If you have ever seen a film used during a service at Terra Nova such as the one describing Matthew Miller’s time in Asia or during a baptism service to tell the stories of those being baptized then you have seen Roman Jaquez’s work in action. Roman is a gifted Christian film maker with a deep passion for Christ. He is currently filming in Africa for a project related to sanctity of life issues. Below you will find a few words he sent back to us describing some of what he is seeing and experiencing.

“When I left home, I left technically prepared to do a pro-life film to give a global perspective on the issue. Little did I know the life changing experience God had willed for me on this journey.

Evan, my filmmaking partner, and I met on the 17th in Richmond, VA to film interviews with the keynote speakers at the Heart Beat Annual Conference. Heart Beat is a gathering of national and international churches and ministries who are fosuced on serving abortion minded and post-abortion women, men, and families. We were in VA until the 21st, and while at the conference God was clearly working. Since the first day of the shoot I knew that this trip wasn’t going to be about a documentary but about God and God alone.

As we met with men and women from all parts of the country and some from overseas, God’s glory was at the core of every painful story. In total, we interviewed roughly 30 Godly people, most of whom carried the title of President or CEO and whose work has borne much fruit. Really humble people, filled with love, but also pain inflicted by their experiences with abortion. There were lots of heavy emotions to process. The content we are capturing is strong.

From VA we headed to Zambia on the 23rd. While there I met local missionaries and leaders who are heavily active serving the local community. Feeding poor families, helping homeless/orphaned young men, sheltering and loving orphan teenage mothers, sheltering orphan children and counseling abortion minded women. All of this with the support of financial gifts and partners like Life International which is the organization we are here representing.

Hearing the testimonies from these children and young women of how God has changed their lives has been a hard but awe inspiring experience. While suffering they smile and sing because they have Jesus. That’s such a beautiful sight, and it’s everywhere I look. This experience has given me a whole new perspective on the power of the Gospel. I have seen people come to Christ and God has come through in moments of need.

One of the local missionaries I met is Garret, a missionary from Canada who came here 5 years ago on a week-long short missions trip. At the end of the week he cancelled his plane ticket home and has been here ever since. He took me around to the townships to show me the real culture as I needed to capture it on film. It was a scary experience. As soon people saw the camera they would start yelling, and we would have to drive away. On one occasion some men even tried to get into the car but I had fortunately locked it. Garret tried to explain to me that this is them being friendly – my guts were in deep disagreement. At one point we were stopped by a local officer who wanted to bring Garret and I to the station. Half an hour later we got away. While on this adventure, the real culture I saw was lots of poverty – people living in inhumane conditions. There is lots of work to be done here, but I am seeing God in his glory at this place admist the sufferering.”

—Roman Jaquez

Roman will return later this week and should be at worship on sunday.