An Artist Returns to the JESUS Film Project, Where Her Faith Story Began
Thirty-seven years ago, a Mandarin-dubbed VHS tape quietly made its way into a hidden house church in Chengdu, China. On May 15, 1989, Sarah Lin Lu watched the
JESUS film for the first time—and she describes that day as the beginning of her Christian life.
In January 2026, Lu found herself standing inside the Jesus Film Project headquarters in Orlando, Florida. (
100 Lakehart Drive 23-00, Orlando, FL 32832) The visit, she says, felt like “completing a circle”—returning to the place connected to the moment that redirected her life.
Lu attended a scheduled tour and arrived early. Her guide was
David Thomas, who led a group of visitors through exhibits and behind-the-scenes spaces that highlight the global reach of the ministry. For Lu, it wasn’t simply an inspiring experience—it was personal history coming into focus.
According to Lu, two Filipino missionary sisters,
Amy and Aida Lim, had carried the
JESUS film into China years earlier. When she watched it in 1989, she didn’t see it as “a film” so much as a doorway: a first encounter with the gospel that would later shape her calling as both an artist and a storyteller.
A moment at the microphone
During the tour, the group was invited to volunteer for a brief dubbing demonstration—voicing a scene from John 4 featuring the Samaritan woman, who runs back to her village after meeting Jesus and says, “Come and see.”
Lu raised her hand immediately. As she spoke, her timing matched the character’s mouth movements naturally. When the recording ended, visitors applauded. Later, Lu reflected on why she volunteered so quickly.
“In a spiritual sense, I relate deeply to the Samaritan woman,” she said. “I have painted her more than once—by the well, with her water jar—because her story mirrors my own.”
From radio to visual testimony
After her conversion, Lu traveled to Manila to serve in Christian radio broadcasting in 1999. It was there, she says, that she began painting—what started as a personal act of devotion gradually becoming an art practice she describes as “testimony-based.”
Her work includes devotional Bible paintings and an ongoing series titled
The Red Leather Suitcase: God’s Fingerprints—which she calls “diary paintings.” Rather than inventing scenes, she often paints from lived moments, anchoring the work in real dates, real memories, and the long process of healing.
Lu describes the internal movement of her art in three words:
Scripture → Wounds → Grace. “These aren’t meant to be decorative,” she explains. “They’re meant to hold meaning—images that help people see Scripture, name pain honestly, and still find hope.”
A simple guide to Lu’s style (for first-time viewers)
For viewers new to Lu’s paintings, the first impression is often emotional clarity. Her figures are intentionally stylized—simplified forms, strong gaze, restrained gestures—so that the viewer feels addressed rather than entertained. Many works feature symbolic objects (a water jar, a suitcase, a bowl, a window, a vessel) that function like visual “anchors,” holding memory and spiritual meaning in the same frame.
Even when her surfaces are expressive and textured, the composition remains readable: a central figure, a purposeful color contrast, and small details that reward slow looking. The result is art that feels part documentary, part prayer—less about polish, more about witness.
A cross-cultural bridge
One moment during the Orlando visit carried special resonance: Lu noticed photographs showing children in the Philippines watching the
JESUS film in 1987 in a language
Filipino / Tagalog, they could understand. For her, that image connected directly to her own beginning in 1989—confirming what she calls “the continuity of God’s faithfulness across nations and languages.”
After the tour, Lu messaged mentors from her Manila years to share what had happened.
Amy and Aida Lim's reply—full of joy and gratitude—felt to her like another link in the same chain of faithfulness.
Now living in the United States since arriving in August 2006, Lu is taking a next step. She has already
reached out to the Jesus Film Project and submitted a proposal to host a new exhibition this year: a
virtual, online gratitude exhibition accessible worldwide, alongside an
in-person exhibition request at the Orlando headquarters if space and timing allow.
Her working title is:
Liberty & Covenant: A Painted Jubilee
USA 250 Celebration + 20th Anniversary of Sarah Lin Lu in America (2006–2026)
Come and See — The Art of Testimony (1989–2026)
Special thanks to Jesus Film Project®
The aim is to share visual testimony with a broad audience—immigrant and diaspora communities, women seeking hope and healing, and supporters of missions and media ministry.
As part of that vision, Lu has designed two exhibition posters using her two Samaritan woman paintings. She shares them with humility, holding the plan in prayer:
“These two posters were designed using my 2 Samaritan woman paintings for the exhibition.
For now, they represent a vision I’m carrying in my heart.
Please pray that the Lord will lead and open the way.”
For Lu, the story is not simply faith-inspired—it is, in her words, a living record of a life redirected by the
JESUS film and then returned, decades later, to its source. And through her paintings, she continues to extend the invitation that first changed her life:
“Come and see.”
www.JESUSFilm.org
About Sarah Lin Lu
Sarah Lin Lu is a Chinese-born artist, writer, and life coach based in the United States. Her work centers on faith-based visual storytelling and “testimony-based” painting—art rooted in real dates, lived experience, and trauma-informed care. Through devotional Bible paintings and her ongoing series
The Red Leather Suitcase: God’s Fingerprints, Lu creates images that help viewers engage Scripture, name pain, and find hope.
About the Exhibition
Liberty & Covenant: A Painted Jubilee
USA 250 Celebration + 20th Anniversary of Sarah Lin Lu in America (2006–2026)
Come and See — The Art of Testimony (1989–2026)
Special thanks to Jesus Film Project® is a proposed virtual exhibition by Sarah Lin Lu, with an additional request for an in-person presentation at the Jesus Film Project headquarters in Orlando. Inspired by Lu’s first viewing of the
JESUS film in 1989, the exhibition invites audiences to encounter Scripture through art and testimony—tracing a cross-cultural journey of faith, healing, and calling.
