Reflections on Advent: John

Although the gospel of John does not recount Jesus’s birth, John’s introduction of Jesus is intriguing nonetheless.

John calls Jesus the Word. We learn early in life how powerful words can be. I can think of many moments where the right affirmation at the right time was like a balm to my soul or a jolt of encouragement. I can also think of moments where hurtful words struck so close to an insecurity that they crippled me. Psalm 18:21 puts it this way: The tongue has the power of life and death.

As I think about words having the power of life, I am also reminded of a scene from The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis describes the creation of Narnia. He paints a scene of Aslan the Great Lion singing a melody almost too glorious to be described. As Aslan sings, the world is created: “A voice had begun to sing. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. There were no words. It was hardly a tune. But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.”

That scene has stuck with me since I first read it as a child. Frivolous as it may seem, as I read “In the beginning was the Word, and…all things were made through him” (John 1:1,3) I have to wonder if the creation of our own universe was something like Aslan roaring Narnia into existence.

It’s nice to imagine Jesus bringing a piece of encouragement or a spectacle of creation, but what I think Jesus being the Word really means is that he is solid. He is unchanging. He came before me and He will be after me. His character is trustworthy. His love is immovable. Like a binding word, Jesus’s essence demonstrates the unconditional love of God for us.

So as we approach Christmas and the end of the year, may we remember – even in the moments when we feel unraveled or unsure – we can stand securely upon Jesus the Word, confident in who He is and in His love for us.

Somehow One

One of my favorite parts about getting to do what I do is the people I meet from all over the world.

When I first got here it was intimidating. Meeting Ines, Abdel, and Lily*. I remember asking Ines and Abdel, two presenters who frequently show their faces on camera in Christian programming, “How come it isn’t as dangerous for you two to put your faces on camera like it is for some other people from Morocco?”

Their response was basically, “It’s dangerous for us too. But that’s a risk we’ve decided to take.” Instantly I was humbled. I knew I’d led a privileged life in the states, especially when it came to religious freedom. So I always felt inferior. I figured God was probably saying, “You need to learn from these people. Look how much holier they are than you.”

And I certainly have learned a lot from them. But the more people I work with, the more my insecurities wane. What strikes me every time I encounter a believer from a new country or culture is not our differences but our similarities.

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to talk to Rahim*, a young man from Morocco who gave his life to Jesus about four years ago and acted in one of our videos. I got that same urge to feel inferior. But as he told me why he decided to follow Jesus, he said, “My life didn’t really have a purpose. I was just going from one thing to another, and then I met Jesus. He gave my life purpose and freed me from addiction.”

As Rahim spoke, rather than hearing how inferior I was, I heard God saying, “Listen to how he talks about Me. It’s as if he’s speaking about the same God you know. Six thousand miles away from where you grew up, he found Jesus – the same Jesus you know, love, and serve. And in the same way that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever, I am the same savior to people from the United States as I am to people from Morocco, France, Australia, Nigeria…”

Even though we come from different countries, our love for Jesus and what He’s done in us often looks the same. The way Rahim talked about Jesus, His role and power in his life, and the things He had done for him sounded a lot like what He’s done for me.

Unity is not something that “just happens”. We live in a divided world. Conflicting opinions exist everywhere. Even among the body of believers, sometimes we’re so different that it stresses me out. But one thing that encourages me is the people I’ve met who come from vastly different countries but have been loved by the same Jesus I’ve been loved by.

The beauty and otherworldly unity of the Church speaks to the beauty of God Himself. His love is powerful enough to transcend our distinct countries, languages, cultures, upbringings, and not to mention, personal struggles. This one God brings us together, gives us new life, adopts us into the family of Christ, and somehow makes us one.

*Names changed for security reasons

Dreaming Big in Darija

This past fall was a whirlwind of activity in IMM. First in August and again in October we welcomed new team members to Spain. While helping them get settled in Spain, we were also doing casting work, scheduling, getting scripts translated and prepped, refining our inventory list, and getting everything ready to film two projects in Moroccan Arabic (or Darija): Season Two of The Heritage Project and a piece for social media called Idris and I.

The most challenging part of this pre-production was casting actors. Idris and I tells the story around a man in Morocco who decides to become a Christian and is then fired from his job. In the piece, we hear from people who know Idris and are so impacted by his uncompromising faith that they decide to learn more about Jesus.

