In the Old Testament, there are many stories, which are in and of themselves great testimonies of faith and salvation. But some of them are much more than that.
They are pictures of the coming Messiah. The story of Jonah, for instance, is not just the tale of a wayward missionary swallowed by a great fish and sent to a city in need of repentance, but it contains imagery of Jesus in the grave for three days and then resurrected to offer salvation to all who will receive Him.
The story of Naaman, in 2 Kings 5, is the story of a seemingly great warrior, stricken with a disease that will ultimately destroy him, until he meets the prophet of God and is made new. Naaman represents us all, full of sin and headed for destruction, until we meet Christ and are born again.
Jesus was not only the hidden subject of many Old Testament stories. In the New Testament, He even told a few stories of His own. Jesus loved to use parables to explain the Kingdom of God, devotion, love or true greatness. Jesus knew that people identified with stories, and deep truths were sometimes better understood from a simple tale than from a theological discourse.
With that in mind, each summer at Falls Creek, we use our video elements to tell a story, a story which contains much deeper truths than what first appears. As we develop our theme each year, we work with a creative team to write, produce and shoot a short film that parallels our theme with a relatable story. This story is presented in four parts to aid our teaching of the Scripture each day, Tuesday through Friday.
For 2018, this marks the sixth year Falls Creek has produced a short film for camp. Sometimes the film has been thematically heavy and serious and other times light hearted, but each story is developed in a way to help students better understand the Lord and the daily walk of a Christian.
This year’s film, “FINISH,” is the story of two high school guys who become famous for failing. As much as they want to be famous at martial arts, they ultimately succeed at just not giving up, though they hardly ever get anything right.
Our theme verse in Phil. 1:6 indicates that God is at work in us to complete what He started. Our job is to apply ourselves to following Him, despite what difficulties we may face. He is at work in us, even when we may not feel like it. If we don’t give up, we’ll eventually see His plan and purpose for our lives blossom and grow. That will be a story to tell!
