Summary
My name's Stephen Jarnick and I'm the founder of Peaceworks, a new youth movement for peace that's bringing people from all over the world together for a single purpose...to turn every church into a peace church. I work for Mennonite Central Committee Ontario and for my church, The Meeting House. In my spare time I use my abilities in video making and web design to further The Kingdom.
Imagine how different the world would be if every Christian actually followed the peace teachings of Jesus. No fear. No anger. No hate. No revenge. Just living the way that Jesus intended for us to live. There’s no question that people in the early church were much happier and more peaceful than we are today but thanks to 2,000 years of theology, things have gotten pretty messed up.
We believe that in order to achieve more peace in our world we need to have more Christian churches working for peace, and the very best way to do that is for young people to initiate change from the bottom up and from the inside out.
It's all starting with a video series to be released in September 2013. We're currently working on sixteen 30 minute web based episodes. Notes, quotes, discussion questions, "word on the street" interviews, great music by Playing For Change and teaching by some of the world's most engaging speakers...Tony Campolo, Bruxy Cavey, Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Janell Anema, Christa Hesselink, Greg Boyd and Tom and Gillian Fenske...and there are more to come. Everyone involved with Peaceworks is volunteering their time and everything we do is FREE!
What We Need
We're used to doing a lot with very little money but there are some things that we absolutely need your help with. Here's where your donation will go...
Travel expenses (gas and food) to get from Canada to Philadelphia PA and Elkhart IN to complete our video taping sessions.
A microphone and consumer quality HD video camera to film "word on the street" interviews with students.
Stock photos and videos for our "See the Light" campaign (starting January 1st 2013) to begin building excitement about the upcoming video series.
What You'll Get
We've got some GREAT perks lined up for you! We know that you're probably supporting us because you want to help change the world but we think you really deserve to be thanked for doing that! You can claim perks like getting a personal shout out on twitter, our website or our Facebook page, being listed in the video series credits, receiving a personalized thank-you video, or chatting with Stephen on a skype video call. And our MEGA supporters can claim a signed DVD of our favorite Peaceworks promo videos or a much in demand limited edition Peaceworks T-shirt!
Impact
It's very important to us that as many people as possible are involved in this project at a grass roots level, so crowd funding is definitely the way to go for us. We don't have any delusions of achieving "world peace" but with your help we know that we can definitely make the world a more peaceful place to live in.
Over the past ten years I've developed several websites about child sponsorship and peace. Friends Canada, Worldview and The Peaceful Christian are all sites that have received kudos from organizations including World Vision, Compassion, Plan, Christian Children's Fund and the World Food Program but nothing compares with the response we've gotten to Peaceworks. It seems to resonate with many people as something that actually has a chance of changing our world in a positive way by nudging the Christian church in the direction of peace.
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can’t contribute financially, you can still help...
Talk to your friends about Peaceworks, like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter or share a link to our website http://peaceworks.tv (everything's accessible from there)
And don't forget to use the Indiegogo share tools!
Peace out,
Stephen