Day 2 of the LIVE
I thought I would share with you some of my experiences while working as a Producer in Nigeria for GOD TV as they aim to broadcast Live the Oshogbo Christ For all Nations Gospel Crusade. What I’d like to do through these paragraphs is give you an insight into both the practicalities of what’s involved, my spiritual thoughts along with some hints, tips and suggestions that if you are a media professional you might find helpful.
Today is the second out of our four live broadcasts on GOD TV of the CfAN crusade from Oshogbo Nigeria. As I write this, I am sitting in the presidential suite (believe me, this is NOT as grand as it sounds) of the Leisure Springs Hotel in Oshogbo, with my colleague from GOD TV Steve Cunningham. Steve’s currently editing the highlights clip from last nights broadcast for play in during tonight’s programme. This being in the middle of power cuts, spikes and all sorts of nasties that come with the territory – oh the joys of editing in Nigeria!! We’re 5 hours away from tonight’s broadcast and still not only have this clip to edit but also one more filmed at the fire conference that always accompanies the Bonnke Crusades – but we’ll get there (by God’s Grace).
What an amazing experience this has been for me and for GOD TV. To be the first ever Christian network to broadcast LIVE one of Reinhard Bonnke’s crusades across the world is a tremendous privilege. To be able to bring to the global audience what happens on the crusade ground is incredible. We’ve already had feedback from viewers around the world commenting on the awesomeness of the experience. For me it has been a big headache, but also humbling that I am producing and directing this unique broadcast – I am honoured and thank GOD TV and Rory and Wendy for this opportunity.
So far this has not been an easy programme to get on air (and that’s an understatement) and it continues to be a challenge. We’ve just had a phone call telling us that the Satellite Phone we are using as our Communications feed to the GOD TV Transmission Facility has fallen off the roof of our container and broken. It’s a bit of a nightmare as this is our only stable form of communication. There are many challenges we’ve faced, including the dust and humidity/heat (we had 2 cameras fail last night due to this), but we have a great crew who seem to be able to perform miracles at the drop of a hat – well, I suppose we’re in the right place for that.
The logistics of pulling this off have included hiring a charter aircraft (a DC9) from South Africa to move a whole OB, Crew and SNG (3 ½ tons of equipment and 22 people in total) – getting customs clearances, on the ground transport, satellite time (which is very limited here in Africa) and the list goes on. All in all by far the most difficult job I’ve undertaken yet – particularly when you take into account the HORRENDOUS communications issues. However as I said above we have a great great crew on the ground here, and tremendous support from the local CfAN office here. Nonetheless, it has not been easy and I have learnt a lot that will be very useful should GOD TV or another of our clients need us to do this again (which I sincerely hope they do). Here (based on what I’ve learnt so far) are some general recommendations for filming in “foreign parts” and also for filming in EXTREME parts of the world like Nigeria – I hope you find them helpful:
Always have a local fixer who can help you on the ground with logistics – and where possible have this person dedicated to you.
Do not rely on being able to communicate to “base” etc. – though try and have a system in place for this.
Ensure you get a great crew (preferably people you have worked with before and can trust) – even if they cost you more – INVEST in people.
If you’re in places like Nigeria, do not rely on any local infrastructure, BRING IT WITH YOU – again even if it costs more. At the end of the day getting the programme on air or to tape is worth an extra bit on the budget. Spend £100,000 and guarantee that something can be taped or spend £70,000 and run the risk of wasting it all – no contest in my book.
Talking of budget, always negotiate the best deals that you can, but be aware that you probably will exceed your budget as there is always the unknown – so build in a contingency.
Travel with plenty of CASH, credit cards are no use in Nigeria for example.
· Try if possible (for me it wasn’t this time) to do a full site visit prior to coming.
And the biggest one of all – give yourself as much time as possible to plan. That way you’ll save money and also ease the way and headaches as much as you can.
Those are some starters which I always try and work within.
Now to the most important thing, the spiritual impact of this event – on the people here, at home and on me.
This is my first time in Nigeria and only my third in Africa in total and I am struck by a number of things. Firstly, I am struck by the number of churches, ministries, and missions that are here present in Nigeria – Christianity is a BIG thing here in Nigeria and coming from the UK where it is a small thing, this is interesting to see. Maybe it’s from the hope that the gospel offers to people, or because of their lack of “materialism” means they are more open to spiritual things – whatever it is we need what they have in our nation!!!!
Secondly though is the “gimme gimme gimme” mentality of EVERYONE here, they all have their hands out – particularly if you are western. This isn’t just the people you meet on the street but it also applies to the local church people (though that maybe an over generalisation). I was stopped by one guy outside our trailer yesterday who said “what are you going to give me,” when I asked him what he wanted, he asked for money. At that stage I replied that I was not going to give him money, so he said “you need to give me something I am a Pastor, and there is no money in Nigeria”. It struck me at that point that a country living on hand outs rather than looking at how it can better itself has little hope.
