Check out the video to the right of this post or linked here. This little vignette gives the readers digest version of a trip I took into some “high risk” mountains and valleys in the heart of the Central Asia.

On a recent trip to that part of the world I met with a follower of Christ Jesus who came to faith from a Muslim background.  I asked him about the “risk” of living for Jesus in the midst of violent opposition. He described his own harrowing experience of being stripped naked before fifty or more people and subsequently tortured for his faith in front of a crowd of people.

As he described the experience he shared, “Risk?  There is no risk.  Our problem is not risk, it is fear.  We pile one layer of fear upon another and upon another. Fear upon fear upon fear upon fear.”

He explained, “We have nothing to fear and there is no risk because all that man can do is advance our journey to our Savior.”

Did you realize that three fourths of the world are oral communicators by choice.

50% of the adults in the United States are primarily oral communicators.

58% of the USA High school graduates have never read a book after graduating from High School.

42% of college graduates never read another book after graduating from college.

So what do we know about oral communicators?

• Oral communicators can learn as well as literate people and their memory is superior to the average literate person’s memory. The problem is not one of learning but it is the presentation format through which info comes to them. Info must come to oral communicators through stories, parables, poems, music, songs, and other formats.

• Most literates mistakenly believe that if they can outline the information or put it into a series of steps or principles, anyone, including oral communicators, can understand it and recall it.  Most oral communicators do not know how to process outlines, etc.

The point?  Most of the world prefers to learn through auditory means.  They like to hear stories and proverbs.

So what does that mean for people who can read?

It means that its time to simplify. It’s time to start from the beginning, from creation and tell the stories as they are recorded in God’s word. Most of the world is waiting for us to tell God’s stories to them.  Here’s one to start with.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.
And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.”
So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.  God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.  And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.   God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.  And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”  And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Several news reports over the last weekend in May are calling attention to pressure being applied to numerous Humanitarian Aid Organizations (NGOs) in Afghanistan. More significant than the impact on these NGOs is the threat to presumed Afghan Christians.

Over the last two days Afghan parliament has engaged in heated debate about accusations of NGO support for the spread of Christianity in the country. This situation developed as an Afghan allegedly posed as a Christian and provided youtube “evidence” that he had infiltrated an Afghan Christian meeting. He is making all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations while the Afghan government insists that there is no evidence against these NGOs.  In Afghanistan, real evidence is not even needed in order to do damage. Allegations are damning enough in such a volatile environment.  Reports suggest that Taliban forces are using the situation to stir up demonstrations and resistance to NGOs and the Karzai government.

So what can happen through incidents such as these? What has happened in the past in a country, a state, a city, or a village when Christianity begins to reach a critical mass to the point that opposing forces feel compelled to take action?

In China what happened?  Under oppression, the church in China went through a great scourging but the church eventually multiplied rapidly over several generations.  But what happened before that rapid multiplication occurred? There were many Christians who were brutally murdered.  There were others who denounced their faith – they could not withstand the torture, the imprisonment, the threat of execution.  In China, there were also those believers whose faith was fortified.  The human tragedy, the murders, the isolation of suspected family members creates unjust suffering in such a setting.

Afghanistan is not China, but we can surmise that events such as these could create immense persecution on any NGO that is rumored to have Christian origins or interests.  Churches around the world have compassionately responded in overwhelming fashion to the devastation in Afghanistan.   These compassionate efforts by Christians and non-Christians alike through NGOs could be severely restricted in the coming days, while Western troops fight for “freedom” for the Afghan people.

Confusing matters even worse, is the fact that there is conflict in the legal system in Afghanistan – one law would provide religious freedom and the other would insist on execution for conversion to Christianity.  Who can speak out for oppressed minorities in such a setting? There are  religious minorities in Afghanistan such as the Ahmadis.  Many Afghans call them apostate and subject Ahmadis to extreme persecution. However, Ahmadis may be at a level of critical mass to the degree that the Ahmadis have some ability to speak for themselves and turn to the Afghan and International Human Rights Commission.   Christians on the other hand, officially don’t exist in Afghanistan.  They have no official voice of influence to speak for them within government circles. Any group such as the Human Rights Commission, if they attempted to speak out for Christians, might not survive the onslaught of violent attacks even from within their own ranks.