This piece is especially groundbreaking because it is one of few (if any) Christian media pieces in Darija where the characters speak on camera. Often, when pieces like this are made in Darija, they are done using subtitles or voice over. This provides more security for Darija speakers lending their voice because their faces never appear on camera. However, the ministry that contacted us about producing Idris and I specifically wanted on-camera dialogue. They felt it would be more powerful for Darija-speaking viewers to look in the face of someone speaking their language and sharing a story of faith.

We agreed with them that this would make for a powerful video, but it was not easy to find actors. We needed people who were from Morocco, living in or able to travel to Spain, native Darija speakers, and willing to portray a Christian character. Becoming a Christian is not only illegal in Morocco, but continues to pose a threat to a Moroccan’s safety even after leaving the country.

It took months of emails, texts, phone calls, and follow-up. There were a couple of days where we considered pulling the plug on the project completely, but by God’s grace and some unexpected connections, we were able to find almost all of the actors we needed. So we decided to move forward in faith and begin filming. December rolled around, and we packed up the van and drove to the studio where we would be filming these new Darija pieces.

Though the stress of casting was over, there were still some obstacles to work through: It was the first time this specific group of IMM-ers had been on a shoot together (and the first IMM shoot ever for a couple). At the last minute, three of our team members who were supposed to be on the shoot were no longer able to come. And on top of this, a couple of people on our now smaller team were feeling under the weather. From the outside, we did not have ideal circumstances for a shoot. But we went ahead with it anyway and, as He often does, God used our little to accomplish something big.

We were able to film everything we had set out to; we even had time to reshoot when necessary to get the best possible take. All of the equipment functioned as it was supposed to. Every job from lighting to script supervision got done without a hiccup, and even though we were new to being on set together, the team dynamic was great.

These may seem like small victories, but we serve a God who is attentive to detail. He knows our needs, big and small. So if having enough space on a hard drive or being able to work smoothly as a team is what you need that day, He knows it. And how much more is He fighting for us when we’re creating something to advance His word?

We are so excited to get these projects on screens in Morocco! We know that the stories and messages in these pieces will bring spiritual life and truth about God to many who have never had a relationship with Jesus. We know that God will use them in mighty ways, but we are still in need of a few Darija-speaking actors. It can be discouraging when we need something and we don’t see God providing, especially after asking and seeking for a long time. But He knew our needs on set in December and He knows our needs now. We know He is working even when we can’t see it.

Will you pray with us that we find these actors and that filming schedules line up so that we can finish our Darija projects? And will you pray for the people of Morocco who will see these pieces – that their hearts would be tender to God’s voice and their spiritual eyes opened? We can’t wait to see how God will move!

40 Days of Prayer Journey - Day 24

Lily

At IMM, we have the privilege of working with Christians from all over the world, many from countries where being a Christian comes at a high price. One of these colleagues is a woman I’ll call “Lily.”

On one occasion, Lily was helping us with a project about martyrs in the second century after Christ. While working on a certain scene, Lily became emotional. A line in the script reminded her of when she was on trial for being a Christian. During her trial, she was asked if she believed in Jesus. She was given three opportunities to deny her faith, much like Peter after Jesus’s arrest. She told us that, each time, she boldly proclaimed her faith in Jesus; she didn’t back down, even though she knew the consequences would be less severe if she did.

She ended by saying, “I couldn’t have done that in my own strength. That’s how I know it was the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t have spoken with that much power.”

Many stories in the Bible and many of the stories shared by IMM tell of those who remained faithful in times of real difficulty. Some survived, others lost their lives and gained eternity. It’s easy to look at these stories and think that they exist only in the past, but in Lily’s own words, “This isn’t history. This is going on today.”

Lily's testimony tells us that when we say yes to God and remain faithful in moments of crisis, His presence is with us through the Holy Spirit to support us and give us the strength we need. We must strengthen our faith every day, knowing that no matter what scenario we are living in, glorifying God brings us the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all difficulties, even death.

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God’s Word for Today:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

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Pray with us:

• Pray for conviction to fall on the unjust judges who do not allow freedom of religion.

• Pray that IMM finds the right stories to reach cultures that are closed.

• Pray for your own boldness in the Holy Spirit to follow Christ no matter what.

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Have a need that you would like us to join you in prayer for? Want to join our Prayer Team? Click the “Pray with us!” button to sign up and submit prayer requests.