However the third thing that struck me most profoundly was the impact that Reinhard Bonnke has had, not just on Nigeria but also the whole of Africa. I’m sure he would not agree with me, but the seeds he has sown in this country, I believe, will bear enormous fruit in the years and decades to come. What particularly impressed me was the impact of the Fire Conference. This goes alongside the Crusade itself and operates in the mornings. It’s aimed at the local church pastors to come and get envisioned and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Gospel. I believe it is partly through these Fire Conferences that have been operating over many years that we are now seeing Africa transformed by the Christian Gospel, Churches are growing at a staggering rate and slowly this continent being changed. Reinhard has deposited in the local Churches a fire that cannot be quenched and that now sees Africans reaching to their own kind, and becoming less reliant on preachers from the West coming to carry out Crusades (though clearly that is still happening). We heard yesterday of one Church in Nigeria whose building is 1 ½ Kilometres long and has a congregation of 1 ½ million – incomprehensible to me. So in effect Reinhard is working himself out a job which I’m sure he is delighted about – but is that not what we are all supposed to do? Pass on what we have to others so that they can go further. Do more, have a greater impact and effect than we ever could? In truth though how many of us can really claim that. It’s certainly something that I feel more and more passionate about – though I have to confess that the passion has not yet translated to action. I know that I need to be sowing my own life, my gifts, and my knowledge into others so they can learn, grow and develop their giftings and in time totally exceed anything that I can do. Was this not Jesus’ model of working with the disciples and was it not he who said that they/we should far exceed what he achieved – wow, that’s a challenge. I know I’m not living!! Let’s hope we can all start living the way Reinhard lives. Not just doing the work God has chosen us for (in his case the Crusade) but also inspiring and investing in others to see them exceed and excel (the Fire Conference).
Day 3 of the LIVE
Well, last night was interesting!!! We managed to get the satellite phone fixed, but that actually became the least of our problems. We managed to get the 2 insert pieces edited and played out – again thanks mainly to the ingenuity of those on site and various “get out of jail free kits”. And we finally managed to get onto the satellite. However after that the next 30 minutes was a tail of disaster, technical challenges miss communication and bad decision making under pressure.
The first thing that happened was (and this was also the case last night) our downlink station was only receiving one leg of our audio, so we had to mono the feed. However we have since discovered that one of the NEW cables that was connected to the encoder was wrongly wired, so hopefully tonight we will have this sorted. The next problem was the GOD TV transmission facility was unable to get an outside line to dial our satellite phone for communication purposes, so instead I had to dial a mobile number in Israel to talk with them via my mobile – with a bad line and lots of delay, this made communication very hard.
It was however to get worse still. The GOD TV studio in Washington was supposed to be opening up the programme, but for some reason the transmission facility in Israel was unable to receive their audio signal. So with 30 seconds to go till we were live I suggested to Israel that they put us straight to air so we would have the programme on air at the scheduled time and not disappoint the viewers. This way if the DC studio managed to get their audio sorted they could go to air once established and we could throw to them. So Oliver Raper (our on camera talent) took off bang on schedule and started most eloquently to explain to the viewers where we were and what was going on. He then threw to a VT highlights package of the previous night and then another problem hit – there was no sound (due to a technical issue) so we went back to Oliver. Then the most bizarre decision was made. Israel transmission was instructed to take us off the air as the DC studio needed to be on first before us. So that’s what they did and played a Christian Music Video instead!!!! Now at this point some of you may be thinking “DC couldn’t be first as the viewers had already been introduced to Nigeria” – and you are correct that’s why I said it was a totally bizarre decision and to my mind the wrong one for other reasons as well. Imagine you’re a viewer sitting at home waiting expectantly for the broadcast from Nigeria to start and that’s exactly what happens at 18:45 when it should – then all of a sudden and without any explanation 5 minutes into it a music video pops up – are you going to stay watching, I wonder. I still cannot see the logic in this and to add to the farce, DC didn’t get their audio sorted and after the music video (a 7 minute one) they came back to us at the crusade and the DC studio was not heard from that night!!
Now you might think that after that it was all plain sailing – well you’d be wrong. The next thing that happened was after Oliver did his link we then had the burning of the witchcraft symbols – which was amazing on TV. Then Reinhard got up and started welcoming the viewers on TV at which point one of the site generators failed and all our power went taking us off air instantly. It took a few minutes to resolve this and re-establish the satellite connection, but once we had we went straight back on air and Reinhard then welcomed the viewers.
After this everything went fine and the programme was fantastic. However there are lessons to learn from this and one thought I’d like to explore.
Here is a question, were the difficulties we were having with power, communications etc. in any way a spiritual battle due to the stand being taken over the witchcraft symbolism? Well I don’t know the answer to that but I would say that we are often too quick to blame the devil for things that naturally happen. For example the Generator failed because it overheated – but we’re in Africa in extreme temperatures, so not an unnatural occurrence. The communications challenges from Israel seem to happen regularly so again not unnatural. I do however believe we fight a spiritual battle, and my take on it is that there is a balance here somewhere. I think there is an argument to say that all these things happen naturally – but I also think that it’s not necessarily the full picture. I have no doubt that the devil does not want our broadcasts to succeed and will do everything in his power to stop them – and I think often uses “naturally occurrences” to help him. For me the major thing it highlights is the need for prayer cover when undertaking these kinds of endeavours and that’s the first lesson I’d like to mention that we can learn and implement when doing things like this:
When filming “spiritual things” abroad (well anywhere in fact) ensure adequate prayer cover and support – also if possible arrange for continual prayer updates and requests to be given to those praying and that if you are doing LIVE broadcasts then ensure the prayer is going on over these times too.