So what exactly is God up to in Afghanistan? We obviously will not know for some time but we do know that the Afghan people and these NGO’s need our prayers.  Please take time to pray for the nation of Afghanistan during this crisis.

See Reuters Report Below

Afghanistan suspends two aid groups for Christianity probe

(Reuters) – Afghanistan’s government has suspended the activities of two Western aid groups on suspicion of proselytising, an official said Monday.

World Church Services (WCS) and the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) were ordered to stop work as part of a government probe into the activities of aid groups after a private Afghan TV channel accused them of trying to convert Muslims — an offence that carries the death penalty in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Economy, Sediq Amarkhil, said the government had no evidence against either organization, which started operating in the country during the rule of the Islamist Taliban, in the late 1990s.

As planning ministry in those days, the economy ministry oversaw NGO affairs.

“If proven after the investigation that they were involved in conversion activities, they will be introduced to the judicial authorities,” he said. “If not then they can resume their operations.”

Hundreds of foreign and Afghan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are involved in essential humanitarian projects across the country — helping out in areas ranging from health to education — but some Afghans remain sceptical of their motives and suspect they could be a front for proselytising.

Officials from one suspended group declined to comment, while there was nobody immediately available from the other.

Proselytising is strictly forbidden in the Koran and illegal in deeply conservative Islamic Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of Western forces are fighting resurgent Taliban Islamists who want the expulsion of the troops as part of a holy war.

There have been bloody protests in the past in Afghanistan against the publication of images of Prophet Mohammad in some Western media.

Weeks before their ouster in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the Taliban detained several Western aid workers after accusing them of proselytising, but the group was freed in a raid by American special forces.

In 2007 Taliban insurgents kidnapped 21 South Koreans who were visiting as part of a church charity group and accused them of proselytising. Two of the hostages were murdered before the rest were released, although the government denied it had agreed to any ransom demands.

The latest development comes weeks after the government ordered 20 foreign aid groups and charities to close for failing to provide reports on their work and finances.

Some 152 Afghan non-governmental organizations were also ordered shut.

(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin, Editing by David Fox)

Many of you have asked, so Mark who are these non-traditional churches that you work with? Someone recently sent me the answer.

It’s a combination of cool, relevant, contemporary, and profound, transparent and well…cool.

Check out this video because it articulates it for me.

This may be your church.  If it is, then you are my people.

See video.

21 Year Old Jeremiah Johnson

Hands On missionary dies in motorcycle accident

4/12/2010

By IMB Staff

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—A 21-year-old student missionary with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) was killed April 12 in a motorcycle accident in Mozambique, located in southeastern Africa.

Jeremiah Johnson, a member of Royal Palms Baptist Church in Phoenix, Ariz., and driver of the motorcycle, was riding with an interpreter (name withheld for security reasons) when the accident happened. Reports from overseas personnel say Johnson was killed instantly in the accident and his passenger was injured. Details on the interpreter’s condition and how the crash happened were not available at press time.

“Our hearts are broken,” said Charles Lord, pastor of Royal Palms. “We’re very proud of Jeremiah. God had been working in his life … he was serving the Lord to reach people who were unreached with the Gospel.”

Johnson was working with the IMB’s Hands On initiative among an unreached people group. The program enables college students to work on the mission field for a semester. Johnson was a student at Glendale Community College in Glendale, Ariz.

Johnson is the son of Diana and David Johnson. David is director of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary’s Arizona campus. Jeremiah also is survived by sisters, Rachel and Talitha; and brother, Merritt.

Lord described Johnson as courageous and willing to go wherever God was calling him to serve.

