By Jennifer Taylor 
Last-minute trips, amazing “coincidences,” and the consistent witness of faithful believers around the world helped Christ In Youth (Joplin, MO) partner with Voice of the Martyrs to create a new feature-length film, Love Costs Every Thing, about the persecuted church.
The CIY team started by recording the testimonies of Christians in India.
“Then we waited on God,” says Chris Jefferson, director of organizational advancement. “And through my mom I met a Marine, who had married an Iraqi Christian girl, whose brother fled to France after bombs destroyed his church in Iraq. Bill Carroll, a church planter and missionary in Paris, connected us with him, and our video team flew to France to capture his story.”
From this relationship came an introduction to “the Bishop of Baghdad”””Andrew White, vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq. White invited the team to Iraq and, amazingly, managed to secure visas for them in just one week.
“It”s been an amazing journey!” Jefferson says.
The video also includes footage from Colombia, where religious extremists have killed more than 12,000 Christians.
CIY hopes the new movie will challenge teens to consider their own faith.
“The point isn”t just raising awareness about persecution, it”s compelling us to think about our response,” he says. “The movie confronts teenagers with the reality of people like them””kids who wear jeans and listen to iPods””who live in fear and pain each day because they believe in Jesus.”
CIY will show the film at each of its summer “MOVE” events for high school students. It also plans a 20-city showing at megachurches around the country.
“This is a movie that demands action,” Jefferson says. “Persecution didn”t end with the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. Love Costs Every Thing tells the stories happening right now.”
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