Friend

Jesus was surrounded by His allies - his original 12 disciples, certainly, to whom He referred as "friends."  But, there were others who were committed to the work of spreading the gospel message -
in Luke 10, we can read about a commissioning:
1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
2 Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

Jesus had those whom He called, in order to spread His love and message; and He has scores of people today, who are His followers who have a personal relationship with Him and are called to be His representatives, His ambassadors.  All creation testifies to the presence of God, and each of us, as part of that creation, can be effective communicators of His message.  He has included us in His glorious work, and we can be found faithful in doing what He has called.

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We recognize the work and writings of the apostle Paul, but also see that His ministry was part of a powerful team - he had those who traveled with him, such as Silas, Barnabas, and Timothy. And, a host of others mentioned throughout his writings.  In Philippians 4, he mentioned a church who partnered with his work; it says:
15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Jesse and Christian Perkins are twin brothers and live in the Philippines. According to the Movieguide website, they had toured schools across the country presenting programs that utilized their musical talent.  Their father, Tarny, states, “We’ve been to over 1500 schools...And in those schools Jesse and Christian sing a couple songs, and in between the songs they advocate, no drinking, no drugs, no smoking, no bullying, and a love of Jesus.”

Out of that endeavor grew the inspiration to make a movie, so the brothers, along with their father, Tarny, began to work on what eventually became the movie, KAIBIGAN.  Tarny says, “The vision for the movie came about after one of the school tours. That was in 2017,” adding, “We immediately started working on the story line and began work on the script. This was done when the tours were ongoing, so it took some time. We contacted Stephen Baldwin in 2017, who by the way is a truly amazing brother, and moved quickly because we had a date for Stephen to shoot in Manila.”

The Movieguide article says that, "KAIBIGAN follows two high school students, Jake and David, who learn to navigate friendship, family and the Christian faith," and adds that, "Jesse and Christian, who are the Youth Ambassadors for the Department of Education in the Philippines, want to preach the Gospel message to students through KAIBIGAN."  Jesse and Christian play the students in the film.

The article quotes Tarny as saying, “We talked to the administrators, we talked to the teachers, we talked to the principal, we talked to the kids, because we spent time with them and we know what the issues are...And nobody’s addressing these problems in a way that’s effective for the kids… So, what we were finding was that two things were really lacking in the schools, hope and love.”

The movie debuted in December and now is available for streaming.

The Manila Times reports that Tarny Perkins said at a press conference: 

...We called up Stephen Baldwin, who we know, and we said, ‘Would you come out and help us with this movie? We’ll do a Skype call, we’ll get you on video — we can’t afford you — we’ll give you just a little airtime.’ Then he called us back three days later and said, ‘The Lord has called me to come out for two weeks to do this film for almost nothing.’

“It was kind of a mixed blessing because I thought, ‘This is really cool, but oh no what do we do?’ So, we went from indie film to Hollywood film,” Tarny chuckled.

The Times article added:

Meanwhile, Filipino actor, producer, director, TV host and musician Alvin Anson said that while he had met Baldwin in the US many times already, he was still in awe when he witnessed his acting on set.

“I met him before because he’s good friends with Senator Manny Pacquiao. He’d come to Las Vegas and to Manny’s room and pray because he’s really got a strong Christian faith,” Anson said.

“Working with him for the first time, he’s definitely very professional. And to have a professional actor from Hollywood with 30 years of experience under his belt, it kind of puts everyone into that professional mode as well.

The article notes that KAIBIGAN, which means "friend," marks the first time an American actor has been "officially" part of a Filipino movie.

Well the Perkins certainly found a powerful ally, didn't they?  Stephen Baldwin came in and apparently took things to a new level.  In life's endeavors, it can make a difference to adopt the mindset of not going it alone.  In Scripture, we are encouraged to seek out those allies who will stand with us, and we see it demonstrated throughout the pages.  In our ministry at Faith Radio, we are thankful for our allies - those who pray for us, who financially support us, who volunteer, and stand with the work of this ministry.

Jesse and Christian Perkins, as well as their father, Tarny, have developed a sense of boldness to share their faith.  They have taken the message from school to school - they are even Youth Ambassadors for the Department of Education in the Philippines.  We have been declared ambassadors, too - ambassadors who are entrusted with a life-saving message and empowered to deliver it in whatever settings to which God calls us.

The Perkins have been blessed by the Lord in their faithfulness, and they have experienced His provision - we can live with a sense of anticipation of what He will do in and through us, as well. He calls us to a walk of discipleship and obedience, and when we get in the right relationship, the right position, we can be prepared to see the fruit of His presence expressed through us.