“We’re really going to miss him,” said the pastor.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

This story, along with many others at CommissionStories.com gives a telling picture of the day-to-day realities in disaster areas around the world. Volunteers are there making a difference.

‘No bottled answers:’
Haitians ask volunteers ‘what do I do’ now?
Staff
See more stories at CommissionStories.com
What do I do?” the Haitian man asked helplessly. The Jan. 12 earthquake had destroyed his home and taken the lives of his wife and two children. He was living out of a suitcase.

Butch Vernon, pastor of Thoroughbred Community Church in Nicholasville, Ky., struggled to answer the man’s question. Vernon was in Haiti as a volunteer with a Kentucky Baptist disaster relief team.

“I’m not asked that question a lot back in the States, you know?” said Vernon, his voice cracking with emotion.

“It’s not one of those deals where you can say, ‘take two [Bible] verses and call me in the morning. It’s the only time I’m going to see that guy, and there are no bottled answers.

“I prayed with him and I hugged him, and we gave him some medicine that won’t fix [his problems], but it made him feel better,” he added. “We’re seeing a lot of that.”

Teams on the ground in Haiti
From Jan. 31 to Feb. 8, Vernon and the Kentucky team joined forces with a Mississippi Baptist disaster relief team. They were part of a coordinated effort among the Florida Baptist Convention, which has a long-standing relationship with Haitian Baptists; Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development agency; the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.

The toughest part for a volunteer is accepting that you can’t help everyone, said Daniel Edney, who directed the medical response efforts with the Mississippi disaster relief team.

“But we can take care of those who God puts in front of us,” said Edney, a member of First Baptist Church, Vicksburg, Miss., who had led relief teams in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in South Asia after the tsunami.

“When those you help walk out with a smile on their face, you know you’ve done something.”

When the Mississippi volunteers pulled up to a church on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, they were surprised to see people praising and worshipping God — so many of them were struggling to get by without food and water.

“It was a neat thing to drive up and hear them singing and praising the Lord and worshipping,” said Kay Cassibry, Mississippi’s state WMU executive director who led the 10-member relief team.

“They have been so receptive,” added Cassibry, a member of Highland Colony Baptist Church in Ridgeland. “People do not know us, but they are receptive to our hugs and everything.”

Many helped during week
During the week, the Mississippi team helped at makeshift medical clinics and saw more than 1,100 patients.

“We have treated all kinds of things,” said Cassibry, while walking through one of the clinics. “There were a lot of respiratory problems, a lot of infection. We had to set a couple of bones.

“We’ve got a guy on an IV,” she added. “He asked for a Bible as soon as he woke up. We were pretty excited about that.”

For Hester Pitts, another Mississippi volunteer, the biggest blessings were the thank you letters she received from Haitians.

“I know what it means for us to be here,” said Pitts, a member of First Baptist Church of Vicksburg, “but [these letters are] tangible evidence of what it means for them.”

Pitts admitted her life-changing trip to Haiti was almost a missed opportunity.

Vacation interrupted to serve
She was on vacation with her husband, Kerry, and two other couples in Tampa, Fla., when she was contacted about joining the relief team. Pitts — a retired medical technologist — admitted she wanted to wait until later to volunteer, but she couldn’t shake her burden for Haiti.

Pitts agreed to go to Haiti immediately and asked others in her vacation group if they wanted to join her. One of her friends, David Baldwin, broke down in tears.

“He said, ‘Hester, I’ve been sitting here praying that God would open that door for me to go,’” Pitts said. “I could not believe it.”

Within two hours, the couples were on the road back to Mississippi so that Baldwin and Pitts could prepare for their trip. For Pitts, giving up her vacation was an opportunity of a lifetime.

“I’m just thankful that I didn’t miss the experience,” she said. “I came so close to telling God ‘no.’”

Here’s a local news report about two churches, FedEx Pilots, and a motorcycle club who are making a difference in an under-served community in Memphis.   As Easter approaches, it is a good idea to ask if our lives reflect Christ who died and rose for us. While the following article is from a secular news source, the churches and the believers involved saw a community need and took action. Makes you ask, what am I doing to make a difference and point people to the living Lord Jesus Christ in me?

