‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Opens Unprecedented Witnessing Opportunities in East Europe

A $4,600 mission initiative results in $192,000 worth of free publicity for Adventist Church.

By Victor Hulbert, Trans-European Division

Teenage twins Karolina and Monika Bajor have spent much time this past month at their local movie theater in Krakow, Poland.

The recently baptized girls are wearing T-shirts resembling the green World War II uniform worn by Seventh-day Adventist war hero Desmond Doss. On the back is written, “Desmond Doss saved 75. Jesus saved all. I’m an Adventist like Desmond Doss — ask me more.”

They are not alone. Across Poland, more than 100 Adventist young people are volunteering in movie theaters, on the street, at a book fair, and during special screenings of a Desmond Doss documentary in local churches as part of a U.S.$4,600 project financed by mission funds.

The result? People are already taking Bible studies with pastors after watching Mel Gibson’s film “Hackshaw Ridge,” and at least 100 people have set foot into an Adventist church for the first time.

“In my entire life as a Seventh-day Adventist, I have never seen our church gain such good media coverage,” said Marek Rakowski, executive secretary of the Adventist Church in Poland.

All this did not happen by accident. Marek Micyk, youth director for the Adventist Church in Poland, teamed up with public relations consultant Michal Rakowski and a group of young people to formulate a plan to maximize the witness of the church during the film’s theatrical release.

Micyk’s team translated Doss’ Wikipedia page into Polish, and it has been viewed 33,000 times over the past three weeks, the third-highest Wikipedia result for Doss globally, just after English and French. The team designed a church-owned website, DesmondDoss.pl, that has been viewed 35,000 times by 8,500 users. Micyk is most proud of the Desmond Doss PL Facebook fan page, where the most popular infographic was seen by 209,000 users. Many Polish Adventist young people changed their Facebook cover pictures for images from the film poster and the sentence, “I’m an Adventist like Desmond Doss.”

It was not just the youth. Polish church leaders bought into the vision. The publishing house printed 30,000 copies of a magazine that normally has a circulation of 3,000. They have all sold.

Hope Channel’s Polish affiliate gained permission to dub and distribute Terry Benedict’s 2004 documentary “The Conscientious Objector.” Screenings were organized in five cities, and 1,000 DVDs were sold.

“Szeregowiec Doss,” a book about the life of Doss printed in preparation for the film’s release, was presented to journalists at the Polish premiere. Another 3,200 copies have been sold since then, including at the Krakow International Book Fair visited by 70,000 people. Znaki Czasu (Signs of the Times) hosted a stand there for the first time.

“In a country that is one of the most Catholic in Europe, to talk about spirituality and other religions is generally taboo,” said Marek Rakowski. “This film has broken the taboo and given the church a voice.”

That voice has come at higher levels than expected both in Poland and in nearby Hungary. In both countries, the film’s distributor contacted the Adventist Church to seek assistance in checking the accuracy of the translation.

Róbert Csizmadia, executive secretary of the Adventist Church in Hungary, said this was an answer to prayer because church members had been looking for ways to be able to use the film as a witness.

“There is so much war, enmity, and terrorism, and people genuinely thirst for peace and love,” he said. “We have something positive to offer.”

Not only were church members able to help with an accurate translation and an understanding of theological concepts such as the biblical seventh-day Sabbath, but the Adventist Church will receive a 15-second media partner spot before the showing of the film in every movie theater and a place on every movie poster for its web address when the film debuts there on Dec. 29. Church leaders also will attend two special media and VIP screenings where they will be able to talk about issues of religious freedom and tolerance.

“This is all at their cost,” Csizmadia said.

In Poland, where the film was released on Nov. 4, Adventist Church spokesman Andrzej Siciński joined a Catholic priest and a retired elite counter-terrorism unit commander on a discussion panel at a special pre-screening designed just for the media. Adventists also operated a booth at the media screening, handing out specially labelled USB memory sticks crammed with useful media materials about Doss and Adventists. (Find the contents of the USB sticks here.) That resulted in Siciński being invited to speak on several media outlets.

Public relations consultant Michal Rakowski estimated that the church has received about $192,000 worth of free publicity.

“That is a price that is totally unaffordable for Adventists in Poland, where there are just 5,820 members in a population of 38.5 million,” he said.