It’s 1:00 p.m., and we’ve just finished lunch in the cafeteria of a Kyung Hee University in Southeast Seoul. The students who earlier filled the tables have left to go to class and study for exams.

Photographer Tom Mills is taking pictures of Yura meeting with one of her disciples. They watch the short films, the Black Hole and Falling Plates together. Yura asks her disciple what she thinks the film is about. She transitions into a discussion about how Jesus is unlike any other person in history.

Earlier this morning, she and her teammate Rachel showed The Black Hole to two students sitting together outside of the library, a stone building with turrets on the top. Great architecture on campus.

Here’s a link to The Black Hole. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

After watching the Black Hole, Yura and Rachel each started a conversation with the students by asking what they thought the film was about. Correct answer: Greed. Some great questions followed.

Q: What would you do if you had this kind of paper?

A: I don’t want it. I’m afraid of what might happen.

Q: Would you want to throw it away?

A: No, I want to keep it, just in case.

Q: What if everyone had this kind of paper?

A: There would be chaos.

Q: What if people used it for a good purpose?

A: People are evil.

Q: How can people solve the greed problem?

A: They can think within themselves and try to control themselves.

Q: Is there some other approach to solve this problem?

A: I don’t know.

Q: There is a film that explains where greed came from and how it can be solved. Would you like to watch it?

A: Not right now.

So, Yura was disappointed that she didn’t have a chance to show the second film called Falling Plates, but I was excited for her because she started a spiritual conversation.

Rachel had a similar experience. She ventured into questions about faith.

Q: Do you go to church?

A: My parents attend church. I attended when I was younger, but I don’t go anymore.

Q: Why do you think people go to church?

A: Some go to have relationships with people, but others go so they can meet people they can network with during the week. Maybe there are people who go to grow in their faith.

They carried on a conversation about how believing in Jesus can solve the greed problem. She asked if she could show him the second film. He also said, no thank you.

In the past, when our staff members used a printed presentation of the gospel, these conversations would have been much shorter, and students would not have answered as many questions. For now, the short films strategy is opening doors for both students and staff members on campus to start conversations.

Our staff are absolutely energized. One of the leaders told me that previously he explained his faith to other people because it was his duty. Now, he enjoys starting conversations and he finds himself more easily caring about the person he’s talking to as he’s asking questions and listening to their answers.

We’re off to a great start. Can’t wait to see what happens next. More to come.

 

My mouth was dry and my heartbeat increased in anticipation and hope. For the first time in three years, I would be surprised to learn if Worldwide Challenge had won any awards from the Evangelical Press Association. After presenting the awards the last three years, I listened as my friend Paul announced the winners.

I gratefully accepted six awards on behalf of our team. We received three photo awards, one writing award and one design award, in addition to an award of merit for the magazine as a whole. Every member of our team had something to celebrate.

While the awards presentation was fun, other parts of my time at the EPA convention were more valuable. Every year that event helps me become a better magazine editor, team leader and communicator in general. Last year at the convention I heard about a ministry focused on helping orphans called Back2Back.

The current issue of Worldwide Challenge features a couple who are part of Back2Back and who adopted 34 children in India. You can read the whole story on our website at http://worldwidechallenge.org/content/out-fire.

While most of our stories focus on the work of Cru staff members, we also acknowledge the work of people who staff members influence. And Cru played a role in Back2Back’s start. Beth and Todd Guckenberger were part of Cru at Indiana University. Beth said, “I majored in Cru, which is not really a major, but I spent a whole lot more hours doing that than in any library.”

They went to Albania for a Spring Break mission trip. On the way home, they began talking about the plight of the orphans they had met. “Years later, with a picture of an Albanian orphan in our hands, we crossed the border into Mexico and began Back2Back Ministries,” Beth said. They now help with children’s homes in Mexico, Nigeria, India and Haiti.

We’re grateful to be part of an effort to take the gospel to people who need Christ, like these orphans. And we’re grateful you’re playing a significant role in our ministry. You’re part of putting the good news about what God is doing in India into people’s hands, and you deserve a piece of the awards our team won.

As you think of us this month, please pray for our communications planning, and that we will be able to find and tell great stories of God working around the world.