About 60 percent of India's more than 1 billion people live in rural villages. The rest live in cities—there are 31 with more than 1 million people and the largest, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), is home to 17.5 million. Christianity ranks third among religions in India, with more than 25 million adherents. There are 800 million Hindus and 127 million Muslims in the country.

Four hundred goats were slaughtered in front of a village idol in northeast India. The Hindu priest, Madhur (not his real name), and his villagers hoped that the animals' shed blood would keep them from the wrath of Kali—believed to be an incarnation of the Hindu goddess of war—and pay the penalty for their wrongdoings.

Five months after this annual ritual, Christians visited their village. Toting a film projector, speakers and a white screen with poles, they showed the JESUS film, the story of Jesus' life, taken directly from the Gospel of Luke.

A crowd of 3,000 people (75 percent of the village) gathered to watch the true story about the one real God. The people—including some high-caste Hindus—stared as Jesus shed His own blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.

That night Madhur surrendered his life to Christ and quit his old profession. As the only priest in the village, the animal sacrifices stopped. He told the villagers that worshipping idols was wrong and that he had spent 46 years of his life teaching falsehood.

"I had sacrificed more than 3,700 goats," he explained, "and their blood couldn't wash my sins away; only the blood of Jesus can."

Madhur vowed to proclaim Jesus for the rest of his life. He now leads a Bible study, and the 47 villagers who regularly attend got baptized. —Jennifer Abegg

Anne Weaver sat transfixed by the photographs in front of her. Men on motorcycles hauled a projector, a portable screen and a 16-millimeter film called JESUS through a rugged mountain range. "When I saw those pictures," Anne said, "I remember saying to the Lord, ‘If someday I could sponsor a JESUS film team, I'd love to do that.'"

Two decades later, she got her chance. Anne discovered an audiotape about an Arizona pastor whose church had funded a translation of the JESUS film—a biblical account of Christ's life and teachings translated into almost 700 languages and seen by more than 4 billion people worldwide. She carried the 10-minute tape in her purse for months, pulling it out and playing it for mission-board members at every opportunity.

One day she stopped by Faith Missionary Church in Indianapolis to talk to her pastor, Dave Baldwin. She fished the tape out of her purse and sat watching Dave's face as he listened. When Dave said it was an answer to prayer, Anne got choked up.

"Our mission chairman says that any idea without a champion is just an idea," Dave explains. "Anne was that champion. We had been praying for one for over two years, and there she was."

Soon, Dave e-mailed Bill and Lee, a couple from Faith Missionary Church who had labored for 30 years over a Bible translation for a remote people group in the Philippines. Dave told them that the church wanted to sponsor a JESUS film translation for the language spoken by 100,000 people in their region. Bill and Lee had been longing for a film about Christ in the language of their adopted people group. "It was like God was saying, This is what I'm doing for your people," Bill said.

Less than a year later, the film premiered on the basketball court at the center of a small village near Bill and Lee's home. Word had spread down the coast and throughout the surrounding hills, and as night fell, about 3,000 fishermen, coconut farmers and teachers left their thatched huts to swarm the plaza area.

Everyone stood for hours, and after watching the film, hundreds of children and adults crowded around the 60 trained counselors, clamoring to know more about Jesus. That night, 200 adults signified commitments to follow Christ.

Later, an audio version of the film was recorded for radio broadcast. Local JESUS film workers called together 60 local pastors to strategize about how to show the film to the whole region.

"There's so much that can happen once you get the ball rolling," Anne says. "I believe this is just the beginning. It's so important to enable people to hear the gospel in their own mother tongue. I don't think that can be overstated. I've heard so many stories of people who've heard the gospel, but not in their own mother tongue. But then when they hear it in their own language, they respond."

Lupita Garduño, here leading a women's Bible study in Cuernavaca, has been married to Agustin for more than 20 years.

When 21-year-old Lupita Romero became a Christian, she wanted to tell her friend Guadalupe that Jesus changed her life. This friend—with whom she shared a name—had repeatedly tried to interest Lupita into going to church in the past.

Lupita was shocked when she called her friend's house. Tearfully, her mother explained that her daughter had recently hanged herself from a tree. Later, Lupita imagined a picture of all of her friends hanging from trees.

"The Lord clearly showed me that many women were living lives of anguish and searching for a reason to live," says Lupita. "He showed me the difference between being religious and being a Christian. I needed to tell these women about Christ and equip myself for ministry."

That year, Lupita attended an eight-month training session at Mexico's Campus Crusade for Christ headquarters. Afterward, she honored her parents' request to return home to Jaltipan, Mexico. There, she and her family, all new Christians, presented their testimonies in homes and public parks. One hundred youth became Christians; some later became pastors.

Two years later, in 1980, Lupita married staff member Agustín Garduño and joined the staff of Campus Crusade. God blessed them with a son, then another, and finally a daughter, so Lupita scaled back her outside involvement.

