Bring the Ruckus

Directed, cut and executive produced by my man Chris Stacey. Performed by my man Manafest. Written and Produced by yours truly...

Or in fuller res, HERE.

Keeping at it...

Yup, 'Yours Truly' with THE Mr. Richard Lewis of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' fame.

Man, that was some interview.

At the end, the twenty or so people in the room (crew, plus staff, plus his 'posse') burst into applause.

Pretty cool.

He was shocked that this 'Preacher/Producer' was more 'blue' than he was. I figured, going in, if I'm going to try to go toe-to-toe with a guy as bright and talented and fearless as Mr. Lewis I'd best do my best to come at it in uninhibited fashion.

Based on the success of that interview and others, we're currently working on a new TV series for me, one where I'm actually ON camera interacting with the guest. Not a novel concept, to be sure, but one that I hope we can inject some freshness into.

It's not everyday a Preacher gets to sit down with H'wood's luminaries and pick their brains for an hour or so.

No, I'm not there as a 'Preacher', I'm there as a Producer, a Producer who's looking to craft (or in this case 'find') stories that speak to the essential questions of life.

Wrote the new one-sheet for it yesterday. I thought it was awesome. Predictably my Biz-partner called first thing this morning requesting changes to it. I didn't even argue with him. That's progress. I used to push back when faced with a request to adapt my 'creative vision' (or at least the way I'd communicated it) to suit an approach favoring the 'sales' side of the equation.

No more.

Call it 'maturity', call it desperation. Call it an urgent desire to just play my part in helping the other parts to do their thing to help move the entire enterprise forward--whatever. I'm just happy to do my part and if that means tweaking something so the sales guys can do their thing, well, I'ma get to tweaking.

I've started pre-production this week on a new 5-days a week TV series. We can't talk about it just yet but we're really excited to get working on it. As is always the case when you launch a new TV series, this year is going to FLY by. We'll blink and it'll be December and we'll be going, "Well, at least we've figured it out now..."

Seriously, I'm living my January like it's next December.

In other news a Worldwide sales push for UNSCRIPTED goes into place this month so that should a) get the thing seen by more people and b) set us up to shoot 100 more episodes this year. That's the goal on that one.

So that makes 360 episodes pending.

Plus we've got one more series that's started circling and our first feature film has been delivered to its U.S distributors, digitized and prepped and should hit theaters (maybe as many as 400) this spring--very exciting. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

I think we're also going to produce a second feature film this fall. We're just squaring away the rights with the writer in L.A. Additionally I think (think and hope) that we might finally be in the position shortly to pull the trigger on a graphic novel project we've been slowly gestating for a year and a half. Dunno' when we'll be able to green light that but I'm starting to get 'the feeling' and, usually, once you 'get' the feeling some kind of follow through isn't lagging too far behind.

Then there's my CHURCH. Man, we had the best sunday in our history this past week. I wouldn't be surprised if--within a year or so from now--I'm writing you to talk about how crazy things have gotten there.

Did our first 'altar call' this past week too. I was a little shy about it (stupid I know) but people really responded.

So much of life is just that, you know, doing what you know you need to do DESPITE the fact that you're scared out of your wits.

You look at things and think, "Man, I don't QUITE know how I'm going to do all this..."

Then you give your head a shake and think, "Man, that's a good place to be."

T

ps: we're also in 'offer' mode on our 'dream house'. Prayin' on that one...

Favorite things...

Took my dudes to see TRON th'other night.

That's one of my favorite things. I was downright emotional after. Since I became a 'Dad' I've looked forward to this phase, the stage where I can take the dudes out and do dudely things with 'em, like watch movies, eat chips etc.

Wonderful.

Love 'em.

Another one of my favorite things is the sense of momentum that's come to roost at my little church. THE WELL is really starting to buzz. We've got just under a couple thousand people popping by the site each week (and actual--physical--attendance and giving are growing at 40%+), taking a look around, listening to some of our work, checking out our facebook and twitter feeds, just generally poking at us.

It's funny to watch. I've done this before--the whole 'start a church from scratch' thing--and I'm seeing familiar signs as more people start showing up, start loving it, and start getting involved.

