SPRINGDALE, Ark. -- The International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention is developing materials to help foreign missionaries share the gospel with those who cannot read.

While the "Jesus" film has taken the good news to hundreds of millions of non-readers, missionaries have lacked training tools to help them witness in other ways, said Avery Willis, IMB's senior vice president for overseas operations.

"The gospel hasn't gotten to more than half the people in the world because our methods of teaching and training are based on literacy," Willis told the Baptist Press. "It has been limited because so many people don't think and process information and understand the same way we do and because many people live in places that restrict printed Christian material."

The six-part series is called "Following Jesus: Making Disciples of Primary Oral Learners." The CD sets will show missionaries how to train church leaders in cultures where people learn by hearing and repeating rather than through written material.

"I believe we are sitting on the next wave of gospel advance," Willis said. "I believe God has poised us to go to the 70 percent of the world that can't read."

Other organizations, including Campus Crusade for Christ, the Jesus Film Project, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Far East Broadcasting and Trans World Radio, have expressed interest in the project.

The series is being developed in partnership with Progressive Vision, a publisher of electronic resources for missions advancement in Laguna Hills, Calif. A release date has not been set.