REDEMPTIVE RELATIONSHIPS

For God so loved us, He sent His Son

To bridge the gap, sin's work had done.

We look in awe back at the cross

Such love, such wonder, His life was lost.

 

But in those three short years before

He touched ten thousand lives, and more

His works of love still live through time

In Christians' lives, in yours in mine.

 

And resurrected, He is King!

A risen Lord, to Him we sing

Our thanks, our sacrifice of praise,

Through lives poured out; Love's banner raised.

 

He calls us still, His hands and feet

To bring to Him the lost, His sheep.

God's love for us, to others shown

The "least of these" can be His own.

 

So give your time to neighbors, friends

Hand in hand with the One who sends

You to the world, yet of it not

Some life to win, a soul that's sought.

 

And when in glory Christ is known

His resurrection power shown;

The lives we've touched in Jesus' name

We'll know forever in His reign.

 

- J. R. C.  '11

 

George Brunk’s Legacy

A friend asked me to convert an audio tape to CD for them.  It is an old sermon recording from 1951 by George R. Brunk, the Mennonite evangelist who spoke to crowds of 15,000+ people under a massive tent back in the ’50s.   You can read more about him HERE and HERE.

Anyway, I looked online and this particular message doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else even from the famed sermonindex.net, so I figured I’d make it available for anyone to listen to right here.

Religion of the Easy Road MP3 | 24MB | 47:00

Related Links:
The Mission’s website
Article in Christian Action Magazine

]]> http://joshchampagne.com/blog/when-god-came-down-erlo-stegen-and-the-kwasizabantu-mission/feed/ 1 http://joshchampagne.com/blog/jesus-film/ http://joshchampagne.com/blog/jesus-film/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:18:53 +0000 Josh Champagne http://joshchampagne.com/blog/?p=392

Today I joined the crowd of 3 billion +  other fellow humans who have watched the Jesus film, the most watched film in history.  The film will turn 30 years old this October and I was amazed at how timeless it is as is the message it carries to viewers.

Anytime I watch a film, I look for a back story and this one did not disappoint.  Here it is from Wikipedia:

History

The film’s origins date back to 1945 when a young businessman named Bill Bright wanted to privately finance a film about the life of Jesus Christ^[1] that was entertaining, biblically accurate, and which could be translated into non-English languages. Rather than making a film at that time, Bright went on to found a Christian ministry to reach college students called Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951.

In 1976, with Campus Crusade’s influence spreading beyond college campuses to sports, the marketplace and other aspects of society, Bright turned his attention once again to filmmaking. Hollywood producer John Heyman approached Bright to fund a project to put the entire Bible on film. The project would eventually be scaled back to just one book of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, and be financed primarily by Campus Crusade supporters Bunker and Caroline Hunt^[2] for a sum of $6 million.

A team of 500 scholars and leaders from secular and Christian organizations began to research historical elements for a film about Jesus. Filming took place over the course of several months throughout the Middle East.

Jesus was produced by John Heyman, a German-born Jew. British Shakespearean actor Brian Deacon was hired to play the critical role of Jesus himself. The part of MaryRivka Neumann, and the part of Joseph was played by Yosef Shiloach. Former Jesus Film Project director Paul Eshleman, who was on location during much of the principal photography and even had a small non-speaking role as a Roman soldier on horseback, revealed in the DVD’s audio commentary^[3] that Deacon (the son of a Catholic mother and a Protestant father), was so committed to the film and its message that he read several Bible translations a day in order to make certain that he properly presented Christ’s teachings. Because Deacon developed pneumonia during principal photography, doubles were used in certain scenes. Eshleman also claimed that Niko Nitai, who played Peter, became a believer during filming and that the man hired to play Jesus’ corpse later entered a seminary. was played by

Some locations mentioned in the Bible, such as the Jordan River and what is believed to have been the home of Simon the Tanner, were used in the film.

After each day’s filming was completed, the footage was sent to a panel of biblical scholars for review.

Instead of creating a parallel story for the film or embellishing the biblical account, as is the case with other religious films such as The Ten Commandments or The Greatest Story Ever Told, the filmmakers chose to adhere as closely as possible to the Gospel of Luke. Most of the film’s dialogue comes from Luke, which was chosen after John Heyman sought advice from clergy and scholars. Many responded that the screenplay should be based on just one Gospel, and that Luke should be used because of its completeness.

Scenes for The Story of Jesus for Children, which removed much of Jesus’ more violent scenes and added more appropriate ones for younger viewers, were filmed concurrently with those of Jesus.

Jesus was released by Warner Bros. in the United States. It was not a money-maker, losing approximately $2 million. While praising its “meticulous attention to authenticity”, critics panned Jesus for being “painfully monotonous.”^[4]

In 1981, Bill Bright created the Jesus Film Project organization with the goal of accurately translating Jesus into other languages and showing them around the world. The first translation was done for the Tagalog-speaking people of the Philippines. The organization works with thousands of missionaries around the world to show the film, sometimes to audiences who have never seen a motion picture. Distribution in the United States has included direct mail campaigns sponsored by churches to deliver a copy of the film to every address in select zip codes across the country. In 2004, the organization made the film available for viewing on its website in over 300 languages. Both Jesus and The Story of Jesus for Children are available in DVD and VHS formats. Audio dramatizations in a number of languages are also available.

Trouble in Amish Paradise

UPDATE: A SEQUEL TO TROUBLE IN AMISH PARADISE HAS BEEN RELEASED

This documentary is the true story about Ephraim and Jesse Stoltzfus and and their respective families who go through the process of leaving the Amish community after reading and studying the Bible for themselves (something which is forbidden in many Amish circles).  The clarity of the gospel message and the theme of the powerful effect of these families’ faith in Jesus throughout this documentary is well documented.  The film was produced with the usual quality of any good BBC production, yet the message of salvation and hope in Jesus is as strong as if it had been produced by a Christian media group. Trouble in Amish Paradise gets a high recommendation from me.

Cast

I have had the privilege of meeting several of the people featured in this work, people whose lives are being poured out for Christ’s Kingdom; and my prayer is that the usual “buzz” generated around a media production of this nature would bring glory to God and bring more people to know, understand and embrace the life and teachings of Jesus for themselves as a result of watching this story.

Where to Watch

Broadcast exclusively in the UK on February 18th, it averaged 2.2 million viewers.  Over 100 hours of footage was condensed into this one hour video chronicling the events of shunning, tent revival meetings, life-threatening illness in the family, and so much more.

If you don’t live in the UK, you can watch this film in a six part Youtube video series below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Additional Resources:

Trouble in Amish Paradise - Website run by my friend, Ephraim Stoltzfus (one of the main film characters)

Trouble in Amish Paradise - on the IMDB (international movie database

BBC 2 Trouble in Amish Paradise - the official BBC link to the film information

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Here’s the full story.