Plan on the basis that your communications may fail and ensure you have a backup scenario – in our case we really should have had a 2nd satellite phone in place that we could have called Israel on.
If you do these things regularly for the same broadcaster, ministry etc. ensure they have in place the correct resources needed at their end – and if not follow through to ensure that things are changed for the future.
Learn from the experiences and mistakes and do full post mortems with all those involved.
Be prepared (as a producer) to make swift, split second decisions and try to communicate these as effectively as possible – you must be in control of the situation, not the other way around.
Try and ensure if you are working with other remote sites that everyone is on the same page and the decisions made are not driven by what is beneficial for your organisation, but are for the benefit of the viewers – that way ultimately the viewers will be impacted most effectively and that ultimately will be of major benefit to your organisation.
Despite the mayhem it was a great broadcast and I personally continue to be blessed by what Reinhard is doing here in Africa, and by the commitment of GOD TV to spend their money and resources on bringing it to viewers globally.
Day 4 of the LIVE
Well, it’s nearly over. Tonight is our last LIVE broadcast from here in Oshogbo and the last 24 hours has been incredible.
Firstly let me tell you about last nights broadcast. Thankfully due to the horrors of the previous night the Washington DC studio live piece was cancelled – hoorah!! This certainly makes our lives much easier. However despite this last night still had its challenges. The main one was we had an intermittent fault with our audio feed of Reinhard’s microphone which meant we kept losing his sound – certainly not ideal. The CfAN sound team and our own sound guys worked as hard and as quickly as they could to resolve this and eventually managed to find a solution that was workable, but the broadcast had been impacted by it – that’s Live TV for you. I also had a small situation last night when I was communicating to our tape operator that I wanted a certain VT cued up (we only had a short time to do this) and due to complete misunderstanding he thought I meant a different machine and was trying to point out we only have 1 player – the problem was in South Africa VT is the machine, not the tape – I meant the tape, he thought I meant the machine – certainly not his fault. After I made myself clearer he eventually got it though and I apologised to him later.
The programme itself though was amazing. As well as doing the usual Gospel Message, Altar Call and Prayer for healing, last night was also the prayer for the Holy Spirit and WOW was that a site to behold. 50,000 plus people paying as loudly as possible for over 5 minutes is not a site I will forget in a hurry. The sound was out of this world and it is an experience that nearly brought me to tears, even as I was explaining it to my wife last night on the telephone, my words could not do it justice and I felt the tears welling up again. I’m not going to try and explain it other than to say it was probably the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed – try and find a way of seeing the tape sometime. Even our non Christian crew were affected by it – you couldn’t fail to be.
Despite this we all came away with a slight despondency as we all knew it could have been better. Its really hard when you pour your energy, life and skills into making something as good as it can be, because you both believe in it and are totally passionate and committed to your “profession” and you are let down by a piece of wire (which was what the fault was traced to) – HOW FRUSTRATING. There are of course lessons to learn here as always:
When working in different countries, work out how to communicate (technical things) with local crew – it’s your responsibility to communicate well to them, not their responsibility to adapt their understanding to you.
In the heat of a live programme, sometimes you can lose your cool (everyone does) – but afterwards always make it right and if you’re the one in the wrong (as I was) apologise.
Things can go wrong in live shows that are no ones fault – everyone will try and fix it as soon as they can – allow them to get on with it and do the autopsy afterwards – they will get it fixed as soon as they can (assuming you’re working with people you can trust).
Don’t scrimp on equipment or crew when in difficult places – if possible have extras of everything (we did to some extent) and also have sufficient crew – it’s always particularly useful to have an extra men/women not assigned to any specific task.
Allow people to do what they are good at doing and don’t try and do it all yourself – it’s about team work.
Tape stock is cheap compared to anything else, so shoot everything you might need – BUT don’t over shoot – you’ll regret it in the edit.
When things go wrong (and they will) try and walk away at the end of the day, and MAJOR on the positives – particularly encourage your crew and particularly those who may feel most responsible for the problems – they need your support. Team bonding cannot be underestimated.
Now to the real highlight of today (so far). Every Sunday on one of these Crusades, Reinhard and the CfAN team get together for devotions – 1 hour of teaching from Reinhard, worship and communion (for about 20 people in all). We were invited to go if we wanted and a few of us gladly took up the invitation and boy were we glad we did. It was so inspiring to hear what Reinhard had to say and in all the busyness and chaos going around to take time out to refresh our spirits. I can honestly say it was one of the greatest experiences of my “faith walk” so far. Reinhard is so passionate about the lost it oozes out of every pour and he has devoted his life to it and has seen tremendous results so far – 50 million people saved – he’s now ½ way to his target!! He is the same when talking with 20 of us as he is when talking with 200,000 plus – he even asked us to excuse him at one point when he felt he was starting to preach as he would on the platform – but he is who he is and I’m sure God would have him no other way.
