Training number 4 in Rio

Last night, we trained 10 people in one of the slums of Rio. It was encouraging to be around young people who have a desire to see their community know Jesus in a poor area. 

We met in a small room at the local church. Most of these people were high school/college age.

And though it was a lower income area, still many have smartphones - mainly Androids. I explained how the Jesus Fill app works, offering ideas and scenarios for then to share with friends. 

There was probably more passion in my explanation because this week the Jesus Film app is now available in Portugese and Spanish! Meaning, the text within the app will be in their own language. Film titles, descriptions and questions - all in Portuguese and Spanish!

Please pray they are continually inspired and excited to use both the projector and app in the ministry here in Rio.

Curibita

Last nights training went so well!

About 20 people came to the local church for our presentation. Some drove a few hours just to learn so they can take a turn in their city hosting a few Jesus Film showings.

This city is probably the most developed of the 3 we've been too so far. Over half the room had smart devices. I gave a demonstration on how to install and use the app creatively. 

Some of the ideas we hope to happen would be for them to show their friends the soccer testimonies during World Cup games. Watch a few here: http://arc.gt/odmkj

We have at least one more day of trainings. We were up a little before 5am to head to the airport. While we are enjoying out time here, and thankful for the passion of the people we are training, we do need prayers for stamina. Early flights every say for 5 days straight has been pretty tiring. 

Thanks for your prayers! More trainings alter today in Rio!

(Side note: I've been singing this in my head - and maybe out loud too - all morning: http://youtu.be/f7eFE2wPWMk )

Fortaleza

Today began early with watermelon for breakfast. (That means summer is here!!)

Anyways, after our morning flight, we made our way to the next hotel, freshened up and walked around in search of lunch. 

After a quick walk on the beach, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the training. 

What was suppose to take 40 minutes, ended up being almost 2 hours in the car, we finally made it to the church. But it was okay because that is the culture here. I plan to write more in my next prayer letter about my observations during our drive.

Tonight's training went so well! The people were quick learners and seemed excited to have been given this equipment. 

One of the places they plan to use Jesus Film is for the young neighborhood kids. At the end of the night, some of the "ninos" learned about the free pizza and joined us for a little bit. A mini soccer game was started, songs were sung, dancing happened and my team and I left with joy in our hearts.

Please pray for this group of (young) people as they share Jesus with their friends! 

Summer Travel Day 67: STINT Briefing Day 1

Ready for the STINTers to arrive!

• At registration today, 392 STINTers walked through the conference doors, ready to be trained! Jesus Film Media had a table, where we gave away about 100 JFM t-shirts, gathered over 100 emails to receive monthly updates over the year and we learned most people have already install the app prior to coming to the conference! This is great because they can follow right along when I give a training to the whole conference later this week! #JesusFilmMediaApp

• Tonight, I met a guy named Ben who came to know the Lord via the film JESUS after it had been delivered in his mailbox from a local church outreach. He is now headed over seas, equipped with the Jesus Film Media app to share the gospel. #Jesuschangelives
  
• There is a STINTer, headed to Greece to do ministry for the year. During her support raising time, she invited referrals (friends of friends) to come with her. They are ALSO here, fully supported, and headed to Greece to do ministry with her! #stepsoffaith #justask

STINTers being led in worship by Page CXVI

Sharing my "God Story"

Thursday night, I was invited to share my “God Story” at GVSU Cru. It’s a time to share about how God has impacted and shown up in my life.

I took a picture from the stage at GVSU.

It worked out perfectly, because I was already on the West side of the state to babysit a few days for a fun family I met in college. Note: Props to all moms who manage multiple schedules, clean the house, feed the family, drive children to and from places, all while having her own life. Respect. It takes a lot of coordination, selflessness and patience.

As I prepared for my talk, I obviously spent time looking back on the past, on the journey God has taken me on thus far. Going to Grand Valley. Studying marketing. Getting involved with Cru. Attending various Cru conferences. Going on STINT and moving to France. Interning in Orlando with YearOne.

I enjoyed looking back on all these “life events”, which I now see how they all connected. Each fit, perfect for the story God has just for me. It was also encouraging for me, as I acknowledged God’s fingerprints all over these life experiences, reminding myself that I can trust Him. He’s proved Himself over and over.

It frustrated me how many times I doubt Him and His goodness or if He will come through. And then I realized something. Something so elementary to a modern day Christian believer; Its in those moments of doubt and worry, that I am living out of the flesh. Our of my own ability. Out of my own knowledge (limited as it is).

Clearly, if I solely lived out of my own desires and plans, I doubt I would be in ministry. I credit and attribute that to the Spirit’s working in my life. For this season of life, He has me here. Currently raising support, but eventually to be working with the JESUS Film Project, equipping missionaries with digital tools to reach the nations for Christ! With the eternal perspective in mind, that’s pretty rewarding. He obviously knows what He’s doing, and in my time of reflection, I found myself realizing I need to be thankful for that more and more. And also to absorb the peace that comes from knowing He’s got it all figured out.

It's here! It's here!!

Praise God!!! The Jesus Film App has now been released for download in the Apple Store, with the Android app soon to follow in the Google Play store.

Please download it, play with it and let me know what you think! Tell your friends, post it to Facebook, Twitter or email your friends.

Know of some missionaries overseas? Share this with them! Think of how this will help them communicate the gospel in the native tongue of the country they are serving in.

I would also love to be in contact with any missionaries you may know of - email me their contact info so I can encourage, inform and share ideas with them. As someone who has lived overseas in a country where I did not know the language very well, I can see so much potential for this ministry tool!

Thankfulness, Prayer and Hope: September

Things I am thankful for...

