The Lost Jewel

One of the short film parables that GemStone Media recently shot in Central Asia was the story of The Lost Coin from Luke 15:8-8. To make this parable more culturally relevant for the people there, we wrote the script as “The Lost Jewel.” In just a few short days at this breathtaking location, we shot the film using some wonderful local people as actors. We’re in post-production on this now ... Stay tuned!

The Lost Sheep

In August, Jim and Walt went on an adventure in Central Asia.  In partnership with another missions agency, they set out to retell the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7) contextualized for a minority language group who are isolated up in mountains for much of the year.  Getting there was quite a challenge.  

Single-lane road

The "production truck"

Walt shares: "To reach the village where we stayed, we had to drive through the mountains for 9 hours on a dangerous single-lane road, and then hike on foot for 3.5 hours.  All our equipment was carried by donkeys."

The donkey was concerned about his online identity.

The kids love getting to see themselves.

The Glide-cam is really just an excuse for Walt to chase people.

Das Duerre Kreuz — Sten Ruhe Music Video

Das Duerre Kreuz

Last April, Jim and Sara shot a music video with a German singer/songwriter/pianist from Frankfurt named Sten Ruhe. He grew up in East Germany behind the Berlin Wall as an atheist. Now that he has experienced God’s saving grace in his life, he desires to reach other Germans with the timeless message of the power of the Cross. Sten knows no English whatsoever, so the whole filming project was done in German!

Tour de France 7x7 Project

 

Tour de France 7x7 [English] or [French]

From November 2012:

GEM’s outreach next summer is called the ‘7x7 Tour de France Project.’  ‘7x7’ stands for multiple teams of around 7 people per team, whom we’re inviting to come and serve in one of 7 cities along the Tour de France bike route in France, being involved in one of 7 different ministry opportunities.

It’s very encouraging to hear that already the videos are having a very positive impact. French churches who weren’t originally sure about getting involved have now caught the vision after seeing the videos! They are fully on-board with GEM’s plans for the summer outreach in France, even planning events and renting spaces in preparation for teams to come. And the same encouraging vision-casting is happening with churches in North America too. It’s so great to see our work bearing fruit. Thank you so much for partnership with us! We are truly grateful for you.

50 in 5 Cologne

Pray for Cologne

In July of 2012, Ted Cox was in Cologne shooting a quick prayer video for the team there.  Exciting things continue to happen in Cologne, and it's great to be a part of mobilizing prayer to reach this strategic city.

"Creation to Christ" visual story-telling aid

"God Sends Jesus"

"Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice"

Intern Jen has been hard at work on her big project while she's here: illustrating and designing a visual aid for the Creation to Christ (or C2C) gospel story used by missionaries and church planters around the world. C2C is a 15-minute gospel presentation told in a simple way, specifically geared for people who are unchurched. We are thrilled with Jen's creative work and are looking forward to seeing the printed piece. Until then, Jen has placed the illustrations on the web for people to use electronically (for cell phones, ipods, tablets, etc.).

You can download a PDF of the C2C story here.

"First Steps in the Faith" discipleship book

We're excited about how God might use Primeiros Passos na Fé (First Steps in the Faith), a discipleship booklet we were asked to design for a church planter in Portugal. The booklet will be used as a follow-up tool for the My Hope gospel program beginning there in early December. My Hope is a televised version of the Billy Graham Crusade. Christians throughout the country have been trained and encouraged to invite family, friends and neighbors into their homes to view the program on three different nights. When the program is finished, they will share brief testimonies and give people a chance to receive Christ in their living rooms. Those who accept Christ’s gift of salvation will be followed up with Bible studies using discipleship booklets like Primeiros Passos na Fé.

Pray for this event, that many Portuguese would be led to faith in Christ and grounded in His Word!

You can learn more about Portugal and My Hope here.

"On Any Given Day"

 

"On Any Given Day" is a short video that was created to help believers in Christ think about the reality of the world around them, and specifically the challenge to reach the lost in Europe. So often we get caught up with life and we forget to be concerned about what really matters: people are living and dying each day without Jesus Christ. Christ came to save the lost. He came that man could be connected again to God both now and in eternity. The Bible says that the Gospel of Christ is “Good News.” If we really believe this, then we need to be telling people.

Quale Via? Quale Verità? Quale Vita?

Just off the press, Quale via? Quale verità? Quale vita? (Which Way? Which Truth? Which Life?) is an Italian Bible study that explores what the Bible has to say about basic foundational topics such as Jesus Christ, God, the Holy Spirit, sin, faith, grace, prayer, etc. This 64-page booklet was written by a field worker in Italy because of the difficulty he had in finding something like this already written for an Italian audience. It was really fun (and challenging) for us to help make this project a reality!