There were 2 thoughts that he shared that particularly had an impact on me; the first was he asked us how many of us loved the thought of heaven? Of course all of us put up our hands – he then went onto say that no where in the bible does it say that God loves heaven. In fact it says totally the opposite – that God loves the earth – therefore this must be the same for us. Our whole lives should be spent loving the earth and the people that live on it – now that’s a challenge. The second thing he said was that God changed his name to include ours. He cited that when he (God) was asked who he was he replied “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. By doing this God has put his reputation on the line and risked his name on our actions – what a responsibility – BUT also this means we have his full backing and endorsement no matter what – that’s reassuring.
These two things have challenged me, both in terms of the importance of evangelism and also the fact that God’s name is at stake, but I needn’t worry I have his full backing!!
Probably the most important thing I got out of the time was how dedicated Reinhard and his team are to what they do and how important it is for all of us to receive good spiritual input into our lives in a way that can challenge and sharpen us as we continue to do what God has called us to do.
Day 5 – post LIVE
Well that’s it, all over and I’m now on a plane heading to Washington DC to the next job on the agenda – GOD TV’s Missions Week – somewhat different.
The last night it all went right – there were of course the odd error - a bad cut here, a late fade on a mic there, but that’s LIVE TV for you. Overall though we could not have had a much better show. Reinhard was his usual totally passionate self, Olly Raper our “on camera” talent did a great job and we had NO technical hiccups.
There was only 1 small issue that we had to work with and that was a bizarre request for us to do a kind of weather report on the temperature in Nigeria contrasted with the fact that in Washington it was snowing. This we all found somewhat irrelevant to what was going on, but in obedience did it anyway – I do wish though people would have a bigger picture of things and decide on what content is done based on its relevance to the viewer at home. I said this before, but it’s worth reemphasising that the viewer MUST be our primary focus and we often need to step back and ask the question – how relevant is this to the viewers at home.
We even managed to cut together a highlights piece of the whole time and I for one certainly had a lump in my throat when it was played out. It was very well edited and also brilliantly shot by one of our local cameramen the images he captured were simply stunning – if you’re ever shooting in Africa and need a cameraman I have the perfect one for you!!
I was also really pleased as we managed to run a credit scroll over the programme – which I felt was really important and often gets omitted to give credit to those behind the camera who make it happen. Talking of which we also interviewed some of the CfAN crew for a Behind the Scenes piece we will put together – I won’t spoil it for you by telling you the stories – but they certainly have a few to tell that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
That’s where I’m going to leave this report as ultimately it boils down to people – both those responsible for making it happen (both the event and the TV broadcast) and also those effected by it – those at the Crusade and those at home watching.
What an incredible experience for me and what an honour to be the Producer of the first Global LIVE broadcast of a CfAN crusade. I know those who will have seen it would be blown away by its scale – we had 260,000 (conservative estimate) people in attendance at the site and 120 million homes worldwide who received the signal. This is what Christian TV should be for, capturing what God is doing globally and bringing it to the masses – more power to Rory and Wendy for their vision to do it. I can’t think of many other LIVE broadcasts even secular ones that have had that quantity of people in attendance – and Christian TV did it!! You could see that reality and potential catch hold of Reinhard too over the few days and broaden his understanding of what was possible.
Ultimately though Rory and Wendy are only a small part of it (as are we all) and I’d like to finish by encouraging all of you to build up your people, encourage them, enthuse them, envision them, recognise them and praise them as it can’t happen without them – People are your MOST VALUABLE ASSET – God did not lay his life down for a vision, technology, TV or anything else BUT PEOPLE!!!!! Treat them right and together we can impact the world.
Well that’s me, I’m now off to Washington DC for 10 days of Missions Week fundraising – which I confess does not thrill me in anyway – BUT without it I can’t go back to Nigeria or somewhere else and do this all again and the viewers won’t be able to see what God is up to in the world – so that’s why I’ll do it and pray it goes well and that we can do many more broadcasts like this one from Oshogbo.
Thanks to all the crew in Nigeria, both the CfAN guys – Freddy, Dave, Boyo, Derek etc. and all the guys on the TV side, Steve (lots of them), Eric, RiC, Anja, Troy etc. you were all tremendous. Thanks to Olly – bless you as you move on with what God’s got for you. Thanks to Reinhard for allowing us to come and be a part of something so incredible – God strengthen you and I pray you reach you target of 100 million!!! And thanks to Rory and Wendy for trusting me with this project. But particularly thanks to God for the lives saved, healed and transformed through the power of your Holy Spirit both in Oshogbo and around the world. This really is fulfilling Mathew 28 – the Great Commission.
If you watched it I hope you enjoyed it, if you didn’t and you’re just reading the above then I hope you find something of interest either professionally or spiritually and until next time, God’s Very Best to you all.
Graeme Spencer, Series Producer/Director the Oshogbo CfAN Crusade for GOD TV
Graeme provides consultancy services to GOD TV and other clients as well as full Production Services on a range of television and video content through his company, Cloak Productions.
To contact Graeme or Cloak Productions, please write:
Cloak Productions
The Quadrus Centre
Woodstock Way
Bolden Business Park
Bolden, NE35 9PF
Tel: 0191 519 7336
E-Mail: enquiries@cloakproductions.com
Web: www.cloakproductions.com
© Cloak Productions 27th February 2007.
