Do You Think Like the Young or the Old?

Our staff are often representing the JESUS Film at various conferences that focus on outreach to the foreigners among us. Recently, we were at:

• MissioNexus, September 21-23, Dallas, TX, providing networking and resources for missions

• A regional student conference, October 21, Harrisburg, PA, missions day for college student conference

• NAMB’s “Reaching the Nations in North America,”  October 27-28, Wake Forest, NC

Each group was unique. Many were the heads of mission organisations, while others were young adults eager to go overseas.  A vast number were college students along with their campus staff teams. Many were area leadership in church ministry.

As a result of our conversations, we became aware of two patterns of response. The older people would rush by the table, because they thought they knew all about the JESUS Film. We would try to catch their attention, by asking if they knew what’s new with the film. We told them that there are up to 24 languages on each DVD and they were amazed at the technology. When they realized there is an App for them to see the film on their phone, some of them could hardly grasp the idea.

On the other hand, the younger generation also thought about walking by our set-up.  They never heard of the film; they weren’t even born when it came out! Once they understood it is a full  length movie based on the Gospel of Luke and has been translated into 1500 languages, their eyes lit up. They loved the new gift cards that they can hand to a friend or a waitress or anyone. The gift card lands the person directly on the JESUS film and asks them to type in their language. The students also saw other great uses for the app, but considered the DVD to be old technology.

Now, at what age is the division of these 2 groups? That’s a little fuzzy. I’m guessing if you were born after 1985, you may never have seen the film. By then, it was primarily being used and translated somewhere overseas. Thus, if you happened to be living overseas when you were young, you will likely be quite familiar with it.

I just want to say it’s great to see all ages in the body of Christ working together for the common goal of the Great Commission. God is at work and He continues to faithfully draw many to Himself. May God be glorified.

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