Well, that escalated quickly. That was the tagline on the email Mark sent to my editor and me on a Thursday morning.

From left to right: Stephen, Peter, Yura, Tom and me. We’re at Blessing coffee shop, started by one of the local churches. There are more than 14 million Christians in Korea, making up almost 30 percent of the population. Yet, I am told that the Church in Korea is in crisis because younger generations are missing in action. Maybe short films will be part of the solution.

After almost a week of making pre-dawn phone calls, talking about the timing, and collecting information, we determined I should go to Seoul, South Korea, with photographer Tom Mills. Less than 48 hours later, I was packed and on the plane.

During the trip, I watched new staff member Yura Park use short films on her campus to explain her faith to unbelievers and to encourage young Christians to grow. Tom and I were even able to witness one of the students pray and receive Christ.

I also spent time with the Korean staff leaders who told me they had been looking for a new way for our staff members to share their faith. Then they heard about short films. Currently, our staff members use the booklet, Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?  But, after 50 years, everyone saw the need to repackage the message in a way that makes sense to this generation.

Enter the Jesus film short film strategy. Staff members download the Jesus Film app (as you can at the iTunes store or Google Play store at app.jesusfilmmedia.org) to their smart phones, download their favorite short films and then head to campus. Tom and I watched asYura showed films to students and then asked questions that led to genuine conversations.

If you want to watch some of these films, you can go to YouTube and search for “The Black Hole, Falling Plates,  and Sand Art P4U. The Sand Art film is a gorgeous piece of someone doing sand art while the speaker narrates the Four Spiritual Laws. Our Korean ministry produced that film, first in Korean, then in English.

So much to tell, and so few words to tell it with. I plan to post more her on our blog as I write the story and continue to reflect on the trip. I am so grateful to be writing again and to be serving in the role as missionary journalist.