A bit more on the Jesus Film

I thought I'd attempt to give you all a bit fuller picture of what we do when we show the Jesus film.

For the most part, before we even leave the missionary station, someone from the national church goes ahead of us and asks the village chief for permission to show the film.

Getting on the side of the chief is very important. The chief is all powerful...he is the one who solves quarrels and makes all the big decisions in the village. What he says, goes. So if he gives us permission to show the film, he is also putting his protection over us. If we stay in that village, we park the truck next to his hut, because then we are under his protection. It sounds kind of surreal and old fashioned...but out here in the bush, it is very much real, just as it has been for hundreds of years.

Once we get there, we pick a location to show the film...somewhere that people can gather on both sides of the screen.

We set up as much as possible, and then wait for the sun to go down. Once its twilight, we start up the generator and the projector, and after a prayer, we start the movie in whatever language is spoken in the area.

Who attends the film? Anyone and everyone. And more people come as the film continues. The audience depends on the village.

There are thousands and thousands of villages out here in Chad...little clusters of huts. It can be quite overwhelming. For the most part, this area is a Christian pagan mix. But when we went out towards Sahr, it was a much more Muslim area. In general, the film is aimed at those who have never heard the gospel.

The villages that are primarily Muslim we have to be a bit more careful. We show an extended version of the film, which documents creation and the prophecies leading up to  Jesus. Also we don't take any pictures or video in those villages.

After the film, one of the national Christians gets up and preaches a bit. For the villages we've been to so far, we haven't really needed a translator. That is because the guy we had with us was fluent in four languages. French, Chadian Arabic, Sara, and Ngambay. I was impressed, until I found out that four is the norm for Africa. My teammate met a guy that knew twelve languages. And that is necessary for Africa. I learned from a local pastor that Chad has roughly 120 languages, and many more dialects. There are estimates of up to 140...it just depends on where you draw the line between languages and dialects.

After the preaching, (which is fiery and involves shouting and jumping up and down) there is a kind of altar call. And the response varies village to village. Some villages we'd have over 45 adults and children come forward. Some villages there was no response whatsoever.
What does that mean? It means that in some villages God gave us the privilege of harvesting, and some all we did was plant seeds. We give God the Glory for it all.

It is a very effective and efficient way of getting the gospel out to the unreached villages. We show the film at night, but usually there is a team that does door-to-door evangelism during the day, to answer questions and have good conversations.

Please comment below any questions you might have, and I will try to answer them!

And and some events to be in prayer for:

Sometime next week (Lord willing) we are planning on setting up a radio tower. That can take days or weeks, depending on how many obstacles we run into. Fabian and I are going to be the ones climbing the tower and bolting the sections together.

So pray for safety and that there wouldn't be an obstacles, and that we all stay healthy!

Thanks for your prayers...we really can feel them out here!

-Josh Hedstrom