Young people in most modern cities around the world live in media saturated cultures.  The 15-30 year old demographic, often the change agent and trendsetter in modern society, has grown up under a bombardment of clever advertising filled with false promises.  This generation is visually sophisticated, media savvy, and skeptical of a free offer. Yet, young people’s perspectives on life are a mélange of modernism, postmodernism, and various religious world-views. Compared to previous generations, this group—collectively referred to as “Generation Y”—is less directed by family and church, steered more by the cultural offerings around them. According to the Barna Research Group, media has be-come the dominant influence in the lives of Generation Y.  Movies, music, Internet, magazines, and television are the top five influencers.  The average college student watches 120 films a year. Still, a two-hour feature film about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ is not the best way to relate with Gen Y on spiritual issues.  It’s too direct and too long for this busy, mobile generation. In response, The JESUS Film Project’s Global Short Film Initiative (GSFN) has developed a fresh approach that effectively reaches young people worldwide.  By presenting universal themes in an interesting format, the barriers of ever-present cynicism so prevalent in this generation are overcome. Downloadable short films for cell phones and iPods pro-vide an easy-to-access, easy-to-use format that help Gen Y believers introduce their peers to Jesus.  The films capture the attention of young adults by presenting universal themes in original, thoughtful and visually stimulating ways. GSFN’s Web site offers an intriguing portfolio of short films, film interviews and podcast equipping guides that shows how these films can be used in a variety of situations such as over a cell phone screen or an iPod, interactive small groups, or even city-wide festivals.   This strategy has been successful in launching deep conversations about Christ in the 75 countries where it was tested.  We have seen young people who would not have discussed Christianity if approached directly feel compelled to talk about the spiritual themes in these short films.