Posted on 04/24/2006 2:38:18 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Three young filmmakers from San Diego made a discovery that is now mobilizing young people all across the country—pushing them out of the malls and into the byways of global humanitarianism.
Four years ago, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof referred to American evangelicals as the “newest internationalists.” He wrote, “The old religious right . . . [which tried] to battle Satan with school prayers and right-to-life amendments, is on the ropes.” Parenthetically, I don’t buy that. “It is being succeeded by evangelicals who are using their growing clout to skewer China and North Korea, to support Israel, to fight sexual trafficking in Eastern Europe and slavery in Sudan, and, increasingly, to battle AIDS in Africa.”
If evangelicals were the new internationalists four years ago, then evangelical American youth are the newest internationalists today.
The case in point is USC graduate Jason Russell. Back in 2000, young Jason took a church trip to Kenya and was shocked by the poverty and suffering that surrounded him there. Deciding there were “many important, untold stories” to tell about Africa, Jason invited his friends Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole to accompany him on a second trip in 2003. Carrying a camera they purchased on eBay and their parents’ credit cards, the young men endured Malaria and scabies as they journeyed from Sudan to Kenya, searching to find a story worth telling.
They found it, all right, in northern Uganda. There, Russell and his friends stumbled across thousands of Ugandan children who make the nightly trek from their homes in outlying villages to nearby towns, sleeping in parking garages and bus stations in order to escape abduction by the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA.
The LRA is a rebel group that has terrorized Uganda for twenty years, kidnapping more than 30,000 children and forcing them to fight for the LRA. Those who resist face murder or mutilation.
Moved by the stories of the children they met and filmed, Jason and his friends returned home and created a provocative documentary called Invisible Children. As churches and schools across the nation screened the film, high school and college students joined Russell, Bailey, and Poole in speaking out against the Ugandan atrocities and developing creative ways to make a difference.
One college senior raised $10,000 for the project selling hats, bags, and bracelets. Brittany Hogan, last year’s Miss California, gave up her career plans to work at a Christian orphanage in Uganda. And a 19-year-old from Atlanta donated all of her wedding money to the cause after her fiancé was killed in Iraq.
And this coming April 29, more than 20,000 young people will participate in the “Global Night Commute,” conducting all-night vigils in one of 136 U.S. cities to raise awareness for Uganda’s invisible children.
For more information on the “Global Night Commute” and about the film Invisible Children, visit the links below.
With all the stuff we hear about young people these days—increased drug use, declining test scores, and sexual promiscuity—it is heartening, and thrilling, to learn of young Christians like Jason who are drawing the world’s, and the Church’s, attention to the plight of the persecuted and most vulnerable among us.
My heroines!
Here are the links Chuck mentioned:
There are other links about this subject at the source document.
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
This last sunday we had two missionaries that were local Kansans who were working in Kenya speaking at our church. Very down to earth people doing Gods work. One told of a story of a high school girl in Georgia (I think) that won a new car as a prize in a contest but didnt really need it because she had a car of her own. How she prayed for guidance, and within a month had sold her new car for cash, gave 50% of it to her local church and the rest to these folks missionary work.
The vast majority of the kids today raise less "hell" than I did when I was their age.
I dont know about the 'vast' majority...but I know my nephews are much better kids than either of their parents EVER were and way way better than I was....
We give thanks to God for that...cause he graciously did not let them fall into what could easily have been otherwise
imo
Interesting comments.
Invisible Children has been shown several times where my two sons go to school- Pt. Loma Nazarene in San Diego. after seeing it, several students have made trips there either with the filmakers or because of the film. It's made a big impact, and the kids act.
Hey, wonderful! My boys graduate in a few weeks! It's been a terrific experience for them, I hope you had the same.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.