A Mission Trip Prompts US and Mexican Students to Produce a TV Series

When a mission trip was planned in 2023 for a group of students from Southern Adventist University (SAU) in Tennessee, United States, to preach the gospel in southeast Mexico, the idea to document their experience quickly emerged.

The trip, which included 24 students, was organized by SAU’s School of Theology, with film professors from SAU and Montemorelos University in northern Mexico. The organizers talked about how to tell visually their first experience preaching the gospel.

Pablo Fernández, media producer and assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at SAU, said that he has always had the desire to create an opportunity for students to be exposed to a new cultural experience as they serve the church. “I wanted them to understand how an audiovisual production is done in other places,” he said. When he found out about an upcoming mission trip at SAU, he knew it was the chance to accomplish that.

Fernández, who has produced several television series for Hope Channel Inter-America, contacted Abel Márquez, executive director of Hope Channel Inter-America, with the production idea for the trip, and the wheels started turning. “God blessed this purpose for the project, and collaboration began with the television production leaders in Montemorelos University,” Fernández said. The idea drew the support of Hope Channel Inter-America and landed a “short television series” spot on the television network.

“We couldn’t let this opportunity pass to produce evangelistic content for our television channel, but in addition provide students from two universities a platform that will for sure enrich their formation as Christian producers,” Márquez said. “When we unite, we optimize efforts and are stronger in our mission.”

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Students from Southern Adventist University, in Tennessee, United States, and Montemorelos University in northern Mexico, take part in a devotional session. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Pablo Fernández (left), Southern Adventist University media producer and assistant professor, shows Jafet Morales (right), a student from Montemorelos University, how to film an interview. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Montemorelos University professor Jorge André Díaz (center) shares feedback with university students as they film one of the 10 episodes of a television series on location. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Part of the production team films the presenter of the program during one of his segments at the Chetumal Bay in March 2024. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Nathalie Jacome, one of the 24 students who traveled to southeast Mexico to be part of the mission trip, preaches at the Nuevo Progreso Adventist church in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Group of preachers, producers, pastors, and professors on the last day of the evangelistic campaign. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

Students and teachers from Montemorelos University and Southern Adventist University in charge of the Chetumal Project pose for a group photo on location before filming ended. [Photo: Lizbeth Elejalde/IAD]

The production team included four communication and media students from Montemorelos University and five from SAU, who documented the journey of SAU students taking part before, during, and after the mission trip experience in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, March 7-17.

“The mission trip was an opportunity that provided a practical learning environment for [the production team] as well as cultural and spiritual enrichment,” said Jorge André Diaz, film professor at Montemorelos University and production director of the Chetumal Project. “The series will highlight in a different way how the gospel is shared, and not only what takes place in front of the camera but what takes place behind the camera.”

Coined as “Proyecto Chetumal,” the series is narrated by Ruben Díaz Quetz, a theology student from Montemorelos University and program presenter, who introduces the experiences of the missionary students and highlights the subjects presented during the evangelistic week in Chetumal, a city bordering Mexico with Belize. “This program has been an invaluable opportunity to motivate other young people to live the experience of being missionaries and also share messages of hope not only with Chetumal but the whole world,” Quetz said.

The 20-minute episodes will include the topics of the Ten Commandments; the seventh-day Sabbath; baptism; why so much suffering; and what happens after death, among others.

For Bernardo Medina, communication and media student at Montemorelos University, who served as project cameraman, it was an unforgettable experience. “The filming days were one of the most significant experiences I have had during my studies, because it allowed me to work in a real production and interact with teachers and students from the United States with the same purpose of service.”

Briana Cabriales, a nursing student from SAU, who was among those who preached at a local church, said she had an incredible experience. “Church members were so loving and made me feel like part of the family. We were able to connect with visitors, and that allowed me to see how God can work with each one of us if we put our talents to good use.”

The mission group took part in daily devotionals, trainings, group feedback, and preparation sessions for the topics that would be preached in the local churches every evening.

Thanks to the efforts by the team of 33 students, preachers, pastors, professors, and production team, 62 baptisms took place at the end of the evangelistic series, Juan Carlos González, secretary of the Adventist Church’s South Quintana Roo Mission, reported. González thanked the group for supporting them in the mission and inspiring local young people to engage in similar evangelistic projects in the future.

The cross-cultural production experience worked extremely well, Fernández said. “It was all we imagined and wanted. We created teams that mixed students from each university and rotated them daily, which allowed both groups to produce under different leadership and visual language styles,” he explained. At the end of the day, the team got together during a meal and shared experiences, he said. “All involved came to the table with a team-spirit mindset. We are here to help each other to take the gospel being preached in Chetumal and beyond the territory.”

The preproduction of the project began in October 2023, said Lizbeth Elejalde, program director of Hope Channel Inter-America and supervisor of “Proyecto Chetumal.” The series, which it is currently being edited, is expected to air in early October 2024, and will be available on demand at hopechannelinteramerica.org.

The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-American Division news site. Lizbeth Elejalde contributed to this article.