GNPI Celebrates 50 Years of Ministry

By Rick Cherok

Good News Productions, International (GNPI) has reached the half-century mark for using media and technology to share the gospel around the world and empower other Christians to do the same. Through filmstrips, films, books, digital invitations, and more, God has used GNPI to advance the gospel message in places it could never go before.

On October 29, 1961, Ziden and Helen Nutt, missionaries to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), baptized Michael Nyandoro. Michael, who passed away in the fall of 2025, was the first person Ziden baptized in Rhodesia and a significant influence of the formation of GNPI. While working together on the roof of a medical outreach center, Michael and Ziden discussed the power of filmstrips to draw large crowds, but also talked about the cultural limitations of films made in America. Michael challenged Ziden to make his own films that would accommodate the cultural needs of an African audience. While Ziden chuckled at the initial suggestion of creating his own culturally relevant filmstrips, he now admits that it was that conversation with Michael that planted the seed that led to the formation of Good News Productions (initially known as the Good News Center).

The Good News Center in Rhodesia was an integration of media production, correspondence courses, and a bookstore. Missionaries around the globe heard about the Good News Center’s successful production and use of filmstrips in Rhodesia and contacted Ziden about the possibility of making additional filmstrips for their countries. From his location in Africa, however, Ziden felt it was not feasible. With no knowledge of the languages or cultures of the other mission areas, Ziden thought it would be impossible for him to create media that would reflect the needs of those requesting his assistance.

In 1975, however, when Ziden and Helen returned to the United States because of their third child’s health challenges, they met with supporting churches to discuss the possibility of forming a ministry that would produce culturally sensitive media for ministries around the world. This resulted in the 1976 dedication of a new building in Joplin, MO, that would be used for this unique strategy in cross-cultural missions. And in the process, GNPI was born.

Foreign nationals and missionaries from around the world were soon traveling to GNPI in Joplin to assist in the development of original scripts in their own languages for the creation of films and filmstrips. And in 1988, GNPI opened the first of several regional centers in India to meet the production needs of that area. Today, GNPI has 25 team in 17 countries and their regional centers allow them to produce and distribute materials that would otherwise be impossible.

While Ziden and Helen no longer lead GNPI—both are doing well in their late 80s—their son-in-law, Mike Schrage, continues their legacy of service. In this fiftieth year of GNPI’s existence, the ministry continue to promote several outreach initiatives. Mission15 is a worldwide movement intended to harness the power of media to design and deliver one billion gospel invitations by the end of 2030 through social media platforms, radio, television, and print. GNPI is inviting fellow believers to support the Mission15 project with 15 minutes of prayer, $15 in financial support, and the sharing of their faith with 15 people. In addition, GNPI established the Nomad Academy, an online training school designed to train nationals to use smart phones for video filming and editing as a means of sharing the gospel. So far, the academy has over 100 graduates. And, in collaboration with Ajai Lall and the Central India Christian Mission, GNPI assisted with the development of the Hindi Church Online. The Hindi Church Online began with a small audience during the Covid-19 pandemic, but now reaches over 1.5 million people each and every week.

In celebration of their fiftieth anniversary, GNPI will host a free 50^th Anniversary Celebration Breakfast on Friday, November 21, from 7:00-8:30 a.m., in the Tango Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel during the International Conference On Missions (ICOM). While there is no cost for the breakfast, it is requested that an RSVP be made to insure that enough food is available.

Along with their milestone anniversary, GNPI is introducing the Generation’s Capital Campaign with a goal of raising $3 million. This money will fund a media center in Zimbabwe, media teams in every state in India, the completion of the Mission15 Project, and creation of a film about Yassir Eric’s conversion from Islam to Christianity. Contributions to GNPI’s Generation’s Capital Campaign will enable them to continue advancing the gospel through media and technology to places where the gospel may not otherwise be able to go.

Rick Cherok serves as Managing Editor of Christian Standard, Executive Director of Celtic Christian Mission, and Director of Men’s Services at Kentucky Christian University.