In 1989, Lupita sensed the Lord reminding her that He wanted to use her to win influential women to Himself. The mother of three began praying toward that end and soon met the wife of a famous actor in Mexico City who desired to learn more about living the Christian life. Lupita agreed to mentor her. Soon other prominent women, including a singer of ranchero music (a popular Mexican style), joined Lupita's Bible study.

"My guideline was that I used the hours from 9 a.m. to noon, when my children were in school, for ministry," recounts Lupita. "God made those few hours as productive as if I were working full time."

After a while, she explained to these 12 women that it wasn't good enough to study the Bible and ignore the women outside their group who needed the Lord. Timidly, the small circle of women agreed to host evangelistic breakfasts for their friends.

Soon more women were becoming Christians, so they started new Bible studies. This original group of 12 women eventually multiplied to the sixth generation; that is, women taught their friends about Jesus, who taught their friends, and so on, eventually reaching 100 women.

When Lupita's husband, Agustín, stepped into the role of national director for Mexico in 1992 and the family moved to Cuernavaca, she prayed once again that God would use her in this new town. Shortly afterward, she met María Elena Pineda.

"I was skeptical of Christianity," says María Elena. "But before I met Christ, I felt an emptiness. I thought I'd find fulfillment when I married, developed my career, or had a child. When I became a mother and still felt that emptiness, I got worried.

"Lupita approached me with love and patience," says María Elena. "Little by little, I gave control of my life to Christ."

Like so many others, María Elena understood that she, too, could be used in the lives of others. Regularly, she shares her faith with women and teaches them to do the same.

Twenty-five years ago, Lupita's dreadful vision prodded her into ministry. Since then, she has watched God strip the trees of many women. As only God can do, He exchanged meaninglessness with an eternal hope. And like Lupita, those women He has changed have not wanted to keep it to themselves. —Dawn Sundstrom

More than 14 million homes in at least 13 states have received a copy of the JESUS videotape through The JESUS Video Project®.

Karen Lunkin prepared a fifth-grade history unit, unaware that God had other plans for her class that day. The first question her students asked: "Are you afraid to die?" told the former "Teacher of the Year" that this was no normal day. More questions followed about heaven and Jesus.

"How many of you watched the JESUS video you got in the mail?" Karen asked. Campus Crusade's JESUS Video Project® had blanketed central Texas with 2 million JESUS videos. Every residence in Temple, Texas, had received one.

When Karen questioned who had viewed it, all 30 hands shot up. One of those hands belonged to a boy with a perpetual cold stare whom Karen had been trying—unsuccessfully—to reach out to all year. "Can Jesus fight the devil?" he asked. Karen later learned that the boy's relatives—unbeknownst to his parents—had taken him to Waco, Texas, and involved him in Satan worship. He followed with an even more disturbing question: "What if the devil has touched you?"

"I was praying like crazy," said Karen, "asking God to tell me what to say." Then a Scripture came to mind, and she answered, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

She scrapped the history lesson as the questions continued without interruption. Finally Karen asked, "Are you asking me to show you how to be saved?" The unanimous response: "Yes."

"I could lose my job for this," said Karen. But, knowing the immense opportunity before her, she continued: "Anyone who is uncomfortable and wants to leave the room can go." No one moved.

Soon 30 children, seated in a half-circle in front of Karen, all followed her in prayer, asking Jesus for forgiveness, and receiving Him as their new Savior. The boy who had formerly held the world at bay with a cold stare now sobbed and kneeled at Karen's feet, holding her hand as he choked out the prayer. Teachers in the school would later wonder what remarkable thing had happened to the boy with the cold stare.

Thirty excited fifth-graders filed out of Karen's classroom that afternoon and did what children do—they told all their friends what had happened. Soon, these children—without any adult instigation or assistance—helped 30 more of their classmates to join them in their new faith.

"Then I had to confess to my principal what I had done," said Karen. The principal was not excited, but assured her that she had her support.

A few weeks later, the entire fifth-grade class attended a graduation ceremony, marking their advancement to middle school. At the end of the procession, Karen presented all 60 of the new believers with a Bible with their name imprinted in gold lettering on the front—a symbol of their entering a new life even more bold and exciting than middle school.

"I might still lose my job," says Karen, "but it would be worth it. —Howard Hardegree

For more information about The JESUS Video Project, call 1-888-JESUS36.

Athletes in Action | At the Winter Olympics, 26 people associated with Athletes in Action—Campus Crusade's sports division—distributed 120,000 copies of an evangelistic mini-magazine profiling Christian Olympians. Team members also talked with athletes about their faith, and passed out 150 JESUS videos and 50 JESUS DVDs in a variety of languages to Olympians from at least 24 countries.

Campus | In 1967, Campus Crusade staff members convened at the University of California at Berkeley for the "Berkeley Blitz," a weeklong outreach. Now, 35 years later, staff members challenged 30 students to influence this generation. They meet every morning to pray and set up a table in Sproul Plaza, giving out Bibles to other students.

