The man who just kept on going

I was recently in South Africa at the Mighty Men’s event with Angus Buchan. There were 2 things that particularly distinguished this event for me – amongst all the events I do. Firstly the sheer scale of it – 250,000 men in one place at one time ALL praising and worshiping God and secondly the fact that Angus had a heart attack in the middle of the event and no one quite knew what would happen next – very unusual for LIVE TV.

There had been a few Mighty Men events in the past and it was growing year on year – last year (2008) they had expected 20,000 and had got 60,000 – this year they knew it would be big – they planned for 200,000 and it certainly did not disappoint – conservative estimates put the attendance at 250,000 – all coming to hear a potato farmer!!

I was there for GOD TV who had decide to broadcast the 4 meetings LIVE across the network and I was responsible for overseeing the LIVE broadcast. We had a very nice, big OB truck, 7 cameras, 2 jibs and a full crew. Just to make life difficult they decided to hold the meetings in the “round” meaning that Angus was free to wander to all 4 sides of the stage and preach. This was the first time I had shot anything in the round and was certainly an interesting experience. The key thing for me was always having something other than the stage to cut away too – even a VERY wide shot so you could reframe and get a shot of Angus – having the 2 jibs proved invaluable in that.

Technically the shoot was in fact very easy, Angus’ ministry had put on a great event, very well organised and thoroughly professional. In fact as an aside ONE thing that I admired tremendously was that Angus has a policy that IF you are working for him you MUST be paid – he does NOT believe in taking a loan of people but instead insists on paying people what they are worth – how tremendously refreshing in Christian circles (maybe that’s why God continues to bless whatever he does). There were a few technical challenges, such as lighting an entire stage for someone to wander wherever they wanted and we had some minor issues with microphones etc. but generally all went well.

In fact, the biggest challenge technically speaking that we faced was communication with the outside world. When it came to trying to do satellite line up etc. our ability to communicate was a problem. 250,000 people in the middle of nowhere tended to overload the signal on the mobile phone network. Consequently it could take 15 or even more tries to get a phone call established and even when we did it could be cut off at any moment – that’s when you have to have faith in the people the other end – that they are getting on and doing what they need to do. Thankfully GOD TV has great staff when it comes to that and they were ace.

By far and away though all of the circumstances became nearly meaningless – the camping, the open air showers, (pictures above of the tents, OB truck and the showers.......) the fluctuating weather etc. all paled into insignificance when after the 2nd meeting Angus had a heart attack (well to be exact 2 heart attacks). This was certainly NOT in the script!!!

We were faced with a choice – do we continue broadcasting or do we stop and replace the last 2 sessions with something else? Well, firstly the response of the 250,000 men on site was magnificent. They didn’t get in their cars and leave – instead they held an impromptu prayer meeting to pray for Angus as he was airlifted to hospital. I was also in communication with Wendy Alec (GOD TV’s Director of Programming) who immediately instructed that we continue with the broadcast and start running a “scroll” to tell the viewers what was going on and encourage them to pray – which we did.

We continued with the 3rd meeting which ended up being more of a worship time and then went to bed that night with one more meeting to go – not knowing what would happen the following day.

Well, God came through. Angus was HEALED and whilst still not 100% in terms of strength – came back to preach a profound message on the last morning – I don’t think anyone could have stopped him. It was profound in that he had clearly been deeply impacted by his near death experience the day before and REALLY had something to say that I am sure impacted ALL those present and ALL those watching – me included!!

I think it would be fair to say that the fact that just over 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks Angus could get up and preach is a testimony first and foremost to the power of God BUT also to the man himself and his total commitment to the message and the mission that God has given him.

It was an awesome privilege to be there for this event and to be involved in broadcasting it to the world – time and again we heard testimony’s of people’s live transformed through the broadcasts and on site at the meetings and to see God come through with Angus in such a profound way and heal him was incredible.

More power to GOD TV’s elbow for doing this and also for Wendy Alec for being prepared to stick with it and see what God would do. What an amazing testimony to see what God can do when he gets hold of someone (like Angus) who is fully committed to Him and is prepared to lay down his life for the cause.

I truly hope Angus has many many more years preaching his message – South Africa and the world really needs it and to see the power of God work and someone 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks stand up and preach was amazing – GO ANGUS and GO GOD!!!

Managing Expectations

I have found when working with clients – and particularly those new to TV/Video/Visual Media that one of the most important aspects of the client relationship is managing their expectations.

Lets be honest and understand that TV/Video is a very expensive medium to work in – there is simply no way round that. Even “cheap” TV is still expensive when you compare it to things like print, online, and radio media – and clients that maybe used to working in these other forms of media will need a lot of help to make the jump to TV and video and to come to appreciate WHY it costs so much.

We always make it clear when we work with a new client that TV does not come cheap and “good” TV certainly is expensive. That said we also always try and tailor what we are doing to the budgets they have available – in fact we often try and find out if they have a figure in mind prior to even putting costs together for them. We pretty well always have a good idea of what it will cost us to do what the client is requesting (not always but with our experience in most cases this is true) and the reason we try and get information on budgets etc. is so that it can save us and the client time and energy. If for example a client wants something done that we know will cost around say £10,000 and they only have £1,000 to spend then there is little point continuing the conversation or us spending the time to put accurate costs together – rather we are better to advise them to look for some other form of media for their project. IF however we find in our discussions they have say £15,000 in their budget then we can be more confident in moving the discussions forward and putting accurate costs together – it’s worth us spending the time and energy to make that happen. NOW let me say at this point – it is VITAL we work with integrity and if we find a client has £15,000 to spend and the project budget is only £10,000 make sure you do it for this and DO NOT inflate the costs – that does no one any favours and trust me sooner or later the client will find out and that will be that!! Transparency is everything. We as a company have a policy that if we put a budget together for a project and ultimately it costs less then that saving is passed BACK to the client – trust me, its good business and it’s ethical.

The other value in identifying budgets is that if in the above example you find your client only has £8,000 you can quickly identify IF a. this is a project where you can tailor a solution to their budget OR b. you decide for the sake of winning a new client to do the project and make less on it – which sometimes can be a good idea – but that’s always your call. The key is to aim for trust and transparency from BOTH parties – that way you can move forward more effectively and quickly – a quick word to clients as well – PLEASE help us out here – we are trying to make it work for you.

Now, we recently had an interesting experience when it comes to budgeting AND also managing expectations (the real subject of this blog). We were asked by a new client to put together some costs for a project they had coming up where this was their first experience of dipping their toe in the water of TV Land. It was to film and edit a weeks worth of material and turn it into a DVD (it was also 1000’s of miles away from the UK). Well after putting some initial costs together we quickly realised they had no where near the budget available to do this – however they still wanted something done. So what we settled on is that they would use a local company to do the filming and we would do the post. Well – that as all of you will know is not ideal and CAN be a recipe for disaster.
As we suspected when we saw the material it was VERY poor – the audio was all over the place, it was very poorly shot and frankly it was a bit of a nightmare. However we had agreed we would do the post – so we dug into the project and this is where it became CRITICAL that we managed the client’s expectations.

Very soon into the process we informed them of the difficulties with the project and basically told them that with all the editing in the world they were not going to get anything better than an “average” product at best. We also kept them informed throughout of the ongoing problems and challenges we faced and how that would affect the final outcome. We also gave them options – one of which was to spend more time editing BUT we pointed out that ultimately we didn’t feel it was worth the investment for the improvements it would make – and thankfully they took our advice and saved their money.

All the way down the line we continued dialoguing with them and managing their expectations. I think ultimately they were pleasantly surprised with what we were able to do – and this was a far better outcome than having them look at the product and wonder where their £1000’s had gone.

This was not by any means our ideal way of doing things BUT it was necessary for the budgets they had available at the time and we ended up producing a product that ultimately they were content with given the NON ideal circumstances BECAUSE we effectively managed their expectations. We did however agree that we wouldn’t do this again and next time we would ensure we were involved in the whole process – filming and editing – that way we will get a much better product.

For me the key here is not only the managing of the expectations but also working closely with a client, keeping communication throughout the process and ultimately having their best interests at heart – after all they are the ones paying you.

I hope this is helpful for some and would welcome your thoughts, comments, experiences and stories.

The Last TV Evangelist

On my way back from the states last weekend I read Phil Cooke’s new book “The Last TV Evangelist” – he had been kind enough to give me a copy when I saw him in Washington DC a few days earlier. Firstly, I would recommend this book to any of you working in the media and very specifically Christian media.

It’s a book looking at the future of Christian media and specifically the visual broadcast media. It’s a good interesting book that certainly makes you think and I hope will challenge the perceptions of many that think we can bury our heads in the sand and pretend the media will continue the way it has for years – trust me it won’t!

There are a number of things in the book that are specifically a challenge to those of us working in this field – however the most fundamental of all changes (I believe) that is coming (perhaps is here already) that Phil points to and I 100% agree with is that we as media people are no longer the ones in control – gone are the days of the massive networks controlling what we watch and when we watch. Basically NOW the viewers (or maybe they are better called consumers) are the ones who are in control. Things like Tivo, SkyPlus etc. were just the start – in the future what the viewer wants to watch and when they want to watch it will be totally in their hands – so those of us who are working in the media need to wake up and realise the future is here and if we don’t change and adapt to it we really won’t be around much longer.