I thought I would share with you some of my experiences while working as a Producer in Nigeria for GOD TV as they aim to broadcast Live the Oshogbo Christ For all Nations Gospel Crusade. What I’d like to do through these paragraphs is give you an insight into both the practicalities of what’s involved, my spiritual thoughts along with some hints, tips and suggestions that if you are a media professional you might find helpful.
Today is the second out of our four live broadcasts on GOD TV of the CfAN crusade from Oshogbo Nigeria. As I write this, I am sitting in the presidential suite (believe me, this is NOT as grand as it sounds) of the Leisure Springs Hotel in Oshogbo, with my colleague from GOD TV Steve Cunningham. Steve’s currently editing the highlights clip from last nights broadcast for play in during tonight’s programme. This being in the middle of power cuts, spikes and all sorts of nasties that come with the territory – oh the joys of editing in Nigeria!! We’re 5 hours away from tonight’s broadcast and still not only have this clip to edit but also one more filmed at the fire conference that always accompanies the Bonnke Crusades – but we’ll get there (by God’s Grace).
What an amazing experience this has been for me and for GOD TV. To be the first ever Christian network to broadcast LIVE one of Reinhard Bonnke’s crusades across the world is a tremendous privilege. To be able to bring to the global audience what happens on the crusade ground is incredible. We’ve already had feedback from viewers around the world commenting on the awesomeness of the experience. For me it has been a big headache, but also humbling that I am producing and directing this unique broadcast – I am honoured and thank GOD TV and Rory and Wendy for this opportunity.
So far this has not been an easy programme to get on air (and that’s an understatement) and it continues to be a challenge. We’ve just had a phone call telling us that the Satellite Phone we are using as our Communications feed to the GOD TV Transmission Facility has fallen off the roof of our container and broken. It’s a bit of a nightmare as this is our only stable form of communication. There are many challenges we’ve faced, including the dust and humidity/heat (we had 2 cameras fail last night due to this), but we have a great crew who seem to be able to perform miracles at the drop of a hat – well, I suppose we’re in the right place for that.
The logistics of pulling this off have included hiring a charter aircraft (a DC9) from South Africa to move a whole OB, Crew and SNG (3 ½ tons of equipment and 22 people in total) – getting customs clearances, on the ground transport, satellite time (which is very limited here in Africa) and the list goes on. All in all by far the most difficult job I’ve undertaken yet – particularly when you take into account the HORRENDOUS communications issues. However as I said above we have a great great crew on the ground here, and tremendous support from the local CfAN office here. Nonetheless, it has not been easy and I have learnt a lot that will be very useful should GOD TV or another of our clients need us to do this again (which I sincerely hope they do). Here (based on what I’ve learnt so far) are some general recommendations for filming in “foreign parts” and also for filming in EXTREME parts of the world like Nigeria – I hope you find them helpful:
Always have a local fixer who can help you on the ground with logistics – and where possible have this person dedicated to you.
Do not rely on being able to communicate to “base” etc. – though try and have a system in place for this.
Ensure you get a great crew (preferably people you have worked with before and can trust) – even if they cost you more – INVEST in people.
If you’re in places like Nigeria, do not rely on any local infrastructure, BRING IT WITH YOU – again even if it costs more. At the end of the day getting the programme on air or to tape is worth an extra bit on the budget. Spend £100,000 and guarantee that something can be taped or spend £70,000 and run the risk of wasting it all – no contest in my book.
Talking of budget, always negotiate the best deals that you can, but be aware that you probably will exceed your budget as there is always the unknown – so build in a contingency.
Travel with plenty of CASH, credit cards are no use in Nigeria for example.
· Try if possible (for me it wasn’t this time) to do a full site visit prior to coming.
And the biggest one of all – give yourself as much time as possible to plan. That way you’ll save money and also ease the way and headaches as much as you can.
Those are some starters which I always try and work within.
Now to the most important thing, the spiritual impact of this event – on the people here, at home and on me.
This is my first time in Nigeria and only my third in Africa in total and I am struck by a number of things. Firstly, I am struck by the number of churches, ministries, and missions that are here present in Nigeria – Christianity is a BIG thing here in Nigeria and coming from the UK where it is a small thing, this is interesting to see. Maybe it’s from the hope that the gospel offers to people, or because of their lack of “materialism” means they are more open to spiritual things – whatever it is we need what they have in our nation!!!!
Secondly though is the “gimme gimme gimme” mentality of EVERYONE here, they all have their hands out – particularly if you are western. This isn’t just the people you meet on the street but it also applies to the local church people (though that maybe an over generalisation). I was stopped by one guy outside our trailer yesterday who said “what are you going to give me,” when I asked him what he wanted, he asked for money. At that stage I replied that I was not going to give him money, so he said “you need to give me something I am a Pastor, and there is no money in Nigeria”. It struck me at that point that a country living on hand outs rather than looking at how it can better itself has little hope.
