The Power of Love Film Festival

We had a great turn out for our second annual Power of Love film festival on March 18th, 2023.  Eight films of various genres were submitted by teams seeking to share the love of God through visual media and music.  Take a moment to check out the videos put together by our incredibly talented storytellers.

The Modern Fisherman

Tom Sandersfeld

This is just a sample, hopefully getting us all to think and remember what our vocation as Christians are. God has left us here in this wilderness for no other reason than to affect others to see Christ as the only way to eternal life. There is a better place called heaven, our eternal home. We are in this world for maybe 100 years, but think of how this fits into eternity. This life on earth is only a dot on an eternal time line. Jesus is real. The shedding of His Blood on the cross taking our sin upon Himself is real, it happened. We have confidence and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Sharing this with others can be scary sometimes, but the Holy Spirit is doing the heavy lifting.

Faith, Family, and Friends

Andrea Happel

This film follows the faith journey of Cindy Blake as she moved to Cedar Rapids, met different people, and found a spiritual family at King of Kings Lutheran Church.  Different Jesus-followers began to pray for Cindy even before they knew her.  Watch how God weaves the lives of several women together through prayer, invitations, and friendship.  Many more people--in King of Kings and beyond--participated in Cindy's walk of faith.  There are too many to name in this slice of Cindy's story. Through this small window, we hope you can catch a glimpse of how God works simply and naturally in the lives of believers.  Consider how He is at work in your life!

Help me believe you:  Brian Hill

Jacob Spiekermeier

“This song is about a desire for reassurance from God. Life is filled with distractions and temptations that draw us away and cause believers to forget their identity in Jesus. To all who ask, He will bring assurance and renewal of His presence to them!” -Brian Hill Original song by Brian Hill- Help me believe you. Filmed by Oak Park Media in their Worship’s Artist Song Series.

Love Your Neighbor

David & Laurie Lempia

Love your neighbor is about reading, wonder, and imagination. It is a simple parable told in story book format. In this story, Tinsel Teeder is on the hunt for treasure. Will she find it? I have fond memories of listening to stories my parents and grandparents told around the supper table. Imagine that you are wrapped in a warm blanket on a cool winter evening ready to listen to a fun story. Imagine that the book is open and the story begins.

Everyone Is Searching For Something…

Eric, Kristi & Sarah Mueller

We attended the first annual event and decided that we wanted to give it a try. We are a Geocaching family and were striving to connect Geocaching to walking our journey on Earth. We were thinking about connecting the sometimes difficult searches for caches, with the other pursuits in life. We can make this very difficult and not very long lasting, there is always one more thing to find. The reality is that the easiest and most everlasting search is for Jesus.

Thine All In All

Kirk Monson

Thine all in all is a short film that portrays God's unwavering love during both difficult and joyful times. Despite struggles of hopelessness and despair, we can find solace in our faith and find comfort in the hymn, “Jesus Paid It All.” Through various scenes, the audience is shown how God's love and grace sustain His children during our toughest moments. From the support of family and friends to moments of quiet reflection and prayer, we rely on God as our "all in all." The film highlights the power of faith and how it can provide strength and hope even in the darkest of times. The cinematography captures the beauty of nature and the serenity of quiet moments. Overall, "Thine All in All" is a heartfelt and inspiring short film that celebrates the unbreakable bond between God and His children, emphasizing the message that we can always find comfort in God's love, no matter what challenges we face.

A Cross on a Hill

Carol Montag

While on my way to Chicago, I gazed out the window of our car and spotted a small, white cross in a grassy hillside along the road. It was quite stunning as the sun was shining on the cross in such a way as to make it ablaze with an almost blinding, bright light. This was quite a wonderful sight to see and made an impression on me.  I began to think about all the crosses people have placed along all the highways and byways where they have lost a loved one. Then I began to think of all the places we see the cross. As we drove, I began to look for more and more crosses. I got out my pad of paper and began to write. I came to think about how we use and misuse the cross. It was, after all, a symbol of torture, similar to a guillotine or hangman's noose, and yet, we do not typically wear or display these symbols. As Christian's, we know that Christ transformed the meaning of the cross. To the believer, it is a symbol of freedom, complete forgiveness, and unconditional love.  The chorus of "A Cross on a Hill" ends with the line 'Only a fool would see the glory of a cross on a hill'. This is based on 1 Corinthians 2:14 which says, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." To many unbelievers, to believe in Christ is utter foolishness. I, for one, am happy to be a fool for Christ. It is my hope that, through this song and video, we would become more aware of the various crosses all around us and never take for granted His sacrifice.

Evan's Song

Greg Happel

God even used Covid?! Yes. Hear how planted seeds that seemed dead were raised to spiritual life in a Jewish man because of Covid." Evan lives in CA. Greg Happel lives in Iowa. The connection is Greg's wife, Andrea and God. Evan is a vocal, secular Jewish man, a musician and former lawyer who met Andrea through an online community.  While the connection is made and Greg has tried to make a closer relationship, nothing happens for years.  Enter Covid and Gov Newsom's response. Evan loses his job. As Evan is trying to understand what this means and what he's seeing around him, God puts a song in Evan's head that he can't get out, a song about Jesus. He shares it with Andrea and Greg.  God gives Greg words to say about the song and some opportunities to listen: Rosh-hoshana, Advent, Channukah and songs.  Glory to God who has prepared works for us in advance to do (Eph 2:10) and makes beauty out even out of something evil, Covid.