This past Sunday was one of the best church services I've been a part of in the last ten years, bar none. This is a good thing. All it takes is for you to faithfully string together a bunch of those, week after week, year after year, and--the Lord doing what He does--you end up with a church of some significance that makes a dent of some significance in a culture that has a wickedness problem of some significance.

Just like Yours Truly.

That's right. I've got a wickedness problem.

That's why, when things go right--like a church that's turning the corner or young sons who are starting to turn the corner into their 'young manhood'--you especially praise and thank the Master/Maker 'cause none of the goodness you're experiencing is goodness you deserve.

Grace.

It's a beautiful thing.

(Oh, and we just locked a new 5-days a week talk television series for 2011-2012. But I'll tell you about that a little later in the week...)

I feel a cool breeze blowin'...

T

Sunday's...

Happy 'bout that one.

You're looking at THE WELL this past Sunday. Yours truly in the foreground, Aaron Weafer leading worship in the background, our very own screen and lighting.

Pretty neat.

Here's why it makes me happy.

1) There was no church called THE WELL in Burlington ON last year. That it exists (and is growing) this year proves to me that faith IS possible and sometimes comes with results.

2) We did the lighting ourselves. Sure it would have been better to hire an expensive lighting designer to come do it but we couldn't afford it. Best we could do was four par cans. Looks pretty dang good though don't it? Yup, sometimes doing the best you can with what you have is good enough.

3) Aaron, leading worship in the background, is a brilliant worship leader. He and his lovely wife and three kids just showed up at THE WELL a couple months ago. My wife and I have been praying for him (and her and them) to show up for a YEAR. This proves to me that sometimes, when God answers prayer, He says 'Sure thing, kid...here you go.' I'm grateful for that.

4) I had a 3.5 year layoff between my last 'ministry context' and this one. Aaron had a 5 year one. This demonstrates mercy to me and reminds me that God loves the journey and that He's faithful to His original calling despite our stupidity.

5) The shot comes from one of the HD cameras that my company owns. We've been able to let THE WELL use it for free. We've been able to self-fund our salary (from my media work meaning the church has had no noose around it's neck--in the form of a salary for the church planter--in the early days) which has made the thing possible in the first place. This is a reminder of God's provision. Even though I sometimes resent the financial stress the wife and I are under as a result of trying to (weakly) obey God's leading I can see, in these moments of clarity, that He is faithful and good things are happening. This gives me hope to continue believing that more good things might be around the bend.

6) The shot was shot by one of our key leaders. He just up and told me last week that he was ready to take responsibility for a particular area of ministry (media) at THE WELL and run with it. I thanked him, told him I'd been hoping he'd feel this way, then stood back and watched him do it. One week later and we're already seeing results.

7) My original Ministry Associate on this thing is behind the frame, stressing out with me over the added complexity we introduced this week and being faithful to do good work in the face of stress and anxiety. I was reminded this week that every time you add a 'piece' to the mix you increase the complexity and difficulty by a factor of (at least) three. This means you're prone to making more mistakes and forgetting things, but if you don't add the complexity you won't grow. Many organizations stop growing 'cause they stop stretching themselves. I'm grateful my man Miki continues to be game for some stretching.

8) We shot my whole sermon. There should be a teaser up this week. I was so afraid it'd look cheesy and know, because my FRIENDS pastor 'em, what the 'cool' and effective churches out there look like in their video sermons and desperately wanted to not look cheesy and bush league. Yes, part of that is MY need to look cool, for which I'm in constant repentance, but the other part is that YOU need your church to look 'cool' so that you can invite your friends out already.

How your church 'looks' and 'feels' is important because it's one of the first 'touches' your people and their people have with the thing which is a key part of their journey towards joy.

It matters.

And this week we got it right.

I'm thankful for that, and eager to keep getting it right.

For King and Kingdom.

T

ps: Oh yeah, and my WIFE likes the church now. It was a stretch to begin with but she's really starting to love the people and, for her, it's not lights and looks that warm her heart but people. Yes, she's a little further along the road than I...