The work of financial expert, author and philanthropist Jeff Petherick and Impact India 360, the nonprofit organization he co-founded, is featured in an award-winning short film showing life through the eyes of an 11-year-old orphan boy in a remote village in India. The Dancer shares the story of Satish Kumar, a non-actor portraying himself, who, after the death of his mother and abandonment by his father, now lives with 200 other children at the Dowlaiswaram, India, orphanage funded by Impact India 360.

Petherick, set to release his new book, Grace Like Rain: Soaking Up God's Best, Even When We're At Our Worst, on July 17, started Impact India 360 in 2004 as an act of putting feet to his faith by supporting the ministries of India native Jaya Sankar, director of the Impact India 360 programs in Dowlaiswaram.

"I've definitely experienced God's grace firsthand in my own life, but I also witness God's amazing grace at places like Dowlaiswaram, India, where The Dancer was filmed," says Petherick. "Of course, the universality of God's grace is one of the reasons it is so inexplicable."

Written, produced and directed by Seth Stark and filmed by Stark and Joshua Jouppi, The Dancer has garnered more than 15 awards, including first place for short documentary at the 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival and Best of Fest/Grand Jury Award (out of 1650 films) at the 2011 San Francisco International Festival of Short Films.

"It was an honor for me to accompany Seth Stark to the HBO Film Festival in New York," Petherick says. "Seth is an amazing storyteller and a gifted artist. The short film, The Dancer, brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it, not only because I know young Satish very well, but because Seth has helped us tell the incredible story of how one man - Jaya Sankar - and his family, through steadfast obedience to God, are having an incredible impact in their community of Dowlaiswaram, India.

"When the first seeds were planted for Impact India 360, there was nothing but a vacant plot of land across the way from Jaya's house," Petherick says. "Today on that land stands Grace Children's Home, a 225-children orphanage with separate boys' and girls' dorms, a sewing school, an English school, missionary training classrooms, an elderly care facility, a church and a hospital providing basic medical care to everyone in the community. It is only through the power of Jesus that this story comes true, a part of which is told beautifully in this film."

Among The Dancer's other awards are Best Concept for Short Documentary at the 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at the 2011 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, Ala., Best Short Film at the 2011 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Film Festival, and the Macillvray Freeman Films Award for Excellence in Documentary (Short) at the Newport Beach (Calif.) Film Festival.

In addition to supporting the orphanage, schools and hospital, Impact India 360 (impactindia360.com) offers college scholarships to village children and is involved in church-planting efforts throughout the region. Among Petherick's other adventures in his walk with the Lord, he has also led multiple mission trips for high school and college students to aid the indigenous people of Iquitos, Peru, in the Amazon Rainforest.

For more information about The Dancer, go to thedancerfilm.com. For more information about Petherick or Grace Like Rain, published by Elk Lake Publishing and distributed exclusively to the CBA market through New Day Christian Distributors, visit ElkLakePublishing.com.

About Jeff Petherick:
In his writing debut, Wavelength, Petherick shared with readers his stressful world as a rising star mutual fund manager in the 1990s, often finding himself in the role of expert for such weighty financial news organizations as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, CNBC, Forbes and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. He went on to become founding partner in NorthPointe Capital, an institutional investment management firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Following a life-altering encounter with Jesus Christ, Petherick embarked on many adventures with God, putting feet to his faith in such ventures as founding Impact India 360, which in the last eight years has built an orphanage, several schools, an elderly care facility, a church and a hospital.

Impact India 360 also offers college scholarships to village children and is involved in church-planting efforts throughout the region.

Since beginning his walk with the Lord, Petherick's many adventures have included leading high school and college students on multiple mission trips to minister to the indigenous people of Iquitos, Peru, in the Amazon Rainforest.

etherick is married to his high school sweetheart, Gina. They live in Michigan and have two children and one grandchild.