Facing the Giants
The following letter is an email that I sent to the church that made the movie “Facing the Giants”. Following the letter is their response. I thought that you might enjoy hearing about the wonderful response of the students on the night that we showed the movie.
Greetings to the saints at Sherwood Baptist Church from Kampala, Uganda. My name is Kevin Ironside and I am a missionary from Niceville, Florida serving here in East Africa. I want to encourage you with the impact that “Facing the Giants” has had here, but first will provide some background information to put it into perspective.
My wife, four sons, and I arrived in September of 2006 with the purpose of ministering to and discipling university students. We are working with a Christian student fellowship at Kampala International University (KIU) that has about 600 students in attendance each Sunday on a campus of about 5,000 students total. Even though we are in Uganda, most of the students at KIU are from Kenya but also include students from Tanzania, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and others. One Sunday there were students present from 11 different countries. This gives us a unique opportunity to reach much of Africa from one location.
On Easter weekend we showed the video of “The Passion of the Christ”, and the main hall at the university, which holds about 700, was filled to capacity. There was such a good response that we decided that we should try to show other movies in the future. Last weekend, we decided to show “Facing the Giants”. We were not totally sure about showing the movie because this is not a culture that is familiar with American football. In fact, if you say “football”, then they automatically think that you are speaking of soccer. Secondly, even though the university does all of its teaching in English, they have difficulty with American accents and especially southern accents. Being from Tennessee, I have to be careful to enunciate more clearly when I speak in order to be understood. However, we had showed the video to some Ugandan friends and also a group of four Kenyan students, and they had enjoyed the movie immensely and so we thought that it was appropriate to show.
The night that we showed the movie did not begin well at all. The movie was scheduled to start at 7:00 pm, but when I showed up with my laptop and video projector, they did not have any speakers or other equipment there. We waited until 7:30 before they finally brought the speakers. Unfortunately, they forgot the cable to connect the computer to the speaker system and so we were running the sound from the computer speaker through a microphone and it wasn’t very clear. Then about 10 minutes into the movie, the power went out. (This is a common problem here since they are in an energy crisis.) We were told that they were turning on a generator and that power would be restored. Some of the students left, but most remained sitting in the dark, except for the light from a few cell phones. By the time that power was restored, it was almost 8:00. Fortunately, by the time that power was restored, we did have a cable to run the sound through the speaker system.
As the movie started back up, more and more students were coming in, and around 500 were in attendance. I was encouraged that the students were engaging quickly and laughing at the funny parts and seemed to understand it. As the movie went on, it became very evident that they were engrossed in the movie and relating to the characters. They clapped when the revival was shown on the campus. As SCA began to win football games, the students were cheering the highlights. They cheered when coach got his truck. In the playoffs, they were cheering like they were really at the game. It was loud and thrilling. When SCA made the interception to get back in the game, they were clapping and shouting. When they made the winning field goal, the place erupted. I had chill bumps listening to the response of the students. At the end, when Brooke is pregnant with her second child, they cheered again. It was really amazing. In a culture that knows nothing of American football, they were able to receive and apply the many messages. At least 50 students came to me after the movie to thank me for showing it.
We have talked with many of the students to hear what they took from the movie. Below are some of the responses:
“I learned to never give up on myself or on God.”
“With God all things are possible, no matter how bad it seems at the moment.”
“I learned that we are to glorify and honor God in all things.”
“ I saw the power of positive leadership, especially during the death crawl scene.”
“I am not going to fear, but trust God.”
My favorite testimony was from a young man from Kenya named Obed. Obed is a computer science major who has been here the entire semester but does not have sufficient school fees to sit for exams. This means that he has gone through the term, but he will have to repeat the entire semester. (This is a common problem here for university and secondary students). Most students would be praying, begging, and pleading for God to provide their school fees. In fact, I wonder if many students only come to God to meet their needs. Prosperity teaching has become rampant in this culture and people often just view God as another spirit to be manipulated for their good. Obed asked to meet with me the other day to pray. He shared with me his predicament of lack of fees, and I was expecting him to ask me to help him with fees since they think that all white people are rich. However, I was greatly encouraged when he did not ask for fees. He just asked me to pray for Him and for God’s will to be done. He said, “I learned from the movie to praise God when we win, and praise God when we lose. I am going to praise Him if he provides the fees or not. Maybe God just wants me to trust Him and learn something from this trial.” I cannot adequately express what a huge step of faith that this is. It goes against the grain of almost everything being taught in this culture.
Students’ lives were greatly impacted and even changed as a result of viewing this movie. I am writing to encourage you and thank you for producing a film with such a clear portrayal of biblical truths. I wish that we had many more movies with strong Christian messages that we could show, but we only know of a handful. Be encouraged that your step of faith is having an impact across the globe. We plan to show the movie again because word has spread across the campus about how good it was. I am sure that the hall will be overflowing. My wife and I both felt that we should let you know the impact this has had, so this is it. Be encouraged! Thank you for producing this movie! You have made a difference in the lives of future leaders of many African nations. I wish that you could have been here to experience it, and I hope that this gives you a glimpse of what we experienced. It was definitely one of the ministry highlights of our eight months in Uganda.
Striving together for His glory,
Kevin Ironside
The response from Sherwood Baptist Church:
Wow, Kevin thank you so much for your email! You mentioned having chill bumps just listening and watching their reaction, and I had chill bumps just reading about it! We so enjoy receiving stories like yours and are so grateful for your service in Uganda! God bless you as you serve Him!
The following letter is an email that I sent to the church that made the movie “Facing the Giants”. Following the letter is their response. I thought that you might enjoy hearing about the wonderful response of the students on the night that we showed the movie.