However the third thing that struck me most profoundly was the impact that Reinhard Bonnke has had, not just on Nigeria but also the whole of Africa. I’m sure he would not agree with me, but the seeds he has sown in this country, I believe, will bear enormous fruit in the years and decades to come. What particularly impressed me was the impact of the Fire Conference. This goes alongside the Crusade itself and operates in the mornings. It’s aimed at the local church pastors to come and get envisioned and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Gospel. I believe it is partly through these Fire Conferences that have been operating over many years that we are now seeing Africa transformed by the Christian Gospel, Churches are growing at a staggering rate and slowly this continent being changed. Reinhard has deposited in the local Churches a fire that cannot be quenched and that now sees Africans reaching to their own kind, and becoming less reliant on preachers from the West coming to carry out Crusades (though clearly that is still happening). We heard yesterday of one Church in Nigeria whose building is 1 ½ Kilometres long and has a congregation of 1 ½ million – incomprehensible to me. So in effect Reinhard is working himself out a job which I’m sure he is delighted about – but is that not what we are all supposed to do? Pass on what we have to others so that they can go further. Do more, have a greater impact and effect than we ever could? In truth though how many of us can really claim that. It’s certainly something that I feel more and more passionate about – though I have to confess that the passion has not yet translated to action. I know that I need to be sowing my own life, my gifts, and my knowledge into others so they can learn, grow and develop their giftings and in time totally exceed anything that I can do. Was this not Jesus’ model of working with the disciples and was it not he who said that they/we should far exceed what he achieved – wow, that’s a challenge. I know I’m not living!! Let’s hope we can all start living the way Reinhard lives. Not just doing the work God has chosen us for (in his case the Crusade) but also inspiring and investing in others to see them exceed and excel (the Fire Conference).
Day 3 of the LIVE
Well, last night was interesting!!! We managed to get the satellite phone fixed, but that actually became the least of our problems. We managed to get the 2 insert pieces edited and played out – again thanks mainly to the ingenuity of those on site and various “get out of jail free kits”. And we finally managed to get onto the satellite. However after that the next 30 minutes was a tail of disaster, technical challenges miss communication and bad decision making under pressure.
The first thing that happened was (and this was also the case last night) our downlink station was only receiving one leg of our audio, so we had to mono the feed. However we have since discovered that one of the NEW cables that was connected to the encoder was wrongly wired, so hopefully tonight we will have this sorted. The next problem was the GOD TV transmission facility was unable to get an outside line to dial our satellite phone for communication purposes, so instead I had to dial a mobile number in Israel to talk with them via my mobile – with a bad line and lots of delay, this made communication very hard.
It was however to get worse still. The GOD TV studio in Washington was supposed to be opening up the programme, but for some reason the transmission facility in Israel was unable to receive their audio signal. So with 30 seconds to go till we were live I suggested to Israel that they put us straight to air so we would have the programme on air at the scheduled time and not disappoint the viewers. This way if the DC studio managed to get their audio sorted they could go to air once established and we could throw to them. So Oliver Raper (our on camera talent) took off bang on schedule and started most eloquently to explain to the viewers where we were and what was going on. He then threw to a VT highlights package of the previous night and then another problem hit – there was no sound (due to a technical issue) so we went back to Oliver. Then the most bizarre decision was made. Israel transmission was instructed to take us off the air as the DC studio needed to be on first before us. So that’s what they did and played a Christian Music Video instead!!!! Now at this point some of you may be thinking “DC couldn’t be first as the viewers had already been introduced to Nigeria” – and you are correct that’s why I said it was a totally bizarre decision and to my mind the wrong one for other reasons as well. Imagine you’re a viewer sitting at home waiting expectantly for the broadcast from Nigeria to start and that’s exactly what happens at 18:45 when it should – then all of a sudden and without any explanation 5 minutes into it a music video pops up – are you going to stay watching, I wonder. I still cannot see the logic in this and to add to the farce, DC didn’t get their audio sorted and after the music video (a 7 minute one) they came back to us at the crusade and the DC studio was not heard from that night!!
Now you might think that after that it was all plain sailing – well you’d be wrong. The next thing that happened was after Oliver did his link we then had the burning of the witchcraft symbols – which was amazing on TV. Then Reinhard got up and started welcoming the viewers on TV at which point one of the site generators failed and all our power went taking us off air instantly. It took a few minutes to resolve this and re-establish the satellite connection, but once we had we went straight back on air and Reinhard then welcomed the viewers.
After this everything went fine and the programme was fantastic. However there are lessons to learn from this and one thought I’d like to explore.
Here is a question, were the difficulties we were having with power, communications etc. in any way a spiritual battle due to the stand being taken over the witchcraft symbolism? Well I don’t know the answer to that but I would say that we are often too quick to blame the devil for things that naturally happen. For example the Generator failed because it overheated – but we’re in Africa in extreme temperatures, so not an unnatural occurrence. The communications challenges from Israel seem to happen regularly so again not unnatural. I do however believe we fight a spiritual battle, and my take on it is that there is a balance here somewhere. I think there is an argument to say that all these things happen naturally – but I also think that it’s not necessarily the full picture. I have no doubt that the devil does not want our broadcasts to succeed and will do everything in his power to stop them – and I think often uses “naturally occurrences” to help him. For me the major thing it highlights is the need for prayer cover when undertaking these kinds of endeavours and that’s the first lesson I’d like to mention that we can learn and implement when doing things like this:
When filming “spiritual things” abroad (well anywhere in fact) ensure adequate prayer cover and support – also if possible arrange for continual prayer updates and requests to be given to those praying and that if you are doing LIVE broadcasts then ensure the prayer is going on over these times too.
