I Just Saw Jesus

We thank God for the many people whose lives have been transformed as a result of seeing the JESUS film as it has been shown around the world over the past 25 years.

Billy Graham

Evangelist

. . . the most-viewed, full-length feature film in history . . .

Susan Lee

Forbes Magazine

I must congratulate you on your scriptural accuracy.

Chuck Smith

Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, CA

The success of the JESUS film is really the success of the global church in coming together to use an effective media tool.

Rick Wood

Editor, Mission Frontiers

The JESUS film to me is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to get the gospel in an era when so many of us are influenced by pictures, to get the gospel to people in a powerful and dramatic way.

Chuck Colson

Prison Fellowship

The Jesus Film Project is unquestionably the most successful of the many global mega plans to evangelize the world that have surfaced in the 20th century. The Project has worked out an exact and comprehensive way to actually contact everybody in the world with the gospel . . .

David B. Barrett

Global Evangelization Movement

The JESUS film continues to cause powerful repercussions around the globe. Hundreds of thousands of people are coming to Christ as a result of the many teams who take this film into unreached areas; but also, the film is shaking up the rest of us on the home front who are emblazoned and emboldened to proclaim Christ to our own communities.

Joni Eareckson Tada

President, JAF Ministries

No single evangelistic campaign in human history has touched as many lives as the showing of this film worldwide.

U.S. Center For World Missions, Pasadena, California

The interest in the [JESUS] film is great … At one of the last villages to see it, a fight almost broke out as so many wanted to see it; but because of the rain, we had to show it inside the local church! At one village off the beaten path, over 500 came, and at the end after the gospel presentation, there was complete silence and later great applause.

Brent and Sandi Wiebe, SIL, Papua New Guinea

Referring to the Bola JESUS film

In Tulear over the last two weeks since the Tandroy [JESUS] film arrived there … traffic jams are caused by the informal congregating of people at the little street video places where they are showing a copy – the police are having a hard time regulating the traffic in places.

Leoni Bouwer

Luke Partnership Team, Madagascar

Often, non-print media is the first encounter people have with the gospel due to low literacy rates in minority languages. It serves as an appetizer to know more of the story. For people who are literate, exposure to non-print media creates a desire to know more through written accounts. They will want to read and learn about God in more detail in a format that is easy to handle and refer to.

Marie Crandall, SIL

Based on her experiences in Eurasia

The JESUS film and follow-up materials have had a tremendous impact in our area. We have had 6,000 people come to know the Lord; but more importantly, sort of, is that they are being discipled also, which is the great commission. We had 5,800 people in discipleship classes last year. We started a number of churches also.

Richard Gardner, SIL

The Izere Project, Nigeria

The greatest event. . . since Gutenberg printed the Bible. You have produced a masterpiece.

Fulton John Sheen

Titular Archbishop of Newport

The gospel according to Saint Luke comes to life in this exceedingly moving film. Those among us who regard our Lord as a disembodied Spirit should see JESUS and come face to face with Him.

Jaime L. Sin

Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila

The Jesus Film Project is one of the greatest cutting-edge evangelistic efforts the world has ever known. Agencies like us in OM count it a privilege to be involved in this endeavor that has the stamp of God upon it.

George Verwer

International Director, Operation Mobilization

Artistic integrity, yet complete authenticity.

Pat Robertson

CBN Founder

The film is artistically most acceptable and scripturally accurate and doctrinally sound. I am confident that it can be an effective instrument for evangelization for adults and young people.

Francis D. Kelly

Executive Director, Department of Religious Education

I think the JESUS film is one of the great tools for evangelism . . . This single project has been probably one of the most effective in getting the ear and the hearts of a lost world.

Franklin Graham

President, Samaritan’s Purse

. . . JESUS is calculated to appeal to the most ardent biblical purists.

Time Magazine

Whether in closed countries, illiterate cultures, or in places of open harvest, this graphic portrayal of the gospel contained in the Jesus film has radically accelerated the potential for fulfilling the Great Commission.

Jerry Rankin

President, Southern Baptist International Mission Board

Bible translation and the JESUS film is a partnership that brings the gospel of Jesus to all people, of all ages, literate and pre-literate. It is one of the great privileges of Wycliffe Bible Translators to support The Jesus Film Project.

Roy Peterson

Executive Director, Wycliffe USA

Having the JESUS film and recorded Scriptures (as well as oral Bible storying) is a significant strategy for seeing the Scriptures impact a larger group of people in a shorter amount of time.

Gilles Gravelle

Project Development Coordinator, The Seed Company

I Just Saw

Jesus

The JESUS Film

From Vision, to Reality, to the Unimaginable

Copyright 2016

Paul Eshleman

with Carolyn E. Phillips

It is with deep love and appreciation that this book is dedicated to Caroline and Bunker Hunt, John Heyman, and the thousands of staff and film team members who risk their lives daily to take JESUS to the ends of the earth.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Ch. 1: Maasailand

Ch. 2: Warrior Spears

Ch. 3: An Incredible Tool

Ch. 4: Struggle To Faith

Ch. 5: Serious Show Biz

Ch. 6: Is Jesus A Christian?

Ch. 7: Two Thousand Opening Nights

Ch. 8: The Move Overseas

Ch. 9: Uganda

Ch. 10: Beirut Barrage

Ch. 11: That’s Incredible

Ch. 12: But Do They Last?