40 Days of Prayer Journey - Day 19

Black Thursday (Part Two, Reflections of Becky Morales)

Winds of Adventure on an Indonesian channel.

One thing is undeniable: If you live long enough, bad things are going to happen. Sometimes these bad things are even a direct result of us doing good. The real question is what will we do when these bad things happen?

The Belgium shut-down is an excellent reminder of how to respond to trials. Such a dramatic and forceful affront from the Belgian authorities could have caused IMM missionaries to back down to avoid any more resistance. Indeed, IMM was told by the Belgian authorities to stop operations. “Preaching” was the only work to be allowed. But instead they got creative and kept going.

Urgent broadcast deadlines for Bangladesh were met using media equipment in private homes, which aired to an actual viewing audience of 50 million people that year. IMM training continued in Denmark, Russia, and Jordan, where a new media ministry center was launched. Previous projects, such as People Who Met Jesus, were licensed for translation into 11 languages to be used in the Philippines, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Iceland. The children’s program Winds of Adventure was given the rights to overdub and broadcast in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, and Pakistan. IMM’s broadcast partners continued to broadcast into North Africa.

John Merrell, IMM director at the time, explained in his 2002 summary, “It is obvious that the vast majority of ministry taking place at IMM in 2001 reached into the Muslim world. The same thing happened in 2002. I am convinced the recent events, which closed the IMM facility, are a direct result – in a spiritual sense – of this most effective ministry. There is now a clear understanding that the political crisis was used by God to redirect IMM.”

In July 2002, the Assemblies of God World Missions Executive Committee approved IMM’s relocation from Brussels, Belgium to Madrid, Spain, where media missions efforts continue today to reach into closed nations and searching populations, providing answers that point to Jesus Christ.

It is counterintuitive to be joyful in trials, but in Jesus’ hands, our weakness becomes His strength and obstacles become opportunities. We rejoice in trials of every kind because we know that God can turn every kind of evil into all kinds of good.

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God’s Word for Today:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” James 1:2

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Pray with us:

• Pray for our broadcast partners who face legal and logistical challenges to keep the word of God flowing to those seeking hope.

• Pray for the protection of IMM team members as they obey Christ and serve him with their business and media skills in Spain or virtually from home.

• Pray that God will reveal to you a new way to see the trials in your life through the Holy Spirit.

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Have a need that you would like us to join you in prayer for? Want to join our Prayer Team? Click the “Pray with us!” button to sign up and submit prayer requests.

Around the Corner

Lately, the Lord has been pressing on my heart the importance of what is unseen.

My sister-in-law comes to mind. She is one of the most creative people I know. Lately, she’s been making videos to teach preschoolers about science through simple experiments. Not only are her videos scientifically accurate, but they are chock-full of things that preschoolers love: stickers, stuffed animals, and sparkly objects. She takes simple, household objects and demonstrates things like gravity and freezing point so that a preschooler can understand. (And if I’m being honest, I’ve learned a thing or two from watching her videos as well.)

Between preparing the materials, doing the experiments, filming, and editing, it takes a lot of time and effort to make these videos. And yet she never gets to sit inside the classroom with the preschoolers and see their eyes light up. She doesn’t get to hear their little shrieks of delight as they make ice cream or a working compass [mostly] by themselves. She faithfully puts in the work, trusting that it will be worth it for a room full of four-year-olds, even though she won’t get to see their reaction.

It’s easy for me to tell her how incredibly impactful her videos are. How worth the time and energy for those little kids to actually enjoy learning science. But for some reason, it’s much harder to remind myself of that. My work can often feel like a collection of trivial daily tasks: formatting a script, looking for the correct version of a video, filing financial documents, and so on. I quickly forget the weight it can hold for someone watching our videos in their own language, in their own room.

On top of this, recently our team has been grieving the loss of several amazing people connected to IMM. The biggest brunt of the grief is not mine to describe or put into words, but I will just say that we’ve all felt the weight of this season. Some days feel like taking two steps forward, five steps back, and falling flat onto your back: lots of pain and questions.

Praise God, He meets me in the middle of my why’s and how’s. But He’s also been gently reminding me that through every discouragement, doubt, and disappointment, He is doing something around the corner I can’t see. Miles away, in a country I may never visit, in the bedroom of a seeker, listening on their knees...He is speaking and breathing life. He is impacting someone I will probably never meet through something that ran through my hands.

