Telling Stories and Recognizing Talent

In Romans chapter 12, Paul writes about using the gifts and talents that God has given to us in order to serve the body of Christ and to glorify God.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.


If you are a believer in Christ, God wants to use you to bring glory to His name.   You have a gift, there is something that you can do - sometimes it's consistent with something that you do seemingly naturally - what you were wired or shaped to do, maybe a pursuit you particularly enjoy.  And, I believe sometimes God will call us outside the box and give us the ability to do things supernaturally that perhaps we never thought we could do.   The key is finding our place - utilizing the tools and resources that God has blessed us with in order to do His work and fulfill our calling.

The apostle Paul encouraged young Timothy to use what God has given Him in order to testify to the Lord's greatness.   We read in 2nd Timothy 1:
(6) I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

I mentioned yesterday that I had been processing the TIME 100 of most influential people in the world.   I came across a unique name, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, a 34-year-old Nigerian actress described as "Africa's most renowned leading lady".

She has made 300 or so features.  She's married to an airline pilot, is a singer, star of a reality show,   mother of four and philanthropist, who founded the Omotola Youth Empowerment Programme.

And according to a profile on the ChannelsTV.com website, she is affiliated with the world’s most productive English-language film industry, also known as Nollywood.

"The teeming Nigerian cinema grinds out some 2,500 movies a year, mostly direct-to-DVD quickies mixing melodrama, music and an evangelical Christian spin. (Think Bollywood via Tyler Perry.)”

“Employing a million Nigerians, Nollywood enthralls millions more who come for the thrills, the uplift and the artful agitations of Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde — the Queen of Nollywood.”

Christianity Today highlighted Nollywood and refined the statistics in a 2009 story.  About 20 percent are Christian, according to Quoting Obidike Okafor, an arts and culture reporter at Nigerian newspaper Next, the article said about 20 percent of Nollywood films are Christian, while others champion Islam, animism and witchcraft, or simple morality.

The Christian-themed movies often aim at encouragement and evangelism more than sheer entertainment. Groups or churches often screen the films and follow them with discussions or an altar call.

"Nigerian movies are really watched," said Sunday Oguntola, religion reporter for Nigerian newspaper The Nation. "[People] like to watch stories. I rent an average of five movies every weekend to watch with my family."

Oguntola's Baptist church shows movies two or three times a month during the evening service. "People like to see life in movies," he said. "They can watch them for hours." Showing movies is usually more effective than preaching, and church leaders are capitalizing on that, he said.

The films are also a major part of witnessing in Nigeria, said Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University. "This is particularly good where you're dealing with people who are technically literate but like to have their material packaged in a more interesting way," he said.

This phenomenon can highlight for us the power of story - and in the case of film, presented in a visual manner.   But, the dynamics of the American film industry are quite different than Nollywood - every now and then you'll see a film that presents a Christian message making its way into theaters.  The most recent example is Home Run, which has attracted some attention by doing 1.6 million dollars at the box office on under 400 screens - that's an average of over $4100 per screen, which exceeded 8 out of the top 10 movies in per-screen average.   But, those successes, as we know, are few and far between.   And, I'm thankful for companies like Pure Flix and Echolight that are regularly making faith-based films that become available on DVD and streaming services.

The titans of Christian films have decided they want to change the trajectory and empower more Christian filmmakers to do high-quality Christian films.   

Alex Kendrick, who along with his brother Stephen have produced films such as "Fireproof" and "Courageous" told Baptist Press that, "We have such a burden to help the next generation do this from a biblical perspective...We've got to reproduce ourselves and duplicate ourselves, and we think this is the way to do it."

One key reason they are going in a new direction, the brothers say, is because there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Christian film students looking for direction in how to make faith-based films.

In a statement released this month on Kendrickbrothers.com, the Kendricks stated, "God has been clearly speaking to us through His Word, in prayer, and through the counsel of our pastor and other Godly men. This decision has come out of a faith-step of obedience to God's leading. We see the wisdom of the Lord's timing in all of this."

And, they are taking this step with the blessing of Pastor Michael Catt and the Sherwood Baptist Church family in Albany.  Alex says, "We do not desire to leave Sherwood at all...The pastor and volunteers at Sherwood have been incredible. They've served, prayed, and sacrificed to make these movies happen. But when we finished making each movie, all these volunteers would have to go back to their day jobs. So we were not duplicating ourselves."

The power of influence, I think, does involve duplication.   Jesus had his 12 disciples, Paul had those that followed and ministered with him, and in young Timothy, we see someone that the apostle Paul mentored and poured his life into - facilitating a sense of duplication.    

It has been said that leaders develop a good succession plan.   It's important to evaluate what each of us is placing into the next generation.   That applies to parents, it is relevant for the workplace, and it's highly important for churches and ministries.   It's important to take the gifts we have and the skills we've developed and teach others.