No longer will we be able to produce boring “samey”, tacky, repetitive programmes with gold thrones, manipulative messages and bad hair that people only watch because we tell them its good for them – suddenly they can search and find exactly what they want – and if what we offer is not it then one thing is for sure - they won’t come back.

The book offers no real solutions – but then in the world we are moving into the only real solution is that there are no solutions – the future is what we will make it. There will be as many different solutions as there are case studies the old “one size fits all” days are well and truly gone. The main thing the book leaves you with is that everyone is now a “player” from the kid with their laptop and camcorder to the massive TV ministry – we can all find and have a place BUT our success will be down to finding a way to deliver creative content to the people who want it – that’s a great challenge BUT also a great opportunity.

Traditional media will be here for a while so this is not going to happen overnight, however the growth areas will be with people embracing the future – that could be a whole new generation OR it could be us – IF we can change and adapt and not just do what we’ve always done.

I’m excited – what about you? I recommend you get the book, it’s a good read and one that hopefully will challenge you to examine your calling and embrace your future – whatever that is – just remember the future really will be what you make it.

The dumb things we say as Christians

I was recently watching a programme on a Christian TV station here in the UK both of which will remain nameless – however I do feel the need as a “communicator” to comment on one of the statements I heard while watching.

It was actually a question posed by a person I have a lot of time and respect for – but in all honesty he should have known better and I was very surprised when I heard it.

Here was the situation, they were discussing the “media” and particularly ITV (which here in the UK is our “2nd” network and is unashamedly commercial. Currently the company is in turmoil, and is about to layoff a LOT of people. The statement went something like – “back in the 1980’s ITV used to make a lot of good TV programmes – including the award winning “Jesus of Nazareth” – now it seems to be making more entertainment programmes, many of which are certainly not “Godly” and they have all but done away with their “religious” content. In the light of its current turmoil, do you think God is judging ITV”.

Well – I screamed at the TV at that point – NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I’m not going to get into a theological debate about God judging anything in this dispensation of Grace that we are in – that’s not my big issue with this statement. What amazed me was that anyone in their right mind could isolate the case of one media-company from the entire world economic downturn and believe the reason they were struggling was because they had stopped making Christian programmes. Have they missed the fact that virtually ALL media companies are struggling right now – including some Christian ones (maybe God’s judging them too).

I’m not going to get into the whole economic situation and why a company like ITV is struggling etc. there are far better placed people than me to do that – rather what I want to take issue with is the dumb statements we come out with and PLEAD with all of us to think before we open our mouths. We never know who is watching – worst case we have a responsibility to our viewers to think about what we are saying and not throw out statements they may latch onto and take as “gospel” due to who is saying it. Best case – hopefully there will be non believers watching who through what we say can get an idea of the love and mercy of God – rather than think we are all totally off our heads.

The responsibility we have been given as communicators is a big one – we MUST NOT take it lightly and we MUST think about what we are saying and what our audience may think about what we are saying – anyone in their right mind can see that this statement simply does not stack up. I don’t want to have a go at this as this as an isolated case – rather use it to heighten our awareness of these things and hopefully introduce a more sober approach to what we say when we get the chance and the privilege to communicate to a TV (or radio) audience.

What do you think – do we take what we do seriously enough? Are we just blowing hot air a lot of the time? How can we be more thoughtful in the things we say? – I’d love to hear from you.

A lesson in trusting God

NOTE – I wrote this blog at 11pm local time in Nairobi, Kenya on March 2nd.

I don’t know how many times I fail to get this right and end up worrying when I shouldn’t – but God is always gracious and still always come through for me even when I’m not sure – I am blessed.

The latest situation I have found myself in regarding learning that God is ALWAYS faithful and can ALWAYS be trusted came on a very recent trip to Kenya (in fact as I write this I am still in Kenya). I went to Kenya to carry out a recce for a possible production that I am involved with in a few weeks time. Prior to going I knew I needed things to come together pretty quickly as we don’t have much time – and yet on the surface despite all my attempts to get things set up it didn’t look promising.

When I arrived, I faced the following challenges:

The person who runs the local office was not there and may not even come.
The person I had lined up to be the local production manager I couldn’t get hold of at all – despite LOTS of attempts – I thought she had dropped off the face of the earth.
I had no local help, contacts or transport and no clue of where I was going, who I could meet with or how it was going to happen.
I needed to try and find at least 1 alternative location for the production – and didn’t have a clue where to start.
My luggage hadn’t arrived – so no chargers, no business cards and no clothes.
My hotel didn’t have a room for me and even when they sorted this they didn’t have a key to the room – so I had to wait and wait and wait.

Not a very promising start………………..

When you have these situations what do you do – panic or trust God? Well I am pleased to say I didn’t panic – however neither was I in a particularly trusting mood – I thought I could probably make it happen BUT certainly didn’t think it would be easy – I even said to my wife I might have to stay an extra couple of days in order to get things sorted.

However as always despite me, God came through. By the end of the following day I had achieved the following:

Found an alternative location for the production – and a far better one (though as I write this the final location decision is still to be made).
Found, contacted and met with my local coordinator on board and got her fully briefed and up and running.
Had a VERY successful series of meetings with lighting, staging, power etc with everything coming together.
Ended up with a very good driver for the day who knew everyone and everywhere and made the whole trip extremely productive – he knew exactly who I needed to meet.
Made arrangements for the person who runs the local office to come and meet us the following day.
Slept in the Presidential Suite of the hotel (why do I ALWAYS stay in nice places when my wife is not with me).
Got all the local crew and resources in place for the production.

All in all a very very productive 24 hours – why oh why can’t I learn that God will ALWAYS come through – in all the years of doing this he has never let me down – not even a little – so why did I sit the night before concerned if it would all come together and thinking that I had to make it all happen……………………

My faith is always tested on these issues – but God is incredible and even when I doubt him – he never ever fails me.

Now how big is my faith – well, one thing left – will British Airways get my bag to me before I leave – that’s real faith………………….

UPDATE – It’s now March 4th at 6am and I’m at Heathrow airport on my way back from Kenya. Two quick updates, about 3 ½ hours after writing the blog BA delivered my bag!!!! Also the following day we had another tremendously successful time, carried out 2 full technical site visits and now have a plan in place for the production – all is looking good. As I said above – we need to learn to trust God in EVERY situation.

The Value of Christian Media to an event

As I write this (my first blog of 2009 – Happy New Year all) I am sitting at Toronto airport on my way back from directing an event called The Cry – a prayer event held in St John’s Newfoundland (boy it was cold). Those of you who know the Call it is similar to that but Canada driven and focused. Anyway, we had an awesome time and it was a great event and the people were wonderful to work with – really wanted us there and went out the way to make our lives easy – Faytene and team thanks.

Anyway the positive attitude of this crazy bunch of Canadians got me thinking why people don’t value more the presence of Christian Media at their event. For us as media people, it’s often a battle between the perceived needs and their importance of the event (which I fully understand) and the needs of us as a broadcaster. We seem to struggle to find middle ground somehow – and when it does work it works for everyone – but it often takes time to get there.

I find it bizarre that when you have potentially multiple thousands of people watching globally that the needs of the TV production are not considered far more important (or at the least equally important) than the needs of the few hundred or thousand people at the event. Now I must say I totally believe there is a balance and the TV/Media should never dictate what happens – that must be down to the event organisers – what I am talking about is more the aesthetics of the event – lighting, set, stage etc. all that doesn’t make massive amounts of difference to the event – but it does to the TV broadcast – why does it have to be so hard getting those needs met?

At the end of the day, the broadcaster can take the event and turn it (in the case of GOD TV) into a Global event – the guys at the Cry got that totally and so I have to say (thankfully) do many more that we work with – but with some it is still a battle – and with many we’ve been working with them over several years. We need to see that change – can I encourage you, if you are an event organiser or involved in production, staging etc. think BIGGER – by working WITH us as broadcaster rather than against us (or grudgingly putting up with us) we can change people’s lives on a GLOBAL basis.

The other thing I would say to media practitioners is it is vital that you SERVE the vision of the event organisers – they have the mandate for what they are doing allow them to do this and work with them to FULLY represent what THEY not YOU want to achieve – I’ll tell you, the broadcast will be far more effective that way – as you carry their anointing to the nations – get out the way and let God do what only God can do!!

One other point as an aside – and it is something I have mentioned before – why is it that it seems only GOD TV is prepared to put their money where their mouth is and cover events such as the Cry? Wendy Alec believes these events as being truly of global significance and time and again she is proved right – why are more broadcasters not bold enough to do this? This was the 5th Cry that had been held – BUT the first one that had ever been broadcast and GOD TV doesn’t even broadcast in Canada – where are the Canadian broadcasters – this is about their nation should they not be involved?

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives on all this – particularly the event organisers and those involved in covering them.

How did we do that?

Have you ever looked back on something and wondered how you achieved it – well that’s the position I am in at the moment – let me explain……………..

Back in the summer I was asked to look into the possibility of filming an event for broadcast LIVE on GOD TV from Nairobi, Kenya. It was an 8 hour prayer event called “TheCall” – however I was set a very restrictive BUT what I felt at the time was a realistic budget.