Taking Back Our Neighborhood: Manassas baseball field

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) – The baseball team at Manassas High School began play on a “field of dreams” this week.

Teamwork between some caring FedEx pilots, a motorcycle club and two Memphis churches resulted in a home run for Manassas High baseball players. “It was a great idea to be able to give something back and to give these kids a home field to play on,” said FedEx pilot Lamar Washington.

Until Monday, Manassas had no home field advantage because it had no home field. “We played all road games,” said Manassas baseball coach Dennis Paden.  “We didn’t even have a facility to practice.” The field began to take shape when FedEx pilot Eric Lampelay’s wife began clearing rocks from a field with Oasis of Hope, a ministry of Hope Presbyterian.  Lampelay told co-pilot Washington, who brought his motorcycle club to help rake up the rocks. “There’s a lot of interest and guys are always looking for an opportunity to do something good in the community,” Washington said.

Volunteers from Hope Presbyterian and Bellevue Baptist Church graded the fields.  They donated sod and clay for the infield and pitcher’s mound. On opening day, Lampelay threw out the ceremonial first pitch. At long last, the Tigers of Manassas took their home field against the Pharaohs of Raleigh-Egypt.

“It’s just a blessing that we finally got a field,” said Montrail Brown, Manassas baseball player.  “It’s going to draw a crowd, and more people are going to play.” Paden said the field was a blessing for all involved.

“It’s blessed the people who’ve built the field as much as the kids on the receiving end,” Paden said.  “It really has been something magical.” The Manassas Tigers won their first game on their home field in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Copyright 2010 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.

The attached video (to the right of this front-page posting) tells the story of Shadi, an indigenous Christian in Gaza who chooses against all odds to live out his faith in a very volatile setting.  His pastor was recently murdered and thrown into an empty field.  Muslim children at the school where Shadi teaches are magnetically drawn to the love of Christ that emanates from Shadi’s being. How strange for a Christian to be teaching in a Muslim school. Sounds like the kind of thing that Jesus would do.

What are you living for? What is your bold step of faith in the midst of a world that is either complacent or hostile toward faith?

If I am living a life of purpose, I am on a path of knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  To know The Crucified One results in self-crucifixion by believers today.  Since Shadi has placed himself on the cross already, he also is living by the resurrected power of The Resurrected One.

So in the story of Shadi, it becomes clear, when you’re already crucified there is no need to fear death. And when your already living in the power of the resurrection, there is power in your walk and talk.   Living purposefully? It’s about being crucified with Christ, nevertheless living in His resurrected power – even on the streets of Gaza.

Read the “Last Letters” of missionaries and contemporary leaders at www.thelastletter.org

I want to introduce Scott Brewer.  He is Pastor of Meadowbrook Church in Redmond, WA and is also President of the Northwest Baptist Convention representing SBC work in the North West.  Scott attended the GCR Task Force Report and gives these reflections.  I’m particularly interested to hear the response of this church planter/pastor/ convention leader from a “pioneer” state. Such a pioneer perspective will not be heard as loudly or as often as that of a pastor or leader from a Southern State.  It’s worth listening.

Reflections on the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report
Scott Brewer, February 26, 2009

Because of my role during this year with the Northwest Baptist Convention I was invited to attend the February 22, 2010 meeting of the SBC Executive Committee. During the evening plenary session the GCRTF gave their report. My reflections are in essence my process of thinking “out loud”. I haven’t drawn any conclusions yet. The report was described as “preliminary” and therefore may see some change. A final report is to be released to the entire convention May 3, 2010. A vote on the recommendations is expected at the annual meeting of the SBC June 15-16, 2010.

The report was given in 6 “Components” and I’ll respond to each.

