We’ve been looking forward to 2020 for a while. Not only did we have an entire initiative coming to fruition this year, but we also planned a wonderful Create Family Gathering in India to celebrate the 20/20 Vision and the release of the new book. We eagerly anticipated meeting with one another face-to-face, giving thanks to God for what He has done and dreaming together for the future. You see where this is going.
Instead, over sixty current and former Create staff and associates filled up little squares on our screens and met on Zoom for Create Connect. It was so nice to see one another! After a welcoming statement, we broke up into small groups to connect personally with a few people at a time. While not quite a tea break at the resort in India, it was a blessing to chat and share a victory, a challenge, and a prayer request.
When we came back together, we heard from Carol who encouraged us with a word about the future. Now that we have nearly completed the 20/20 Vision, we are looking for the new wine God is preparing for us (Mark 2:22). After Carol spoke we heard what some others have been up to this year. It was exciting to hear about partnering with the Global South to develop strategies and resources. We heard reports about our new Global Advance Teams and an update on Campfire, our online platform for training and collaboration. Create Taiwan is moving ahead with their new school called AniMissions and Create Mobile is working hard to get the Frontier Filmmaking Seminar online by March first. Myra shared the beautiful new children’s book her team has completed, and Jason brought us up-to-date on his feature film Soul Prison.Calvin took over to challenge us for the future. We need to “Think Different” for the next season. 75% of unreached people now have a gospel presentation. But how are we going to reach the remaining 25%? How can we think differently and still honor Create’s calling to make gospel presentations for unreached people groups?
God’s answer is simple: the unreached will make the movies. With their mobile phones.
One theme in The Impossible Dream is how God led Calvin and Carol to use what was in their hands and He would do the impossible. Historically, we have carried cameras and God has helped us shoot films. Now we all carry cellphones—not only us, but all the unreached, too. We can equip many thousands of indigenous producers to make their own gospel presentations with what they hold in their hands right now. What an exciting prospect!
We are calling this new initiative “Media4Movements”. Watch this video where Calvin and Carol describe the vision and strategy behind this incredible new ministry.
In January, the Lord told Carol we would use Zoom a lot in 2020. Never has a more prophetic word been spoken! The Create Connect was not a replacement for our face-to-face Create International Gathering; but the Lord used it as an online alternative to meet our desires see and interact with our broader Create ministry family. Many of our staff and leadership expressed how blessed and refreshed they felt, and several new staff described the feeling of family that they experienced during our two hour Zoom meeting. Now that we have all earned PhDs in Zoom, we look forward to our next online meeting together.