This isn’t to inflate my ego or that of IMM, but to remind myself and to encourage you: You can’t see what God is doing around the corner. Maybe all you’re feeling is opposition and obstacles, but the reality is that the kingdom is being advanced by leaps and bounds. The enemy would love for us to be discouraged to the point of believing that, if we were to stop or slow down, nobody would even notice or care. But in the words of one of my favorite worship songs: “Even when I can’t see it, He’s working; Even when I can’t feel it, He’s working. He never stops.”

Serving the Lord doesn’t always look like giants being slingshot or massive crowds speaking in tongues. Often, the most important work looks (and feels) like doing the mundane, getting knocked down, getting back up, and doing it all over again. We have to remember that there is more to this life than we can see. There is more going on than we will ever know.

Whatever season you may be in, there is a God, not only walking through every valley with you but also using your obedience to change lives beyond the point you can see. May we remain faithful, sewing our tents like Paul or crunching numbers or leaving an encouraging note to a neighbor. May we walk in humble obedience to the things God puts on our hearts – big or small – because as we are faithful with the things we can see and control, He is even more faithful with the things we cannot.

A Better Plan

As part of an upcoming project, a few of us have been reading testimonies and stories from the IMM archives. I stumbled upon from one Jerry Gibson that particularly caught my attention:

“Recently, we visited one of our ministry partners in Istanbul, Turkey. We met a young producer, Damaris, who told us her story. She had been hired to help run a Christian satellite broadcast ministry focused on a nation of 72 million people. It was her chance to break into the TV business. She began her career at the age of 25, single, well educated, and a Muslim.

Damaris wanted a job in media and she didn’t care who it was with! Over the course of the next two years she couldn’t help but watch programs like “People who Met Jesus.” She heard of the testimonies of lives being changed by Jesus. The emptiness she felt in her own life was set in contrast to what she observed from those around her who seemed filled with joy. Gwen and I listened as tears flowed down her face and she spoke of how Christ had changed her life. She declared to us, “Now I have more than a job; I have a ministry!”  In a country where there are only about 4000 known followers of Jesus Christ, together, Damaris, IMM and NHC are telling the story that changes lives.”

Wow. That story still excites me after reading it three or four times. I relate to Damaris so much! We are the same age and both work in media.  No, I didn’t come to Jesus through my media job, but in the same way as Damaris, I have seen how my plans pale in comparison to God’s.

When I set out to join IMM, I knew there was a long road ahead of me: support raising, a visa application, the logistics of packing up my life and moving across an ocean - the list goes on. I remember even wanting to prepare myself mentally. One missionary had told me that their first year on the field, they were cleaning toilets instead of preaching to the masses so on more than one occasion, I told myself, “Becky, if you get to Spain and you’re cleaning toilets, don’t complain. You’re going there to serve.”

Looking back on it, I was preparing as though I was going to boot camp. My plan was to take whatever discomfort came my way in the name of spreading the gospel and then pat myself on the back if I “survived.” Between culture shock and the pandemic, there has certainly been discomfort, and I still do remind myself that it’s all worth it if someone hears about Jesus. But time and time again, God has shown me that He had much different plans for my time here all along.

I thought I would be cleaning toilets and giving myself a gold star for humility while I watched other people make movies about Jesus. Instead I got a pandemic-instigated four-month quarantine in a small quiet space where God began to disentangle and heal parts of my heart that I didn’t know were hurting. And at the same time, I’ve gotten my hands dirty working on several projects in several roles, often feeling unqualified, learning innumerable things along the way; I’ve been a part of the team as we’ve launched programs into North Africa and the Middle East and begun dreaming about a new project; I’ve seen my heart for missions grow as God challenges me not just to love an “unreached people group” on the other side of the globe, but to love people who think, talk, and act differently than I do even if I have to think, talk, and walk in close proximity to them; and I’m very grateful to say that I have not had to clean one toilet (well, mine at home, but you know…)

How great is God that He can use any circumstance, desire, or background for good? Damaris stepped into her career with a Christian production studio as a means to break into the media industry, but God had other plans for her endeavors. I came to Spain just wanting to endure, but instead God tenderly opened my heart up to love the people we’re ministering to even more. No matter where we find ourselves today, when we submit our plans to Him, the Lord - without fail - makes something greater than we could have done in our own power!