I then spent the next couple of months working on the project, I contacted people I knew in Africa and started putting together various options. There were primarily three solutions we looked at – 1. Hiring local equipment 2. Finding a good production solution outside the country BUT within driving distance (in this case from Zimbabwe) and 3. Shipping equipment and crew in from South Africa.

Well, here’s how it all played out:

1. Hiring locally – there is only 1 company we found who had the facilities needed – however because there is only 1 company their costs were CRAZY and way over our budget so we had to discount this option.
2. The Zimbabwe option – this fitted our budget PRAISE GOD – however after weeks of going back and forth they insisted on 75% payment up front – with no guarantee of us getting a penny back if they had any problems on route and didn’t turn up – in fact on more investigation they couldn’t refund money due to exchange laws etc. so this was a no go.
3. The South Africa option – unfortunately this was just too much for the budget as well (the costs for shipping the gear alone was nearly 60% of the total cost.

So that’s me, 2 weeks away from the event now with NO solution.

Then came a breakthrough!!! I had asked my PA to look into costs for sending equipment to Kenya for an event we were looking to do NEXT year and she happened to come back with a price for the shipping (from DHL of all people) – that I must say when I saw it my first impression was they had missed a “0” off the end – however it turned out to be genuine – this meant that on further investigation they could ship a FULL OB kit from Newcastle to Kenya at a FRACTION of the price the South Africans were talking – we were back on!!

Here though was the problem, this was Wednesday and the event was the following Saturday (11 days away) and we had no crew, no equipment and nothing organised locally – uplink, crew etc. PLUS we had to get nearly 2 TON of equipment there and clear customs PLUS get a filming license etc.

Well I have to say a number of people we spoke to in Kenya at this stage said NO WAY – the license alone takes 14 days and the equipment clearance could take a week easily. However we were NOT deterred.

Here is what amazes me – what you can do when you set your mind to it and refuse to take no for an answer.

We found (within a day) a core crew from the UK who would go, the video equipment (via Visual Impact Bristol – thanks Sam – the London branch said no) the sound equipment – via Total Audio and GOD TV combined, and managed to get it all sent to Sunderland to be checked, packed and shipped the following Monday.

I was also able to secure on the ground in Kenya the help of a fantastic clearing agent who said YES when everyone else said no and a local film company to do the license – and they made it happen!!! ALL the kit arrived safe and sound at the venue on the Friday to put the gallery together ready for the LIVE broadcast on the Saturday – believe me that was an AWESOME achievement.

Now here is another “God” thing. I didn’t mention in the middle of this I went to Israel for a LIVE broadcast (the Friday prior) – however that in itself was a God thing as by “chance” we happened to meet up with a guy (Rotem Cohen) who is based in Israel but works for a London based company who works extensively in East Africa – he was able to get us a satellite uplink, and a full local crew for the project as well – incredible stuff.

So on Saturday December 6th at 10am local time we went live for 8 hours with NO problems at all from a stadium in the heart of Nairobi to broadcast a prayer meeting to the world – and boy did it feel special!!!

I’ve been involved in so many projects over the years but rarely one which was so close to the wire and where we saw God’s hand move in so many many ways. It reminds me that when God is in something ALL things are possible – he of course MUST get all the Glory BUT there are a number of people who I also want to mention who should get credit for their “Can Do” attitude:

Firstly the Crew who joined me on the ground – you were awesome – Richard, Bal, Alan, John and especially Gavin – you were a tremendous help. Secondly Steve Cunningham for all your help in pulling it together and Richard (and all) at GOD TV for slaving away while we were in Israel, weighing equipment, pulling it together and making sure it worked etc. Sam at Visual Impact – thank you, Rotem for all your help and Lucy on the ground for coordinating our local crew etc. Kalpesh (our clearing agent) – you rock!!! Would not have happened without you thanks – if anyone ever needs a contact in Kenya you are it. And last but by no means least Sally – my PA – awesome job!!!!! You were the glue that held it all together – well done well done (by the way she’d only been in the job 3 weeks – baptism of fire or what).

I’ll tell you – I hate doing things last minute – particularly this time as we’d been working on this for months – BUT when it happens and you KNOW it was down to God – man does it feel good – God thank you for allowing me to be used by you!!!

This is a slightly different post in that I’m not doing it to engage debate etc. – though I’d love to hear your take on it – but really to say that NEVER SAY NEVER with God all things are REALLY possible – don’t give up, press on, press in and get GREAT people to help you (that’s KEY) – DON’T try and do it alone – its about teamwork.

Oh and by the way, all the equipment and staff returned back to the UK on time and safely and we were pretty well spot onto the budget I had been given originally – see God does know.

Blessings to you all – I probably won’t write again till the New Year so have an awesome Christmas and I hope and pray you exceed you wildest dreams in 2009.

To editorialise or not?

I have just had the pleasure of being involved in filming a fantastic set of programmes to air on GOD TV between December and February called “Apocalypse and the End times”. Essentially the programmes are a series of interviews with some of the leading teachers and proponents of Biblical Prophecy and the End times. These will be used as part of a season of programmes that will air on GOD TV exploring this whole subject.

Some of the ideas explored include who is the Anti Christ? Are we living in the last days? What is the Mark of the Beast? What is/who are the illuminati and the One World Government? Are Aliens real and who are they? I have to say some of the content was extremely “left field” for me and very out there – however it certainly makes for interesting TV that should get people talking - which is very much the aim!

Early on in the process we had to decide if we were going to editorialise – i.e. ONLY broadcast programmes and people that fitted with our “theological” standpoint. We had a long discussion around this and I am very glad to say in the end decided NOT to go down that route but instead to air a variety of views and perspectives – without significant giving weight to one over another.

The reasoning behind this was carefully thought through – basically we decided that we want to open up debate and get people thinking and exploring what the Bible says themselves – we should not spoon feed our theology to people that (we feel in this instance) is not our role – we should encourage people to deepen their exploration of the issues and get more “intimate” with God through a greater understanding of His Word and they won’t get that if we simply dish it up on a plate. The other issue is that there are many dissenting voices when it comes to this subject and many of the people who hold different views are people we admire and trust in other areas – so why not put it all out there and let the viewers decide.

I think because of this the programmes and all the content around this are MUCH stronger – they certainly have got me thinking and in some cases reassessing where I stand on some of these issues – they are VERY interesting, I would encourage you to watch them – they are also quite entertaining at times, and trust me when I say I will never look at Al Gore in quite the same way again – won’t say anymore, you’ll have to watch and find out.

We didn’t really answer any questions BUT that was not our aim – however we certainly explored some fascinating areas and I hope we achieve our aim of getting viewers thinking.

What do you think – as Christian Broadcasters should we editorialise? I’d love to hear from you and find out what you think – please post a comment and contribute to the debate – and if you know any aliens please tell us…………………………..

Thoughts on the US Elections

I spent the majority of October and the early part of November in the USA working and thought I would put down some of my thoughts on the recent elections there – though I was not actually in the US for the elections themselves I did see first hand some of the process and the run up to them - and having been back since the aftermath as well.

Two things struck me immediately – the first was the intensity of the media coverage – it totally dominated every major TV network through the endless news coverage to the incredible quantity of advertising – the vast majority of which was for the Obama campaign. The second thing the grabbed me was the complexity of how it all works – I won’t go into that here but the American voting system is very complex – I am not surprised it can sometimes end in Lawsuits.

The other thing that struck me was the religious aspect. Firstly I was impressed by the role that religion plays in the US – at least they take the Faith community seriously. BUT I was also struck by the “presumption” in virtually all the Christian media that as a Christian you can only justifiably vote Republican.

For the majority of the Christian population in the USA as the “pro-life issue is such an important one (and I do believe it is important as well) the only party that they can vote for is Republican. I have to say I find that an incredibly narrow view of the world, they don’t in the main seem able to look past this one issue and see some of the other issues – treatment of the poor, issues on education, health care, justice, curbing the US rabid imperialistic approach to foreign policy etc. So they immediately write off one candidate simply due to his stance on abortion – it is SO blinkered!

It was really interesting to see the ungracious approach in the run up by many Christian’s to Obama but more interesting to see their reactions afterwards. Many are now saying the right things about praying for your leaders as the bible commands etc. but I do wonder how many are “itching” for him to fail so they can say “see we told you so”.

I was also struck by the role of the Christian media in the US in the election and that’s what I want to dwell on for a short while.

Firstly what is the responsibility of Christian Media when it comes to elections – well, firstly I do believe it is essential that Christian media play an active role in informing their viewers/listeners/readers on what is happening. Secondly I don’t believe it is for Christian media to come down and back one or other candidate (as Wendy Alec of GOD TV said in a broadcast I was involved in "God is not Republican - nor is he a Democrat" – BUT I do feel we should speak out and challenge political leaders etc to explain where they are coming from on issues of importance to the Faith community – then allow the viewers according to their priorities to vote (by the way I think it is essential that Christian’s vote). Thirdly we should open up debate about issues that are not being mentioned – so for example life issues, justice issues etc. should be at the forefront of our agenda and we should ensure these issues are also at the forefront of the voters minds.

