By Nathan Ray Thomas

WINSTON-SALEM, NC (AgapePress) - In John Osborne's play Look Back In Anger, one of his characters exclaims, "How I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm -- that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive!"

On December 9, members of Winston-Salem’s Calvary Baptist Church had Holy Spirit enthusiasm as they passed out the Jesus video, a witnessing tool produced by Campus Crusade for Christ, to their neighbors in time for the Christmas holiday.

Calvary is giving out approximately 2,800 videos in a mile-and-a-half radius of the church in December as part of the Celebrate Jesus 2000 project, according to Phil Henry, assistant pastor of evangelism. Earlier last month they asked volunteers to select a street and give out 20 to 50 videos.

"The goal is for people to get saved," he said. "We won't see immediate results; the fruit will be slow in coming."

Henry noted that Robinhood Baptist Church, another Winston-Salem church, conducted the same canvassing effort last spring, with good results. Volunteers leave a video at each house, even if no one comes to the door.

In fact, the effort has found legs in churches throughout the Carolinas. Several Charlotte area churches have been giving away the video, and in South Carolina there is an effort under way to give the Jesus video to every household in the state.

But the effort goes forward one person and one video at a time.

Tammy White gave out 28 videos in her neighborhood. She said that she likes presents and wanted to give back to others the gift of eternal life.

"I got up early and prayed about going out," she said. "I wanted God to bless each house that was going to receive the video."

White first saw the video dubbed in Russian when orphans from Belarus visited Winston-Salem last year. Two girls accepted Christ after seeing the video; another girl became a Christian the year before after seeing the film in Belarus.

Jim Walker, who lives outside the radius, took a neighborhood no one had claimed. He said only two people came to the door when he passed out the videos.

Walker, who lives in East Bend, plans to buy videos and pass them out in his own neighborhood later.

"I saw a little girl smiling from the door as her father took the video," he said. "It's nice to think that they would sit down together and watch the video."

The other man who came to the door related to Walker about a family member who died recently. He listened and left a card with his name and phone number to meet for lunch later.

"I'm leaving a little bait for fishing," Walker said. "Just sowing the seed."

Alice DeLancy and her friend, Doris Hollenbeck, teamed to pass out videos in both their neighborhoods.

"I had read a lot about the video and was very impressed with it," DeLancy said. "I believe this video is the only way some young people will get the Gospel. They are so used to seeing videos, they can't visualize anything without being able to see it."

Before she passed out the videos, DeLancy went through her neighborhood several weeks ago and pulled into each driveway and prayed for each house.

Hollenbeck said she prepared for her giveaway last week by walking by each house on her street and praying for each one as she passed by.

Although her street was outside the radius and not targeted, she gave out 37 videos anyway. She said there are many immigrants living in her neighborhood that she wants to reach for Christ.

Paul Eckerd took his wife and daughters on his rounds.

"This is a good way to show them that it's a good thing to do," he said. "It's good to let them know that Jesus is okay."

Eckerd noted that he wants to involve his daughters in evangelism to establish a foundation. When they are older, witnessing and being involved for Christ will be a natural thing for them to do.

"Having the kids with me was the best thing," he said. "The kids loved it. I explained to them that some would become Christians, some wouldn't."

Eckerd went to Albania in 1997 with Project Arrow and showed the Jesus film in remote villages. Three Albanians and three Americans packed up a portable generator, an oversized movie screen, and a 16-millimeter projector. Each day they went to a different village, found the mayor, and arranged to show the film. That night, the people came in large crowds to see the film.

"We had so many people come up to us and tell us, ‘This is the first time we have heard about Jesus,’" Eckerd said. "God is good…. He's allowed us to share Jesus with others."