Ch. 13: A Time To Reap

Ch. 14: Some Difficult Places

Ch. 15: Breaking All The Barriers

Ch. 16: They Pay A Price

Ch. 17: Summer Safari

Ch. 18: One Last Chance

Ch. 19: To The Ends Of The Earth

Epilogue: Plans, Hopes, And Dreams

Meet The Author

Photo Section

Watch the JESUS Film at www.jesusfilm.org

Watch the Impact of the JESUS Film at www.jesusfilm.org

FOREWORD

By Billy Graham, 1985

One of the most powerful tools God has given us to proclaim the gospel today is the medium of film. We live in an age dominated by the media, and since the early days of my ministry, I have seen the way God has used films to reach people for Christ in every kind of culture.

In the pages of this book, Paul Eshleman tells the fascinating story of the film called JESUS, which is a vivid portrayal of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus using the exact words of the Bible. He recounts the way the film was produced and distributed, in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. He also tells of lives that have been touched by the Lord through the JESUS film. This story needs to be told, and no one is better qualified to tell it than Paul Eshleman because of his personal experience with the film.

In Matthew 24 Jesus declared that prior to His second coming to Earth, the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the whole world. Perhaps God is using this film, JESUS, as one of the means to hasten the day when every knee shall bow before our great King.

JESUS has been translated into many languages. Millions have seen it—people in the most sophisticated cities of Europe and America and in isolated jungles of Africa. It continues to speak to the hearts of people and point them to Jesus Christ, the only hope of our world. As you read this account of the worldwide impact of JESUS, your vision will be stretched and your burden increased for those who do not know of Christ. This film also will challenge you to live and witness for Christ where He has placed you.

PREFACE

By Erick Schenkel, 2013

God used I Just Saw JESUS to turn my life upside down. I had led a team of fellow Harvard graduates in planting a church in suburban New England and was enjoying the fruits of serving the maturing congregation—a delightful group of friends, a generous salary, meaningful service in a number of settings, and enough time to earn my doctorate at my alma mater. I showed the JESUS film as part of a class I was teaching to young people and was looking for resources to show them that Jesus is alive today. So I picked up I Just Saw JESUS and read it with them chapter by chapter—one story after another of the amazing things Jesus Himself does through the JESUS film. All I could think was, I’d give anything to be a part of this.

Within two years my wife and I uprooted our family of seven from our nice suburban home, resigned all our responsibilities, and headed for Central Asia to plant churches alongside JESUS film teams. There we witnessed the power of God working through the JESUS film firsthand. The region in which we served, Turkic and Persian by heritage, was just emerging from seventy years as part of the Soviet Union. The people were very resistant to Jesus because they understood Him as the Russian God. However, when they saw Jesus speaking to them in their own heart languages—Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak, Tartar, Uyghur, and many more—they received Him by the hundreds and by the thousands.

This book was an invitation for me and my family into the wonderful worldwide work of sharing the story of Jesus with those who do not yet know Him. I hope it will be the same thing for you. Whether you become a more active sharer at home, whether you travel across the globe, or whether you give financially to enable others to go, may you be inspired by what you read here to give everyone in the world a chance to see JESUS.

INTRODUCTION

By Bill Bright, 1985

Settle in for an exciting reading treat. A special warning: You may not be able to put this book down once you start reading. That was my experience. I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable collection of stories of the miracles accompanying the development and worldwide showing of JESUS, the world’s most translated film.

Thirty-eight years ago God gave me a vision to produce a film on the life of Christ. Since a majority of the world’s population cannot read, a film seemed the best way to present Christ to the multitudes. On many occasions through the years, the board of directors of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) discussed the need for such a film. For me, the completion of this film, and its use by many mission organizations worldwide, is the fulfillment of that dream.

The response to JESUS has proved that it is one of the greatest evangelistic tools in history. As I write, each night somewhere in the world, many teams of workers are showing JESUS to several hundred thousand people in villages, rural areas, and urban communities, and to high school and university students. Between thirty thousand and fifty thousand are indicating their desire to receive our Lord Jesus Christ each day.

When God gave me the vision of the film on the life of Jesus, I did not have the money to produce it nor did Cecil B. DeMille, whom I approached with my dream. Yet years later, in God’s perfect timing, He sent along John Heyman, a well-known Jewish movie producer with a burden to put the Bible on film and to tell the story of his Messiah. Dear friends of our ministry, Bunker and Caroline Hunt, also had caught the vision for worldwide evangelism, and they offered to underwrite the entire cost of production. In the meantime the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ had expanded into 150 countries where we were helping train millions of Christians from thousands of churches of all denominations to share Christ. On campuses, thousands of committed young men and women were trained to carry the film into some of the world’s most inaccessible places.

The coming together of these factors made the development and the incredibly rapid worldwide deployment of the JESUS film possible.

Maybe you have an unfulfilled dream or vision to do something significant for the Lord. You may have become discouraged and are about to abandon the vision God placed in your heart. If so, please do not give up. You can be sure that what God tells you to do, He will, in His appointed time, enable you to do. You simply need to trust God and obey His command (Philippians 2:13).

We have seen this happen with the JESUS film. More than thirty years passed after God gave the burden for a film on the life of His Son before all the various factors were right. Then in His sovereignty and wisdom, He provided the finances through Bunker and Caroline Hunt, the technical expertise for producing the film through John Heyman, and the leadership though Paul Eshleman who orchestrated the development and distribution, along with tens of thousands of staff members and volunteers around the world.

I became acquainted with the writer of this book when he and his wife, Kathy, were directing a dynamic Campus Crusade for