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” - Proverbs 16:9

Black Thursday - Devotional Thought

One thing is undeniable: If you live long enough, bad things are going to happen. Whether it’s getting a flat bike tire or losing a job, life has a way of throwing a wrench in our plans. Some bad things happen because of our own poor choices; some bad things are going to happen regardless of what we do (think bird droppings on your shirt); and some bad things happen as a direct result of the good things we do.

Though we can’t see the spiritual realm with our eyes, the events that took place in Belgium on Black Thursday of 2002 certainly seem like an example of godly activity instigating spiritual pushback. We know we have an enemy who hates it when people love God and advance His kingdom. If nothing else, the Belgium shut-down is an excellent reminder of how to respond to trials. Such a dramatic and forceful response from the Belgian authorities could have discouraged those associated with IMM to back down to avoid any more resistance, but instead, they saw it as a sign that they were doing something right. They were making waves, getting attention, and going in the right direction...So they kept going. They continued the work of media ministry, reaching into dark and restricted areas with the light of the gospel.

James 1:2 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

Joy as a response to many kinds of trials? This instruction is counterintuitive, and James knew that. But when we give our lives to Jesus, we give him permission to turn our intuitive responses upside down. Our weakness becomes His strength, our failures become our testimony, and obstacles become opportunities. Even when the opportunity isn’t obvious, we search for it. We open our eyes to what God sees, to place our circumstances in perspective with His power. We serve a God who specializes in turning obstacles into opportunities. Just as James says, may we rejoice in trials of every kind because we know that God can turn every kind of evil into all kinds of good.

Lily

Last week we had the privilege of working with a colleague whom I’ll call Lily. Lily is a believer, has lots of media experience, and sometimes translates our scripts into her native language. But for me, the most notable thing about Lily is how genuinely humble she is. I’m not sure how many times she thanked me last week (not to mention how many times she thanked other IMM members), but it was certainly more than I deserved. She had spent hours working on her feet, while I sat doing a simple task. She is affectionate like a mother, hugging you gently or smiling warmly at the smallest compliment or “gift” of food shared with her. Lily prayed in her native language at morning devotions, and even though I didn’t understand the words, I could hear the deep conviction in her voice that Jesus heard every word.

This isn’t just a big brag fest for Lily. This is a challenge to me and hopefully to you. During our time in the studio, Lily became emotional at one point. A line in the script reminded her of when she was on trial for being a Christian. “These aren’t stories,” she said about the court scene we were working on. “This isn’t history. This is going on today.” I couldn’t help but shed a few tears. True persecution--being physically endangered or harmed because of my faith--has never been my reality. Lily went on to tell us that when she was on trial, she was asked three times if she believed in Jesus. She was given three opportunities to deny her faith, much like Peter after Jesus’s arrest. She told us that each time she boldly proclaimed her faith in Jesus; she didn’t back down, even though she knew the consequences would be less severe if she simply said no. The most powerful part was when she told us, “I couldn’t have done that [stood up for Jesus] in my own strength. That’s how I know it was the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t have spoken with that much power.”

I’ve heard stories like this before. Often they’re second-hand: a preacher retelling a story he heard from someone he met while doing ministry. Other times I’ve seen them in print. Usually, they leave me feeling like a lightweight Christian, to be completely transparent. Even though they all say “It was all Jesus,” I just don’t know if I would have what it takes to look near-death in the eyes and stand my ground. But to look Lily in the eyes and see someone completely human: sweet and silly with her own set of idiosyncrasies...it shook me.

Lily’s kind of faith is not reserved for Christians in court trials. Her story and her attitude radiate an awareness of and a dependence on a strength that is not her own. How much time do I spend depending on my own strength? How many seconds do I squander, thinking that an outcome rests solely on me? I’m not in any imminent danger for being a Christian, but even in this moment today I can start consciously “shifting my weight” onto His strength instead of mine, with the big things and the small stuff. May I stop thinking I can do it all and be enough on my own. 

When you give to IMM, you give us opportunities to work with some amazing people--many of whom have risked it all to follow Jesus. Many are from countries where privately-shared media is one of the only ways people can learn about Jesus. And how rich and rewarding these opportunities are. Working with Lily and similar colleagues has only served to bolster and encourage me as I help put Jesus on every screen--so that others like Lily can hear about Him and know that they are not alone. Lily told us numerous times what a blessing it was to work with us, and at one point she said, “I wish I had heard this story sooner. It would have strengthened me so much.” Praise God for what He is doing here at IMM! Your prayer and support truly are changing the world one soul at a time.

