Orality Journal Volume 3, Number 1, 2014 | Page 43

Mobilizing the Story of His Glory

41

Mobilizing the Story of His Glory (Part II)
by Keith Williams

Keith Williams spent ten years serving as a church planter in Asia before
launching Mobile Advance, a ministry of WEC International. Keith also
serves on the steering team of the Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF).

Introduction
Farida was in a very bad way. What
we first thought to be a fast moving
cancer turned out, in the end, to be
a case of a young woman trying to
starve herself or her unborn baby
to death. It is hard to judge her
too harshly, though, as both she
and her unborn child would likely
die at the hands of some relative in
order to preserve her tribe’s honor
once her extra-marital pregnancy
became known. In the Lord’s
foreknowledge, Farida’s pregnancy
came to light and the cries for her
death were raised.
In the midst of all this our small
team felt the Lord’s call to push
back against the centuries-old
tradition that called for Farida’s
death. We shared the Biblical story
of the woman caught in adultery
with those who angrily cried out
for Farida’s blood. Our team had
a fairly high level of fluency in the
local language, and we did our
best to help the townspeople both
experience and understand the
story. I don’t know if it was a lack
of fluency or storytelling ability, or
the logic of the people, which said

that if one sheep had a disease it
was better for it to be killed than
for the whole herd to be infected,
but in the end our efforts fell on
deaf ears. Every day Farida drew
closer to a vengeful execution.
A year prior we had begun
experimenting with loading clips
of the JESUS Film onto our mobile
phones and sharing them with the
people around us. Recognizing
that the JESUS Film’s sister film,
Magdalena: Released from Shame,
included a powerful video portrayal
of the story of the woman caught
in adultery, we moved quickly
to get that clip onto our phones
and began sharing it with friends,
neighbors and community leaders.
I can’t say exactly what made the
difference. It could have been a
number of things, but it felt like the
tone of our conversations began to
shift after we started showing that
clip. Something about the video
seemed to strike a chord in viewers’
hearts. I am grateful that today,
years later, Farida and her beautiful
daughter are alive and well and
that she now knows a peace that