Media is hitting the mark

By Jerry | Published: February 8, 2010

I sat in utter amazement as these people shared their experiences of social and physical persecution, imprisonment and in one instance, death, all because of their witness of Christ and his power to change lives.

Gwen and I were in meetings last week for a consultation of ministries working in North Africa and the Middle East. I can tell you God is doing a very special work among the people of these nations! While radical religious ideas are motivating this persecution, for a multitude of others there is a spiritual hunger, which will not be denied!

What I was particularly pleased with through these reports was the repeated expressions of thanks for those doing media and broadcasting “the story that changes lives” into this region of the world. Time and again, references were made, by national leaders, of how media was making an impact. People are becoming open to hear the gospel of hope and love and salvation because the seeds of faith are reaching them via the Internet, satellite broadcast, and DVD distribution.

Samir Youssef, one of our media partners, used “The People Who Met Jesus”, “The Parable of Jesus” and “The Path of Jesus“ to illustrate 32 “It’s Time for Miracles” programs (Gospel focus). Currently, these programs and others are aired on four different channels over 40 times a week! Samir reported the following responses in 2009:

Response Type

# of Responses

Top 6 Countries

# of Responses

Email

20,684

Egypt

10,348

Phone

10,892

Saudi Arabia

8,416

SMS

8,754

Algeria

8,034

Letters

6,071

Sweden

5,034

MSN

2,633

Tunisia

4,709

Morocco

4,297

Other

8,196

Total

49,034

Total

49,034

We are thrilled to partner with people like Samir and we are grateful to God for the opportunity to work with a team here at IMM who are creating these video segments to “tell the story that changes lives.” We are also grateful to each of you who are standing with us in prayer and support. We simply could not do it without you!

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The voice of the people

By Jerry | Published: December 17, 2009

I recently had the opportunity to visit the port city of Rijeka, Croatia. There is, tucked away just inside the old gate of this ancient city, a marble, rectangular stone with the Latin words engraved upon it “Vox Populi,” meaning “Voice of the People”. I got to stand on that box recently.

IMM is giving voice to the people of Croatia

In this same city, I met Pastor Milan Spoljaric, who has been ministering in that city for 20 years. In the midst of persecution and prejudice, Pastor Milan has been faithful to share God’s Word, “Vox Dei,” with his people. God has blessed those efforts over the years and today they have a small but vibrant church meeting in a building that is completely paid for and property on which they can build. They need that property too, because their little sanctuary can only hold a maximum of 90 people. They currently have 70-80 regular attendees.

Just over a year ago, God put in the heart of Pastor Milan the desire to begin a radio broadcast for the people of his city. He approached a local rock music station and asked if he could buy time on their station to share a message of hope. God granted favor and Pastor Milan was able to secure a 15-minute, weekly program.

When I arrived in Rijeka, just a few weeks ago, Pastor Spojaric and his son, Ivan, showed us their simple but effective little studio where they record the “Voice of Hope” program every Wednesday. Ivan is an incredibly smart and resourceful young man with a passion to use media for God’s purposes. The program plays on Sunday mornings about the same time that their church meetings begin. The radio manager told me that, while pastor Milan is preaching to 70-80 people in his building, his voice is being heard by 10,000-15,000 people all around that city!

We went to Rijeka because they now want to see how God might open doors for them to put programs on local television. With the help of IMM, this next month Ivan, Pastor Milan and others are working to translate and record our programs for local use. It is exciting to know the city of Rijeka will be able to view, on local television, segments of our program “The Path of Jesus: The Christmas Story” in Croatian. They hope to follow up with more of these programs provided by IMM and translated with Croatian hosts.

It is because of your faithful support that we can provide these materials and guidance. Let’s stand together to bring His voice (Word) to this world.

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Momentum

By Jerry | Published: October 8, 2009

“Commitment is the igniter of momentum.”

-Peggy Wood, singer/actor

It has been the commitment of our missionaries and staff of IMM that has truly ignited the sense of momentum we are experiencing at right now. The commitment to Christ, His message, and His mission is fueling the passion to produce media and train people that will impact this generation across the world.

The past month has produced some exciting times.
·     The completion of a short video called “The Class of the Called”. Missionary Michael Helin has done an exceptional job in producing this first ever High Definition video project for The Engage Project. This was done in cooperation with missionary Steve Shoop and serves as a recruitment piece to challenge the thousands of young people who have sensed a call of God in their lives for missions and yet are not exactly sure how to act on that call. We are thrilled to be part of the mobilization of students for the cause of Christ.
·     I have been involved in two conferences for the purpose of networking

This will be the look of our new series

This will be the look of our new series

with other media ministries and industry leaders. God is connecting us to some extraordinary people who share our passion for people and interest in media to share a message of hope.
·     Our container with our household goods arrived from the US on September 20th. We now have been unpacking boxes and setting up house. I’m not sure why but there is a good feeling being surrounded by pictures and small possessions that you’ve had for sometime.
·     As a team we had the privilege of hosting at our ministry center 18 missions leaders for Europe. The two days of strategy talks will be walked out over the course of the next 5 years and IMM got to play a small part in it.

The opportunities to influence people to consider Christ through media are greater than any other time. IMM senses the momentum of these opportunities and is dedicated to this end. Thank you for your faithful partnering with us.

Prayer Focus

Gwen puts her best foot forward in the studio

Gwen puts her best foot forward in the studio

  • We need wisdom to guide a key project directed to an immigran audience.
  • We really need a bookkeeper to come and help us for the next year or two while our current one is home in the US for itineration.
  • We would like prayer for the completion of our project “Open the Bible: The Gospels”
  • We want to connect with new friends and neighbors here in Spain.

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