team to my house. Now my family and I are Jesus’ followers, and we have a worship service every Sunday in our home.
Colombia
Joy to All People: It was a great blessing in a recent worship time when all the churches of a zone joined together for music provided from each church. The special joy was the new people with God-given, Spirit-filled talent from churches planted in the last two years by the JESUS film team. This was the first time for these new members of the wider family of Christ to meet together. What a time of excitement and joyous praise it was.
Ministry Has More Than One Meaning: Some of our churches are separated by distance and become lonely pastorates. However, the JESUS film team has been able to plant two new works near one of these churches. In one of the others, just the visit of the team was a blessing to the pastor and his family and strengthened the church. The JESUS film team has not only brought evangelistic blessings, it has had opportunity to minister to pastors in remote areas as well.
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