It has been quite a year—a year in which the Worship Round the World project has taken me far and wide. If my statistics are correct, I believe my feet have touched something like 24 different countries this year. I worshipped with local churches in 13 of them and enjoyed times of fellowship with Christians in 7 others. Along with my co-host Tim Keesee, we have filmed 9 episodes so far and they are now in the very early stages of production.
That leaves us with just a couple more to record. Unfortunately India and Canada are in the midst of a spat and India is refusing to give visitor’s visas to Canadians until it is resolved, so we had to cancel our plans to visit the city of Chennai in November. Later this week the team will head to the distant reaches of Alaska to visit a church there, and that will be end of our travel for 2023. A trip to Mexico City in January will mark the final journey and the end of on-location filming.
We believe the project has come together well and that it will lead to both a documentary series and a book that will prove to be a blessing to many. Through them you’ll be able to travel with us to experience Christian worship in settings as diverse as urban Australia and rural Zambia, and as different as the vast and advanced metropolis of Seoul and a tiny Cambodian village that has neither electricity nor running water. You’ll see what it is to worship in the shadow of a volcano in Chile and to serve the Lord in the tropical paradise of Fiji. All that and much more.
While fundraising has gone well and we are immeasurably thankful for all that has been given, I would like to make the need known one more time. We planned the project in 2019 when the world was quite a lot different than it is now and when travel costs were substantially lower. This means we have exceeded our original budget, and this despite being as measured and frugal as reasonable.
Tax-deductible donations can be made at WorshipRoundtheWorld.com and will be processed by Frontline Missions, an organization committed to advancing the gospel in the world’s difficult places. Frontline previously produced Tim Keesee’s Dispatches from the Front series of films and it is also producing this one. (You should also take a look at Tim’s brand new book A Day’s Journey: Stories of Hope and Death-Defying Joy.)
As we press on with filming at the final locations, then recording voiceovers, writing chapters, and producing episodes, we would ask you to pray for us. Pray that we would finish strong and that the entire production would bless the church and honor the Lord.