I believe the US Christian media in general missed the opportunity this election to set the agenda and instead tried to fight a losing battle to have their “Republican” candidate elected – and as such there is now MUCH ground to make up. Also they had a VERY blinkered view on the elections – the vast majority of people I have met outside of the US think the election result was the best one possible whereas most US Christian’s still feel Obama is bad news – how can the US church be so far out of touch with international feeling? GIVE HIM A CHANCE!!

In the UK where I live, we will have an election coming soon and I hope we as Christian broadcasters can learn from these lessons and tackle the election in the right way to help our viewers make up their minds and exercise their democratic rights and lets hope the issues of importance to the Faith communities can dominate the debate – that’ll be up to us.

What do you think? is there a role for Christian media in the process of an election and what should it be? Also what do you think about the result of the US election – is this a chance for change in the world? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

When will we learn

I’m currently sitting on an aeroplane on my way to Israel for a couple of days and I noticed something in the paper of the lady next to me (terrible habit I have of reading over other peoples shoulders). Anyway it was about a female model who is one of the models used extensively by Marks and Spencer’s (a big retail store in the UK). The article is basically about her posing “nude” in playboy magazine and how she is defending this as “art”.

Anyway, I have to confess I did not read the full article but only got the gist of what it said. However there was one part of it that caught my attention. In this article there was a quote by a spokesman for a Christian organisation (I shall not name them – but they are reasonably well known in the UK for their “legalistic” stance on various issues) who was suggesting that because this young lady had posed nude, people should therefore boycott Marks and Spencer’s.

OK, now I do not want to comment on the merits of the article, or the story itself, or if it is appropriate for her to be a model for a leading retailer and in playboy, instead what I would rather focus on is the reaction and statement by the “Christian Organisation”. Firstly I would ask why did the paper in question feel the need to get a “statement” from a Christian organisation on this and secondly why them?

Well, my theory is that most (not all but a large proportion) of the mass media in the UK are “anti” Christian and will do anything they can to show Christianity as out dated, out of touch, irrelevant and something that has little positive to say to society generally. If you look at most of the portrayal of Christians in the media that’s what you get. If you accept that is the case, the reason they asked this particular organisation becomes clear – they know they will get the exact reaction they are looking for and further reinforce the stereotype they are building.

Now here’s the rub – why oh why oh why do we as Christians keep playing the game!! When are we going to learn that by saying what they want to hear (the negative condemnation etc) we are doing our cause further damage! Now I’m absolutely not suggesting that we don’t embrace opportunities to enter into the mainstream debate in fact exactly the opposite - but what I am suggesting is that rather than taking a negative approach and a condemnatory tone – lets start surprising people by what we are FOR rather than what we are AGAINST – maybe showing slightly more Grace would be a good thing.

The Gospel is GOOD NEWS – not bad news, its not about the law anymore but about love and forgiveness – lets make that the top of our agenda – then when the media come knocking on our doors for comments we can be positive and affirming. It really is a lesson we MUST learn or the Christian faith will increasingly be marginalised, ridiculed and made to look totally irrelevant to those who don’t know better.

We must take every opportunity to comment – but I do genuinely believe if we cannot find something that makes Christianity and Jesus look like he really is – accepting, loving, forgiving, desiring to know you – after all he laid down his life for sinners and he certainly never condemned and judged those in sin – just the religious who were doing the judging and setting themselves up as “holier than thou” – he offered love acceptance and forgiveness – if we cannot come up with comments and statements that do the same then can I suggest we would be better off offering no comment at all.

What do you think, am I being overly harsh or is it time we woke up to the media agenda and stopped playing directly into their hands – how should we respond, I’d love to know your thoughts – do you have any positive stories?

Roy Fields

This last weekend, my wife, son and I decided at the last minute to travel to Glasgow (about a 3 ½ hour drive from where we live) to go to a meeting at the Glasgow Elim Church where Roy Fields was ministering.

For those of you who may not be aware Roy was the main Worship Leader at the Lakeland Outpouring meetings (and a really nice guy). Roy and I got to know each other a little bit when I was in Lakeland and when I heard he was hear in the UK doing a 10 night tour I determined to go.

I have personally been surprised and dismayed by the willingness of some to both discount what happened in Lakeland (particularly when many who do so never went) and to further discount the ministries associated with it – so I for one was very glad Roy had determined to do this tour and take “it” to the Nations – starting with the UK.

Roy like most involved was deeply saddened by what happened with Todd and the way the outpouring ended – BUT also like most he thankfully has refused to be daunted and put off his ministry by it – we need more like him. For those who think Roy is “just” a Worship Leader because of what you may have seen in Lakeland – let me say he is far more than that. Roy, his wife and family spent the 3 ½ years prior to Lakeland travelling in an SUV with a trailer up and down the east coast of the US spending time in churches igniting fires of revival – so he is what you might call a “seasoned campaigner” – he is also MUCH more than a Worship Leader – he is a great preacher with a real heart for preaching the Gospel and seeing people come to know Jesus.

Anyway it was with a degree of trepidation that I approached the meeting on Friday. Having been to Lakeland and experienced what I can only describe as the most tangible presence of the Lord that I have experienced anywhere during the worship (led by Roy) I was concerned that this may fall WELL short of that. However within 6 bars of the Worship starting I could have closed my eyes and been transported back to Lakeland, the presence of God was profound – I can only liken it to God smiling constantly on his people – it was awesome.

It was a great meeting, the worship was intense (both Stephen and Janice loved it too), Roy preached a great (and highly entertaining) message and then had a great altar call. I didn’t count but there must have been at least 15 people who became Christians that night (probably more) – in all over the 10 days they have been on tour they have had over 600 people saved – cool!!

Afterwards I found myself reflecting on why the meeting was so good and why the presence of God was so heavy – believe me I really don’t think it was down to Roy on his own. The thing that struck me was that at one point the “MC” asked how many people had watched the outpouring from Lakeland on GOD TV and at least 400 people of the close on 600 who were there put their hands up – and that I believe is the key thing. People’s hearts were prepared, they came hungry, desperate to experience God and be changed by being in his presence – they knew this could be different they expected to meet with God. I truly believe when you have that many hungry people in one place God will move in a tremendous way.

That I believe IS the legacy of Lakeland – it has put a new hunger in the hearts of God’s people who either went or watched it – that’s also how God can turn what the enemy has meant for harm (Todd’s fall and the end of the outpouring) to good – as it says in Romans 8 v 28 – “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT) – I truly believe that Lakeland ending has forced people like Roy to take “it” to the nations and if we will remain hungry and expectant we will absolutely see revival in our lives, churches, communities and nations – the onus is on us – will we continue to hunger for God in the same way we did when Lakeland was happening – if so we will see him move.

It was GREAT to see Roy and experience the presence of the Lord in that way again – I pray you all will get the chance to do so – please don’t be cynics, remain hungry and God will meet you too.

I’m also (for those who have not seen this) copying here a letter from the founders of GOD TV in connection with Lakeland and Todd Bentley – many have suggested (absurdly in my mind) GOD TV in some way should apologise for broadcasting the Outpouring and seeing thousands upon thousands of lives changed – well please read on as I think this is a great letter and answers many critics and is written in a real spirit of grace and humility – of course if you hated Lakeland you’ll probably hate this too – but please try and read with an open mind and more importantly an open heart.

FROM RORY AND WENDY ALEC

Beloved GOD TV viewer,

In the light of many statements having been released about the LAKELAND OUTPOURING and concerning Todd Bentley’s marital situation, we sensed that the Lord has released us to write concerning this situation, so that you, our viewers would know our heart concerning this matter.

The first thing we feel led to do is to state unequivocally that in the same manner as the Lord instructed us to broadcast and serve TheCall gatherings with Lou Engle; to broadcast what was happening at the International House of Prayer with Mike Bickle; Rick Joyner and MorningStar; the Solemn assembly in San Francisco; BattleCry and Teen Mania with Ron Luce; Focus on the Family’s prayer event for America; the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem; and hundreds of other anointed events over the past three years, we believe that the Lord instructed us to broadcast the Outpouring services at Lakeland with Todd Bentley.

It was not a mistake.

It was not by mistake.

We believe it was a clear instruction from the Lord.

Over the past twelve years, but especially since our launch in America, we have in obedience to the Lord searched through the earth for those events and anointings that the Lord has laid on our hearts – to amplify their message and anointing to the Body of Christ in this crucial endtime hour that we live in.

The Lakeland Outpouring with Todd Bentley was one of those events. We received over 45 000 e-mails many, many of these heart rending, powerful testimonies from viewers across the earth of their bodies or their families bodies healed, their lives transformed and their hearts revived.

None of us have ever seen such significant fruit in all the years of broadcast.

Far more profound than that were the desperate cries for help. I (Wendy), would go through the

live inbox and see the desperate cries from mothers, wives, sons and daughters, so many with TERMINALLY ILL husbands, wives, children, sometimes babies in arms – sensing HOPE in their situation that for so long had been without hope.

Just reading these prayer requests would bring one to tears –

We are often so cloistered from the agony of peoples day by day real life agonies - and their agonies were written there.

So much so - that we both sensed that we would need the word of the Lord under the fear of God to stop these broadcasts with the life changing impact they were having in homes not only in the UK and America but all across the world. And the Glory of the Living God that was being imparted.

We both kept a very close pulse on the revival since the start of its broadcast - we had first hand knowledge of the enormous criticism, persecution and reviling that Todd Bentley was receiving (often we were second contenders for it) but it was Todd Bentley and the Fresh Fire team who received the terrible weight of this.

