What a Wonderful Name

May 28, 2008

By Ken Horn

A few years ago I was with a small group of missionaries and national Christians in a remote portion of a country that is hostile to Christianity. We were carrying portable video equipment along a narrow mountain path.

There was no electricity or running water. Many of the people had never seen a movie … or heard the name of Jesus. We were there to rectify both — by showing the “Jesus” film.

Darkness fell and temperatures plummeted. Only a few women and children had gathered. Would the mission be a failure?

Suddenly I noticed a dim light in the distance … then another and another. Oil lanterns and flashlights with feeble batteries delineated the outlines of the trails as people journeyed through the night from surrounding villages. The lights formed a string, snaking along the precipitous switchbacks. It took the crowd a long time to gather, but ultimately several hundred people assembled and the showing began.

The people stood spellbound in the cold. The “Jesus” film, dubbed in their language, introduced the Son of God to them.

When the film was over, only a brief prayer was offered, then the crowd dispersed. The authorities would not permit a public altar call. I watched the line of lights retreat in the opposite direction.

In the weeks that followed, the national who pastors the small flock there walked those hills untiringly, stopping at every hut to discuss the film and explain the plan of salvation. Many received Christ in their homes, just as the pastor did himself not so long ago. In some of the homes, house churches were started. Now there are new believers reaching into even more remote areas with the truth of God’s love.

Two things had been accomplished: Many souls were rescued from an eternal danger far more deadly than anything threatened by their harsh environs; and new inroads for the gospel were blazed into areas almost unreachable by outsiders. All from the showing of a movie that tells the story of Jesus.

“For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NKJV).

What a wonderful, powerful name.

— Ken Horn is the editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Snapshots (khorn.agblogger.org).