Film at Urbana

This morning I had another conversation with a couple of people who are working on Arts programming for Urbana. Dick Ryan is a staff member with InterVarsity working with arts students. John Gyovai is currently on staff at Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis but will this year be leaving Bethlehem (with their blessing) as he launches his own non-profit ministry called Media Serve International. Dick and John both have a real passion for getting Christian artists to see the place they have in God's missional purposes, affirming that the world and the church need their gifts.

We've been thinking recently about film, as that's what John is particularly called to. Our intent is to have a few screenings at Urbana of some high-quality documentaries done by Christian filmmakers on topics like AIDS, the global church, globalization, urban realities, the urban poor, etc. Things related to issues Urbana will be addressing in other ways in other places. It's very exciting. John shared a quote from someone he'd talked to recently that sums up for me why it's so exciting. The woman, a missionary in Zambia, said: "I had shown many pictures and told many stories of how AIDS was destroying Africa, and people asked questions or said 'That's sad.' But after presenting the pictures and stories in a film, people were speechless."

The truism that "a picture is worth a thousand words" certainly rings with truth (even the English major in me, who argues that some words are worth a thousand pictures, can say that!). And in our world, film has a power to tell a story - true or twisted - that we need to be paying attention to. I hope many budding missionaries and filmmakers at Urbana will be encouraged and equipped to tell the right stories in powerful, truthful ways. We'll see! If anyone has ideas for documentaries to screen at Urbana, let me know!!