I Have A Dream
I think we can all agree that there are not enough good Christian movies. It seems attempts to produce Christian movies are often low budget films that get very little attention. Would you like to do your part in helping to get a movie made that deals with the difficult issues of our times and yet presents the authentic Christian message of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness? Would you enjoy seeing a movie that is not afraid of tackling complex topics, yet wraps the outcome in repentance and change? Would you enjoy helping to bring about a change in the lives of those who are far away from God, who struggle to have a close relationship with Jesus Christ, or who flat out refuse to acknowledge Him altogether?
Now you can. We can together, if a dream of mine can become a reality. But I need your help.
Most of the time, we embrace our faith and walk closely with The Lord in every way. But, when it comes to sharing our faith with others, we shy away. We tell ourselves that faith is personal, that we don’t want to impose our beliefs on anyone, and so we hide behind a cloak of privacy that masks our apprehensiveness. Evangelization is scary for us.
Recently Pope Francis offered this insight: “To evangelize, then, we must be open to the action of the Spirit of God, without fear of what He asks us or where He leads us. Let us entrust ourselves to Him! He enables us to live and bear witness to our faith, and enlighten the hearts of those we meet.”
What I am about to ask you to do will make evangelization easy. I am asking EVERYONE to do one tiny, simple thing-and that is to read a short book and then to tell others about it. That’s it. This one simple act will help make my dream come true. And it will help you to evangelize in a non-threatening way. Will you help me?
Movies that otherwise would never have made it to the big screen, happened only because someone believed in the story. Then somehow they caught a break. Luck, or better yet, prayer intervened. What seemed folly, became reality. I believe in my heart that by having a groundswell of people read this book and help this powerful story gain traction, that it can lead down the path of taking what God planted in my heart as a parable, and my good friend and author Joe Galloway expanded into a Christian novel, progress into a movie. But all journeys begin somewhere and this journey may begin with you.
The book I am talking about is The Broken Door. 4thdayletters.com has a blurb about it at the bottom of the site for a few months now. It is based on the “Parable of the Broken Door” posted October 2, 2012. God imparted this entire parable on my heart one morning in a sudden flash. He gave it to my mind in its finished form. I hurried to my computer to type it up so as not to omit or forget any of what I felt He was placing in my thoughts. If you would like, you can read this parable by clicking here.
I have asked Joe to join me today to tell you a little more about this book. Before he shares his thoughts with you, please understand this is not some shameless attempt to make money. Joe has graciously donated half of all the revenue from book sales to Broken Door Ministries. Broken Door Ministries is the not-for-profit ministry I founded with God’s prompting. Broken Door Ministries does two things. First, it is the source of these weekly 4thdayletters. And second, the ministry conducts talks and retreats to any Christian group that invites us to come and share. Our focus is on human brokenness and God’s unconditional love, mercy, peace and forgiveness. The talks and retreats serve to call people out of their self- imposed walls of shame and to acknowledge their personal struggles and weaknesses. We encourage people with the message of the need for authentic Christian community and strive to show that when we come together, even in our broken human condition-truly as one body, the body of Christ-that it is then and only then that we can begin to fulfill our individual mission within the Kingdom.
Speaking of walls of shame, allow me to address this topic from a personal standpoint. For forty-seven years I kept a well guarded secret, a personal scar from my youth. Pride and shame worked in concert to prevent me from revealing the struggles that this old scar caused in my life, up until three years ago. It was then, by God’s grace, that I found the strength and courage to break the silence and finally, prompted by the Holy Spirit, make known my brokenness. Joe Galloway was one of those friends in whom I confided my struggle. In writing the book, Joe, after seeking my permission, imbued my secret into his lead character, and so touches upon one of the very real and difficult issues of our day. So I can assure you this book has a very special place in my heart.
Now here is Joe:
Hello everybody. What an honor it is for me to share this with you.
I remember the day Brian called me all excited about the parable God placed on his heart. He asked me to help edit the post, and at the end of our conversation, he made an off-hand comment about there being a book in there somewhere. I said to myself, “Yeah, right,” and didn’t give it a second thought.
That is until one day God infused the entire story line of the fiction novel, The Broken Door into my head and heart. I was driving a lonely stretch of interstate between Montgomery and Mobile when it happened. I had to wake my teenage daughter to get her to drive so I could write the synopsis of the story. As with the parable, the story is about confronting our brokenness. It is about facing the recurring sin in our lives that works to cloud our relationship with God.
Set in Atlanta, a hard charging real estate developer has a mysterious encounter that brings him face-to-face with a dark secret he’s hidden deeply in his soul. So deep that he was able hide it from others and even forget about it for periods of time. But, it gnawed at him and would rear its ugly head from time to time-just like our recurring sin gnaws at us.
The encounter leads to a transformation that only God can bring. The transformation comes from accepting His unconditional love and forgiveness. And holding fast to His love, we find the confidence to reach out to those around us despite our brokenness.
There are links at the bottom of the page that will bring you to where you can read more about The Broken Door and purchase copies, both in paperback (Amazon) and as an ebook (Smashwords). We’d love to hear any feedback that you are willing to share. And also, please consider posting a good review on Amazon and on Smashwords (Please only share any bad reviews with me 😉 And don’t forget Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all other communications channels.
Thank you and God Bless you all. Back to Brian:
Friends, with your help we will not only make this dream of a powerful Christian movie come true, but any monies received from the success of the movie will be channeled to expand the reach of 4thdayletters and the work of Broken Door Ministries. I will have failed in today’s message if you view this as a request to promote the sale of a book. I will have succeeded in my objective if you view today’s message as a request to join our hearts, hands and efforts to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ by making this dream become reality. Please help us reach the broken hearted and lost. Together we can make a difference in our world. Help me to share the message of Jesus Christ to our hurting world. Please read the book and tell others about it-or better yet-give them a copy.
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
I was blind but now I see!
Praise God! Each day a little more of my sight is returning. I continue to meet with the doctors to develop a plan to deal with my illness. Thank you all again for your prayers!
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