Mel Gibson, director of the controversial film "The Passion of the Christ," will screen his new movie before 3,000 pastors at a conference in Orlando, Fla., next month.

According to organizers of Global Pastors Network's "Beyond All Limits 2" conference, Gibson will show the film, which chronicles the final 12 hours of Christ's life and his resurrection, to pastors from 80 denominations and 40 countries on Jan. 21.

The director also is scheduled to speak to the pastors and "share his faith journey," the group said in a statement. Gibson is a follower of Traditionalist Catholicism that still performs the Latin Tridentine mass.

Conference organizers hopes the film becomes a tool for evangelism and believes attendees will encourage their congregations, which number over 1 million people, to see the film when it is released on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday.

The late Dr. Bill Bright – who co-founded Global Pastors Network, or GPN, and Campus Crusade for Christ – praised the film shortly before his death.

"Mel Gibson captures with explosive poignancy the final excruciating hours of Jesus' life," Bright wrote in a letter last July. "Although it was humanity's worst hour, it was God's finest as He demonstrated His tremendous love for us when we all least deserved it. This movie will forever change your view of God Himself, and what He did for us all on that dark day in history as He endured an ignominious trial and hung on the cross."

While "The Passion of the Christ" has been the target of charges of anti-Semitism, mostly by commentators who have not seen the movie, many Christian clergy have praised the film for its strict adherence to the biblical account of Christ's final hours on earth.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Pope John Paul II recently screened the film and expressed his approval by saying, "It is as it was."

GPN points out Bright believed in the power of film to spread the Gospel message. He produced the "Jesus" movie, a feature-length documentary on the life of Christ that the organization says has been viewed by billions of people in hundreds of nations and has become the most widely viewed, as well as the most widely translated (850 languages), film in history.

GPN describes itself as a "growing coalition of Christian ministries working together to train, equip and assist pastors everywhere and to advance the cause of Jesus Christ in all parts of the world."

The group is not the first evangelical organization to embrace "The Passion of the Christ." Evangelist Billy Graham screened the film last month and said it moved him "to tears."

A trailer, or preview, of the film can be viewed at www.thepassionmovie.tk.

Read WorldNetDaily's coverage of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."