We live in a day and generation where people are living lives of utter despair and hopelessness! Homes are in foreclosure, marriages are ending in divorce, lives are being destroyed by various addictions and children are being maimed by abusive parents, all at unprecedented numbers.

In Mark 16:15, Jesus commanded his disciples to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The New Living Translation of this same passage says, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” In today’s time of hurt, misery and hopelessness, people are desperately searching for any “Good News.” Earlier this year we began to work on developing another method to help get the “Good News” and the powerful message of hope out to those who need it most. Two of the most influential mediums of communication in existence today are television and the Internet. In an effort to reach people through these two forms of communication, we embarked on a process to create a multi-faceted advertising campaign.

The first facet of the campaign was the writing, shooting and editing of four national quality 30-second television commercials. It was extremely important for us that the spots were second to none in quality and production. It was our goal and desire for the spots to be first class and comparable with any other national advertising campaign. By pooling our resources and hiring the right production company, we felt that this goal was attainable.

With that goal in mind, we secured the production services of Andy Dean of Dean Film & Video from Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Dean has been in the TV production business since 1986. His productions have won multiple Telly and Videographer Awards on a national level. He has also been nominated for several Dove and Emmy Awards. Mr. Dean has shot and produced for national networks such as ABC, ESPN and NBC. He has shot and produced on numerous national shows such as America’s Funniest Videos, America’s Most Wanted, Dateline NBC and Trading Spaces. Mr. Dean has also shot and produced music videos for artists such as: Fred Hammond, Amy Grant, Casting Crowns, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, The Messengers, Dottie Peoples, Travis Tritt, U2, Casting Crowns and Salvador.

After spending several hours in describing our vision for the campaign, numerous spots were written and then narrowed down to four. From there, finances were raised and the production shoot was scheduled. The shoot lasted two full days. It was an amazing process. Our crew consisted of nine industry professionals and included a director, camera personnel, gaffers, grips, audio engineer and lighting engineers. Some of the four or five second scenes in the spots took well over two hours to set up for and capture. Upon completion of the production, the project went into post production and editing. Small changes were made and our goal was reached as four stunning commercials have been produced. All four of the spots end with a place to be customized with your church name, address and phone number. (Spots can be previewed by visiting www.aljc.org/commercials).

The second facet of the campaign is a website, hopeforyou.org, that corresponds with the commercials. The people who view the commercials are directed to this site. Here, viewers can find more information about the “hope” that is available to them, testimonies and links to the churches who are and decide to participate in the advertising campaign.

It is our prayer that all of our churches would use this powerful resource as another way to reach people in their community. Advertising slots can be bought and purchased from local over-the-air stations, cable providers and even the theatres in your community. Together we can reach out and give hope to the hopeless. Should you desire to get involved in this campaign or need additional information, please contact me at sjamproductions@gmail.com.