Unqualified

Back in the eighties, my dad got a job in computer programming by accident. He happened to be in the right office at the right time. He wasn’t there looking for a job, but the man he was there to talk to needed a position filled, so he offered him a job on the spot. Though my dad would go on to take classes, read books, and practice coding in lots of different languages, at the time, he had no experience. He had taken a few community college classes and was really interested in programming, but he definitely wasn’t qualified. Have you ever felt like that? You know there’s someone better equipped for the task, but for whatever reason, you’re the one who was chosen.

Recently, we were filming The Heritage Project in Moroccan Arabic. We had to work with the translator on some parts of the script that needed to be adjusted. As we were adjusting these parts, though, we also had to take into consideration certain editing restrictions. On top of that, the translator didn’t speak English; she spoke Moroccan Arabic and Spanish. So on top of thinking like an editor, I had to speak Spanish (which I’m far from fluent in!) I was well aware of my inexperience in both those areas, and I felt completely unqualified to even be in the room working on the task at hand, but for whatever reason, there I was and I had a job to do.

I think God loves to put us in situations like this, where our feeling of being “unqualified” is undeniable. Why? Because despite our lack, He shows up. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” When we know we can’t do something in our own strength, we tend to rely more willingly on God. It’s a simple truth, but in the moment of feeling unqualified, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget. Often, we don’t breathe that peaceful sigh of relief until everything “works out” and we see the end result.

But in the second part of verse 9, Paul makes a proactive decision: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” I’ll be honest. Paul’s resolution to boast and be glad about his weakness is not one that comes easily to me. I think it looks different for each of us, but there are always areas of our lives where we would prefer not to feel weak or unqualified. Obviously, being strong, prepared, and in control feels much better! But God is inviting us to embrace the uncomfortable truth that we are never truly in control. Things will go much better if we release what’s out of our control into His hands and put our confidence in Him instead of ourselves.

As IMM navigates this crazy year and all the struggles that come with it, it’s easy to feel uncertain about the future. We are praying for more team members, continued support, new opportunities to share our programs, and direction. With the small team and big goals that we currently have, it can be easy to feel uncertain about the future. But I believe this a season for IMM (and perhaps for you) to lean into that uncertainty, boast in our feeling unqualified, and more heavily rely on God.

People and Stories

The other day, we had a devotional time here at IMM where we talked about Bible characters and how their stories are told. I thought it was a really interesting discussion. I may be biased because the topic was my idea, but I think everyone at IMM values stories! One of my favorite parts of working here is getting to tell stories.

Part of our discussion was how different biblical storytelling and character building are from modern storytelling and character building. In Bible stories, we usually know what characters do, but not what they’re thinking or what they want. This can make it hard to feel connected to the characters. Sometimes you read a confusing story in the Bible and are left wondering what you were supposed to learn or get out of it.

Part of the problem is that we read the Bible more like a moral instruction manual than a story. Even though Bible characters are not black and white, we try to fit them into those categories: David good, Saul bad. But in a good book or movie, we don’t expect the characters to be that 2-D. We want characters and stories that move us, provoke us to think, inspire us, or challenge us! We know that people aren’t black and white, all good or all evil. So yes, this challenges us when we read the Bible like it’s an instruction manual instead of a story, but the challenge is good for us. It engages our minds to think through what these characters’ motivations or thoughts might have been and it empowers us to know why we believe what we believe.

Similarly, people in real life aren’t black and white. This can make them hard to love. If they were all bad, we would never trust them and therefore never be hurt by them. If they were all good, they would never hurt us. But people are confusing. They can make us feel loved one moment, and then they can mess up, leaving us to feel betrayed or discouraged. They come, they go. They give and they take.

Despite all this, Jesus was the ultimate people person. I’m not saying he had an extroverted personality or that he was a social butterfly, but no one loved people better than Jesus did. No one knew or understood people better than Jesus did. He didn’t spend his time building an empire or even a congregation, but we do see him taking the time to talk to people and get to know them. When I say “get to know,” the reality is that he knew each of their stories already. And yet we still see Jesus asking questions and pausing to listen to people before he changed their lives.

