video – MessageWeek

The South Land’s Echo

We’ve been sharing the gospel via video over the internet for some 26 years. That’s some 915 sermons! We can be grateful for the resources we have to do this in this prosperous South Land of the Holy Spirit.

How do we know when the gospel reaches the ends of the world? Jesus said this good news would be preached in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the world before He would return. Perth in Western Australia is the world’s most isolated capital city, and I happen to live on its rural fringes.

So, again, how will we might know that the far reaches of the world have been reached with the good news of Jesus Christ? Perhaps when this good news echos back from the ends fo the world?

Over the years we’ve slowly made significant improvements not only in the research, content and delivery, but also with lighting, audio, cameras, and more recently, focussed work on colour calibration and grading. We use two BMD cinema cameras, and our studio work is such an important part of our filming. So grateful for all those who have supported us in prayers, donations, and shared feedback.

We want to produce the best Christ-centred Biblical teaching possible, using the best practices known in the film industry. I recall filming in Israel in 1985, using an old wobbly tripod, a National Panasonic VHS camera pack, and lots of heavy lead batteries. That’s all the technology we had back then. Today, even my mobile cell phone can film in 8k, hundreds of times better quality than what we had back then. In fact, if I reminisce ten years earlier in 1975, we were still filming using Super 8 silent video! But, hey, it was in colour!

What does the future hold? I believe the best is yet to come, as God reveals His will, purpose and timing via the gift and voice of the Holy Spirit. And may this South Land’s echo be part of that final narrative!

Standing in the Gap

After more than two months now “standing in the gap” with livestreaming Sabbath worship services from our home studio, and with the greater awareness that the society around us is overtly becoming not “church friendly” in both legislation and practice, we can be comforted and compelled by Jesus’ prophetic words that the church He’s building is and will be in an environment where “the gates hell” are notoriously evident. Thus we stand leaning into the headwinds of the times we live in on the promise and the power of the Holy Spirit, discerning each moment and embracing each challenge with alacrity. We’ll continue improving each week’s livestreaming, in one small way or another, and are patiently and faithfully working behind the scenes to advance His Kingdom and His righteousness. Media we know today plays a significant role in this.

When we started media streaming two decades ago, little did we realise the cacophony of dissonance emanating from tens of millions media sources and their many keyboard warriors. I recall someone twenty years ago saying, “One day, your video work will be swallowed up in ten thousand video channels.” It was hard to imagine back then. The surety of navigating the journey ahead is to simply focus on the calling and then, in the words of Jordan B Peterson recently, “Shield yourself from bad news sources.”

The Power of the Pen and the Camera

We’ve been busily writing and preparing new content. When some sigh at the word “doctrine”, other’s attention perk up. We’ve been working on a doctrinal series, presented both as live-streamed sermons, as well as later edited in HD our studio. Explaining what we believe and why is important. Heartfelt testimony matters. Faith and hope matter. Rationale and insight matter. Good exegesis and apologetics are essential for those Spirit-led in those areas.

We also see the need for shorter, creatively produced video posts. The YouTube universe is growing, not only as a source of entertainment but also providing educational and thought-provoking content. While there is plenty of Christian content being uploaded daily, I believe we are positioned uniquely with decades of experience, close to 700 gospel films, and a heart for what Jesus is preparing throughout the world. What starts out with the pen, then streams via video, ends up in the heart. That’s our prayer!

By John Klassek