Component 1
I understood this to be a call to Southern Baptists to being a more focused missional people. As such we would agree that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be presented to every person in the world and that we must be about the work of making disciples. In this component I heard the call to a new day of including the next generation of leaders, building trust and unity across the convention and elevating the importance of the local church over the convention.

No one can disagree with Component 1. I did not hear anything that would indicate how we would address this. As with subsequent components, the questions “how will we address this” and “who will be accountable for addressing this” was not clear.

Component 2
I heard this component to be a call to reinvent the North American Mission Board. At the heart of it I heard the call for “empowering” NAMB in the works of starting churches and strengthening churches (in evangelism and discipleship) by decentralizing NAMB out of Atlanta and deploying personnel around the country. This decentralization would happen by creating 7 regions.

This component includes an empowering of NAMB financially by doing away with “cooperative agreements” with state conventions. As I understand it, with respect to the NWBC, we would no longer receive CP dollars from NAMB for church planting and church strengthening (which is a large portion of the NWBC budget). Rather NAMB would use those funds for implementing their strategies in each of the newly formed 7 regions. Obviously this raises questions about the future of state conventions that exist outside of the South. I’m not sure how a large southern state convention would be impacted by this but our convention would be radically impacted.

One stated goal was to see a redistribution of CP funds that make up the NAMB budget so that areas of America that are outside of the South would receive more funding for church planting and strengthening. The funding suggestion though is in the context for greater empowerment of NAMB’s involvement in these regions with the stated goals of seeing better efficiency and accountability of the funds.

A final piece to this component was to see NAMB develop THE “Leadership Center of America” for training and developing church planters and church leaders. This overlaps with the assignment of Lifeway and therefore will involve some clarification of who will do what.

Component 3
This component suggests that the International Mission Board must be released to accomplish the mission of reaching un-reached people groups “without regard to any geographical limitations”. I heard this to be a call for IMB to not only be intentional about penetrating every people group outside of America (even so-called closed countries) but also those same non-American people groups within the USA.  This component seeks to leverage that IMB expertise upon US soil. I think this has been something needed for some time. How this will be coordinated with a more empowered NAMB remains to be seen.

Component 4
The recommendation for this component is to move the responsibility for stewardship emphasis and promotion away from the SBC Executive Committee and to the state conventions.  The EC has held this responsibility since 1997 when Lifeway said that they could not effectively carry out this assignment. In short, I simply see this recommendation as a way to add some justification to the later recommendation for moving 1% of the CP money that the EC receives to IMB.  How state conventions that are outside the south and that will already face significant financial “hits” from these recommendations can add the stewardship assignment remains to be seen.

Stewardship emphasis and promotion is very significant since the average Southern Baptist contributes only 2.56% of their income. The mission of the church is seriously hampered by this poor stewardship.

Component 5
In short this component seemed to me to be a redefining of how Southern Baptist giving is considered and categorized. While affirming the importance of the Cooperative Program, the recommendation is to identify a larger category of missions giving called “Great Commission Giving”. Therefore, a church’s giving through the Cooperative Program as well as other designated giving for state conventions and local associations would all be considered Great Commission Giving. I think this also includes a local church’s mission projects and trips.

The implications are not clear to me but here’s what occurs to me. For years there have been churches that have chosen to redirect their giving around the CP and directly give to IMB or NAMB or seminaries, etc. because of the dissatisfaction with either what their state convention was doing or with the amount of CP dollars their state convention kept before passing it on to the national level.  A result of that practice was that those churches looked like poor contributors to missions because their CP numbers were low. It seems to me that being able to count a church’s CP contributions and designated contributions as the new benchmark of Great Commission Giving better legitimizes those churches with low CP numbers.

I think one of the desires of the GCRTF was to address the shortfall of national dollars available for the work of missions and IMB especially. There has been an unsuccessful call for several years now for state conventions to keep fewer CP dollars and pass on a greater portion. This seems to me to be a way to get around that. I could be way off base here.

