Tidings of Comfort & Joy (39)

Create Thailand Christmas: Where's Steve?

Oh tidings of comfort and joy! This is how the author of one of our favorite carols “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” likens the good news of Jesus’ birth and encourages us to sing praises to the Lord. It is a wonderful gift to us as a family to be finally reunited for Christmas. It’s been nearly a year since Steve saw Sam face-to-face, and nearly four months since being in the same room with Allyson, Rachel and Abby. We are enjoying each other’s company again and looking forward to just spending time catching up. Thank you to those who contributed to make this reunion a reality.

 A scene from the movie

God’s word to us in the time apart was to “finish strong” and we all did our best to live that out with God’s help over the past four months. The Lord has also been speaking to us about counting the cost of discipleship, which is something all of us as Christ-followers need to do. The cost of not serving God is greater than the price we pay to obey him here and now. We made some necessary sacrifices as a family this Fall, but the divine dividends are immeasurable. One evangelistic film to be narrated in ten languages was produced. Six students from around the world successfully completed the SFM program with flying colors and are now seeking God about how to best serve Him in the future. Girls are well adjusted in their new surroundings and thriving at Falmouth High School. Mission accomplished. You can see a trailer for the Indian film A Beautiful Hope here: http://youtu.be/olZJh6V-JmY 

Steve on the set

We are here now in Massachusetts to obey God, to follow him, to serve him as media experts, filmmakers, trainers and mobilizers. 2013 will take us around-the-world again to create cross-cultural gospel films in the language and culture of people who desperately need to know about a baby born in Bethlehem. Thanks for sharing this journey with us. Remember, Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy! 

Praise & Prayer Requests:

Praise that Steve was able to return home for Christmas and finished strong in the SFM program having overseen a number of video edits. 

Pray for:

• Wisdom also for the six students and their families who are seeking God about their futures 

  

  SFM Thailand with Create India

• timely completion of the editing and field-testing of this new Indian film A Beautiful Hope

• Ongoing clarity as we continue to seek the Lord’s will about the specific details of our future

• Our transition to being reunited as a family after many long months apart

• Sam, as you feel lead by the Lord 

• A blessed time of deputation in 2013 and an increase in our support to provide the difference between our ongoing needs and our current income shortfall 

• wipe out the debt from the medical emergency and other underfunded expenses earlier this year. 

Hindu Hospitality (Vol. 38)

Ready to cook dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving! Although this American holiday is not celebrated in Thailand, Steve would like to express his gratitude for all of you who have read our newsletters, and supported and prayed for us. Steve had some prayer time this morning to thank God for you, too. 

Steve recently returned from directing Create’s latest film in India and the film editing is well underway. When finished this movie will be widely distributed throughout Rajasthan in ten different narrated versions, increasing its reach and impact. Steve would like to thank the A-Team of staff and students who contributed to the projects success including Alicia, Anima, Barry, Bill, Carla, Elianderson, Jason, Jeremy, Manoj, Mila, Paul, Penny, Prince, Rachel, Simon, Wendy and of course 

Action!

Calvin and Carol. As you can see, it takes a lot of people to make these movies and we didn’t even list all the actors, translators and cultural advisors without whose contributions the film could not have been made. 

One of our actors started to cry while we shot a particular scene. We later learned that we were making a version of her life story. God is clearly at work already in this film and exceeding all of our expectations! Another remarkable aspect of this particular production was the tremendous help we received from a Hindu family who graciously loaned us their home for several days for our principal location and served as actors. Their gracious hospitality was very humbling to our team, not to mention some of the best home-cooked meals and chai you can find anywhere in India! If you would like to learn more about Deepak and his family, or you are ever in Rajasthan, look them up at bishnoivillagesafari.com and tell them Steve sent you! 

We thought it might be fun to take a brief look back at the past year to

Taj Mahal

 highlight past events: 

Oct 2011 Co-Directing the Pattani Malay film in Southern Thailand

Nov 2011 Training and mobilizing at the Call2All, Long Beach, California 

Dec 2011 Christmas with the family back in Cape Cod 

Jan 2012 Return to Thailand with Michelle, Steve’s sister, who did her YWAM DTS!

Feb 2012 Training at NTC in Derha Dun and the MDTS at Create India

Mar 2012 Training and mobilizing at the Call2All, Cebu City, Philippines

Apr 2012 Film production in Indonesia with Create Perth 

May 2012 Production of School of Frontier Media (SFM) training videos and school prep

June 2012 Staff training and the SFM begins! Awesome group of students! 

July 2012 Leading and teaching scriptwriting and video production in the SFM

Aug 2012 YWAM regional conference and ongoing SFM leadership and teaching

Sept 2012 Ally and the girls return to Cape Cod then Steve leaves for India

Oct 2012 Directing the film in India with Create staff and the SFM students

Nov 2012 Film editing and ongoing SFM post-production responsibilities including a behind-the-scenes video we are eager to share with you next year.

2013 is shaping up to be just as ambitious and productive. Lord willing, we will continue to do all that he asks of us for the sake of his Kingdom. 

Some of our team

 In other news, we have seen a sharp decline in our support now for three months and we are no longer making ends met. We don’t yet have the funds we need to put Steve on a plane to be reunited with his family for Christmas, and we regret at this point any funds coming into YWAM  before December 7th will not be credited to us until December 21st. If anyone reading this would like to help Steve fly home, donations can be made through Paypal.com for Allybaldwin5@gmail.com or you may contact Allyson to make other arrangements. Thank you very much for all of you who recently gave to help with this or other urgent needs as outlined in last month’s newsletter. 

Prayer Requests:

• An urgent need for the money for Steve’s return trip to the States to be reunited with his family for Christmas ($1500) 

• Finishing strong in the SFM program and completing a number of video edits on-time

• Hassle-free and timely completion of this Indian film and its many incarnations 

• Wisdom for Steve as he continues to lead the SFM program during the internship phase 

Rajasthan!

• Wisdom also for the six students and their families who are wondering about their futures

• Ongoing clarity of vision as we seek the Lord’s will about the specific details of our future

• Our transition to being reunited as a family after many long months 

• An increase in our support to provide the difference between our ongoing needs and our current shortfall in income and to wipe out the debt from the medical emergency and other underfunded expenses earlier this year. 

Wow, what a year! If you are still reading this, we thank you even more for continuing to be a part of our journey together. Lord willing, we hope to see all of you in 2013! 

(This was published here on the blog late . . . )