The Jonathan Sperry Project

I would like to take a couple of minutes of your time to share with you the background behind the Jonathan Sperry Project and why I believe this film will have a powerful impact in the lives of boys and girls and whole families who do not know Christ. The message in the movie is just as powerful for Christian families, as they will see how they have an opportunity to reach their neighborhoods for Christ, just as Jonathan Sperry did. God has made a way to provide this movie with a message to both the saved and unsaved to tens of thousands of families for His honor and glory. At one point in the movie, Jonathan Sperry takes the boys to a cemetery where he shares with the boys the importance of telling others about Jesus now that they have accepted Him as their Saviour. At the cemetery he told the boys to listen, "Can you hear it?" he asks. The boys reply "No." He urges them to listen again and they still can't hear anything. He had the boys put their ears to the tombstones, at which point Jonathan Sperry began to say, "Why didn't you tell me about Jesus? Why didn't you tell me about Jesus?" Here is the Jonathan Sperry Project story:

Several months ago I watched the movie, "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry", produced by Christiano Films in California. The message of the gospel was so clear, as Jonathan Sperry sought to reach the young boys in his neighbourhood for Christ encouraging them to read the gospel of John. As he shares with the first three boys truths from God’s Word they begin to invite other boys to come and learn about God. In many ways the story reminded me of our ministries to children through 5-Day Clubs and Club DJ. After I watched the movie I bought all the copies of the movie I could get my hands on and began giving them away to different individuals. At the same time, God put it on my heart to see if there was some way we could get this movie into every home of the children who would attend 5-Day Clubs in the summer of 2011.

I shared my dream of giving each child reached through 5-Day Clubs a copy of the DVD with some of my family and they thought I was a little crazy. I had purchased the movies in Wal-Mart for $10.00 each but was no longer able to find them and online they were about $20.00 each, which would cost about $100,000 dollars for 5,000 copies. I decided to contact Rich and Dave Christiano who produced the film. I began writing them an email in August 2010 to share with them what God had put on my heart but decided not to send it and left it in my draft folder. The burden God had placed on my heart for this project would not go away and on October 26, 2010, I decided I would send them the email and see what God would do, having no idea whether or not I would get a response. Within 2 hours I had received a reply from Rich Christiano, wanting to know where he could call me. The following day Rich and I talked on the phone for about an hour and a half and as I shared with him what God had put on my heart, he was as excited as I was about the possibility of the Jonathan Sperry Project, believing as I did in the impact this movie could have in the homes of the children. To my surprise Rich said that if we could find other ministries that would enable us to get an order for 200,000 movies, he could provide them for $2.00 a movie including shipping, in the exact same format as the ones I was buying.

We talked a lot over the next several weeks and in one of my conversations I shared how I was also hoping to give each child a gospel of John with a questionnaire that the children would answer and send in to us (so that we knew they read through the gospel) to earn a free Bible. As I shared this with Rich he told me that they had already printed such a gospel of John which includes a clear presentation of the gospel in the front and that we would be able to purchase them for 31.25 cents each.

A few weeks later I showed "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" at a church mission’s conference and then shared with them what God had placed on my heart. The next night I was invited to one of the homes for supper. After supper, the mother said that their daughter was so impacted by the movie and wanted to help with the Jonathan Sperry Project but she did not have much money. She said that their daughter wanted to talk to me. She came around the corner and told me she wanted to help with the movie and handed me $30.00. My eyes filled with tears as I reached out and took the money. I told her that her gift was a very special one for two reasons. First, her gift was the first gift I had received for the Jonathan Sperry Project and, even more amazing than that, the first gift we received was from a child wanting other children to have an opportunity to hear the message of the movie and accept Jesus as their Saviour. After supper her parents gave me a check for $1,000.00 towards the Jonathan Sperry Project. As I have shared about the project with people, they have begun giving gifts towards the project. Over and over again, I can see that God is in the process of doing something amazing!

We have gone ahead with the project and this past summer gave away over 6,000 copies to boys and girls and their families across Saskatchewan and approximately 45,000 copies have been purchased across North America. Churches are excited about the opportunities with ‘The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry” DVD and have purchased them for many different outreaches. Some have placed one in every home in their community others have made them available to church families to hand out at Halloween. Churches and ministries have used the DVD to give to every child reached in their midweek clubs or other children’s outreach events.

There are still 1,000’s of DVDs need to be purchased to complete the Jonathan Sperry Project which we are seeking to complete by December 31, 2011 but I believe God is more than able to complete the project and continue to be encouraged by the impact this movie is having on both the saved and the unsaved.

When I think about the magnitude of this project I know that the only way this will happen is if God does it. But I do believe God asks us often to step out in faith. I am reminded of the story of Joshua and that as they crossed the Jordan, the priests were required to step out in faith. When the bottom of their feet touched the water, the waters parted. I think most of us would be willing to cross the Jordan if God parted it first, but how many would be willing to step out in faith believing God will part the water as He said? It seems a bit like that when I look at the size of the "Jonathan Sperry Project" but there is nothing more exciting than being a part of something that you know there is no way in the world it will happen unless God steps into the story. If you believe God would like you or your church/ministry to be a part of the Jonathan Sperry Project fill out the response form on the jonathansperryproject.com website. God bless you as you consider what God would have you do for His Kingdom and glory!

The Project Story

The Project Story

Project Progress

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