Today I am announcing an exciting new project that I think will prove a blessing to you and a blessing to Christ’s church. But in order to make it possible, I am going to need your help.
Over the coming months, I hope to write a book and shoot a video series that will give a unique and vivid view of what God is accomplishing in the world today. I am calling this project Worship Round the World, and here’s what it’s all about:
On one day—the first day of each week—Christians across the globe gather to worship Jesus, their risen Lord. Together, as a worldwide community of worshippers, they obey God’s command that, “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised” (Psalm 113:3).
I love to ponder that as the sun breaks over the islands of the South Pacific to begin a new day, Christians rise, then gather together to praise God in song, to call out to him in prayer, and to hear from him through his Word. As their services draw near to a close, Australians in Sydney, then Adelaide, then Perth begin to sing their own calls to worship, as do Christians in Japan and Korea. Next, millions of Chinese believers add their voices, as do Filipinos and Indonesians. By now nearly a quarter of the earth is resounding with the sound of Christian worship. And so it goes as the sun follows its course across Africa and Europe, then South America and North America. By the time it sets again far out over the Pacific, the whole earth has given praise to God. The diversity and unity of the Church in this worship is a stunning demonstration that the Gospel of the one and only Savior crosses every kind of barrier.
Worship Round the World will take viewers on this globe-circling journey! Viewers will join believers as they rise to worship in house churches, open-air buildings, and ancient edifices that stretch from the South Pacific to the mountains of Nepal, from the Middle East to the American heartland. It will be a taste of Revelation 5:9 as we, along with our brothers and sisters worldwide, worship the One who by His blood has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
In countries spanning the globe, they will join with churches whose worship is consistent with Scripture but whose practice of that worship is faithful to the local language, customs, and culture. I plan to worship in the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea, the mountains of Nepal, the bustling metropolises of Russia, the warm plains of Zambia, the cold reaches of Iceland, and many other places. I plan to introduce you to many of the brothers and sisters I meet along the way and to tell you how these people are worshiping and serving God in the place he has ordained for them.
I’ve asked my friend Tim Keesee, the executive director of Frontline Missions, and a skilled writer whom you may know from the Dispatches from the Front film series, to travel with me on this journey, so we can experience and describe it together.
The Products
At the end of it all, we plan to create:
- A 13-episode video series released on DVD and digital download.
- A co-authored paperback book that combines a travelogue of places and people with topical, theological reflections.
If time and budget permit, we may also create:
- A coffee table book displaying some of the best photographs from the world-wide journey.
- A study curriculum suitable for use by individuals, families, small groups, or churches.
The Need
It is our hope that the expenses for this project will be covered through donations. The total anticipated budget is $275,000 which will cover expenses related to travel, equipment, and video production.
This will be a two-year project that involves multiple trips spanning the globe. It’s the biggest, most audacious film project either of us has ever undertaken. But that’s as it should be because this is the big, audacious story of Jesus’ saving work in the world as he brings worshippers together from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9)!
(Visit our FAQs at Frontline to learn more)
Will You Help?
Will you help us tell this story? If you want to have a part in this project, please consider giving a gift of any size for the Worship Round the World project. You can do so through Frontline Missions International, a non-profit missions organization that supports biblical ministries in restricted-access countries. Donations can be made by credit card, check, or money order, and are tax-deductible within America.
