2019 is nearly over meaning it’s time for the annual review of the year, and a look ahead to what’s to come!
2019
The Year Gone By
Since The Fuel Project began, there have been hundreds of messages, especially from young men, asking for guidance in the realm of pornography, masturbation, and sex. Indeed, it’s easily been one of the most commonly requested subjects over the years.
Having promised them that I would one day tackle the subject, and having been made increasingly aware of the struggles the church is experiencing on this front in the internet age, we jumped right into it in 2019 with “The ‘M’ Word”.
This was easily the most uncomfortable project I’ve ever worked on, and admit to a sense of relief when it was finished in May, but I’m thankful that the feedback since then has been incredibly positive. I’m hopeful that anyone struggling with these issues will be helped and encouraged by “The ‘M’ Word” series for years to come.
Answers - Season One (May - Dec)
Those who have been following this ministry for a while will know that since 2017, a guiding principle has been to “array the truth in beauty”. Essentially, this means to keep speaking the Biblical truth as plainly as possible, but to always strive to improve the look, feel and design of the work. The higher the quality, the more likely the videos are to reach a wider audience.
With thanks to this ministry’s patrons who have faithfully supported Fuel over the past few years, it has been possible to gradually upgrade the quality of output. During this time, I’ve also been striving to improve my video production skills.
2015 video sample. No lighting, no backdrop, no illustration board.
With this in mind, the second half of the year was devoted to rebooting “Answers”, our apologetics series that was first launched back in 2015. The whole series was re-made from scratch with brand new episodes; many of the older videos have been entirely replaced; each video now flows on from the one before to give more overall cohesion; the series has now been divided into seasons of 20 episodes each; and they now include street interviews from a new team of volunteers .
2019 video sample. Improved lighting, backdrop, illustration board.
We covered a lot of ground in the first season of Answers. We looked at the character of Jesus, the Bible, prayer, prophecy, smoking, drinking, swearing, and many other topics. A full list of the episodes can be found here. Again, I hope these videos will help Christians grow, and will help unbelievers come to Jesus for salvation.
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Wrapping Up The Year
At the end of 2019, the number of people who have specifically written to say they became a Christian through The Fuel Project stands at 135. With an online ministry, it’s sometimes difficult to know the impact of the videos after their release, so I’m thankful for the encouragement from everyone who has written to share the news of their salvation. I say this every year but it’s without doubt, the most exciting part of this ministry. To change lives and alter eternities is the reason The Fuel Project exists! Jesus tells us there is rejoicing in heaven over “one lost sinner who repents and turns to God.” (Luke 15:7) It’s exciting to think that we, together, have helped to fuel some rejoicing in heaven this year.
Of course, as always, the year has had its challenges too. As well as “The ‘M’ Word” and “Answers” series, there were some topical videos released on cultural issues such as transgenderism, homosexuality and free-speech. One of these videos, “The Trans Delusion”, caused YouTube to issue a strike against the Fuel channel. It’s a reminder of the increasing hostility towards Christian content from social media giants and an indicator of the challenges that may face The Fuel Project in the coming years. Please pray we can continue doing this for as long as possible! And on that note…
2020
The Year Ahead
The Secret of Joy (Early 2020)
The current project has the working title “The Secret of Joy - Combatting the Anxiety and Depression Epidemic”. With so many people complaining about mental health problems today, the aim of this series is to join age-old Biblical wisdom with brand new scientific data, to illustrate how the cure for this plague has been hidden in plain sight within God’s word for thousands of years. Without treating the subject lightly, I’m excited to dig into how God’s Word offers genuine joy, even in the midst of troubles. Hopefully this practical book will be available in early 2020, with the video series starting soon after.
Holidays mini-series
Beyond that, it’s also my intention to do a mini-series on seasonal holidays like Christmas, Easter and Halloween, which can be watched at the appropriate times of the year. Every year at Halloween especially, I get messages asking for information on the subject, so it’s my hope that a mini series on the holidays will prove interesting and helpful.
In the second half of the year, we may also reboot “The Restless Church”, which is next in line for "beautification”. Answers - Season Two is another possibility for 2020. Specifically I want to deal with the problem of pain and why there is suffering in the world. Evidence suggests this is the number one reason that stops people from coming to faith, so it’s important to tackle it. “The Problem of Pain” may even become a separate mini-series. I’d also like to dig into veganism, climate change and that whole realm. Basically, there’s a lot of work to get through in 2020!
The Long-Term Vision
I want to finish this newsletter though, by letting you into the wider vision for The Fuel Project.
It’s fair to say that for the first time, this ministry is starting to run into its limitations. I’ve received many messages recently asking for podcasts where current events can be discussed from a Christian perspective. To do interviews with notable people in culture and within Christianity. I’ve also received messages to visit churches, to do audio books, to update “Know Your Enemy”, to design tracts that can be printed at home, to put together a discipleship course, to make small group workbooks, and other things. All of these are great ideas that I’d love to implement, but with everything else that’s got to be done in 2020, we are limited by time and resources. Probably for the first time it feels like there are places I’d like to take The Fuel Project that it just can’t go.
So this is the vision. Imagine a small studio space, perhaps something like those on the right. Maybe 4 or 5 workstations. At each workstation is a team member who has a combination of skills in ministry and video production. Whether that be research, videography, editing, interviewing, animation, graphic design, or admin, the team would work together to produce the most beautiful and powerful Christian content possible; content which does more than ever to change lives across the world.
There would be an area of the studio for podcasts and interviews, an area for regular video recording, the team would be commissioned to go visit churches and do presentations, to do street interviews, disciple, and to create content for The Fuel Project. The quality would go up another level, as would the quantity of output.
That’s the vision. It represents a quantum leap forward for this ministry. It may never happen. From this position, it doesn’t look likely. And if it doesn’t, we’ll keep things going at the current speed in 2020. Indeed, I’ll do as much as I can for as long as I can. However, if you’d like to see this vision come to pass, we’re going to need help. You can support this ministry by becoming a patron from as little as $2 per month at Patreon. It’s a negligible amount for an individual but it can make a huge cumulative difference to this ministry. Click the Patreon logo to the right to go to our page if you would like to come on board! You can also donate by going to thefuelproject.org and clicking the “Donate” button at the top right-hand corner.
Online ministry is important because it reaches into every corner of the world, fulfilling Jesus’ command to spread the gospel until everyone hears (Matt 28:16-20). In this manner, it speeds the day of his return. Online ministry is also effective because it reaches people who wouldn’t ordinarily come to church, just at the moment they are looking for information, and are most receptive to it. If people search for the Christian position on a subject, or want to know more about Jesus, they can find Fuel content to help them any time of the day. Online ministry is also unique in that it never stops working. A video, once made and posted online, works tirelessly 24/7, all year long, forever. This makes it one of the most effective ways of reaching the world in our time.
It’s notable that just as the internet has made the spread of the gospel easier than ever before, the church seems to have lost confidence in its message and pulled back. Rather than grabbing hold of this opportunity, the Christian church has often become compromised. Appeasing. Apathetic. Afraid, or unwilling to speak the truth because of what it might mean. I think it’s desperately important to use the opportunity available to us to spread the gospel and reach people for Jesus. As I mentioned before, the window might close before long as social media giants become hostile to our message. We have to redeem the time as best we can…today.
Finally, and most important of all, please pray for The Fuel Project in the year ahead as the challenges grow greater and the times grow darker. I hope in 2020 we can strengthen and encourage the church further, while bringing hundreds, if not thousands more to Christ. Have a great time over Christmas and a Happy New Year!
God bless
Mark Fairley