Todd ministered each day as the revival continued but was consistently and unrelentingly criticized, maligned, persecuted - the attacks grew increasingly violent - and the heartbreaking thing was that so much of it came from the Church.

At the same time, Todd was facing a second wave of attack. This was from the covens, the warlocks - we heard firsthand concerning some of these assignments. The enemy had heard of the great honouring of the Lamb and was determined to destroy it - BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE AND AT ANY COST.

And the cost was Todd Bentley.

Was it because Todd was vulnerable and certain areas of his life were not surrendered wholly? Yes – like so many of us - in all probability.

Was it because the character of Christ was not yet formed in him in the equivalent measure to his gifting? Yes - like so many of us - in all probability.

Could it be the case that there but for the grace of God go YOU AND I… Yes - In all probability.

Some of the areas in our lives are watertight and have been honed and refined and polished by the Lord while still other areas in our lives are often still in desperate need of attention. We are an ongoing work and we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Well - all ministers who preach should ensure their lives are in order, you may be saying.

Yes - we and our board and our minister peers across the globe agree wholeheartedly.

And yet, beloved - unfortunately, THERE ARE TIMES when satan comes unawares and targets a vulnerable area whose weaknesses only become apparent under the most enormous and unrelenting pressure brought to bear.

We believe and of course this is just our personal opinion, that the revival stirred up the satanic realms in a manner that has rarely been seen and with a violent wrath.

It is difficult to understand the degree of spiritual battle that comes against a leader. We have learned we need to protect the move of God with greater prayer for leaders, including ourselves. The body of Christ is growing in greater transparency and accountability, and this too should be a subject of prayer.

Should all of us wait till we are as perfect and as watertight as can be and mature in every area - that of course, would be the safest course of action, but the truth is that most of us would be 90 years old!

The Lord who made us and knows that we are as dust and yet looks on us with His great mercies and compassions knows this and He the sovereign God of heaven and earth still chooses to take a GOD-risk on you and I every day of our lives.

That even under the most intense pressure that we would choose HIM.

That we would love HIM.

That in times of intense duress and temptation that we would follow HIM.

And let it be so - even more in all our lives, but beloved - let us not forget so many of those who walk in ministry across the earth today with such COURAGE and FERVOUR and lay their lives down for HIS CAUSE at great cost to themselves - Todd and Shonnah sowed their lives to sow the seeds of revival and we believe became a supreme target of the enemy.

On the June 23rd, Todd actually spoke openly and with great vulnerability of his and Shonnah’s previous marriage challenges and how they had faced those challenges and the Lord had begun His work. He did not try to hide their struggle but shared their ongoing journey.

As Rick Joyner so wisely put it –

"In marriage, I have learned there are those who admit they have been through times when they wondered if their marriage would make it, and then there are liars. Relationships are hard, and the closer they are, the harder they can be. I tell everyone that I give premarital counselling to that the Lord has ordained their marriage in order to kill both of them! That is true. It is also worth it! The greatest gift He gave to man was marriage and family. However, to have a marriage that is good, both will have to die to themselves. If either one does not make the commitment to lay down their life for their mate and their family, then what was meant to be heaven can be hell."

It is an ongoing walk - and we all are ongoing works. But the Lord said something to us some years ago - He said - When you hate sin because it HURTS ME - then it will lose its grip on you. When you hate sin because it displeases ME - its hold diminishes.

The Lord also shared with us that someone can be deceived in an AREA of sin but it does not necessarily mean that in every area of his or her life or ministry, they were walking in deception as some critics of the revival may lean to believe.

And who is to judge that the Lord does not hold the violent unleashing of criticism and faultfinding and tearing down and divisiveness of the heresy hunters, as severe a sin as separation in a marriage?

We will find out before the judgement seat in eternity.

One of our greatest grievings has been to see how many in the church backtracked to protect their own reputations. We have been truly refreshed by several close ministry friends with their uncompromising love of truth and lack of a man pleasing spirit that has arisen in the church in the light of the Lakeland aftermath. They have given us fresh courage when we grew weary.

So beloved friend –

Do we at GOD TV refute the Outpouring? NO.

We are presently planning to broadcast other offshoots of Lakeland in both the United Kingdom and America, including revival meetings in Dudley, England.

We have determined in our hearts to follow the Lord with all our might as courageously and as boldly as we can, to reject the pressures to bow to a man pleasing spirit but instead to humble ourselves under the Fathers leading.

For HE is our all in all.

He is our great desire.

Finally, dear friends, while we defend and rejoice in the many ten thousands that God lifted and healed, we also know that there were dear souls, sheep, who were scattered as a result of Todd’s personal choices. The Bible says that “hope deferred makes the heart sick” and this is the last thing GOD TV would want to see happen. We are praying for any that stumbled and believing that the Lord will restore them to Himself.

Remember: this was never about Todd Bentley. It was always about the Holy Spirit and the fact that God loved you and I. It was GOD who touched our lives.

One thing, we felt impressed upon our hearts thirteen years ago when we first launched this ministry. That the Father will allow none of us - whether in ministry or as a viewer to hold idolatry in our hearts for any man.

For the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit alone are to receive our worship.

We continue on the road to maturity.

We continue our efforts to serve an end time spiritual army.

We continue to try each day to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of the ONLY one who is worthy of ALL adoration.

Of ALL HONOUR.

Of ALL WORSHIP.

Remember also, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Let’s turn our eyes toward Him and away from our trust in man.

He who sent His only begotten Son.

The Great Father of Compassions.

To Him alone we bow.

Personally we believe that the best is yet to come.

For our King and His Kingdom

Rory and Wendy

Working with Clients

Here’s a question for you – how do you balance your creative impulses and desires with conflicting views from Clients?

This is something we run into occasionally as we work with Clients where we will have an idea or opinion based on our perceptions of what would work best for them and their opinion differs or even sometimes (though not often) is at the complete opposite extreme of the spectrum – how do you deal with that and still retain both the client and your creative integrity, well here are some suggestions that I try and operate:

1. There’s an old adage that the Customer is always right. Well I disagree – the customer is clearly not always right, BUT something nearer the truth would be – the customer is never wrong. If you have that approach it leads to dialogue, explanations and engagement – the other just leads to frustration.
2. Don’t just reject their idea out of hand because you think you know best after all you do this for a living – they are the client and they actually may know what they want to achieve better than you – you may have misinterpreted the brief.
3. Equally though don’t just go along with what they want – you might be right and by just simply agreeing you may be doing them a grave disservice.
4. Hold everything likely and try NOT to let your ego get in the way. At the end of the day it’s about making it work for everyone – it’s not about “it must be my way or no way” – grow up.
5. Engage in discussion and collaboration and don’t be unwilling to get other advice or a 2nd opinion – I firmly believe that the very best work comes out of collaboration and team work – so use that as your ultimate goal and 99 times out of 100 you’ll resolve it and come up with a plan that will work for everyone. I’ve never yet had to walk away from a job due to creative disagreements.

Of course ultimately if can’t resolve things then you only have 2 options – do it their way (they’re paying you remember) or walk away – that choice has to be an individual one but I do believe if you apply the points above – this outcome will be very rare.

Identifying Giftings

If you’re like me, you will often find yourself getting irritated by small little things associated with the work you do even when you are not at work.

I mean, for those of us who work in TV, can you actually watch TV without looking at lighting, camera technique, framing, focus etc? – I know I often can’t! (I still shout at the telly trying to get the Director's attention).

This was highlighted for me the other day by my wife. We were at a Christian conference for a week’s vacation – though mine was cut short by a few days due to work. She found herself standing in a long queue to get a doughnut (its worth the wait though) one morning and getting more and more frustrated by the seeming lack of organisation – she later said to me words to the effect of “Why can’t I stand there and not get wound up by this – but just accept it”. They made me think and I actually came up with what I think is an answer.

One of my wife’s greatest strengths – you might call it gifting or even anointing is in the area of administration and organisation, and it occurred to me that the reason she was getting wound up was that the situation (the lack of organisation) was an affront to her gifting – and in fact she wanted to operate in her gifting and try and change it to organise things better.

I think that’s fine BUT a key thing I think you have to learn is that you have to find a way of dealing with these issues so that you don’t constantly live a life of frustration and I think the key here could be summed up in an old prayer (that I’ll probably misquote):

“God help me to change the things I can change, accept the things I can’t change and grant me wisdom to know the difference” – I think peace can be found for all of us here.

Sometimes we simply cannot do anything to change things – such as my wife standing in the doughnut queue (or me shouting at the telly) and here we have to let these things go – NOT get uptight at the fact we can’t turn our “gifting” off BUT rather rejoice in the giftings we have but LET IT GO so we don’t get wound up. I think the first step for dealing with this is knowing and accepting our giftings and then we can CHOOSE to let these things go past without getting all twisted out if shape by them.

