Rodrigo Barrera saw power of film in wartime

SAN MIGUEL CHICAJ, Guatemala — Wartime ministry wasn’t a theme with mere spiritual implications for “Don Rodrigo” and Carol Barrera.

During the height of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, they traveled the mountains of Baja Verapaz with a cassette tape recording of the Gospel of Luke in the Achí language, and the Genesis Project’s film version of Luke, playing it before illiterate audiences, many of whom had never seen a film before.

One evening, Rodrigo set up a bed sheet for the screen and began playing the Luke video and the cassette player. The crude setup required improvisation. When the tape fell behind, Rodrigo had to fast forward it to catch up with the film.

As it got dark, they saw about 200 torches comeing toward them. Military death squads had been operating in the area, and guerrillas and the army had been fighting each other. The Barreras feared the worst, but Rodrigo began praying. Not long before, the townspeople had evicted evangelical believers from their midst. Fear and mistrust dominated the people.

“We didn’t know who it was,” Carol said, recalling the group’s approach.

“Well, I took my two kids, and elias and I just prayed and prayed,” Rodrigo said. The group reached the audience at the point in the film when soldiers were crucifying Jesus on the cross. A leader of the torch-bearing crowd approached the bed-sheet screen to set it afire, but the people cried out in protest. “No, no, we want to see what happens,” they said.

The torches went off, and the crowd joined the audience watching the film.

Later, as he walked around the crowd, Rodrigo noticed a man with tears running down his face. “I have heard all my life that Jesus had suffered for us, but I never understood that it was this way,” he said.

Experiences such as this confirmed to Rodrigo the value and power of oral media to communicate spiritual truths. His convictions and testimony also apparently played a pivotal role in helping Viña Studios get its start.

By God’s providence, one day in about 1983 or 1984, Rodrigo and some of his Achí friends visited SIL International’s Central American Branch office in Guatemala City. As they walked through a meeting room, administrators happened to be meeting to discuss the future of an audio-video recording studio in the branch office. They had been planning to shut it down, perhaps to save costs.

But as Rodrigo passed through the room, they stopped him and asked him to share of any reports he had of their ministry using oral media. Rodrigo shared about their recent experiences, the people’s response to film showings and cassette recordings. The leaders were greatly encouraged by the report, and eventually the SIL branch studio was moved to Sololá to become Viña Studios.

“This was a time when Viña was not about to be born,” Rodrigo said. “But they called us and said. ‘Let’s see what’s going on.’ The whole thing switched around, and they approved Viña Productions.”