In the three years since the video Road to Emmaus was released, its reach has steadily grown. Now, it is available in five more languages. Already dubbed in Spanish, a new DVD also includes Cantonese, Mandarin, Nepali, Urdu, and French.

With more languages available now, the gospel message Road to Emmaus shares can be spread further, even in places where WELS can’t send missionaries due to legal and political reasons.

Rev. Mike Hintz, director of the Commission on Evangelism, says, “What is exciting is not only what God has helped us accomplish to this point, but the possibilities of this continuing to be a tool to spread the gospel.” Road to Emmaus is a 30-minute video that tells the story from Luke 24 of Jesus' walk with two travelers on the road to Emmaus the afternoon of Easter Sunday.

With translation help from WELS Multi-Language Publications, Boettcher+Trinklein Television Inc., the company that produced the video, coordinated voice actors who spoke these languages to re-record the audio and match the dialog to the on-screen actors.

About a quarter million copies of the video have been distributed, and according to Mr. Steve Boettcher, the film’s producer, new orders come in every day from around the world from those who see the movie as a valuable outreach tool.

“I was just so amazed at how congregations and individuals grabbed this effort and ran with it,” says Boettcher. “You think about a quarter million videos ordered. I’m always curious how many hands they all went through. How many people saw it and passed it on to someone else? It could be in the millions for viewing.” For the team behind the movie, that was exactly the goal—to create a modern outreach tool that can be seen and understood by people all over the world.

Following the success of Road to Emmaus, a second video is well underway with the goal to debut at next summer’s national synod convention. The working title is “Come Follow Me,” and it will focus on what it means to be a member in God’s kingdom, particularly through the eyes of the Apostle Peter as he spends time with Jesus during his 40 days on earth after Easter.

Road to Emmaus is available in bulk orders for congregations to distribute or as a single copy through Northwestern Publishing House.