We launched Frontier Alliance International three years ago (2012) with the vision to “exalt the worth of Jesus Christ among the unreached and unengaged at the end of the age,” and with this high vision we set high ambitions to achieve on local, regional and international levels. Some, then, have been surprised to find we have included an emphasis on media, particularly film, in our very foundations. We released Better Friends than Mountains, a field documentary about the Kurds and the Gospel of the Kingdom in February 2015. The following month, we launched Covenant & Controversy, a film series on the issue of Israel (though preproduction for this series dates back to January 2013).
These projects are the firsts of several more, with many in various stages of development even as this article is written. Our production commitments are two-fold: (1) to make excellent work, theologically and technically speaking. The world does not need more assembly-line constructs erroneously called “art”; (2) and to not sell out, doctrinally speaking. The world does not need more flaky artists or biblically illiterate preachers. The world needs to hear the glory of “Christ, and Him crucified.”[1]
We didn’t pick up cameras hoping to win Oscars. We picked up cameras to make much of Jesus.
While we make no claim to be modern-day John the Baptists, we believe his life is one worth emulating.[2] His distance from the conventional ministry model also distanced him from the ensnaring grip of public opinion. The son of the high priest, he had no lack of opportunity in Jerusalem; yet, it was more fruitful for him to live in the desert. We have intentionally built a grass-roots media ministry within FAI to avoid the noose attached to studio pockets in our determination to “speak as we ought to speak.”[3]We are intentionally basing ourselves oceans and continents away from the dollar-driven storyboards of major studios in order to place our feet on the same frontier soil upon which the unreached still stand.
Thus far, we have covered these projects mostly at our own expense, as full-time missionaries who draw no salary. As our abilities have matured, our ambitions have grown, and our convictions have deepened—that Jesus is worthy to be declared well; that we are to bear the image of His beauty even in our labor; and that the message of the Man from Nazareth should be accessible to everybody. To that end, Better Friends than Mountains, Covenant & Controversy and every work we produce will be made available at no cost.
We would like to keep it that way.
As you read this, you may be thinking, “Yes! How can I get involved?” Consider joining our partnership team, specifically sowing into the media ministry of FAI. Any funds earmarked for this department will cover production costs and enable our team to provide quality, Christ-exalting work accessible to everyone’s fingertips; your partnership in this team allows us to achieve our ambitions without compromising our convictions.
If you would like to join our partnership team and contribute to the production of future films, click here.
Stephanie Quick is a writer and producer serving with Frontier Alliance International in the Middle East. She is the author of To Trace a Rising Sun and can be found on on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Sign up for her ministry updates here and receive a free copy of her book Confronting Unbelief. She can be reached at stephanie@stephaniequick.org.
[1] 1 Corinthians 2:2
[2] See Matthew 11:11
[3] Ephesians 6:20