Plan on the basis that your communications may fail and ensure you have a backup scenario – in our case we really should have had a 2nd satellite phone in place that we could have called Israel on.
If you do these things regularly for the same broadcaster, ministry etc. ensure they have in place the correct resources needed at their end – and if not follow through to ensure that things are changed for the future.
Learn from the experiences and mistakes and do full post mortems with all those involved.
Be prepared (as a producer) to make swift, split second decisions and try to communicate these as effectively as possible – you must be in control of the situation, not the other way around.
Try and ensure if you are working with other remote sites that everyone is on the same page and the decisions made are not driven by what is beneficial for your organisation, but are for the benefit of the viewers – that way ultimately the viewers will be impacted most effectively and that ultimately will be of major benefit to your organisation.
Despite the mayhem it was a great broadcast and I personally continue to be blessed by what Reinhard is doing here in Africa, and by the commitment of GOD TV to spend their money and resources on bringing it to viewers globally.
Day 4 of the LIVE
Well, it’s nearly over. Tonight is our last LIVE broadcast from here in Oshogbo and the last 24 hours has been incredible.
Firstly let me tell you about last nights broadcast. Thankfully due to the horrors of the previous night the Washington DC studio live piece was cancelled – hoorah!! This certainly makes our lives much easier. However despite this last night still had its challenges. The main one was we had an intermittent fault with our audio feed of Reinhard’s microphone which meant we kept losing his sound – certainly not ideal. The CfAN sound team and our own sound guys worked as hard and as quickly as they could to resolve this and eventually managed to find a solution that was workable, but the broadcast had been impacted by it – that’s Live TV for you. I also had a small situation last night when I was communicating to our tape operator that I wanted a certain VT cued up (we only had a short time to do this) and due to complete misunderstanding he thought I meant a different machine and was trying to point out we only have 1 player – the problem was in South Africa VT is the machine, not the tape – I meant the tape, he thought I meant the machine – certainly not his fault. After I made myself clearer he eventually got it though and I apologised to him later.
The programme itself though was amazing. As well as doing the usual Gospel Message, Altar Call and Prayer for healing, last night was also the prayer for the Holy Spirit and WOW was that a site to behold. 50,000 plus people paying as loudly as possible for over 5 minutes is not a site I will forget in a hurry. The sound was out of this world and it is an experience that nearly brought me to tears, even as I was explaining it to my wife last night on the telephone, my words could not do it justice and I felt the tears welling up again. I’m not going to try and explain it other than to say it was probably the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed – try and find a way of seeing the tape sometime. Even our non Christian crew were affected by it – you couldn’t fail to be.
Despite this we all came away with a slight despondency as we all knew it could have been better. Its really hard when you pour your energy, life and skills into making something as good as it can be, because you both believe in it and are totally passionate and committed to your “profession” and you are let down by a piece of wire (which was what the fault was traced to) – HOW FRUSTRATING. There are of course lessons to learn here as always:
When working in different countries, work out how to communicate (technical things) with local crew – it’s your responsibility to communicate well to them, not their responsibility to adapt their understanding to you.
In the heat of a live programme, sometimes you can lose your cool (everyone does) – but afterwards always make it right and if you’re the one in the wrong (as I was) apologise.
Things can go wrong in live shows that are no ones fault – everyone will try and fix it as soon as they can – allow them to get on with it and do the autopsy afterwards – they will get it fixed as soon as they can (assuming you’re working with people you can trust).
Don’t scrimp on equipment or crew when in difficult places – if possible have extras of everything (we did to some extent) and also have sufficient crew – it’s always particularly useful to have an extra men/women not assigned to any specific task.
Allow people to do what they are good at doing and don’t try and do it all yourself – it’s about team work.
Tape stock is cheap compared to anything else, so shoot everything you might need – BUT don’t over shoot – you’ll regret it in the edit.
When things go wrong (and they will) try and walk away at the end of the day, and MAJOR on the positives – particularly encourage your crew and particularly those who may feel most responsible for the problems – they need your support. Team bonding cannot be underestimated.
Now to the real highlight of today (so far). Every Sunday on one of these Crusades, Reinhard and the CfAN team get together for devotions – 1 hour of teaching from Reinhard, worship and communion (for about 20 people in all). We were invited to go if we wanted and a few of us gladly took up the invitation and boy were we glad we did. It was so inspiring to hear what Reinhard had to say and in all the busyness and chaos going around to take time out to refresh our spirits. I can honestly say it was one of the greatest experiences of my “faith walk” so far. Reinhard is so passionate about the lost it oozes out of every pour and he has devoted his life to it and has seen tremendous results so far – 50 million people saved – he’s now ½ way to his target!! He is the same when talking with 20 of us as he is when talking with 200,000 plus – he even asked us to excuse him at one point when he felt he was starting to preach as he would on the platform – but he is who he is and I’m sure God would have him no other way.