Component 6
The GCRTF recommends that the CP breakdown of funds increases the IMB share by 1% so that it is now 51% and decreases the Executive Committee share by 1% so that it is now 2.4%.  I agree that IMB should receive more of the CP pie. I could agree to 55% but from which area to take those funds I don’t know.

Closing Thoughts:
1. It seems to me that the call for being a more focused missional, unified people is right but must contain some idea about how to get there. Trust is a “relational thing” and relationships demand time and proximity with each other. This also demands humility and a willingness to give up power. Only a Spirit stirred repentance and recommitment to Christ’s mission can do this.

2. Something radical does need to happen with NAMB. Decentralizing and regionalizing makes some sense. What impact will this have on advancing the reorganization and new direction of the NWBC? There has already been so much change for our staff I’m concerned about morale and the capacity to focus on today and implement newly developed strategic plans.

3. How will all of the GCRTF recommendations play with the average pastor and church? I consider myself to be aware of and involved in convention life in an above average way and at the end of the day we only have so much time for convention matters.

4. What’s the answer to the “so what?” question? If all of the GCRTF recommendations move forward, what difference ultimately will that mean to 40,000+ SBC churches? It will impact church plants because they have limited autonomy and have to be responsive to convention initiatives or practices in order to receive their funding.   Established churches do not.

Missionary Films
“Li Yang”
Missionaries working in China’s underground church – 6 feature films
deidox.com

“The Last Letter”
Missionaries working in Burma, Nairobi and Memphis – six short films
thelastletter.org

“Hearing Everett”
A missionary family educates deaf children in Mexico
hearingeverett.com

“The Prosperity Gospel”
A look at the “prosperity Gospel” at work in Ghana
vimeo.com/7196941

“Kavi”
One boy’s escape from bonded labor in an Indian brick kiln
kavithemovie.com

“As We Forgive”
An examination of the possibility of forgiveness in postgenocide Rwanda
asweforgivemovie.com

ST. LOUIS — Three hundred evangelical Christian college students sat in a dark, packed downtown hotel ballroom Monday, the projected glow of a movie the only source of light.

At least that’s the way it looked to an observer. The students in the room would have argued that the real sources of light were the movies’ subjects: missionaries bringing the Gospel to what they believe to be the darkest corners of the world for Christians — China, Burma, India, Africa.

In watching examples of such films, these missionaries-to-be were participating in an artistic renaissance of sorts within the Christian community. The potential of narrative filmmaking as an evangelical tool has grown rapidly in recent years, as the technical tools used to make movies have become cheaper and available to more, and younger, people.

“Film is ingrained into our culture, and Christians are using it more and more for God’s kingdom’s purposes,” said Drew Mason, a 19-year-old sophomore film major from San Diego State University who attended the film screening.

That screening was part of last week’s “Urbana ’09” conference, the largest gathering of mission agencies in the world. Its purpose is to connect more than 16,000 young, idealistic, energetic students with the 280 mission organizations and seminaries that staffed booths for the five-day event at the America’s Center.

Urbana is organized by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA every three years to take advantage of the typical four-year college cycle. The conference moved to St. Louis in 2006 after nearly 60 years on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

But this was the first year that Urbana organizers decided to tap into the younger generation’s interest in film in a big way.

“At Urbana ’03, there wasn’t a peep about film or filmmaking, and in ’06 there were two discussions that brought in about 50 people,” said Nathan Clarke, 34, a documentary filmmaker with Fourth Line Films who organized this year’s Urbana Film Festival and Forum.

This year, organizers devoted three formal sessions to the subject, screening six films. The festival drew more than 1,000 students to the sessions, and also to smaller workshops, round tables, lectures and one-on-one meetings in which students could get critiques on their film pitches.

“Today there’s a community of Christian filmmakers out there who have access to the technical tools, but many of whom need to learn how to tell a story,” Clarke said.

Probably the most popular evangelical film ever made, known as the “JESUS” film, was produced 30 years ago by Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International. The two-hour movie features the familiar story of Jesus’ life as told in the Gospel of Luke, and according to its website, has been translated into 1,000 languages and has been seen by 6 billion people.