Destino | "Para un amor verdadero," starts an evangelistic newspaper ad. Destino, the Hispanic college ministry of Campus Crusade, has posted that ad, and others, in school papers. In English it reads: "For true love meet someone who won't leave you in the morning." For more information visit www.destino.cc.



Athletes In Action
California

David Forester couldn't play football with only one kidney. The junior hoped to keep playing at the University of California-Davis, but his younger brother, Tommy, developed kidney failure.

David (left, at right, with Tommy and their father) prayed about being a donor. The student leader of Athletes in Action (Campus Crusade's sports ministry) sensed that God wanted him tested along with the rest of his family.

When the tests determined David to be the closest match, he gladly donated his kidney. "Dave was a phenomenal kicker in football," says Tommy. "God has shown me a tangible love." Now, Tommy's healthy again after a successful operation.

"When you're in tune with God and you know what He wants for you, it's easy," says David. "Giving up football was hard at first, but I have no regrets."

David feels God is calling him to take another step of faith. He deferred his acceptance to dental school to go on a mission trip to Latin America for a year. "I hope to do medical missions in the future," David says, "and this trip will give me a feel for what the mission field is like." —Becky Hill


Campus Ministry
Albania

A cup of tea? That's what helped Campus Crusade staff members in Kosovo to reach out to Kosovar refugees during the war there.

The staff members distributed cans of the national beverage to university students to show their concern and spread the gospel.

One month after handing out the cans of tea at one university, an Albanian staff member, Kejdis Bakalli, introduced himself to a dorm resident.

The student heard Kejdis mention "New Life Institute," the name of Campus Crusade in Albania, and pointed to the label on his can of tea.

"Did you pray for the Kosovars during the war?" he asked, in reference to a statement on the label of the tea can.

Kejdis said, "Yes," and the two immediately got into a deep conversation about faith in Jesus Christ.

One month later, the staff members planned an outreach, and more than 700 students attended. After the event, students surrounded the staff members to ask questions about Jesus. —Jennifer Abegg


Student Venture
Florida

High-school senior Carrie Beeler put "the Lord" into the blockbuster movie The Lord of the Rings.

Familiar with the spiritual parallels in J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel, Carrie and her fellow high-school students organized an outreach around the fantasy film. "We started praying for 50 people to come to Christ," she says. The day after it opened in theaters, they held a private showing with a post-movie party in the parking lot.

"This definitely got us into a niche of kids that we hardly ever get inroads into," says Scott Bartelt, staff member with Student Venture, Campus Crusade's outreach to teens. All 283 seats sold out, and nearly 200 requested more information about Student Venture. "The cool thing about this is that there are three movies," says Scott, looking forward to the planned sequels.

Recently, Carrie met someone who attended the outreach, then became a Christian at a Student Venture conference a month later. "My jaw dropped and I thought, That is our first one," says Carrie. "I am hoping that when I go to heaven, God will say, ‘I've got your 50 people.'" —Erik Segalini

To learn about spiritual parallels in Tolkien's books, visit www.HobbitLore.com.


Campus Ministry
Wisconsin

They call him "Philosophy Joe." The senior philosophy major at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse had objections to Christianity, and used his position as a teacher's assistant to get others to question their beliefs about God and the Bible.

His friend Rachel Dischinger, a leader in Campus Crusade for Christ, listened to him, explained how Jesus had changed her and prayed for three years. Last fall, he surrendered his life to Jesus.

Although Joe still has questions, his life now looks very different. "All I know is that I have faith in Christ," says Joe (right, lower right).

He now shows remorse over the fact that he caused others to question their beliefs. He also attends a Bible study that Rachel co-leads. Joe quit selling drugs, and in December traveled to New York City with a group of other students to help with an outreach to high-school students.

When the group returned to LaCrosse, Joe stood up at the weekly Campus Crusade meeting and told how God used him to explain the gospel to a homeless man in Times Square. —Lisa Master


Josh McDowell Ministry
Pennsylvania

Karen Mead and her daughters were both orphans once. Karen and her husband, Tim, adopted sisters Anya and Nadya from Russia after meeting them during the Josh McDowell Ministry's Operation Carelift. Twice a year, Carelift sends supplies and evangelistic materials to needy Russians.

Karen and Tim first helped out at the warehouse in Lancaster, Pa., where all the supplies are packaged and stored. Later they traveled to Russia to visit the prisons and orphanages that received the supplies. While there, they met Nadya and Anya.

When the family returned to the warehouse the following year, Nadya and a friend, Trente, also adopted from Russia, went into the prayer room in the corner of the warehouse. Trente told Nadya about how she could become a Christian, and Nadya prayed to receive Christ.

Now Karen tells both of her new daughters about being adopted by God. "I know the pain of being abandoned," Karen tells her daughters, "but when you ask Jesus to be your Savior, God is your Father, and He will never abandon you." —Becky Hill