DVDs for Your Non-American Neighbors

Probably every American can now say they know a neighbor or co-worker from another country. We need to take this opportunity to take the Gospel to the nations just by befriending the people who have come to live and work among us.

Check out these ten DVDs to see if you find a DVD in the right language group for your friend and their family. The DVDs are grouped by regions of Asia, Africa, and more. If you work on or near a campus, you might be interested in the All Nations JESUS DVD for International Scholars. This one DVD has the “JESUS” film in 16 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Subtitled in Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, French, German, and Korean.

You will want to come back to Reaching the Nations Among Us in the future to see what more they will have to offer.

What I Keep in My Purse

The clerk watched me rummaging through my purse. I had already paid and should have been walking away. I was pawing through more than seven varieties of tracts trying to find the right one. The minute this took to do was agonizingly long.

This is awkward, I thought, as I finally handed her a little green booklet. I went home and removed some of the tracts. (Read more of this story.)

The basic booklets I keep with me are also different colors and, therefore, easy to identify and pull out.

I have:
green Would You Like To Know God Personally,
blue Satisfied? (The Holy Spirit booklet),
cream/green Beginning Your Journey of Significance (new Four Laws for women),
cream/purple Living a Life of Significance? (new Holy Spirit booklet for women),
yellow The Four Laws in Spanish, and
black The Passage.

I use the green and blue booklets because I think the question on the cover would draw the person in to read the tract. Also, several times when I used to have the original yellow English Four Spiritual Laws in my purse, I would discover in the checkout line that all my booklets were in Spanish! However, God can use that situation, too!

In 2007, I also started carrying the Who is He? mini-CD for giving to twenty-something guys and for giving to internationals since the mini-CD presents the Gospel in more than thirty languages. Check out the content of this powerful tool. (An entire English Bible, apologetic books, and more).

Another tract I have added recently is 4 Laws – Discovering God in Chinese Characters. This tract explains how to know Jesus by explaining the etymological roots of Chinese characters. The message of salvation found in Genesis is revealed in these characters.

Read real-life stories about sharing tracts with the people you meet.

Tools for the Olympics

Read stories and testimonies of athletes, view video clips, and explore a personal relationship with God at Struggle and Triumph, a website from the Athletes in Action ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Struggle and Triumph is also a DVD that you can share with your friends. (The DVD is available in 36 languages).

Another website, Beyond the Ultimate, changes seasonally with whatever is the biggest sporting event at the time. Naturally, you will find Olympians on that site right now. If you read one of the testimonies and want to share it with someone, click on “Share This Story” in the right sidebar. You will have several choices, including sending an email with a link to the story, or posting the link on your Facebook profile. (I recommend adding a personal note in the email. Send one to yourself first to see if you like how your email looks.)

The Go for Gold website has links to over twenty country-specific “Looking for God” websites to help people begin their journey with God.

The Olympians continually challenge us all to run the race God has given us. You might like to use this moving video of Derek Redmond being supported by his father to communicate the Gospel to a friend. Your main point could be: we are weak, but our Father is strong and will help us finish the race.

Their Language, Your Home

. . . Malle, I discovered, was from Estonia. Someone had convinced her she could go door-to-door in the blistering Florida summers and sell educational encyclopedias for a summer job.

I had to run back into the house a few times as I was helping my kids paint the hall and they were waiting for me to bring in some more paint. On my first trip back in the house, I clicked on the internet and went to find The Four Spiritual Laws in Estonian. I clicked “print” and went back out where Malle was waiting.

After a little more conversation, I went back in and printed the web site page for the Jesus Film in Estonian and gathered up the Estonian Four Laws. I was on the same page with God by now and eager to see where our conversation would lead.

I handed Malle the Gospel in her own language. . . (Read the entire story).

Your computer is a valuable resource for presenting the Gospel to people whose first language is not English.

You can print a Gospel presentation in other languages or send a link if you are corresponding by e-mail. People always appreciate receiving something in their own language. When I have done this, people have always expressed their appreciation that I could give them something in their own mother tongue. I am more confident, too, that they will actually read it, especially if they are far from home.

Your international friends can also watch the Jesus film in their language, if their computer is set up for video. Once, I showed a technician the Jesus film site and even had my computer playing a Serbian version of the film while he was working inside the house. I know he was listening to this “background noise!”

World Series and More

If you or your friends love baseball, you might be interested in Reversing the Curse, with stories from the Red Sox during their comeback in the 2004 season when they won the World Series. You can also order a companion DVD on the site.

You can find more than baseball on sports DVDs from Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ’s sports ministry. If your friends like soccer, football, basketball, and more, they will enjoy these DVDs with stories from accomplished men and women athletes. These DVDs are also available in other languages and in PAL versions.

Athletes in Action is also offering some great booklets with changed-life stories from athletes. These could work for almost any age group at any time of the year.

You can give any of these items as gifts or use them in an outreach to sporting events and clubs.

PS: Click here to find more stories and ideas about reaching the sports fans in your life.