IMM cares about people too, and it shows from the inside out. Our leadership does an intentional job of making sure no one feels taken for granted or unimportant. Not only do we each take turns doing the honorable jobs of leading weekly prayer and devotionals, but we also pass around the less honorable (and less fun) job of taking the trash and recyclables out at the end of the week. I’m really grateful for leadership that values every member of our team.

Of course, IMM’s outward focus is media, and we produce that media for people. People who don’t yet know Jesus are the reason we’re here. People with stories are our inspiration to keep creating. People with flaws are the ones we relate to and the ones we want to speak truth to. We love thinking about the struggles and triumphs of broken, beautiful people just like us, who find sweet relief in Jesus. That is why we work so hard to tell their stories and to tell them with excellence, keeping everything from costume details to dialogue as accurate and excellent as possible. That is why we put in months of production, post-production, and revisions. For people. No self-congratulating or profit could compare to the feeling of knowing that people are going to hear about the love, forgiveness, and redemption of Jesus.

People and story: two key components of what IMM does. We want to put Jesus on every screen because we want people to encounter Jesus and the story he wants to write for them.

We are so grateful for you supporting us through prayer and giving! Please keep praying with us as we work hard to bring the story of Jesus to people all over the world. Right now, you can pray for The Heritage Project, as it is distributed in English and undergoes translation into target languages. Pray for favor with technology, partners, and distribution. And if you love stories, you can also pray about serving with IMM. There are several ways you can join us--virtually or in-person. We would love for you to be a part of our story!

Present in the Pain

Just last week I was looking for a sermon to listen to and one, in particular, caught my eye. The title was “Present in the Pain.” The sermon hinged upon the story of Lazarus’s death in John 11. The title caught my eye because (as you’ve probably noticed…) there’s a lot of pain right now! There is political tension, a pandemic, resulting in financial burdens, and fear covering our world. Many have lost their lives, many are mourning, and many have been laid off. For one reason or for many, there are a lot of hurting people right now.

Perhaps you’re feeling this pain first hand. Perhaps you have close friends or loved ones who are feeling it so deeply that it’s affecting you. When those close to me are feeling deep pain, I usually do one of two things.

The first is to try to figure it all out or calculate a reason why the pain is happening. Did I cause this? Can I pin it on another specific person? Is there an opposite and equal benefit I’m gaining from this? Trying to find answers is alluring in uncertain times. Answers make me feel superior to my circumstances. I feel helpful when I have answers that seem to comfort a loved one. But the biggest reason I look to find answers in the midst of pain is my desire to be in control. When I understand (or at least think I understand) a painful situation, it makes me feel more in control of it. Maybe I can’t change it, but at least (I think) I know why it’s happening, and that gives me a false sense of control.

The second habit I have is to do whatever it takes to make my loved ones feel better when they’re hurting. To be transparent, it often feels less imperative for me to actually improve their circumstance than it does for me to just make them stop being sad! I feel uncomfortable when someone I love is feeling down. So I do what’s in my power to change their feelings. It’s tempting to say things like, “Everything’s going to be ok,” or “This bad thing is going to go away,” even if I have NO IDEA if it will be ok.  It’s just so they can stop being unhappy!

I realize these are not the healthiest habits, but I don’t think I’m the only one who does them. The truth is, of course, that we’re not in control! Not of this virus, not of all the money in the world or who gets it, not of how people feel or what they do. We know the one who is, though. So sometimes it can be easy to give pithy answers to those in pain, like “God is in control” or “He has a reason for all of this.”

If anyone could’ve given an answer like that, it was Jesus. Going back to John 11, we see Jesus met by Mary and a group of Jews mourning the loss of Lazarus. Yet I find it so striking that, when Jesus saw Mary and the others crying, he didn’t offer any pithy answers. Nor did he try to cheer them up or make them stop crying. He was and is omniscient. He knew everything was going to be ok. He had the power to not only change their emotions but even to change their circumstance. And he did, but before raising Lazarus from the dead, he wept with them. John 11:33b and 11:35 simply say, “He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled...Jesus wept.” Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were close friends to Jesus, and his heart broke with theirs.

I think it’s ok in these uncertain times to admit that we don’t have all the answers and that many (including ourselves sometimes) are not going to feel good. Of course, we will continue to share the hope that we have in Jesus, and if we are in a position to meet physical needs, the Bible is clear about caring for the poor. But I wonder if something simple and yet challenging we can learn to do in this painful season is simply be present with those who are hurting, just as the Lord comforts each of us with His presence in times of need.