Issue 51 - 15 April 2009

“Moroccan government defends crackdown on proselytizers”
“Christian women's seminar broken up in Morocco”

The recent news headlines from Morocco have been grim reading for missionary presence and evangelistic activity in this predominantly Muslim North African country of 35 million. The deportation of foreign Christian workers and the Moroccan government’s close monitoring of any proselytizing activity by the recognized local churches, highlight the great need and unique opportunity to use satellite TV broadcasts to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into every Moroccan home.

Arab Vision has been gathering the personal testimonies of Moroccan men and women who have decided to follow Christ. These are now being dramatized for a special TV series for Morocco. We believe that these testimonies will touch and penetrate the hearts of many Moroccan viewers. Whereas they can be suspicious of foreigners and easily find accusations or arguments against sermons, it will be hard for them to dismiss the stories of genuine change and new hope from their fellow Moroccans who have become Christians.

The Moroccan Testimony TV Series is one of the biggest projects for Arab Vision’s North Africa work this year. There has been a lot of planning and preparation work over the last few months, and many hurdles had to be overcome before the cameras could start rolling earlier this month. We received the following note from our producer last week –

Everyone in the team here has been working very hard, coping with long days from 9am to 11pm. Acting volunteers have been good but not always available when they said they would be, so some scenes had to be modified. I think we are getting a fantastic job done with the restricted resources we have.

Arab Vision’s cameras have also been rolling to record footage for the Berber Psalms Clips production. Early reports indicate that the 3-week trip of our cameraman along with two local Berber guides was very successful. The guides became actors, drivers, as well cameramen themselves! The training and experience they received were very beneficial, and they are now more confident to film program content on their own. They had been quite reserved and fearful before.

Oh and they had some memorable and unusual experiences too. Click here to read part of their report.

The footage they recorded will now be edited alongside the voice recording to produce TV clips based on the book of Psalms in two Berber languages. The format will be three to five minute ‘video clips’ of high quality production (like song clips) for each psalm identified by Berber believers as suitable to have an impact on their Islamic culture and mindset. These psalms have been translated into their own heart language/mother tongue.

The post-production phase of this project will take up about half the total project time and budget. The final product has to be attractive and of high quality. Additional effects software will be needed for the final editing stages. Please contact us if you are interested in this project for the Berbers and are able to offer your support.

Our distribution company, which looks after all the website, graphic and print work, also has computer needs – 2 in particular: one PC and the other a Mac (maintaining a non-biased balance  between the two competitors!). Would you or your  church consider supporting our work in the Arab World by helping fund one of these machines?

The HP Pavilion Elite M9441 costs US $1,190 (Euro 900) and the Apple iMac costs US $2,120 (Euro 1,600). Click here to contact us if you are interested.

Finally, we have another book recommendation for you. The Ministry of Reconciliation is the second book in our Grassroots Mission Publications and focuses mostly on issues of reconciliation and mission in the Arab World. For anyone with an interest in mission and the Church in the Muslim World, this is a very valuable book. The writers are all long-term mission practitioners in the Muslim World. You can order directly from us and receive the discounted offer of US $14.95 (excluding S&H) instead of the official price of US $18.95, if you order within a week. Click here to find out more about the book and contact us to order at the discounted price.

In Christ,

Abu Banaat
International Director