There’s one other very quick thing though I’d like to suggest which this thinking led me to. Often we come across people who say they don’t know where their giftings lie – well maybe there’s an answer to this in the above and we can help and guide them, by asking them what kind of things, situations etc. wind them up or frustrate them. This could be particularly true for those who sense a call to the media but are unclear on what specific area that maybe. Perhaps we need to work with them to identify what kind of things grate on them as they watch and listen – maybe they get wound up by sound quality (then perhaps audio is their thing) or story construction (maybe then more directing or writing) or the pace, shot order etc. (then perhaps they are editors) – this certainly may help us in our organisations to get the right people in the right positions (particularly when it comes to new entrants or youngsters) – and if we can achieve that we’ll have MUCH more success in everything we do and also much more contented people working with and for us – as they will be flowing in their gifts.

Let me know what you think on the above – could I be onto something here – I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

A turning point in South Africa?

I was in South Africa a little while ago at an event called “Loftus for Jesus” at which approx 70,000 people gathered in a stadium in Pretoria to listen to some good music and hear a potato farmer called Angus Buchan preach – not on paper a BIG draw maybe outside South Africa.

I was there for just a couple of days BUT was struck by the gloom hovering in the air. The politicians have been and are failing, the economy is going downhill fast, crime is rising etc etc – things are bad and getting worse – most of this is not news to anyone that follows current affairs but what maybe is that all is not doom an gloom.

At the event in Pretoria, Angus boldly stood up and declared “the future of South Africa is in our hands (the Christian Church) NOT the governments – there are enough people in this stadium to change our Nation!” I know he believes it and after hearing him – so do I.

Something is happening in South Africa right now – in the midst of the chaos, the body of Christ is coming together, it’s praying and seeking God for something new – I think that Angus and men like him know the ONLY hope for their nation IS God. By the way a little bit of background – this event is as far as I know the biggest of its kind in South African history and sold out within DAYS of the tickets being made available. It also comes only a couple of months after the Mighty Men’s conference which saw 60,000 men gather in a field to pray and see the nation changed – there’s 6 or so more of these gatherings planned this year – the church is on the move.

Angus struck me as God’s man for this hour in his nation. A prophetic voice calling on the Church to take its rightful place in society – I loved his passion, but also his humility and compassion. His message was not one of criticising the government for what they are doing wrong BUT one of awakening the Church to do what it needs to do. I believe every nation needs an Angus Buchan – and I believe some nations already have them – I believe Lou Engle (founder of the Call) is such a man for the US. Sadly I don’t yet see one in the UK.

So what should our response be as programme makers and broadcasters to this? Well I firmly believe we MUST enable these men to have a platform – we are the Church’s mouthpiece and it is up to us to ensure that God’s message to His church in this hour is heard – and I believe this is that. Sadly very few broadcasters I believe will take these risks – it’s not comfortable, is often VERY controversial (for example Lou Engle’s attitude to abortion and same sex marriage certainly don’t make him many friends) it also doesn’t always make for what we think is good programming (though I would personally define good programming for Christian broadcasts as a. something the viewers want to watch and b. something that takes them from spectating to participating) – and of course it can be financially costly. BUT we have to do it I believe to NOT do so will miss God’s agenda – and I certainly don’t want to do that.

What about you programme makers – will you find ways to allow your viewers access both to these men – but more importantly to their messages – how can you build programming that will help change your nations – a big task, but think of the rewards.

Also local Churches MUST take a lead, they must allow these men access to their pulpits, encourage their congregations to get to these meetings, engage with the message and Church let’s build the Kingdom NOT our own Empires.

I actually wonder if ultimately many of our ministries and churches will be judged on how we respond right now to these Nation changers and the challenging messages they present – will we embrace and encourage them or try and pretend they are not there and hope they go away. All credit to the broadcasters and programme makers who are already engaging. As you know one of our clients is GOD TV and I am going to give them (and Wendy Alec in particular) a shameless plug as being one who will and does step out – the Loftus meeting was broadcast LIVE on GOD TV as have all the recent Lou Engle Calls etc. so well done GOD TV for standing up and being counted – will the rest of us?

I’d love to know your thoughts on this – do you agree should our attention be drawn to these “Nation Changers”? Can we achieve it? Should we support them and how? I am personally passionate about this – and I think you should be too.

Reflections on Lakeland

I recently spent 5 consecutive days in Lakeland Florida at the outpouring working for one of our clients GOD TV. I rarely get to spend 5 consecutive days anywhere so this actually felt like a considerable chunk of time for me. I thought I would share here just a few observations from my time there – and I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

Firstly let me nail my colours to the mast right up front – I do believe something remarkable is happening in Lakeland, I don’t personally think its about Lakeland as a place – I think possibly it maybe that when Todd moves on the “happenings” will stop – I don’t necessarily however think its about Todd either – in fact I can’t answer the why him, why there and why now questions – maybe we’ll only get those after its all over – BUT I do firmly believe that something remarkable is going on there – disagree if you like that’s my opinion and here are some reflections on what I experienced there:

1. Todd – he is the same on stage as off stage; I spent some time with him and was impressed with his approachableness, passion (it oozes out of every pore) and his ability to relate to those around him. He is also as sharp as a razor (in the right way) there’s no pulling the wool over his eyes – I was also impressed with his desire to ONLY focus on the genuine – if you watch him operate he rarely “proclaims” people healed instead they are the ones proclaiming and he is REALLY keen to get evidence – which despite what some areas of the press would tell you is there in plentiful supply. He’s also seen as “one of us” read Louis story below.
2. The worship and the hunger of the people – I’ve been to LOADS of Christian meetings as part of what I do but never and I really mean NEVER have I experienced anything quite like what I experienced in Lakeland – the hunger and the passion is incredible. I walked round the outside of the tent one night and the thing that amazed me was where ever I looked people were worshiping – what’s surprising about that – well usually on the “fringes” of the meetings people tend to not engage – not so here EVERYONE I saw was interacting with God in worship – that stunned me. Then there was the noise factor. I stood by the stage when the band were NOT playing and my eardrums could barely cope with the level of noise coming from the crowd as they sang, clapped, shouted, cried etc. it was an incredible sound – again see Louis story below.
3. The healings and testimonies – this is possibly the most controversial area – are people genuinely getting healed – well all I can say from what I saw yes absolutely. We were there primarily to film testimonies of people getting healed and we found plenty, ranging from the deaf hearing, to kidney disease, to depression etc. Everyone that testified you could see had been deeply touched – many were near to tears at what God had done for them and many had clear physical improvements in their condition – some total – some partial BUT there is no doubt healings happen thick and fast. And we also filmed some people who were back after being healed previously and had gone to their doctor and got medical proof – Praise God.

All in all, I had a great 5 days, and was even more convinced when I came away that God is up to something in Lakeland – oh and the trapped nerve in my back got healed – Todd prayed for me and ever since then it has been steadily improving and improving (it was still bad before this) but now I have no pain, and virtually full movement back – I’m working on getting the muscles back to full functionality now – so there’s personal testimony for you as well.

Now to Louis story. Louis has given me permission to share this – BUT I confess I may get some facts wrong – if I do, Louis I apologise.

Louis was our sound guy for the 5 days when we were there, an American from New York of Italian descent. Louis had been brought up a catholic but had stopped going to church as he didn’t find anything genuine there – he still believed in God but on a superficial kind of level. I’m not too sure what Louis expected when he came to work with us, but he was a lovely guy, really sweet spirited etc. and we got on great. You could see after the first day when we were filming some of the testimonies that Louis was touched by the stories of what God was doing and when we went in the tent he was blown away by what I described above – and was soon asking “What do these people have that I don’t?” – he was also very taken with Todd and the fact that he was just a normal guy – we had quite a few good chats – I love people that are hungry to know more. By the last day of being there Louis was already telling us of the change that his family were seeing in him, he was talking about God all the time etc. Since we’ve come back, Louis and I have corresponded a bit and I know he is moving forward in his faith, at his request we’ve given him a couple of suggestions on bible reading plans as he wants to get into reading the bible etc. I’m going to look forward to hearing more positive stuff – but the long and short of it is that if you’re asking what the fruit of Lakeland is – well there’s one story for you right away.

I know there has been lots of criticism – the above is my take on it all after being there for a few days – is everything that’s happening there God? Undoubtedly not, there’s people who are being touched spiritually and others that are having an emotional experience only – does that mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater and disregard it all – NO – that would dishonour what God IS doing – have an open mind, don’t be dismissive, be enquiring etc. Also if you want a good solid theological argument – that’s not what I’m aiming at here – let me point you instead to an article by Rick Joyner on the Morningstar website – he’s much better qualified than me in that area – www.morningstarministries.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=1000034608

I hope for some the above thoughts are helpful – I would really like to know what you think so post away……..

The Church Leading the Community

I was in the US for the 4th July this year – the first time ever, and was involved in broadcasting a large 4th July celebration in Springfield (DOH!!) – can’t say Springfield (DOH!!) without saying DOH as well.

This was an event put on by the James River Assembly and has been going for a number of years and this year attracted nearly 100,000 people. It’s basically a full day event with loads of stuff happening games for the children, an air show, bands performing, all leading up to a massive fireworks display while an orchestra plays stirring patriotic songs and all the crowd take the “Pledge of Allegiance” – I must confess I did find the level of patriotism interesting and slightly bizarre – but I’m from the UK and we’re a cynical bunch.

But before the fireworks and everything happened, there was a full on Gospel presentation and an altar call that I’m told over 100 people present at the event responded to and accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour – excellent stuff.