Greetings to the saints at Sherwood Baptist Church from Kampala, Uganda. My name is Kevin Ironside and I am a missionary from Niceville, Florida serving here in East Africa. I want to encourage you with the impact that “Facing the Giants” has had here, but first will provide some background information to put it into perspective.
My wife, four sons, and I arrived in September of 2006 with the purpose of ministering to and discipling university students. We are working with a Christian student fellowship at Kampala International University (KIU) that has about 600 students in attendance each Sunday on a campus of about 5,000 students total. Even though we are in Uganda, most of the students at KIU are from Kenya but also include students from Tanzania, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and others. One Sunday there were students present from 11 different countries. This gives us a unique opportunity to reach much of Africa from one location.
On Easter weekend we showed the video of “The Passion of the Christ”, and the main hall at the university, which holds about 700, was filled to capacity. There was such a good response that we decided that we should try to show other movies in the future. Last weekend, we decided to show “Facing the Giants”. We were not totally sure about showing the movie because this is not a culture that is familiar with American football. In fact, if you say “football”, then they automatically think that you are speaking of soccer. Secondly, even though the university does all of its teaching in English, they have difficulty with American accents and especially southern accents. Being from Tennessee, I have to be careful to enunciate more clearly when I speak in order to be understood. However, we had showed the video to some Ugandan friends and also a group of four Kenyan students, and they had enjoyed the movie immensely and so we thought that it was appropriate to show.
The night that we showed the movie did not begin well at all. The movie was scheduled to start at 7:00 pm, but when I showed up with my laptop and video projector, they did not have any speakers or other equipment there. We waited until 7:30 before they finally brought the speakers. Unfortunately, they forgot the cable to connect the computer to the speaker system and so we were running the sound from the computer speaker through a microphone and it wasn’t very clear. Then about 10 minutes into the movie, the power went out. (This is a common problem here since they are in an energy crisis.) We were told that they were turning on a generator and that power would be restored. Some of the students left, but most remained sitting in the dark, except for the light from a few cell phones. By the time that power was restored, it was almost 8:00. Fortunately, by the time that power was restored, we did have a cable to run the sound through the speaker system.
As the movie started back up, more and more students were coming in, and around 500 were in attendance. I was encouraged that the students were engaging quickly and laughing at the funny parts and seemed to understand it. As the movie went on, it became very evident that they were engrossed in the movie and relating to the characters. They clapped when the revival was shown on the campus. As SCA began to win football games, the students were cheering the highlights. They cheered when coach got his truck. In the playoffs, they were cheering like they were really at the game. It was loud and thrilling. When SCA made the interception to get back in the game, they were clapping and shouting. When they made the winning field goal, the place erupted. I had chill bumps listening to the response of the students. At the end, when Brooke is pregnant with her second child, they cheered again. It was really amazing. In a culture that knows nothing of American football, they were able to receive and apply the many messages. At least 50 students came to me after the movie to thank me for showing it.
We have talked with many of the students to hear what they took from the movie. Below are some of the responses:
“I learned to never give up on myself or on God.”
“With God all things are possible, no matter how bad it seems at the moment.”
“I learned that we are to glorify and honor God in all things.”
“ I saw the power of positive leadership, especially during the death crawl scene.”
“I am not going to fear, but trust God.”
My favorite testimony was from a young man from Kenya named Obed. Obed is a computer science major who has been here the entire semester but does not have sufficient school fees to sit for exams. This means that he has gone through the term, but he will have to repeat the entire semester. (This is a common problem here for university and secondary students). Most students would be praying, begging, and pleading for God to provide their school fees. In fact, I wonder if many students only come to God to meet their needs. Prosperity teaching has become rampant in this culture and people often just view God as another spirit to be manipulated for their good. Obed asked to meet with me the other day to pray. He shared with me his predicament of lack of fees, and I was expecting him to ask me to help him with fees since they think that all white people are rich. However, I was greatly encouraged when he did not ask for fees. He just asked me to pray for Him and for God’s will to be done. He said, “I learned from the movie to praise God when we win, and praise God when we lose. I am going to praise Him if he provides the fees or not. Maybe God just wants me to trust Him and learn something from this trial.” I cannot adequately express what a huge step of faith that this is. It goes against the grain of almost everything being taught in this culture.
Students’ lives were greatly impacted and even changed as a result of viewing this movie. I am writing to encourage you and thank you for producing a film with such a clear portrayal of biblical truths. I wish that we had many more movies with strong Christian messages that we could show, but we only know of a handful. Be encouraged that your step of faith is having an impact across the globe. We plan to show the movie again because word has spread across the campus about how good it was. I am sure that the hall will be overflowing. My wife and I both felt that we should let you know the impact this has had, so this is it. Be encouraged! Thank you for producing this movie! You have made a difference in the lives of future leaders of many African nations. I wish that you could have been here to experience it, and I hope that this gives you a glimpse of what we experienced. It was definitely one of the ministry highlights of our eight months in Uganda.
Striving together for His glory,
Kevin Ironside
The response from Sherwood Baptist Church:
Wow, Kevin thank you so much for your email! You mentioned having chill bumps just listening and watching their reaction, and I had chill bumps just reading about it! We so enjoy receiving stories like yours and are so grateful for your service in Uganda! God bless you as you serve Him!
posted by Ironside Tribe at 1:19 AM
1 Comments:
What an awesome story!
I tear up and get chills every time I watch the movie too!
If you want to learn more about the people that made this great film (and the other film they made called "Flywheel", check out this interview with Alex Kendrick (one of the producers)
In fact, "Flywheel" might be another good film for you to show!
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