14 September 2016 | Warsaw, Poland [Andrew McChesney/AR] Seventh-day Adventist youth in Poland have drawn up an eight-point plan to share their faith connected to the November 4 release of Mel Gibson’s film “Hacksaw Ridge” about the life of U.S. World War II hero Desmond Doss.
Their interest is not in promoting the film but in sharing the story of Doss, an Adventist medic who stood true to God and, on one occasion, saved the lives of 75 soldiers during a single battle. Doss became the first conscientious objector to receive the United States Congressional Medal of Honour.
Marek Micyk, youth director for the church in Poland, presented plans as to how Adventist young people would use the release of the film in November to share their faith in this predominantly Roman Catholic country of 38.5 million people with only 5,820 Adventists.
On the streets, young people will be stationed outside cinemas with free booklets about Doss — including a special edition of the Polish Signs of the Times magazine, and possibly a translated version of a 32-page booklet that is being prepared by the church’s It Is Written television ministry for distribution in the United States.
“People like to hear true stories,” Micyk said. “So people will come out of the cinemas wanting to learn more about Desmond Doss. We will try to share give them something more.”
“People will not carry other people as Desmond Doss did, but they will be given some kind of weight and they will run,” Micyk said.
USB memory sticks with materials about Doss and the Adventist Church will be distributed to journalists, and popular Polish YouTubers will be offered information that they can use to record programmes about Doss.
“We want to reach young people, and they use the Internet more than television,” Micyk said.
The local Adventist publishing house will print a Polish edition of the book Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector, a 2005 biography by Doss’ wife Frances M. Doss, and the local Hope Channel is putting Polish subtitles on Terry Benedict’s 2004 award-winning documentary “Conscientious Objector.”
The Polish plans won immediate praise from Victor Hulbert, communication director for the Trans-European Division.
“I am very impressed with what you are doing,” said Hulbert, who attended the meeting of church leaders in Warsaw on Tuesday. “I am glad that you have seen the big picture, what is happening out in the world, and saying, ‘We can do something with this as a church.’”
Hulbert has been preparing for the film’s release for more than a year and put together a special sharing magazine with Doss’ story and his beliefs. The content of Hulbert’s magazine, published by the Adventist Church in Britain, is being offered to churches worldwide, and the Polish-language Signs of the Times magazine has translated several articles for its next issue.
Other parts of the world church also are gearing up for the movie’s international premiere on Nov. 4. The church in Australia and Serbia are also reprinting portions of Hulbert’s magazine. In North America, Pacific Press will rerelease the book Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector, and Tennessee-based It Is Written will oversee the church’s local response to an expected inflow of questions connected to the Doss story.
Miroslaw Karauda, evangelism director for the Adventist Church in Poland, said the outreach initiatives planned for Poland might not only point people to Jesus but also help energize local Adventist young people.
“It would be great if our youth could engage in all these outreach initiatives,” he said. “We hope that these ideas could serve as a revival for our youth and inspire them.”[tedNEWS]
Editor’s note: Adventist Review news editor, Andrew McChesney, is currently traveling in Europe with Trans-European Division Communication director Victor Hulbert and reporting on Adventist work in the region. For a list of others stories, follow the links below. Stories first published in Adventist Review.
Helping refugees ‘as important as preaching the Second Coming’
I am ready to be a bear in Serbia
Adventist lectures are bigger draw than theatre for some in Serbia
Adventists, spurned by Serbia’s bookstores, set up shop near Orthodox church
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, director; Esti Pujic, editor
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