There has been much controversy over Mel Gibson’s new movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” Some people say it is too graphic, some say Gibson took too much liberty with the story, but whatever you think about it, the fact remains that this movie has brought the life of Jesus into the forefront of public consciousness on a magnitude unheard of in recent years. Thousands of people have been to see the movie, and many are asking, as Pilate does in the movie, “What is veritas?” What is the truth?

In an effort to help people learn more about Jesus’ passion and discover the truth of His ministry, Brenda Hill, a member of the Oakland-Immanuel Temple Church, organized several friends to help her hand out a book to people coming out of the movie theaters. The book, Passion of the Ages, is a reprinting of the last 14 chapters of The Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White.

“It became clear that the debut of the movie would be the perfect time to be at the movies to give away Passion of the Ages,” said Hill. “I thought those people would be open to reading a book about Christ if they were open to seeing a movie about Him.”

Hill heard about the book from her friend Gwen Shorter, who, along with her husband Rick, had seen to the task of preparing the book in time for the movie debut. Of the 200 copies she purchased, Hill passed 50 copies along to Virce Miller, a Bible worker in Oakland, and divided the rest with her friend Tasha Hamilton so that they could cover more than just one theater.

With her bag full of books, Hill went to the theater with her husband Byron, pastor of the Oakland-Immanuel Temple Church. Byron dropped his wife off and she began to hand the books out to people as they exited the theater. “I handed one to a pastor who told me he bought 460 tickets for his congregation,” said Hill. “He told them they could only get a ticket if they got two tickets—one for them and one for a non-Christian friend.” Within 15 minutes, Hill had distributed all the books she had and was calling her husband to come pick her up.

While some people refused her offer, most were eager to read more about what they had just seen. “This was the most blessed literature distribution I’ve experienced in my 40-plus years in the church,” said Hill. “I’d never experienced literature distribution when people were almost running up to me to get a book and bringing their friends with them.”