But younger filmmakers are turning away from using their craft as an element of the conversion process itself. Instead, they are taking the skills they’ve learned in film schools and using both documentary and fictional narrative techniques to change the direction in which their movies find an audience.

Rather than making a movie that shows the story of Jesus to a Third World nonbeliever, as the makers of the “JESUS” film did, today’s Christian filmmaker might target an American audience and dramatize the dangers for those leading the underground church in China, or examining the role of the prosperity Gospel in Ghana.

Christian movie director T.C. Johnstone, 36, screened part of his movie “Hearing Everett” at the Urbana film forum last week, and explained to the audience afterward that the movie’s genesis was as a promotional video for Rancho Sordo Mudo, a home and school for deaf children in Mexico.

But what began as a simple fundraising tool eventually became a feature-length telling of the story-behind-the-story — part documentary, part narrative history — of how an American missionary family left the comforts of home and began teaching deaf children in the Mexican desert.

Churches are the intended venue for free “Hearing Everett” screenings (it’s also available for individuals to buy online) after which members may take up a collection for Rancho Sordo Mudo.

But for Johnstone and, increasingly, other Christian filmmakers, the screening itself isn’t the end of the movie experience. “Hearing Everett” ends with an “action step” directed at the viewer. Pastors who choose to can request a “tool kit” that includes a “small group study guide” that Johnstone hopes will lead others toward church service projects.

Other Christian filmmakers have become activists for social justice issues that both make good sources of drama, and mesh with the tenets of their faith. They are unsatisfied just telling a story of injustice and letting an audience decided how to act. For many, their faith propels them to set up nonprofit organizations.

“There’s a level of responsibility,” said Clarke. “If I’m just putting a movie out there, am I really answering the call?”

Like Johnstone, Gregg Helvey did not rest after the final edit of his 19-minute film, “Kavi,” that was screened at the Urbana film forum. The film is a fictional narrative about a boy who is forced to work as a slave in an Indian brick kiln.

Helvey, 30, made “Kavi” as his thesis film at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. In an interview, he said he is exploring partnerships with anti-slavery organizations to ensure the message of “Kavi” lives after the theater lights come up.

Last month, “Kavi” was short-listed by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for an Oscar in the “live-action short films” category. From that list, three to five films will be nominated for the Oscar.

Helvey’s goal, he said, was “to do something more than tell a story, but to raise awareness, leave the world a better place and play a small part in giving voice to the voiceless.” In partnering with anti-slavery organizations, “Kavi” “can lead to action by channeling audience members to the anti-slavery organizations that are actually fighting this,” Helvey said.

Urbana students also learned of an emerging group of Hollywood production companies such as Walden Media, which made the “Chronicles of Narnia” series, that specialize in family and often Christian movies.

Kurt Tuffendsam, 30, a Christian producer who has worked on mainstream Hollywood fare such as “The Job” and “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call — New Orleans,” told the students in one session that production companies like MPower Pictures have successfully figured out “how to represent Christ to the mainstream.”

MPower Chief Executive Steve McVeety produced the Mel Gibson blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ.” MPower’s “As We Forgive,” a documentary about reconciliation between victims and perpetrators in postgenocide Rwanda, was screened at the Urbana film forum.

John Shepherd, president of MPower and producer of last year’s controversial “The Stoning of Saroya M.,” said a new generation of Christians is embracing the arts in a way their parents never did.

“If the body of Christ doesn’t get involved in film as a mission field, it’s missing a phenomenal opportunity to have their message heard by the world,” Shepherd said. “And this young generation gets it. The church had abandoned the arts, but young people are taking it back.”

At one of Urbana’s film forum sessions, director T.C. Johnstone spoke directly to his young audience about their potential as both Christians and filmmakers.

“What has God placed in your hands to work through you?” he asked them, then answered his own question: “It’s a camera.”