The thing that struck me about the whole day was the significance that this was a local church putting on an event for their local community and doing it really well. It wasn’t a “covert” operation – everyone knew there would be a gospel presentation and came anyway (the fireworks were WELL worth it – I have not seen a display that impressive as close up – ever). It was great to see the Church getting out of its 4 walls and just being as Jesus instructed salt and light.

I wonder how many other churches do this kind of thing for their community – it’s a fabulous way to build relationships, introduce people to church and share the Gospel – though I wonder how many Churches actually would do all 3 (sadly these days I think many might shy away from point 3 as they don’t want to offend….)

We as the church should be the leading lights in our communities – but many of us prefer to stay within our 4 walls and wait for the community to come to us – let go to them and make a difference and let’s have FUN doing it.

What could you or your church be doing along these lines – we don’t always have to reinvent wheels, we’ve got plenty of things we could be doing – let’s do them.

Find your Niche

Recently I had the utter delight to be involved in probably some of the biggest and most complex productions I have ever done – and possibly ever done on Christian TV.

This was for one of my clients GOD TV (who I work for extensively) and was a whole series of outside broadcasts in the wonderful country of Israel. GOD TV took a tour of over 1700 people to Israel at the start of May to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the nation, and I was fortunate enough to be tasked with overseeing the TV production for the tour.

Let me say right at the start NONE of what we achieved would have been possible without the MOST incredible and committed team of people working on the productions (another reason to invest in people as they are what make the difference) – many of whom worked 16 straight days often on literally 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night. The team included GOD TV staff from the UK, US and Israel and a host of incredibly talented and wonderfully committed local Israelis who loved the experience of working on what they described as “High End” productions – thank you all.

What we did was a remarkable achievement given the budgets and time constraints we were working with. Most secular broadcasters would have had a dedicated team of people working on EACH project for months in advance and a much higher budget – we had a small team working on ALL the productions – and doing other jobs as well – I cannot tell you the incredible talent of these people I have the privilege of working with – they are awesome.

We did 3 main productions over a 4 day period – all complex in their own ways. I’ll list them in the degree of complexity:

1. On May 12th a live music concert with Kim Clement and his band in the open air on Mount Carmel. This was by far and away the easiest of the productions but looked and sounded incredible. We had 9 cameras on the job including 2 cranes, an 8 piece band and the added challenge that the event started in daylight but ended after sunset – so some interesting lighting challenges to overcome – also this came the day after the marathon I have described in number 3 below.
2. The 60th Anniversary of Israel on May 14th – a 2 ½ hour LIVE broadcast – this was again in an outdoor venue – this time with the added complication that the venue was an archaeological park – so it was a case of not being able to do much of what we wanted in terms of layout but having to come up with solutions – we ended up with8 separate “on camera” areas. This was a 15 camera shoot (including 2 cranes, a 20 meter track and dolly and a stedicam), we had 3 different musical guests – a solo violinist, an opera singing couple and ending up with a contemporary worship band. We also had a very special guest preaching – Benny Hinn, Rory and Wendy Alec hosting and a big video element – of course not forgetting the fireworks from the Mount of Olives (for which we had to provide 22 armed guards), 40 shofar blowers on the walls of the old city and some other smaller things. It was quite mammoth – but I am assured (and agree now I’ve seen it back) it was quite awesome – to me in the truck at the time it felt like total chaos – but that’s the benefit of a great team.
3. The last production (in fact the first chronologically on May 11th) was probably the most complex event I have ever done (at least the other 2 were in one place!!!) – it was coverage of the Global day of Prayer. This was an 18 hour LIVE broadcast. Here we had a studio with our “hosts” that was live all the way through, a 2nd studio at a remote location in Jerusalem, a 12 hour LIVE event we were covering also in Jerusalem (the Call) and remote satellite feeds from various prayer meetings around the globe – New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Egypt, South Africa, Romania, Denmark, UK (which we were also doing the production on) and a feed from the US. It was immense BUT what an incredible experience – to pull all that together was some achievement – also to see all these people in all the different parts of the world uniting in prayer on that one day was humbling.

I’d really encourage you to go to www.god.tv/stream where some of the above is available as Video on Demand – oh I didn’t mention that as well as the broadcast, you could also see each of the above events and locations streamed simultaneously on the internet in their entirity (just to add to the complexity).

It was a great partnership between all the different ministries and broadcasters involved (particularly GOD TV, Global Day of Prayer – who also preprepared a host of inserts for us on the history of GDoP in these nations and the Call) and I believe a truly significant broadcast in Christian terms – not too sure how we top it!!

Having been involved in all the above (and several other things since coming back – including a 10 hour LIVE broadcast of the Frenzy music festival a couple of weekends ago and the ongoing coverage of the Lakeland Outpouring – broadcasting LIVE 4 hours every night – see my previous Blog) – it got me thinking.

In the UK right now “multichannel” viewing makes up approx 45% of ALL TV viewing. What I mean by multichannel is effectively niche broadcasting. There are now 14 Christian TV stations as part of this BUT generally most of these broadcasters are replicating what the others are doing.

Secular broadcasters in the multichannel world seem to have it right – most of them focus in on one thing – a sports channel, a baby channel, a shopping channel, a men’s skewing channel, a woman’s skewing channel etc. However we have Christian Channels – which on the face of it seems to be niche as the above – BUT I’m not sure that is enough. I wonder in fact if as Christian Broadcasters we need to get even more specific, more focused and more niche – and I don’t mean denominationally speaking. No what I mean is maybe our focus needs to be even more refined if we are going to attract audience – the days of “just” being a Christian Channel might not be enough.

For example, there is no doubt that under the guiding hand of Wendy Alec GOD TV has carved out a niche for events based (and particularly LIVE events) programming – as evidenced by the above programmes. If I can be as bold in fact I don’t believe ANY other Christian network comes close to delivering what the GOD TV team deliver – consistently well made LIVE events – in fact I think they even give secular broadcasters a run for their money in some of the stuff they do on a fraction of the budget. I wonder if viewers now associate GOD TV as the place to go to be where God is moving – I do.

I think there is a danger sometimes that a Christian Broadcast want to be a BBC or ITV and do a bit of everything – chat shows, events, teaching etc. BUT maybe would be better carving a niche in the way GOD TV has done in one specific thing and get known for that. I know GOD TV has in the past done other things and maybe it will do again but at least for now it seems clearly focused on event based content and there is no doubt that is what its audience is responding to, the response to the broadcasts, growth etc. has been incredible in the last 3 months alone eclipsing anything achieved in the past. For example the Up to Jerusalem initiative saw over 55,000 people respond and send in prayer requests and the complete obliteration of every wall in the Jerusalem broadcast centre with people’s photos – I have never seen anything like it and I have to say it was quite an experience walking in their day after day and seeing this growing sea of faces – wow!!

I have also wondered in the UK what GOD TV’s commitment to broadcasting the Lakeland Outpouring every night is doing to the other Christian Networks? Out of the people I know, I have anecdotal evidence that a people who usually watch other Christian networks are abandoning them and instead are watching Lakeland every night.. Of course for GOD TV the potential challenge is what next? If the Outpouring stops – what do they follow it with? Well who knows – other than to say as they are obedient to what God wants he’ll reveal that to them, what I do know is that it is further cementing their reputation as the Channel that takes you where God is moving. With some of the other events planned I have no doubt that will continue – in a few weeks for example GOD TV will be the exclusive broadcaster of the CallDC where over 1 million people are expected on the Mall in Washington DC to pray and fast for 12 hours for their nation – and GOD TV will be broadcasting it all live.

Perhaps other Christian broadcasters not only in the UK should be less trying to compete (can I use that word) with what GOD TV is doing and instead try and work out what their niche is and stick with it – then we’ll have complimentary channels that truly do cater for the audiences needs – if I want to watch the blind seeing, the deaf hearing I can, or if I’m bored of that and want to instead hear a local church pastor preaching to his congregation then I can – or I can watch a phone in show and listen to people talk about anything and everything……. though in all honesty why I would not stick with the miracles I’m not sure.

Maybe you’re a programme producer or a ministry reading this and thinking that I’m talking only about the broadcasters – well yes, but the same is true for you. What makes your programme stand out from the 40 others that are on the same channel – what are you saying that’s niche enough to resonate with sufficient people to build an audience. The fact the programme is well produced and has good production values goes without saying (or it should) no, I mean content – what makes your programme different to the others – in marketing terms what’s your USP (Unique Selling Point) – can I encourage you to spend time finding your niche and focus on it – I’ll guarantee you will have more success that way – also don’t try and compete with other programme makers by copying them – be unique God made you that way be an expression of his creativity in your creativity.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this – please tell me if you think I’m onto something here or maybe you think I’ve missed it entirely – let me know.

Is this Revival – captured on TV for the first time ever?

Well, I have spent the last 12 years or so involved in a ministry (GOD TV) desperate to see revival and to carry it to the globe – and I wonder if we may finally be there!!!!

For the past 2 weeks, GOD TV has cleared their schedule and been broadcasting the Florida Healing Outpouring with Todd Bentley (he isn’t your conventional Christian Minister) at I have to say great cost to themselves – both production wise and revenue wise – BUT they believe this is what God has raised them up for.