There were 2 thoughts that he shared that particularly had an impact on me; the first was he asked us how many of us loved the thought of heaven? Of course all of us put up our hands – he then went onto say that no where in the bible does it say that God loves heaven. In fact it says totally the opposite – that God loves the earth – therefore this must be the same for us. Our whole lives should be spent loving the earth and the people that live on it – now that’s a challenge. The second thing he said was that God changed his name to include ours. He cited that when he (God) was asked who he was he replied “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. By doing this God has put his reputation on the line and risked his name on our actions – what a responsibility – BUT also this means we have his full backing and endorsement no matter what – that’s reassuring.
These two things have challenged me, both in terms of the importance of evangelism and also the fact that God’s name is at stake, but I needn’t worry I have his full backing!!
Probably the most important thing I got out of the time was how dedicated Reinhard and his team are to what they do and how important it is for all of us to receive good spiritual input into our lives in a way that can challenge and sharpen us as we continue to do what God has called us to do.
Day 5 – post LIVE
Well that’s it, all over and I’m now on a plane heading to Washington DC to the next job on the agenda – GOD TV’s Missions Week – somewhat different.
The last night it all went right – there were of course the odd error - a bad cut here, a late fade on a mic there, but that’s LIVE TV for you. Overall though we could not have had a much better show. Reinhard was his usual totally passionate self, Olly Raper our “on camera” talent did a great job and we had NO technical hiccups.
There was only 1 small issue that we had to work with and that was a bizarre request for us to do a kind of weather report on the temperature in Nigeria contrasted with the fact that in Washington it was snowing. This we all found somewhat irrelevant to what was going on, but in obedience did it anyway – I do wish though people would have a bigger picture of things and decide on what content is done based on its relevance to the viewer at home. I said this before, but it’s worth reemphasising that the viewer MUST be our primary focus and we often need to step back and ask the question – how relevant is this to the viewers at home.
We even managed to cut together a highlights piece of the whole time and I for one certainly had a lump in my throat when it was played out. It was very well edited and also brilliantly shot by one of our local cameramen the images he captured were simply stunning – if you’re ever shooting in Africa and need a cameraman I have the perfect one for you!!
I was also really pleased as we managed to run a credit scroll over the programme – which I felt was really important and often gets omitted to give credit to those behind the camera who make it happen. Talking of which we also interviewed some of the CfAN crew for a Behind the Scenes piece we will put together – I won’t spoil it for you by telling you the stories – but they certainly have a few to tell that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
That’s where I’m going to leave this report as ultimately it boils down to people – both those responsible for making it happen (both the event and the TV broadcast) and also those effected by it – those at the Crusade and those at home watching.
What an incredible experience for me and what an honour to be the Producer of the first Global LIVE broadcast of a CfAN crusade. I know those who will have seen it would be blown away by its scale – we had 260,000 (conservative estimate) people in attendance at the site and 120 million homes worldwide who received the signal. This is what Christian TV should be for, capturing what God is doing globally and bringing it to the masses – more power to Rory and Wendy for their vision to do it. I can’t think of many other LIVE broadcasts even secular ones that have had that quantity of people in attendance – and Christian TV did it!! You could see that reality and potential catch hold of Reinhard too over the few days and broaden his understanding of what was possible.
Ultimately though Rory and Wendy are only a small part of it (as are we all) and I’d like to finish by encouraging all of you to build up your people, encourage them, enthuse them, envision them, recognise them and praise them as it can’t happen without them – People are your MOST VALUABLE ASSET – God did not lay his life down for a vision, technology, TV or anything else BUT PEOPLE!!!!! Treat them right and together we can impact the world.
Well that’s me, I’m now off to Washington DC for 10 days of Missions Week fundraising – which I confess does not thrill me in anyway – BUT without it I can’t go back to Nigeria or somewhere else and do this all again and the viewers won’t be able to see what God is up to in the world – so that’s why I’ll do it and pray it goes well and that we can do many more broadcasts like this one from Oshogbo.
Thanks to all the crew in Nigeria, both the CfAN guys – Freddy, Dave, Boyo, Derek etc. and all the guys on the TV side, Steve (lots of them), Eric, RiC, Anja, Troy etc. you were all tremendous. Thanks to Olly – bless you as you move on with what God’s got for you. Thanks to Reinhard for allowing us to come and be a part of something so incredible – God strengthen you and I pray you reach you target of 100 million!!! And thanks to Rory and Wendy for trusting me with this project. But particularly thanks to God for the lives saved, healed and transformed through the power of your Holy Spirit both in Oshogbo and around the world. This really is fulfilling Mathew 28 – the Great Commission.
If you watched it I hope you enjoyed it, if you didn’t and you’re just reading the above then I hope you find something of interest either professionally or spiritually and until next time, God’s Very Best to you all.
Graeme Spencer, Series Producer/Director the Oshogbo CfAN Crusade for GOD TV
Graeme provides consultancy services to GOD TV and other clients as well as full Production Services on a range of television and video content through his company, Cloak Productions.
To contact Graeme or Cloak Productions, please write:
Cloak Productions
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Bolden Business Park
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Tel: 0191 519 7336
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© Cloak Productions 27th February 2007.