• A supportive family who believes in what I am doing with my life
• Reaching 50% of my support raising goal
• The season of fall: changing color of leaves, apple cider, football games
• Dark chocolate and it's wonderful flavor
• The ability to laugh at myself

Things I am praying and trusting the Lord for...

• Connecting with the other 50% of my support team
• Searching, budgeting and buying a "new" car
• Relationships - a lot of my genuine community is at a distance and I want to use this 'solo' time to draw closer to Him
• The official release of the Jesus Film Media app for Apple products (sooooo soon - check my blog again this week maybe!!!) 
• Daily surrender to trust Him and His leading

Things I am hopeful and looking forward to...

• Eventually buying my own, first, nice car
• Reporting to my job with Jesus Film Media in Orlando
• The New Staff Follow Up conference in October
• Hopefully running the Turkey Trot in the Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade
• Snow... can I say that? It's almost been 2 years!!! I want to snowboard so baddd

Jesus Film Media

The Jesus Film Donor Video from Cooke Pictures on Vimeo.

Hopefully not lost in translation

It's about 6:45 p.m. here at the conference. Glad to report our presentations went well - we hope!

First, we showed this clip (Once our digital platform is launched, we will be able to embed video clips like this. Special thanks to JP Erickson for help with subtitles.): http://bcove.me/0v5ejcs5

First. I talked about the easiness of streaming the Jesus Film from our website. It is currently available in over 1,150 languages! And once the digital platform is finished, people from across the world will be able to download the full length film! We are hoping to create partnerships with different communication centers across this part of the world, as well as globally with others. I then talked about embedding videos to blogs, emails and social media sites from Jesus Film Media. Embedding these videos from our secure digital platform will allow for solid follow up, real statistics and create more of a unified optimization of these videos in ministry.

Nifer then talked about the power of social media and how we can utilize our presence on the various forms: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogs. She also shared with them about the exciting future plans we have once our digital platform is complete.  Partnering with Jesus Film Media will allow us to track views, check demographics and see what parts of films are most viewed. We can also share the successful strategies and plans with other communication centers across the world.

After our presentation people were able to have some good discussions among their different communication teams: Radio, Television, Communication, Internet and Literature. We walked around answering questions as asked.

During the afternoon, we ate lunch with two girls from Central Asia. They shared a story about when they used a clip from Magdalena, during a conversation with students they met, both of those girls came to Christ! It was great to hear about their ministry on campus. They also tried teaching us Russian - which is incredibly hard!

It has been a great time here, reconnecting with national staff. Early tomorrow morning (4 a.m. here)/tonight (10 p.m. Florida) I will start my journey back to Orlando. Prayers for connections, safety and sleep would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Easter

On this Easter Sunday, remember not only the power of His resurrection, but the amount of love God has for us through Jesus' death on the cross.

This video is a Jesus Film production. It is available in several languages: http://tinyurl.com/MyLastDayMovie

Marketing with Jesus Film

Hindsight is always 20/20 right?

As I have continued to process and reflect on my STINT year, I have remembered specific situations and life events which have led me to applying to join staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

In high school, I had heard of Cru and considered trying it out once I was in college.

Once in college, I tried it out and heard about Christmas Conference, Big Break and Summer Project. Check, check, check.

At Christmas Conference, I learned about STINT - working internationally for one year.

Last year on STINT, I served the 40/10 Window, resourcing Christian minorities in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In May 2011, I helped administer a conference for Virtual Ministry in North Africa. It was probably one of my favorite conferences all year. Leaders from 30+ countries were represented, sharing their strategies and plans for using the media in ministry.

During one of the main meetings, (through random events), I ended up sharing a 10 minute presentation on Search Engine Optimization Marketing. The summer of 2009, I had a marketing internship where I learned lots of new ideas and concepts, which I was able to share with these national leadership teams.

Among those attending, leaders from Jesus Film, based in Orlando, Florida, were at this conference also. After my presentation, they pursued me to talk about working with Jesus Film in the fall. Their dream was to start up a new marketing department, focused on digital media. As interested as I was, I had already committed to my current internship, Year One, and felt I needed to fulfill my commitment to them.

Fast forward to November 2011. My friend, Nifer - who had recently joined the newly formed Digital Media Distribution team with Jesus Film, gave me a call. After a meeting with her supervisor, Matt (whom I met back in May), they wanted to meet with me to share their new vision for this newly established department. This being my second and final year of interning (you can only intern twice), I was considering my options for the future.

During our lunch meeting, the vision they shared with me sounded so exciting and right up my alley. I would be able to use my Marketing degree, utilize social media (I like social media :) ) and share the gospel with the nations. Basically what it boils down to: Jesus Film is creating a digital platform anyone can easily access. On this platform, they have the capacity to upload the Jesus Film in 1,100+ languages, Magdelena - a women's focused film, Rivka - a women's bible study, Jesus Film for kids and short films. People from every nation will have the ability to hear the gospel with the click of a button!

Around this time, God also was orchestrating other conversations in my life to relieve my fears and doubts about joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. Talking about the eternal perspective, receiving financial support for the Mid Year Conference and prayer -- God seemed to make it clear to me this is where He was leading me. When my mom said "This is a great organization and a great opportunity - you should do it", I started thinking more seriously about this offer.

It wasn't until Christmas Conference, at a breakfast appointment, that I said it out loud "I'm joining staff." It started sinking in! What am I doing?! Is this real life? (I felt a little like David Goes To The Dentist).

So, now it is March 15th at 1:52 p.m. and I am sitting in the "Tech Cave" at Big Break, realizing in a few short months, I will officially be on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. It's nuts!

But as my pastor back home often says, "If you can explain it, God didn't do it."