It has been incredible to experience the commitment of this relatively small network to capturing and broadcasting what God is doing in Florida. I was there (at the revival) for an evening last week and experienced first hand what God is doing amongst people and it is REMARKABLE. However the more remarkable thing to me is that what he is doing on the ground he is also doing through the broadcasts. The e-mails are literally flooding in from all over the globe telling of the goodness of God as people are getting healed and set free and experiencing new depths of relationship with God JUST by watching the programmes – WOW!!!

I was thinking earlier of the difference between when first Toronto’s revival and then the Pensacola’s revival started. There were networks around then who could have gone with this and broadcast them to the world – but for whatever reason didn’t – why not!!! Now a strange couple from Britain and South Africa have found themselves in the middle of what God is doing and have decided in their naivety just to run with it, clearing out their schedules, going through the pain of last minute changes of plans and just doing it!!!!!

Believe me its not pretty or planned BUT it is GOD and seeing what he is doing in peoples lives makes it well worthwhile whatever the pain – well done Rory and Wendy and GOD TV – he WILL see you succeed as you in purity seek to follow what he is doing – JUST please DON’T commercialise it and you will see God do extraordinary things – I know many people (including my wife – who had to first get past the “who’s the ugly noisy guy with the tattoos” syndrome) who are GLUED to their TV and Computer screens watching God move on his people – what more could be the purpose of Christian TV – this is what we were created for and FINALLY we are doing it – and its not always great production BUT people are flocking to the broadcasts as they simply want to see God. If we as media professionals can get beyond our plans and desires to control it and make it “Worthy of Television” then people will still watch as God is there!!

Is this Revival? Who knows, and frankly who cares – what it is (from personal experience) is GOD moving in power and blessing His people – and finally after 2 failed attempts Christian TV is carrying REVIVAL to the nations via GOD TV.

WOW!!!!!!

Can I recommend you hook into this at www.god.tv – your life simply might not be the same ever again.

What a pleasure

I have literally JUST finished a 3 day shoot for a new client Ellel Ministries for whom we have recorded an 18 part half hour series called Living the Life with Peter Horrobin (the founder of Ellel) – and WHAT a pleasure it has been.

Firstly let me say if you are a Christian broadcaster out there you should SERIOUSLY consider airing this series. It’s basically a Christianity 101 type course dealing with the foundational aspects of the Christian Faith. Peter is a gifted communicator, highly engaging who has a real knack of communicating deep things in a gentle and uncomplicated way that is very easy to listen to and packs a punch – it also looks great (I would say that wouldn’t I).

Why was it such a pleasure? Well for 2 main reasons, first the crew I pulled together did a GREAT job both technically which I would expect but also how they fitted in really and became “part of the family” for the 3 days – even though some are not yet Christians they operated as total professionals, were not aloof and didn’t mind the questions from the inquisitive people at Ellel – on fact this is something we really welcome – if we can help and impart some of what we have learnt that’s a positive thing for us as it says YOU value what WE know – and all the crew really rose to occasion – thanks to you all.

The second reason is the ministry were a JOY to work with – a breath of fresh air. There was no strife, no unrealistic demands and they just good to work with. Our crew kept commenting on how refreshing it was to work with “nice people” – and I believe this was one of the main factors that enabled us as a team to produce good work as we wanted to do a good job, go the extra mile and make it work as well as we possibly could “for them”.

There is nothing worse than working for people who are not nice – particularly when they are a Christian ministry – and in all honesty its such a BAD witness to the non Christian crews we often work with – just be nice it honestly is not hard.

Well done Ellel – I look forward to working with you again and I know all our crew would feel the same – and well done to the crew – you really did a great job, thanks. And if you as a broadcaster want to know more about the series (we’ve got to do the post production first) – but its well worth broadcasting – let me know.

What can you potentially learn from this regarding how to work with 3rd parties and consultants?

Firstly, as a ministry if you bring in outside contractors MAKE THE MOST OF US – Ellel did this, they identified a few people who have an interest in this area and asked us if they could sit in “behind the scenes” on the recordings – we were more than happy to do this and answer their questions – and I believe they found it helpful – we really don’t mind and it will help you develop people for the future if you ever want to do this by yourselves.

Secondly, allow us (as professionals) to get on and do the job that you have asked and paid us to do – give us a clear brief (which Ellel did) and then allow us to run with it and bring our creativity to play to achieve what you want – it works better this way.

Thirdly, realise that filming things for a specific purpose will change your internal dynamics of the meetings – if you want a great product then please be flexible, technical problems can happen and if for example we have a problem and need to start again – then go with us – we’re there to deliver the best we can and sometime that means you have to help us – Ellel and Peter were incredibly gracious in the way they allowed us to do what we needed – even if it meant as happened on one occasion that 8 minutes in we had to do a complete restart – BUT trust me when you see it back you’ll be delighted you did – work with us rather than against us – then we’ll achieve MUCH more.

Fourthly, prepare, get ready to make the most of the money you are spending and our time with you – work out how you can best benefit from our time together and have a clear and specific focus in mind of what you want to achieve.

And fifthly, be nice, at the end of the day you may have a purpose and a focus – BUT God may have a different purpose – the seeds you can sow by your witness into the lives of non Christians who maybe part of our teams can have an eternal impact – and at the end of the day that’s what it is about.

Ellel – thanks, it was a pleasure.

The Art of Communication

Recently there have been a couple of instances that to me have highlighted the critical role that INTERNAL communication plays in everything we do as organisations and how in some cases when we get this wrong it can have a real detrimental effect on our EXTERNAL communication – and that really is a bad thing.

The first situation was when one of our clients went and communicated something externally that was a potential hand grenade internally. Unfortunately it was a “sudden” spur of the moment decision to do this that was not thought through at senior management level where someone simply needed to ask “if we do this what impact will it have on our staff”.

Now I am NOT saying the decision to go and communicate this externally was wrong – far from it, as it turned out it was absolutely a “God inspired” decision – all I am saying was that what I noticed was when the implications of the decision were not thought through it created MAJOR havoc inside the organisation. It is essential that those in positions of influence, authority and management put themselves in the position of those who are not and simply think through the implications of what they are going to communicate. In this case a simple staff e-mail would have fully solved this issue and the chaos that took place internally would have been irradiated.

The second situation was a complete, total and unmitigated disaster. I happened to be travelling back from Israel via Heathrow airport on the very day that the new Terminal 5 opened – oh dear!!!!

Basically what happened to me was that we (I was travelling with a colleague) arrived at Heathrow on an El Al flight and because we were transferring to a different carrier (BA) could not check luggage all the way. So we arrived at T5 (which is a stunning place) at about 3.15pm – just about the same time that the entire baggage handling system ground to a halt. What this meant was that NO ONE could check their bags in at the Fast Bag Drop – so you couldn’t go anywhere. To cut a long story short, we waited for nearly 3 ½ hours in the cue – during which time our flight was cancelled (no one told us till we asked) we were then put on another later flight – BUT after asking were again told this one was cancelled (the last one of the night) so we ended up getting a hire car and driving the 5 hours home – all in all not a great experience.

BUT here was the worst thing; there was NO communication from the staff on the ground about what was going on – basically because there was NO communication to them from management – meaning they were left totally isolated and unable to deal with what they were trained to do – customer relations.

I have very little to say other than this instance to me highlighted again the vital role that our internal communication can ultimately have on our external perception. Taking your team with you, getting them on the same page and keeping them involved and engaged CANNOT be underestimated – I wonder how much time we spend concentrating on this as opposed to our external communication (which is also crucial) BUT can so easily be undermined if the internal element does not happen as well – we’re in the communications business – but I think this is an area we severely neglect and wonder if we diverted some attention to it if it might in fact not revolutionise our effectiveness as all of a sudden we have all our team on board.

Jesus did this VERY well even though his “team” didn’t always get it. He clearly communicated ton his 12 disciples REGULARLY what was going on in the ministry and what they should be aware of regarding what was coming up – even to the extent of telling them he was going to die. He concentrated on communication and spent time taking his core team with him – if it was important to him – how much more to us.

There was one other aspect to the Terminal 5 debacle that’s worth comment – and that’s the planning. Who on EARTH came up with the idea of moving the ENTIRE BA domestic and short haul flight schedule overnight into a new home that had not been thoroughly and robustly tested? Surely the thing to do was a phased move – ensuring that it was working at each stage BEFORE moving on to the next – doing what they did meant they had NO back up plan when it all failed.

Unfortunately I regularly work with ministries and organisations that do this ALL the time – never having a plan B. We somehow expect it to all be alright and when it isn’t have to unpick what we have done to get back to normal and then try again – often taking weeks (though thankfully unlike with BA not having it cost us a fortune). If we ONLY spent a bit more time thinking it through, carrying out proper planning, assessing risk and ensuring we have a good plan B – we’d save LOT’S of headaches – I wonder if its because we pull the “God Card” – it’ll be alright, God told us to do it – well honestly it rarely is and in all truth usually when it is its because the dedicated team working for the organisation would die before seeing it fail – but this takes its toll on people and really is NO WAY to run an organisation – the strain it puts is never good and in creative media teams stifles and kills the creative ingredient that is so critical – so a plea from the “little people” please plan better and ask those of us who can help you – AND listen even when the answer is not what you want to hear – its usually for the long term good of the organisation.

Thanks – and what do you think?